Search

Context. The kinematic information of the extraplanar diffuse ionized gas (eDIG) around galaxies provides clues to the origin of the gas. Aims. The eDIG-CHANGES project studies the physical and kinematic properties of the eDIG around the CHANG-ES sample of nearby edge-on disk galaxies. Methods. We use a novel multi-slit narrow-band spectroscopy technique to obtain the spatial distribution of the spectral properties of the ionized gas around NGC 891, which is often regarded as an analogue of the Milky Way. We developed specific data reduction procedures for the multi-slit narrow-band spectroscopy data taken with the MDM 2.4 m telescope. The data presented in this paper cover the Hα and [N II]λλ6548, 6583 Å emission lines. Results. The eDIG traced by the Hα and [N II] lines shows an obvious asymmetric morphology, being brighter in the northeastern part of the galactic disk and extending a few kiloparsecs above and below the disk. Global variations in the [N II]/Hα line ratio suggest additional heating mechanisms for the eDIG at large heights beyond photoionization. We also construct position-velocity (PV) diagrams of the eDIG based on our optical multi-slit spectroscopy data and compare them to similar PV diagrams constructed with the H I data. The dynamics of the two gas phases are generally consistent with each other. Modelling the rotation curves at different heights from the galactic mid-plane suggests a vertical negative gradient in turnover radius and maximum rotation velocity, with magnitudes of approximately 3 kpc kpc−1 and 22 − 25 km s−1 kpc−1, respectively. Conclusions. Our measured vertical gradients of the rotation curve parameters suggest significant differential rotation of the ionized gas in the halo, often referred to as the lagging eDIG. Systematic study of the lagging eDIG, using the multi-slit narrow-band spectroscopy technique developed in our eDIG-CHANGES project, will help us to better understand the dynamics of the ionized gas in the halo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we compute the rates and numbers of different types of stars and phenomena (supernovae, novae, white dwarfs, merging neutron stars, black holes) that contributed to the chemical composition of the Solar System. During the Big Bang, only light elements formed, while all the heavy ones, from carbon to uranium and beyond, have since been created inside stars. Stars die and release the newly formed elements into the interstellar gas. This process is called 'chemical evolution'. In particular, we analyse the death rates of stars of all masses, whether they die quiescently or explosively. These rates and total star numbers are computed in the context of a revised version of the two-infall model for the chemical evolution of the Milky Way, which reproduces the observed abundance patterns of several chemical species, the global solar metallicity, and the current gas, stellar, and total surface mass densities relatively well. We also compute the total number of stars ever born and still alive as well as the number of stars born up to the formation of the Solar System with mass and metallicity like those of the Sun. This latter number accounts for all the possible existing Solar systems that can host life in the solar vicinity. We conclude that, among all the stars (from 0.8 to 100 M⊙) that were born and died from the Big Bang up until the Solar System formation epoch and that contributed to its chemical composition, 93.00% were stars that died as single white dwarfs (without interacting significantly with a companion star) and originated in the mass range of 0.8–8 M⊙, while 5.24% were neutron stars and 0.73% were black holes, both originating from core-collapse supernovae (M > 8 M⊙); 0.64% were Type Ia supernovae and 0.40% were nova systems, both originating from the same mass range as the white dwarfs. The number of stars similar to the Sun born from the Big Bang up until the formation of the Solar System, with metallicity in the range 12+log(Fe/H)= 7.50 ± 0.04 dex, is ~31•107, and in particular our Sun is the ~2.61• 107-th star of this kind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. The ionization of diffuse gas located far above the energetic midplane OB stars poses a challenge to the commonly accepted notion that radiation from OB stars is the primary ionization source for gas in galaxies. Aims. We investigated the sources of ionizing radiation, specifically leaking midplane H II regions and/or in situ hot low-mass evolved stars (HOLMES), in extraplanar diffuse ionized gas (eDIG) in a sample of eight nearby (17−52 Mpc) edge-on disk galaxies observed with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE). Methods. We constructed a model for the photoionization of eDIG clouds and the propagation of ionizing radiation through the eDIG using subsequent runs of CLOUDY photoionization code. Our model includes radiation originating both from midplane OB stars and in situ evolved stars and its dilution and processing as it propagates in the eDIG. Results. We fit the model to the data using the vertical line ratio profiles of our sample galaxies, and find that while the ionization by in situ evolved stars is insignificant for most of the galaxies in our sample, it may be able to explain the enhanced high-ionization lines in the eDIG of the green valley galaxy ESO 544−27. Conclusions. Our results show that while leaking radiation from midplane H II regions is the primary ionization source for eDIG, in situ evolved stars can play a significant part in ionizing extraplanar gas in galaxies with low star forming rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most metal-poor stars (e.g., [Fe/H] ≤ –2.5) are the ancient fossils from the early assembly epoch of our Galaxy. They very likely formed before the the thick disk. Recent studies have shown that a non-negligible fraction of them have prograde planar orbits, which means that their origin is a puzzle. It has been suggested that a later-formed rotating bar could have driven these old stars from the inner Galaxy outward and transformed their orbits so that they became more dominated by rotation. However, it is unclear whether this mechanism can explain these stars as observed in the solar neighborhood. We explore whether this scenario is feasible by tracing these stars backward in an axisymmetric Milky Way potential with a bar as perturber. We integrated their orbits backward for 6 Gyr under two bar models: one model with a constant pattern speed, and the other with a decelerating speed. Our experiments show that for the constantly rotating bar model, the stars of interest are little affected by the bar and cannot have been driven from a spheroidal inner Milky Way to their current orbits. In the extreme case of a decelerating bar, some of the very metal-poor stars on planar and prograde orbits can be brought from the inner Milky Way, but ∼90% of them were nevertheless already dominated by rotation (Jϕ ≥ 1000 km s−1 kpc) 6 Gyr ago. The chance that these stars started with spheroid-like orbits with low rotation (Jϕ ≲ 600 km s−1 kpc) is very low (< 3%). We therefore conclude that within the solar neighborhood, the bar is unlikely to have shepherded a significant fraction of spheroid stars in the inner Galaxy to produce the overdensity of stars on prograde planar orbits that is observed today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud–cloud collisions in splash bridges produced in gas-rich disc galaxy collisions offer a brief but interesting environment to study the effects of shocks and turbulence on star formation rates in the diffuse intergalactic medium, far from the significant feedback effects of massive star formation and active galactic nucleus. Expanding on our earlier work, we describe simulated collisions between counter-rotating disc galaxies of relatively similar mass, focusing on the thermal and kinematic effects of relative inclination and disc offset at the closest approach. This includes essential heating and cooling signatures, which go some way towards explaining the luminous power in H |$_2$| and [C  ii ] emission in the Taffy bridge, as well as providing a partial explanation of the turbulent nature of the recently observed compact CO-emitting clouds observed in Taffy by the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). The models show counter-rotating disc collisions result in swirling, shearing kinematics for the gas in much of the post-collision bridge. Gas with little specific angular momentum due to collisions between counter-rotating streams accumulates near the centre of mass. The disturbances and mixing in the bridge drive continuing cloud collisions, differential shock heating, and cooling