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Probing the strength of radial migration via churning by using metal-rich red giant stars from APOGEE

Lehmann, Christian LU ; Feltzing, Sofia LU orcid ; Feuillet, Diane LU orcid and Kordopatis, Georges LU (2024) In Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 533(1). p.538-550
Abstract

Making use of the APOGEE DR17 catalogue with high quality data for 143 509 red giant branch stars we explore the strength of different mechanisms that causes a star to radially migrate in the Milky Way stellar disc. At any position in the disc we find stars that are more metal-rich than the local interstellar medium. This is surprising and normally attributed to the migration of these stars after their formation inside their current Galactocentric radius. Such stars are prime candidates for studying the strength of different migratory processes. We specifically select two types of metal-rich stars: (i) super metal-rich stars ([Fe/H] > 0.2) and (ii) stars that are more metal-rich than their local environment. For both, we explore the... (More)

Making use of the APOGEE DR17 catalogue with high quality data for 143 509 red giant branch stars we explore the strength of different mechanisms that causes a star to radially migrate in the Milky Way stellar disc. At any position in the disc we find stars that are more metal-rich than the local interstellar medium. This is surprising and normally attributed to the migration of these stars after their formation inside their current Galactocentric radius. Such stars are prime candidates for studying the strength of different migratory processes. We specifically select two types of metal-rich stars: (i) super metal-rich stars ([Fe/H] > 0.2) and (ii) stars that are more metal-rich than their local environment. For both, we explore the distribution of orbital parameters and ages as evidence of their migration history. We find that most super metal-rich stars have experienced some amount of churning as they have orbits with Rg ≥ 5 kpc. Furthermore, about half of the super metal-rich stars are on non-circular orbits (ecc > 0.15) and therefore also have experienced blurring. The metallicity of young stars in our sample is generally the same as the metallicity of the interstellar medium, suggesting they have not radially migrated yet. Stars with lower metallicity than the local environment have intermediate to old ages. We further find that super metal-rich stars have approximately the same age distribution at all Galactocentric radii, which suggests that radial migration is a key mechanism responsible for the chemical compositions of stellar populations in the Milky Way.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Galaxy: disc, Galaxy: evolution, Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics, Galaxy: stellar content, stars: kinematics and dynamics
in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
volume
533
issue
1
pages
13 pages
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85201062009
ISSN
0035-8711
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stae1736
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3db14279-c8db-4575-9c69-6ab02a8a0bf0
date added to LUP
2024-09-02 15:53:41
date last changed
2024-09-02 15:55:01
@article{3db14279-c8db-4575-9c69-6ab02a8a0bf0,
  abstract     = {{<p>Making use of the APOGEE DR17 catalogue with high quality data for 143 509 red giant branch stars we explore the strength of different mechanisms that causes a star to radially migrate in the Milky Way stellar disc. At any position in the disc we find stars that are more metal-rich than the local interstellar medium. This is surprising and normally attributed to the migration of these stars after their formation inside their current Galactocentric radius. Such stars are prime candidates for studying the strength of different migratory processes. We specifically select two types of metal-rich stars: (i) super metal-rich stars ([Fe/H] &gt; 0.2) and (ii) stars that are more metal-rich than their local environment. For both, we explore the distribution of orbital parameters and ages as evidence of their migration history. We find that most super metal-rich stars have experienced some amount of churning as they have orbits with R<sub>g</sub> ≥ 5 kpc. Furthermore, about half of the super metal-rich stars are on non-circular orbits (ecc &gt; 0.15) and therefore also have experienced blurring. The metallicity of young stars in our sample is generally the same as the metallicity of the interstellar medium, suggesting they have not radially migrated yet. Stars with lower metallicity than the local environment have intermediate to old ages. We further find that super metal-rich stars have approximately the same age distribution at all Galactocentric radii, which suggests that radial migration is a key mechanism responsible for the chemical compositions of stellar populations in the Milky Way.</p>}},
  author       = {{Lehmann, Christian and Feltzing, Sofia and Feuillet, Diane and Kordopatis, Georges}},
  issn         = {{0035-8711}},
  keywords     = {{Galaxy: disc; Galaxy: evolution; Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics; Galaxy: stellar content; stars: kinematics and dynamics}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{538--550}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}},
  title        = {{Probing the strength of radial migration via churning by using metal-rich red giant stars from APOGEE}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae1736}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/mnras/stae1736}},
  volume       = {{533}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}