Related papers: Applying Noether's theorem to matter in the Milky …
We study a set of solar neighborhood ($d < 3$ kpc) stars from Gaia Data Release 2 to determine azimuthal star count differences, i.e., left and right of the line from the Galactic center through the sun - and compare these differences north…
The outer parts of the Milky Way's disc are significantly out of equilibrium. Using only distances and proper motions of stars from Gaia's Early Data Release 3, in the range |b|<10{\deg}, 130{\deg}<l<230{\deg}, we show that for stars in the…
The growing trove of precision astrometric observations from the Gaia space telescope and other surveys is revealing the structure and dynamics of the Milky Way in ever more exquisite detail. We summarize the current status of our…
We present a novel, data-driven analysis of Galactic dynamics, using unsupervised machine learning -- in the form of density estimation with normalizing flows -- to learn the underlying phase space distribution of 6 million nearby stars…
We review the implications of the Gaia Data Release 2 catalogue for studying the dynamics of Milky Way globular clusters, focusing on two separate topics. The first one is the analysis of the full 6-dimensional phase-space distribution of…
The circular velocity curve traced by stars provides a direct means of investigating the potential and mass distribution of the Milky Way. Recent measurements of the Galaxy's rotation curve have revealed a significant decrease in velocity…
Modern astrometric and spectroscopic surveys have revealed a wealth of structure in the phase space of stars in the Milky Way, with evidence of resonance features and non-equilibrium processes. Using Gaia's third data release, we present…
We present here a quantitative, accurate estimate of the impact of uncertainties of astrophysical nature on the determination of the dark matter distribution within our Galaxy, the Milky Way. Based on an update of a previous analysis, this…
We present a non-parametric model for inferring the three-dimensional (3D) distribution of dust density in the Milky Way. Our approach uses the extinction measured towards stars at different locations in the Galaxy at approximately known…
Using action-based distribution function for the dynamical model of the Milky Way we have estimated its total mass and its density profile. Constraints are coming from the globular cluster proper motions from Gaia EDR3, from the rotation…
The velocity distribution of stars is a sensitive probe of the gravitational potential of the Galaxy, and hence of its dark matter distribution. In particular, the shape of the dark halo (e.g. spherical, oblate, or prolate) determines…
Vertical stellar kinematics+density can be used to trace the dark matter distribution [or the equivalent phantom mass in a Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) scenario] through Jeans equations. In this paper, we want to improve this type of…
The ubiquitous presence of dark matter in the universe is today a central tenet in modern cosmology and astrophysics. Ranging from the smallest galaxies to the observable universe, the evidence for dark matter is compelling in dwarfs,…
I present the mean metallicity distribution of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy based on photometry from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. I utilize an empirically calibrated set of stellar isochrones developed in previous work to estimate the…
We introduce a method to infer the vertical distribution of stars in the Milky Way using a Poisson likelihood function, with a view to applying our method to the Gaia catalogue. We show how to account for the sample selection function and…
We introduce a two-particle correlation function (2PCF) for the Milky Way, constructed to probe spatial correlations in the orthogonal directions of the stellar disk in the Galactic cylindrical coordinates of $R$, $\phi$, and $z$. We use…
The distribution of shapes of galaxies' dark halos provides a basic test for models of galaxy formation. To-date, few dark halo shapes have been measured, and the results of different methods appear contradictory. Here, we add to the sample…
Our location in the Milky Way provides an exceptional opportunity to gain insight on the galactic evolution processes, and complement the information inferred from observations of external galaxies. Since the Milky Way is a barred galaxy,…
We present a new estimate of the mass of the Milky Way, inferred via a Bayesian approach by making use of tracers of the circular velocity in the disk plane and stars in the stellar halo, as from the publicly available {\tt galkin}…
A suite of vast stellar surveys mapping the Milky Way, culminating in the Gaia mission, is revolutionizing the empirical information about the distribution and properties of stars in the Galactic stellar disk. We review and lay out what…