throughout. A wide range of relative gas phases and line-of-sight velocity distributions are found in the bridges, depending sensitively on initial disc orientations, and the resulting variety of cloud collision histories. Most cloud collisions can occur promptly or persist for quite a long duration. Cold and hot phases can largely overlap throughout the bridge or can be separated into different parts of the bridge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use resolved spectroscopy from MaNGA to investigate the significance of both local and global properties of galaxies to the cessation of star formation at kpc scales. Quenched regions are identified from a sample of isolated disk galaxies by a single-parameter criterion D n (4000) - log EW(H α) > 1.6 − log 2 = 1.3 , and are divided into gas-rich quenched regions (GRQRs) and gas-poor quenched regions according to the surface density of cold gas (Σgas). Both types of quenched regions tend to be hosted by non-AGN galaxies with relatively high mass (M * ≳ 1010 M ⊙) and red colors (NUV − r ≳ 3), as well as low star formation rate and high central density at fixed mass. They span wide ranges in other properties including structural parameters that are similar to the parent sample, indicating that the conditions responsible for quenching in gas-rich regions are largely independent of the global properties of galaxies. We train random forest classifiers and regressors for predicting quenching in our sample with 15 local/global properties. Σ* is the most important property for quenching, especially for GRQRs. These results strongly indicate the important roles of low-mass hot evolved stars, which are numerous and long-lived in quenched regions and can provide substantial radiation pressure to support the surrounding gas against gravitational collapse. The different feature importance for quenching, as found previously by A. F. L. Bluck et al., is partly due to the different definitions of quenched regions, particularly the different requirements on EW(H α). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ongoing deep integral-field spectroscopy (IFS) observations of disc galaxies provide opportunities for comparison with the Milky Way (MW) to understand galaxy evolution. However, such comparisons are marred by many challenges such as selection effects, differences in observations and methodology, and proper validation of full-spectrum fitting methods. In this study, we present a novel code GalCraft to address these challenges by generating mock IFS data cubes of the MW using simple stellar population models and a mock MW stellar catalogue derived from E-galaxia. We use the widely adopted full-spectrum fitting code ppxf to investigate the ability to recover kinematics and stellar populations for an edge-on mock MW IFS observation. We confirm that differences in kinematics, mean age, |$[\mathrm{M/H}]$|⁠ , and |$[\mathrm{\alpha /Fe}]$| between thin and thick discs can be distinguished. However, the age distribution is overestimated in the ranges between |$2{-}4$| and |$12{-}14$|  Gyr compared to the expected values. This is likely due to the age spacing and degeneracy of SSP templates. We find systematic offsets in the recovered kinematics due to insufficient spectral resolution and the variation of line-of-sight velocity distribution with age and |$[\mathrm{M/H}]$|⁠. With future higher resolution and multi- |$[\mathrm{\alpha /Fe}]$| simple stellar population templates, GalCraft will be useful to validate key signatures such as |$[\mathrm{\alpha /Fe}]$| – |$[\mathrm{M/H}]$| distribution at different R and |$|z|$| and potentially infer radial migration and kinematic heating efficiency to study detailed chemodynamical evolution of MW-like galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use high-resolution magnetohydrodynamic simulations of isolated disc galaxies to investigate the co-evolution of magnetic fields with a self-regulated, star-forming interstellar medium (ISM). The simulations are conducted using the ramses adaptive mesh refinement code on the standard agora initial condition, with gas cooling, star formation, and feedback. We run galaxies with a variety of initial magnetic field strengths. The fields evolve and achieve approximate saturation within 500 Myr, but at different levels. The galaxies reach a quasi-steady state, with slowly declining star formation due to both gas consumption and increase in the field strength at intermediate ISM densities. We connect this behaviour to differences in the gas properties and overall structure of the galaxies. Stronger magnetic fields limit supernova bubble sizes. Different cases support the ISM using varying combinations of magnetic pressure, turbulence, and thermal energy. Initially, |$\gtrsim\!\! 1\ \mu \mathrm{ G}$| magnetic fields evolve modestly and dominate support at all radii. Conversely, initially weaker fields grow through feedback and turbulence but never dominate the support. This is reflected in the stability of the gas disc. This interplay determines the overall distribution of star formation in each case. We conclude that an initially weak field can grow to produce a realistic model of a local disc galaxy, but starting with typically assumed field strengths (⁠|$\gtrsim\!\! 1\ \mu \mathrm{ G}$|⁠) will not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use high-resolution (⁠|$\simeq$| 35pc) hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation to investigate the relation between gas accretion and star formation in galaxies hosted by dark matter haloes of mass |$10^{12}$| |${{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }}$| at |$z = 2$|⁠. At high-redshift, cold-accreted gas is expected to be readily available for star formation, while gas accreted in a hot mode is expected to require a longer time to cool down before being able to form stars. Contrary to these expectations, we find that the majority of cold-accreted gas takes several hundred Myr longer to form stars than hot-accreted gas after it reaches the inner circumgalactic medium (CGM). Approximately 10 per cent of the cold-accreted gas flows rapidly through the inner CGM on to the galactic disc. The remaining 90 per cent is trapped in a turbulent accretion region that extends up to |$\sim 50$|  per cent of the virial radius, from which it takes several hundred Myr for the gas to be transported to the star-forming disc. In contrast, most hot shock-heated gas avoids this 'slow track', and accretes directly from the CGM on to the disc where stars can form. We find that shock-heating of cold gas after accretion in the inner CGM and supernova-driven outflows contribute to, but do not fully explain, the delay in star formation. These processes combined slow down the delivery of cold-accreted gas to the galactic disc and consequently limit the rate of star formation in Milky Way mass galaxies at |$z \gt 2$|⁠. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stellar halos of galaxies retain crucial clues to their mass assembly history. It is in these galactic components that the remains of cannibalised galactic building blocks are deposited. For the case of the Milky Way, the opportunity to analyse the stellar halo's structure on a star-by-star basis in a multi-faceted approach provides a basis from which to infer its past and assembly history in unrivalled detail. Moreover, the insights that can be gained about the formation of the Galaxy not only help constrain the evolution of our Milky Way, but may also help place constraints on the formation of other disc galaxies in the Universe. This paper includes a summary of work undertaken during a PhD thesis aiming to make progress toward answering the most fundamental question in the field of Galactic archaeology: "How did the Milky Way form?" Through the effort to answer this question, we summarise new insights into aspects of the history of assembly and evolution of our Galaxy and measurements of the structure of various of its Galactic components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study outlines a detailed investigation using CCD UBV and Gaia DR3 data sets of the two open clusters Ruprecht 1 (Rup‐1) and Ruprecht 171 (Rup‐171). Fundamental astrophysical parameters such as color excesses, photometric metallicities, ages, and isochrone distances were based on UBV‐data analyses, whereas membership probability calculations, structural and astrophysical parameters, as well as the kinematic analyses were based on Gaia DR3‐data. We identified 74 and 596 stars as the most probable cluster members with membership probabilities over 50% for Rup‐1 and Rup‐171, respectively. The color excesses E(B−V)$$ E\left(B-V\right) $$ were obtained as 0.166±0.022$$ 0.166\pm 0.022 $$ and 0.301±0.027$$ 0.301\pm 0.027 $$ mag for Rup‐1 and Rup‐171, respectively. Photometric metallicity analyses were performed by considering F‐G type main‐sequence member stars and found to be [Fe/H]=−0.09±0.16$$ \left[\mathrm{Fe}/\mathrm{H}\right]=-0.09\pm 0.16 $$ and [Fe/H]=−0.20±0.20$$ \left[\mathrm{Fe}/\mathrm{H}\right]=-0.20\pm 0.20 $$ dex for Rup‐1 and Rup‐171, respectively. Ages and distances were based on both UBV and Gaia‐data analyses; according to isochrone‐fitting these values were estimated to be t=580±60$$ t=580\pm 60 $$ Myr, d=1469±57$$ d=1469\pm 57 $$ pc for Rup‐1 and t=2700±200$$ t=2700\pm 200 $$ Myr, d=1509±69$$ d=1509\pm 69 $$ pc for Rup‐171. The present‐day mass function slope of Rup‐1 was estimated as 1.26±0.32$$ 1.26\pm 0.32 $$ and Rup‐171 as 1.53±1.49$$ 1.53\pm 1.49 $$. Galactic orbit integration analyses showed that both of the clusters might be formed outside the solar circle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early-type dwarf galaxies constitute a prevalent population in the central regions of rich groups and clusters in the local Universe. These low-luminosity and low-mass stellar systems play a fundamental role in the assembly of the luminous galaxies observed today, according to the Lambda cold dark matter hierarchical theory. The origin of early-type dwarfs has been linked to the transformation of disc galaxies interacting with the intracluster medium, especially in dense environments. However, the existence of low-luminosity early-type galaxies in low-density environments presents a challenge to this scenario. This study presents a comprehensive photometric and spectroscopic analysis of the early-type dwarf galaxy CGCG014−074 using deep Gemini GMOS (Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph) data, focusing on its peculiarities and evolutionary implications. CGCG014−074 exhibits distinct features, including a rotating inner disc, an extended stellar formation with a quiescent phase since about 2 Gyr ago, and the presence of boxy isophotes. From the kinematic analysis, we confirm CGCG014−074 as a nucleated early-type dwarf galaxy with embedded disc. The study of its stellar population parameters using different methods provides significant insights into the galaxy's evolutionary history. These results show an old and metal-poor nucleus (⁠|${\sim}9.3$| Gyr and |$\mathrm{[Z/H]}\sim -0.84$| dex), while the stellar disc is younger (⁠|${\sim}4.4$| Gyr) with a higher metallicity (⁠|$\mathrm{[Z/H]}\sim -0.40$| dex). These distinctive features collectively position CGCG014−074 as a likely building block galaxy that has evolved passively throughout its history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Milky Way analogues (MWAs) provide an alternative insight into the various pathways that lead to the formation of disc galaxies with similar properties to the Milky Way (MW). In this study, we explore different selection techniques for identifying MWAs in the Sydney-AAO (Australian Astronomical Observatory) Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey. We utilize a nearest neighbours method to define MWAs using four selection parameters including stellar mass (⁠|$M_{\star }$|⁠), star formation rate (⁠|$\rm SFR$|⁠), bulge-to-total ratio (⁠|$B/T$|⁠), and disc effective radius (⁠|$R_{\rm {e}}$|⁠). Based on 15 different selection combinations, we find that including |$M_{\star }$| and SFR is essential for minimizing biases in the average MWA properties as compared to the MW. Furthermore, given the MW's smaller than average size, selection combinations without |$R_{\rm {e}}$| result in MWAs being too large. Lastly, we find that |$B/T$| is the least important parameter out of the four tested parameters. Using all four selection criteria, we define the top 10 most MW-like galaxies in the GAMA and Cluster regions of the SAMI survey. These most MW-like galaxies are typically barred spirals, with kinematically cold rotating discs and reside in a wide range of environments. Surprisingly, we find no significant differences between the MWAs selected from the GAMA and Cluster regions. Our work highlights the importance of using multiple selection criteria for finding MWAs and also demonstrates potential biases in previous MWA studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the nature of spiral arms is essential for understanding the formation of the intricate disc structure of the Milky Way. The European Space Agency's Gaia mission has provided revolutionary observational data that have uncovered detailed kinematical features of stars in the Milky Way. However, so far the nature of spiral arms continues to remain a mystery. Here, we present that the stellar kinematics traced by the classical Cepheids around the Perseus and Outer spiral arms in the Milky Way show strikingly different kinematical properties from each other: the radial and azimuthal velocities of Cepheids show positive and negative correlations in the Perseus and Outer arms, respectively. We also found that the dynamic spiral arms commonly seen in an N -body/hydrodynamic simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy can naturally explain the observed kinematic trends. Furthermore, a comparison with such a simulation suggests that the Perseus arm is being disrupted, while the Outer arm is growing. Our findings suggest that two neighbouring spiral arms in distinct evolutionary phases – growing and disrupting phases – coexist in the Milky Way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warps are common vertical asymmetries that appear in the outer parts of the galactic discs, bending one part upwards and the other downwards. Many mechanisms can trigger warp formation, including tidal interactions. The interactions with satellites distort the edges of the disc and can also change the central morphology, impacting, for example, the development of a galactic bar. In mergers events, the bar can be weakened or even destroyed. In this study, we aim to compare barred and non-barred galaxy models and their susceptibility to warping. To analyse the effects of induced warps, we used N -body simulations of a barred and a non-barred central galaxy interacting with satellites of varying masses (⁠|$0.1 \times 10^{10}\, \mathrm{{\rm M}_{\odot }}$|⁠ , |$0.5 \times 10^{10}\, \mathrm{{\rm M}_{\odot }}$|⁠ , and |$1 \times 10^{10}\, \mathrm{{\rm M}_{\odot }}$|⁠) and initial orbital radii (10, 20, and 30 kpc). We also ran isolated simulations of the central galaxies for comparison. We found that the induced warps are stronger in the barred galaxy compared with the non-barred galaxy, in perturbed and isolated models. In addition, the masses of the satellites determine the level of destruction of the bar and the intensity of the induced warp. The time in which the bar will be weakened or destroyed depends on the orbital radius of the satellite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present quantizer , a new collisionless N -body code tailored for cosmological and galaxy-scale simulations. The code uses the particle-mesh method, combined with a novel adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) technique. The design of the AMR method of quantizer maximizes the efficient use of refinement zones by combining a cell-by-cell scheme with parallelization-friendly regular patches. We test the code using three astrophysical systems: a binary system of two particles without AMR to test orbital accuracy; an isolated elliptical galaxy modelled as a Plummer sphere; and a merger of two disc galaxies. Comparisons are made with the well-known particle-mesh AMR code ramses , and with our own direct particle-particle solver. The results show that the accuracy of quantizer is equal to or better than ramses , and the runtime is approximately 2.5 to 10 times faster than that code, depending on the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Recent evidence from spectroscopic surveys points towards the presence of a metal-poor, young stellar population in the low- α, chemically thin disk. In this context, the investigation of the spatial distribution and time evolution of precise, unbiased abundances is fundamental to disentangle the scenarios of formation and evolution of the Galaxy. Aims. We study the evolution of abundance gradients in the Milky Way by taking advantage of a large sample of open star clusters, which are among the best tracers for this purpose. In particular, we used data from the last release of the Gaia-ESO survey. Methods. We performed a careful selection of open cluster member stars, excluding those members that may be affected by biases in spectral analysis. We compared the cleaned open cluster sample with detailed chemical evolution models for the Milky