Related papers: Rising from the Ashes: A Metallicity-Dependent Sta…
We use accurate estimates of aluminium abundance provided as part of the APOGEE Data Release 17 and Gaia Early Data Release 3 astrometry to select a highly pure sample of stars with metallicity $-1.5\lesssim {\rm [Fe/H]}\lesssim 0.5$ born…
We extend our previous work on the age-chemical abundance structure of the Galactic outer disc to the inner disc (4 < r < 8 kpc) based on the SDSS/APOGEE survey. Different from the outer disc, the inner disc stars exhibit a clear bimodal…
Observations show that star-forming galaxies reside on a tight three-dimensional plane between mass, gas-phase metallicity and star formation rate (SFR), which can be explained by the interplay between metal-poor gas inflows, SFR and…
Ancient, long-lived stars remain present in all components of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. Born a few hundred million after the Big Bang and during a time that marked the very beginning of the chemical evolution, these stars display very…
Understanding the Milky Way disc formation requires characterising its structural and kinematic properties as functions of stellar age. Using red giant stars from APOGEE DR17 and Gaia DR3, we model the age-dependent stellar kinematics with…
We analyse the chemical properties of a set of solar vicinity stars, and show that the small dispersion in abundances of \alpha-elements at all ages provides evidence that the SFH has been uniform throughout the thick disk. In the context…
A few topics concerning the early chemical evolution of the Milky Way are critically discussed. In particular, it is argued that: 1) Observed abundance patterns of extremely metal poor stars (of Pop. II) do not constrain the mass range of…
The proto-Milky Way epoch forms the earliest stars in our Galaxy and sets the initial conditions for subsequent disk formation. Recent observations from APOGEE and H3 surveys showed that the [$\alpha$/Fe] ratio slowly declined between…
The metallicity distribution function (MDF) of the Galactic bulge features a multi-peak shape, with a metal-poor peak at [Fe/H]=-0.3 dex and a metal-rich peak at [Fe/H]=+0.3 dex. This bimodality is also seen in [alpha/Fe] versus [Fe/H]…
Different stellar sub-populations of the Milky Way's stellar disk are known to have different vertical scale heights, their thickness increasing with age. Using SEGUE spectroscopic survey data, we have recently shown that mono-abundance…
The chemical dichotomy in the [$\alpha$/Fe]-[Fe/H] plane is a consequence of the complex processes underlying the formation and evolution of disc galaxies such as observed in the stellar Milky Way disc. We determine what can drive an…
Using a large sample of bright nearby stars with accurate Gaia Data Release 2 astrometry and auxiliary spectroscopy we map out the properties of the principle Galactic components such as the "thin" and "thick" discs and the halo. We show…
The standard cosmological model ($\Lambda$-CDM) predicts that galaxies are built through hierarchical assembly on cosmological timescales$^{1,2}$. The Milky Way, like other disc galaxies, underwent violent mergers and accretion of small…
Context. Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus is considered the last major merger that contributed to the formation of the Milky Way. Its remnants dominate the nearby accreted stellar halo of the Milky Way. Aim. We aim to characterise the star formation…
We identify and characterise a Milky Way-like realisation from the Auriga simulations with two consecutive massive mergers $\sim2\,$Gyr apart at high redshift, comparable to the reported Kraken and Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus. The Kraken-like…
Metal-poor stars hold the key to our understanding of the origin of the elements and the chemical evolution of the Universe. This chapter describes the process of discovery of these rare stars, the manner in which their surface abundances…
We employ N-body, smoothed particle hydrodynamical simulations, including detailed treatment of chemical enrichment, to follow a gas-rich merger which results in a galaxy with disk morphology. We trace the kinematic, structural and chemical…
The age distribution, and chemical elemental abundances, of stars in the halo of the Milky Way provide constraints on theories of galaxy formation. As one specific example, the accretion of satellite galaxies similar to the present retinue…
We investigate the origin of warps in stellar disks using high-resolution Milky Way analogs from the IllustrisTNG50 simulation. Focusing on galaxies that experienced a major merger, we identify a characteristic azimuthal misalignment…
We study the role of radial motions of stars and gas on the evolution of abundance profiles in the Milky Way disk. We investigate, in a parametrized way, the impact of radial flows of gas and radial migration of stars induced mainly by the…