Way, using well-tested stellar yields and prescription for radial migration. We tested different scenarios of Galaxy evolution to explain the data, namely, the two-infall and the three-infall frameworks, which suggest the chemical thin disk is formed by one or two subsequent gas accretion episodes, respectively. Results. With the performed selection in cluster member stars, we still find a metallicity decrease between intermediate-age (1 < Age/Gyr < 3) and young (Age < 1 Gyr) open clusters. This decrease cannot be explained in the context of the two-infall scenario, even by accounting for the effect of migration and yield prescriptions. The three-infall framework, with its late gas accretion in the last 3 Gyr, is able to explain the low metallic content in young clusters. However, we have invoked a milder metal dilution for this gas infall episode relative to previous findings. Conclusions. To explain the observed low metallic content in young clusters, we propose that a late gas accretion episode triggering a metal dilution would have taken place, extending the framework of the three-infall model for the first time to the entire Galactic disk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. The Milky Way's history of recent disturbances is vividly demonstrated by a structure in the vertical phase-space distribution known as the Gaia phase spiral. A one-armed phase spiral has been seen widely across the Milky Way disc, while a two-armed one has only been observed in the solar neighbourhood. Aims. This study aims to determine the properties of the two-armed phase spiral and to put it in a Galactic context, with the ultimate goal of understanding the structure and history of the Milky Way disc. Methods. The Gaia DR3 data were used to trace and characterise the two-armed phase spiral. Special focus was put on the phase spiral's spatial distribution, rotational behaviour, and chemical characteristics. To quantify the properties of the phase spiral, we used a model that fits a spiral pattern to the phase space distribution of the stars. Results. We found that the two-armed phase spiral is detectable only within a narrow range of galactocentric distances and angular momenta in the solar neighbourhood, R = 8 ± 0.5 kpc, LZ = 1450 ± 50 kpc km s−1. Outside this region, the phase spiral is one-armed. The two-armed phase spiral rotates with the phase angle, in a similar way to the one-armed phase spiral, and changes axis ratio with phase angle. Additionally, stars within the phase-space overdensity caused by the two-armed phase spiral pattern have slightly higher mean metallicity than stars in the underdense regions of the pattern at equivalent galactocentric distances, angular momenta, and vertical orbit extents. Conclusions. The two-armed phase spiral rotates with phase angle and its effect can be seen in metallicity, in a similar way to the one-armed phase spiral. However, the limited range over which it can be found, and its variation in shape are quite different from the one-armed version, suggesting it is a much more localised phenomenon in the Galactic disc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. The chemical evolution of neutron capture elements in the Milky Way is still a matter of debate. Although more and more studies investigate their chemical behaviour, there is still a lack of a significant large sample of abundances of a key heavy element: lead. Aims. Lead is the final product of the s-process nucleosynthesis channel and is one of the most stable heavy elements. The goal of this article is to present the largest catalogue of homogeneous Pb abundances, in particular for metallicities higher than −1.0 dex, and then to study the lead content of the Milky Way. Methods. We analysed high-resolution spectra from the ESO UVES and FEROS archives. Atmospheric parameters were taken from the AMBRE parametrisation. We used the automated abundance method GAUGUIN to derive lead abundances in 653 slow-rotating FGK-type stars from the 368.34 nm Pb I line. Results. We present the largest catalogue of Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE) and non-LTE lead abundances ever published with metallicities ranging from −2.9 to 0.6 dex and [Pb/Fe] from −0.7 to 3.3 dex. Within this sample, no lead-enhanced Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars were found, but nine lead-enhanced metal-poor stars ([Pb/Fe] > 1.5) were detected. Most of them were already identified as carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars with enrichments in other s-process species. The lead abundance of 13 Gaia Benchmark Stars are also provided. We then investigated the Pb content of the Milky Way disc by computing vertical and radial gradients and found a slightly decreasing [Pb/Fe] radial trend with metallicity. This trend together with other related ratios ([Pb/Eu], [Pb/Ba], and [Pb/α]) are interpreted thanks to chemical evolution models. The two-infall model closely reproduces the observed trends with respect to the metallicity. It is also found that the AGB contribution to the Pb Galactic enrichment has to be strongly reduced. Moreover, the contribution of massive stars with rather high rotational velocities should be favoured in the low-metallicity regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Analysis of several spectroscopic surveys indicates the presence of a bimodality between the disc stars in the abundance ratio space of [α/Fe] versus [Fe/H]. The two stellar groups are commonly referred to as the high-α and low-α sequences. Some models capable of reproducing such a bimodality invoke the presence of a hiatus in the star formation history in our Galaxy, whereas other models explain the two sequences by means of stellar migration. Aims. Our aim is to show that the existence of the gap in the star formation rate between high-α and low-α is evident in the stars of APOGEE DR17, if one plots [Fe/α] versus [α/H], confirming previous suggestions. We then try to interpret the data by means of detailed chemical models. Methods. We compare the APOGEE DR17 red giant stars with the predictions of a detailed chemical evolution model based on the two-infall paradigm, taking into account also the possible accretion of dwarf satellites. Results. The APOGEE DR17 abundance ratios [Fe/α] versus [α/H] exhibit a sharp increase in [Fe/α] at a nearly constant [α/H] (where α elements considered are Mg, Si, O) during the transition between the two disc phases. This observation strongly supports the hypothesis that a hiatus in star formation occurred during this evolutionary phase. Notably, the most pronounced growth in the [Fe/α] versus [α/H] relation is observed for oxygen, as this element is exclusively synthesised in core-collapse supernovae. The revised version of the two-infall chemical evolution model proposed in this study reproduces the APOGEE DR17 abundance ratios better than before. Particularly noteworthy is the model's ability to predict the hiatus in the star formation between the two infalls of gas, which form the thick and thin disc, respectively, and thus generate abundance ratios compatible with APOGEE DR17 data. Conclusions. We show that the signature of a hiatus in the star formation is imprinted in the APOGEE DR17 abundance ratios. A chemical model predicting a pause in the star formation of a duration of roughly 3.5 Gyr, and in which the high-α disc starts forming from pre-enriched gas by a previous encounter with a dwarf galaxy, could well explain the observations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stellar halos of galaxies, primarily formed through the accretion and merger of smaller objects, are an important tool for understanding the hierarchical mass assembly of galaxies. However, the inner regions of stellar halos in disk galaxies are predicted to have an in situ component that is expected to be prominent along the major axis. Kinematic information is crucial to disentangle the contribution of the in situ component from the accreted stellar halos. The low surface brightness of stellar halos makes it inaccessible with traditional integrated light spectroscopy. In this work, we used a novel technique to study the kinematics of the stellar halo of the edge-on galaxy NGC 4945. We couple new deep Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer spectroscopic observations with existing Hubble Space Telescope imaging data to spectroscopically measure the line-of-sight (LOS) heliocentric velocity and velocity dispersion in two fields at a galactocentric distance of 12.2 kpc (outer disk field) and 34.6 kpc (stellar halo field) along the NGC 4945 major axis, by stacking individual spectra of red giant branch and asymptotic giant branch stars. We obtained a LOS velocity and dispersion of 673 ± 11 km s−1 and 73 ± 14 km s−1, respectively, for the outer disk field. This is consistent with the mean HI velocity of the disk at that distance. For the halo field, we obtained a LOS velocity and dispersion of 519 ± 12 km s−1 and 42 ± 22 km s−1. The halo fields' velocity measurement is within ∼40 km s−1 from the systemic LOS velocity of NGC 4945, which is 563 km s−1, suggesting that its stellar halo at 34.6 kpc along the major axis is counter-rotating and its origins are likely to be the result of accretion. This provides the first-ever kinematic measurement of the stellar halo of a Milky Way-mass galaxy outside the Local Group from its resolved stellar population. Thus, we have established a powerful technique for measuring the velocity field for the stellar halos of nearby galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Optical integral field spectroscopy of planetary nebulae (PNe) offers a unique tool to explore the spatial relationships between the complex mixture of the many components (neutral, low- and high-ionisation gas, dust, and the central star) and their underlying physical conditions. Aims. The optical line and continuum emission in the very-high-ionisation Galactic PN, NGC 4361, were mapped to study the distribution of ionisation, extinction, electron temperature, and density. Methods. Based on commissioning data, MUSE Wide Field (60×60″) normal-mode (4750–9300 Å) observations of NGC 4361 were reduced. The PN is larger than a single MUSE field and only the central 1 arcmin2 of the PN was observed in good conditions. Emission images in recombination and collisionally excited lines were extracted and the line ratios provided the dust extinction, electron density and temperature, and ionic abundances using standard techniques. A family of compact low-ionisation knots (dubbed 'freckles') was discovered and techniques developed to measure their spectra, independently of the extended high-ionisation medium. Results. The nebula is confirmed as optically thin in the H-ionising continuum, based on its very low He I emission, even to the edges of the field. The electron temperature, Te, is shown to have a large-scale spatially coherent structure, as indicated by a previous long-slit spectrum. Prior to this study, no low-ionisation emission had been positively detected, although MUSE revealed both weak extended [N II] and [O II] and >100 spatially unresolved knots. There are several linear associations of these knots, but none of them point convincingly back to the central star. They have low-to-moderate ionisation with Te~ 11 000 K, Ne ~ 1500 cm−3 and generally exhibit a higher extinction than the extended high-ionisation nebula. Within the MUSE field, a low-redshift emission-line galaxy was serendipitously found to be hiding behind NGC 4361. The spectrum of this dwarf galaxy was carefully extracted from the bright foreground nebular emission and the galaxy's line and continuum properties were then determined. Conclusions. NGC 4361 is not completely optically thin, as indicated by several extended regions and many compact features of lower ionisation emission. The low-ionisation 'freckles' identified here do not clearly appear to differ in (He, N, O, S) abundance with respect to the extended high-ionisation gas. The spatial distribution and radial velocities of these features suggest that they belong to a thick disk oriented perpendicular to the large-scale nebular gas, which may perhaps be remnants of an earlier structure. The low-luminosity disk galaxy at ~87 Mpc has bright H II regions with metallicity 12+log(O/H) ≅ 8.4 and is suggested to be a Magellanic irregular or low-mass spiral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. The properties of nearby stars bear the imprint of the formation and evolution of the Milky Way (MW). Reconstructing its history requires the determination of precise ages for large samples of stars over long periods. Aims. The present study aims to address the evolution of the MW disc in the region where the Sun and nearby Sun-like stars formed. Methods. The evolution of the disc composition in that region during the last 6 Gyr was inferred from the mean abundances of various chemical elements in nearby Sun-like stars. Their age was estimated from their mean chromospheric activity index using an empirical age–activity relationship derived from stellar rotation period measurements in intermediate-age open clusters. The mean abundances versus age of the sample stars were compared with chemical evolution models of metal-rich gaseous discs experiencing an infall of pristine gas after a quenching period of star formation. Results. The chemical composition of the sample stars reveals two distinct evolutionary trends. Light α elements and iron-peak elements show increasing abundances relative to iron with age. In contrast, the abundance ratios of s-process elements decay with age. Models that best fit the mean abundances of the sample stars as a function of age concur to a gas infall and a concomitant burst of star formation that occurred between 6.2 and 5.5 Gyr ago. Conclusions. This timeline is consistent with a scenario where the first close pericentric passage of the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf galaxy ~5.7 Gyr ago induced an infall of metal-poor gas onto the MW disc and a major burst of star formation. The most massive stars that formed in this event rapidly released α elements via type II supernovae explosions, while intermediate-mass stars returned s-process elements on much longer timescales. The first encounter of the Sgr galaxy with the MW played an important role in determining the long-term evolution of the interstellar medium (ISM) composition in the region of the disc where the Sun and Sun-like stars formed, thus explaining the observed correlations between their chemical abundances and their age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Recent works use a linear birth metallicity gradient to estimate the evolution of the [Fe/H] profile in the Galactic disk over time, and infer stellar birth radii (Rbirth) from [Fe/H] and age measurements. These estimates rely on the evolution of [Fe/H] at the Galactic center ([Fe/H](0, τ)) and the birth metallicity gradient (∇[Fe/H](τ)) over time – quantities that are unknown and inferred under key assumptions. Aims. In this work, we use the sample of Milky Way and Andromeda analogues from the TNG50 simulation to investigate the ability to recover [Fe/H](R, τ) in a variety of galaxies. Methods. Using stellar disk particles, we tested the assumptions required in estimating Rbirth, [Fe/H](0, τ), and ∇[Fe/H](τ) using recently proposed methods to understand when they are valid. Results. We show that ∇[Fe/H](τ) can be recovered in most galaxies to within 26% from the range in [Fe/H] across age, with better accuracy for more massive and stronger barred galaxies. We also find that the true central metallicity is unrepresentative of the genuine disk [Fe/H] profile; thus we propose to use a projected central metallicity instead. About half of the galaxies in our sample do not have a continuously enriching projected central metallicity, with a dilution in [Fe/H] correlating with mergers. Most importantly, galaxy-specific [Fe/H](R, τ) can be constrained and confirmed by requiring the Rbirth distributions of mono-age, solar neighborhood populations to follow inside-out formation. Conclusions. We conclude that examining trends with Rbirth is valid for the Milky Way disk and similarly structured galaxies, where we expect Rbirth can be recovered to within 20% assuming today's measurement uncertainties in TNG50. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We derived the metallicity profile of the Milky Way low-α disc population from 2 to 20 kpc from the Galactic centre in 1 Gyr age bins using the astroNN catalogue, and we show that it is highly structured, with a plateau between 4 and 7 kpc and a break at 10–12 kpc. We argue that these features result from the two main bar resonances, the corotation and the outer Lindblad resonance (OLR), respectively. We show that the break in the metallicity profile is most visible in stars having 7–8 Gyr, reaching an amplitude of about 0.4 dex, and it is the signpost of the position of the bar OLR. The bar formation was accompanied by an episode of radial migration triggered by it slowing down and it is responsible for spreading old metal-rich stars up to the OLR. The data show that the slowdown of the bar ended 6–7 Gyr ago. Based on numerical simulations that reproduce well the characteristic break observed in the metallicity profile, we argue that this implies that the bar formed in our Galaxy 8–10 Gyr ago. Analysis of the metallicity distribution as a function of radius shows no evidence of significant systematic outward radial migration after this first episode. We argue that the variation of the metallicity dispersion as a function of the guiding radius is dominated by the migration triggered by the bar, but also that the libration of orbits around the bar resonances induces a mixing that may have a significant impact on the observed metallicity dispersion. In contrast, the absence of a break in the metallicity profile of populations younger than ∼6 Gyr and the flattening of the gradient at younger ages is interpreted as evidence that the strength of the bar has decreased, loosening its barrier effect and allowing the gas and metals on both sides of the OLR to mix, erasing the break. Beyond the OLR, stars younger than 7 Gyr show very small metallicity dispersion, suggesting that no or limited mixing induced by the spiral arms has occurred in the outer disc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method to describe the hidden mass effect or dark matter has been proposed on the basis of a new general solution of the Poisson equation for the gravitational field strength in a continuous self-gravitating medium. This solution is a consequence of the theory of space and matter alternative to the general relativity. Conditions have been derived to distinguish between the cases where the obtained solution describes the classical Newtonian gravitational field and the cases where this solution leads to the hidden mass effect. The representation obtained for the gravitational field strength has been analyzed within the model of the dynamic equilibrium of disk galaxies and the possibility of describing the observed properties of the hidden mass effect within this approach has been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how the stellar rotational support changes as a function of spatially resolved stellar population age (⁠|$D_n4000$|⁠) and relative central stellar surface density (⁠|$\Delta \Sigma _1$|⁠) for MaNGA isolated/central disc galaxies. We find that the galaxy rotational support indicator |$\lambda _{R_\mathrm{e}}$| varies smoothly as a function of |$\Delta \Sigma _1$| and |$D_n4000$|⁠. |$D_n4000$| versus |$\Delta \Sigma _1$| follows a 'J-shape', with |$\lambda _{R_\mathrm{e}}$| contributing to the scatters. In this 'J-shaped' pattern rotational support increases with central |$D_n4000$| when |$\Delta \Sigma _1$| is low but decreases with |$\Delta \Sigma _1$| when |$\Delta \Sigma _1$| is high. Restricting attention to low- |$\Delta \Sigma _1$| (i.e. large-radius) galaxies, we suggest that the trend of increasing rotational support with |$D_n4000$| for these objects is produced by a mix of two different processes, a primary trend characterized by growth in |$\lambda _{R_\mathrm{e}}$| along with mass through gas accretion, on top of which disturbance episodes are overlaid, which reduce rotational support and trigger increased star formation. An additional finding is that star-forming galaxies with low |$\Delta \Sigma _1$| have relatively larger radii than galaxies with higher |$\Delta \Sigma _1$| at fixed stellar mass. Assuming that these relative radii rankings are preserved while galaxies are star forming then implies clear evolutionary paths in central |$D_n4000$| versus |$\Delta \Sigma _1$|⁠. The paper closes with comments on the implications that these paths have for the evolution of pseudo-bulges versus classical bulges. The utility of using |$\rm D_n4000$| – |$\Delta \Sigma _1$| to study |$\lambda _{R_\mathrm{e}}$| reinforces the notion that galaxy kinematics correlate both with structure and with stellar-population state, and indicates the importance of a multidimensional description for understanding bulge and galaxy evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The baryonic mass–velocity relation provides an important test of different galaxy dynamics models such as Lambda–cold dark matter (Λ CDM) and alternatives like Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). Novel nonlinear density wave theory with a soliton solution gives an opportunity to test whether the derived rotational velocity expression is able to support the well known Tully–Fisher empirical relation between mass and rotation velocity in disk galaxies. Initial assumptions do not involve any larger dark matter halo that supports the stability of the very thin galactic disk nor any modified gravitational acceleration acting on galactic scales. It rather follows an important gravitational interaction between constituents of disk mass in the outer part of the disk via gravitational potential. Data are obtained by a fitting procedure applied on the sample of 81 rotational curves of late type spirals using expressions for the rotational velocity derived as an exact, a self-consistent solution of the nonlinear Schrodinger (NLS) equation for galactic surface mass density. The location of these selected objects in the baryonic mass–rotation velocity plane follows the relation log M b = 3.7 ± 0.2 log V f l a t + 2.7 ± 0.4 in marginal agreement with the findings in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North–South asymmetry in the number density and bulk velocity of stars in the Solar neighbourhood provides valuable insights into the formation and evolution of the Milky Way disc. Our objective is to investigate the wave-like disc oscillations of mono-age stellar populations in the Solar neighbourhood using data from Gaia Data Release 3. We have selected a comprehensive sample of main-sequence turn-off stars. The ages of these stars can be accurately determined using isochrone fitting methods. Our findings indicate that the North–South density and mean vertical velocity asymmetries remain consistent across all age groups. The uniformity of perturbations across all subsamples suggests that all populations are responding to the same external influence, which likely affects them irrespective of their age. Moreover, the fact that these perturbations appear consistently implies they could be either ongoing or recent. Regarding vertical velocity dispersions, we observe that older stars exhibit larger dispersions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of whether the Milky Way's disc extends to low metallicity has been the subject of debate for many years. We aim to address the question by employing a large sample of giant stars with radial velocities and homogeneous metallicities based on the Gaia Data Release 3 BP/RP(XP) spectra. We study the 3D velocity distribution of stars in various metallicity ranges, including the very metal-poor (VMP) regime (⁠|$\mathrm{[M/H]} < -2.0$|⁠). We find that a clear, stand-alone disc population, i.e. that with a ratio of rotational velocity to velocity dispersion |$v/\sigma > 1$|⁠ , starts to emerge only around |$\mathrm{[M/H]} \sim -1.3$|⁠ , and is not visible for |$\mathrm{[M/H]} < -1.6$|⁠. Using Gaussian mixture modelling, we show that there are two halo populations in the VMP regime: one stationary and one with a net prograde rotation of |$\sim\!\! 80\ \mathrm{km\, s}^{-1}$|⁠. In this low-metallicity range, we are able to place constraints on the contribution of a rotation-supported thick disc sub-population to a maximum of |$\sim\!\! 3$| per cent in our sample. We compare our results to previous claims of discy VMP stars in both observations and simulations and find that having a prograde halo component could explain most of these. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study solutions of the collisionless Boltzmann equation (CBE) in a functional Koopman representation. This facilitates the use of linear spectral techniques characteristic of the analysis of Schrödinger-type equations. For illustrative purposes, we consider the classical phase mixing of a non-interacting distribution function in a quartic potential. Solutions are determined perturbatively relative to a harmonic oscillator. We impose a form of coarse-graining by choosing a finite-dimensional basis to represent the distribution function and time evolution operators, which sets a minimum length-scale on phase space structure. We observe a relationship between the dimension of the representation and the multiplicity of the harmonic oscillator eigenvalues. System dynamics are understood in terms of degenerate subspaces of the linear operator spectra. Each subspace is associated with a mode of the harmonic oscillator, the first two being bending and breathing structures. The quartic potential splits the degenerate eigenvalues within each subspace. This facilitates the formation of spiral structure as deformations from the harmonic oscillator modes. We ultimately argue that this construction provides a promising avenue for study of self-interacting systems experiencing phase mixing, which is an outstanding problem in the context of the Gaia DR2 vertical phase space spirals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 (⁠|$\mathrm{[Fe/H]}\gt 0.2$|⁠) 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 |$R_g\gtrsim 5 \,{\rm kpc}$|⁠. Furthermore, about half of the super metal-rich stars are on non-circular orbits (⁠|$\mathrm{ecc} \gt 0.15$|⁠) 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study presents a theoretical framework for understanding the role of dark matter on the stability of the galactic disc. We model the galaxy as a two-component system consisting of stars and gas in equilibrium with an external dark matter halo. We derive the equations governing the growth of perturbations and obtain a stability criterion that connects the potential of the dark matter halo and the gas fraction with the stability levels of the galaxy. We find that a two-component disc is more susceptible to the growth of gravitational instabilities than individual components, particularly as gas fractions increase. However, the external field, due to the dark matter halo, acts as a stabilizing agent and increases the net stability levels even in the presence of a cold gas component. We apply the stability criterion to models of the Milky Way, low surface brightness galaxies, and baryon-dominated cold rotating disc galaxies observed in the early universe. Our results show that the potential due to the dark matter halo plays a significant role in stabilizing nearby galaxies, such as the Milky Way, and low surface brightness galaxies, which would otherwise be prone to local gravitational instabilities. However, we find that the baryon-dominated cold disc galaxies observed in the early universe remain susceptible to the growth of local gravitational instabilities despite the stabilizing effect of the dark matter halo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gaseous, disc–halo interfaces are shaped by processes that are critical to galaxy evolution, including gas accretion and outflows. Extraplanar diffuse ionized gas (eDIG) layers are characterized by scale heights that largely exceed those predicted by their temperature, suggesting the presence of turbulent energy injection from star-formation feedback. However, the origin of this large-scale height remains uncertain. To explore the connection between eDIG and star-forming discs, we present a spatially resolved case study of a nearby pair of sub- |$L_*$|⁠ , intermediately inclined disc galaxies NGC 3511/3513. We decompose optical nebular lines observed using long-slit spectroscopy into narrow and broad velocity components. In NGC 3511, the broad component has three distinctive characteristics in comparison to the narrow component: (1) significantly higher velocity dispersions (a median |$\langle \sigma \rangle _{\text{Broad}} = 24$|  km s |$^{-1}$| compared to |$\langle \sigma \rangle _{\text{Narrow}} = 13$|  km s |$^{-1}$|⁠), (2) elevated [N  ii ] |$\lambda$| 6583/H |$\alpha$| and [S  ii ] |$\lambda$| 6716/H |$\alpha$| line ratios, and (3) a rotational velocity lag. These characteristics support the origin of the broad component in an extraplanar, gaseous disc. In NGC 3513, the broad component reveals disc–halo circulation via localized outflows at radius |$\lesssim 1$|  kpc. For NGC 3511, we test a vertical hydrostatic equilibrium model with pressure support supplied by thermal and turbulent motions. Under this assumption, the eDIG velocity dispersion corresponds to a scale height |$h_{z} \gtrsim 0.2 - 0.4$|  kpc at |$R = 3 - 5$|  kpc, a factor of a few above the thermal scale height (⁠|$h_{z} \lesssim 0.1$|  kpc). This highlights the importance of turbulent motions to the vertical structure of the gaseous, disc–halo interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of isolated Milky Way-mass disc galaxies that include cold, interstellar gas to test subgrid prescriptions for star formation (SF). Our fiducial model combines a Schmidt law with a gravitational instability criterion, but we also test density thresholds and temperature ceilings. While SF histories are insensitive to the prescription for SF, the Kennicutt–Schmidt (KS) relations between SF rate and gas surface density can discriminate between models. We show that our fiducial model, with an SF efficiency per free-fall time of 1 per cent, agrees with spatially resolved and azimuthally averaged observed KS relations for neutral, atomic, and molecular gas. Density thresholds do not perform as well. While temperature ceilings selecting cold, molecular gas can match the data for galaxies with solar metallicity, they are unsuitable for very low-metallicity gas and hence for cosmological simulations. We argue that SF criteria should be applied at the resolution limit rather than at a fixed physical scale, which means that we should aim for numerical convergence of observables rather than of the properties of gas labelled as star-forming. Our fiducial model yields good convergence when the mass resolution is varied by nearly 4 orders of magnitude, with the exception of the spatially resolved molecular KS relation at low surface densities. For the gravitational instability criterion, we quantify the impact on the KS relations of gravitational softening, the SF efficiency, and the strength of supernova feedback, as well as of observable parameters such as the inclusion of ionized gas, the averaging scale, and the metallicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The origin of diverse kinematic morphologies observed in low-mass galaxies is unclear. In this study, we investigate the kinematic morphologies of central galaxies with stellar mass |$10^{8.5-9.0}{\rm M}_{\odot }$| at |$z=0$| in the TNG50-1 cosmological simulation. The majority of the low-mass galaxies in TNG50-1 are dispersion-dominated, consistent with observations. By tracing the evolutionary histories of simulated low-mass galaxies, we find that while most stars form in rotating cold gas discs, the orientation of the star-forming discs relative to the galaxies may evolve with cosmic time. If the cold gas disc remains aligning with the galaxy during its evolution, stars formed at different times share the same rotational direction, leading to a rotation-dominated system. On the contrary, frequent misalignment of cold gas disc would result in a dispersion-dominated system. In addition, we also find that the two-body scattering can have a non-negligible numerical heating effect on the simulated galaxy morphology, especially at central regions of galaxies and for relatively low-mass galaxies. By comparing results of simulations with different resolutions, our results suggest that the simulated morphology of galaxies is roughly reliable when their number of stellar particles exceeds about |$10^{4}$|⁠ , and bulge morphology of galaxies can not be resolved robustly at the resolution level of TNG50-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the evidence that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) co-evolve with their host galaxy, and that most of the growth of these SMBHs occurs via merger-free processes, the underlying mechanisms which drive this secular co-evolution are poorly understood. We investigate the role that both strong and weak large-scale galactic bars play in mediating this relationship. Using 48 871 disc galaxies in a volume-limited sample from Galaxy Zoo DESI, we analyse the active galactic nucleus (AGN) fraction in strongly barred, weakly barred, and unbarred galaxies up to |$z = 0.1$| over a range of stellar masses and colours. After controlling for stellar mass and colour, we find that the optically selected AGN fraction is |$31.6 \pm 0.9$| per cent in strongly barred galaxies, |$23.3 \pm 0.8$| per cent in weakly barred galaxies, and |$14.2 \pm 0.6$| per cent in unbarred disc galaxies. These are highly statistically robust results, strengthening the tantalizing results in earlier works. Strongly barred galaxies have a higher fraction of AGNs than weakly barred galaxies, which in turn have a higher fraction than unbarred galaxies. Thus, while bars are not required in order to grow an SMBH in a disc galaxy, large-scale galactic bars appear to facilitate AGN fuelling, and the presence of a strong bar makes a disc galaxy more than twice as likely to host an AGN than an unbarred galaxy at all galaxy stellar masses and colours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our ability to trace the star-forming molecular gas is important to our understanding of the Universe. We can trace this gas using CO emission, converting the observed CO intensity into the H |$_2$| gas mass of the region using the CO-to-H |$_2$| conversion factor (⁠|$X_{\rm{{\small CO}}}$|⁠). In this paper, we use simulations to study the conversion factor and the molecular gas within galaxies. We analysed a suite of simulations of isolated disc galaxies, ranging from dwarfs to Milky Way-mass galaxies, that were run using the fire-2 subgrid models coupled to the chimes non-equilibrium chemistry solver. We use the non-equilibrium abundances from the simulations, and we also compare to results using abundances assuming equilibrium, which we calculate from the simulation in post-processing. Our non-equilibrium simulations are able to reproduce the relation between CO and H |$_2$| column densities, and the relation between |$X_{\rm{{\small CO}}}$| and metallicity, seen within observations of the Milky Way. We also compare to the xCOLD GASS survey, and find agreement with their data to our predicted CO luminosities at fixed star formation rate. We also find the multivariate function used by xCOLD GASS overpredicts the H |$_2$| mass for our simulations, motivating us to suggest an alternative multivariate function of our fitting, though we caution that this fitting is uncertain due to the limited range of galaxy conditions covered by our simulations. We also find that the non-equilibrium chemistry has little effect on the conversion factor (<5 per cent) for our high-mass galaxies, though still affects the H |$_2$| mass and |$L_{\rm{{\small CO}}}$| by |$\approx$| 25  per cent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Stellar bars are common morphological structures in the local Universe; according to optical and NIR surveys, they are present in about two-thirds of disc galaxies. These elongated structures are also believed to play a crucial role in secular evolutionary processes, because they are able to efficiently redistribute gas, stars, and angular momentum within their hosts, although it remains unclear as to whether they enhance or suppress star formation. A useful tool to investigate this ambiguity is the main sequence (MS) relation, which tightly links stellar mass (M⋆) and star formation rate (SFR). Aims. The main goal of this work is to explore star-formation processes in barred galaxies in order to assess the relevance of bars in star-formation quenching and whether or not they affect the typical log-linear trend of the resolved MS. Methods. To this purpose, we carried out a spatially resolved analysis on subkiloparsec (subkpc) scales for a sample of six nearby barred galaxies. We collected multi-wavelength photometric data from far-ultraviolet (FUV) to far-infrared (FIR) from the DustPedia database and applied a panchromatic spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting procedure on square apertures of fixed angular size (8″ × 8″) using the magphys code. Results. For each galaxy, we obtain the distributions of stellar mass and SFR surface density and relate them in the log Σ⋆ − log ΣSFR plane, deriving the spatially resolved MS relation. Although significant galaxy-to-galaxy variations are in place, we infer the presence of a common anti-correlation track in correspondence with the bar-hosting region, which shows systematically lower SFRs. This central quiescent signature can be interpreted as the result of a bar-driven depletion of gas reservoirs and a consequent halting of star formation. Our findings appear to support an inside-out quenching scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clumpy nature of gas-rich galaxies at cosmic noon raises the question of universality of the scaling relations and average properties of the star-forming structures. Using controlled simulations of disk galaxies and varying only the gas fraction, we show that the influence of the galactic environments (large-scale turbulence, tides, and shear) contributes, together with the different regime of instabilities, to setting a diversity of physical conditions for the formation and evolution of gas clumps from low to high gas fractions. However, the distributions of gas clumps at all gas fractions follow similar scaling relations as Larson's, suggesting the universality of median properties. Yet, we find that the scatter around these relations significantly increases with the gas fraction, allowing for the presence of massive, large, and highly turbulent clouds in gas-rich disks in addition to a more classical population of clouds. Clumps with an excess of mass for their size are slightly denser, more centrally concentrated, and host more abundant and faster star formation. We find that the star formation activity (rate, efficiency, and depletion time) correlates much more strongly with the excess of mass than with the mass itself. Our results suggest the existence of universal scaling relations for gas clumps but with redshift-dependent scatters, which calls for deeper and more complete census of the populations of star-forming clumps and young stellar clusters at cosmic noon and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiral arms, as those of our own Milky Way, are some of the most spectacular features in disc galaxies. It has been argued that star formation should proceed more efficiently in spiral arms as a result of gas compression. Yet, observational studies have so far yielded contradictory results. Here, we examine arm/interarm surface density contrasts at ∼100 pc resolution in 28 spiral galaxies from the PHANGS survey. We find that the arm/interarm contrast in stellar mass surface density (Σ⋆) is very modest, typically a few tens of percent. This is much smaller than the contrasts measured for molecular gas (Σmol) or star formation rate (ΣSFR) surface density, which typically reach a factor of ∼2 − 3. However, Σmol and ΣSFR contrasts show a significant correlation with the enhancement in Σ⋆, suggesting that the small stellar contrast largely dictates the stronger accumulation of gas and star formation. All these contrasts increase for grand-design spirals compared to multi-armed and flocculent systems (and for galaxies with high stellar mass). The median star formation efficiency (SFE) of the molecular gas is 16% higher in spiral arms than in interarm regions, with a large scatter, and the contrast increases significantly (median SFE contrast 2.34) for regions of particularly enhanced stellar contrast (Σ⋆ contrast > 1.97). The molecular-to-atomic gas ratio (Σmol/Σatom) is higher in spiral arms, pointing to a transformation of atomic to molecular gas. As a consequence, the total gas contrast (Σmol + Σatom) slightly drops compared to Σmol (median 4% lower, working at ∼kpc resolution), while the SFE contrast increases when we include atomic gas (median 8% higher than for Σmol). The contrasts show important fluctuations with galactocentric radius. We confirm that our results are robust against a number of effects, such as spiral mask width, tracers, resolution, and binning. In conclusion, the boost in the SFE of molecular gas in spiral arms is generally modest or absent, except for locations with exceptionally large stellar contrasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. The study of the Milky Way is living a golden era thanks to the enormous high-quality datasets delivered by Gaia, and space asteroseismic and ground-based spectroscopic surveys. However, the current major challenge to reconstructing the chronology of the Milky Way is the difficulty to derive precise stellar ages for large samples of stars. The colour–magnitude diagram (CMD) fitting technique offers an alternative to individual age determinations to derive the star formation history (SFH) of complex stellar populations. Aims. Our aim is to obtain a detailed dynamically evolved SFH (deSFH) of the solar neighbourhood, and the age and metallicity distributions that result from it. We define deSFH as the amount of mass transformed into stars, as a function of time and metallicity, in order to account for the population of stars contained in a particular volume. Methods. We present a new package to derive SFHs from CMD fitting tailored to work with Gaia data, called CMDft.Gaia, and we use it to analyse the CMD of the Gaia Catalogue of Nearby Stars (GCNS), which contains a complete census of the (mostly thin disc) stars currently within 100 pc of the Sun. Results. We present an unprecedentedly detailed view of the evolution of the Milky Way disc at the solar radius. The bulk of star formation started 11–10.5 Gyr ago at metallicity around solar, and continued with a slightly decreasing metallicity trend until 6 Gyr ago. Between 6 and 4 Gyr ago, a notable break in the age–metallicity distribution is observed, with three stellar populations with distinct metallicities (sub-solar, solar, and super-solar), possibly indicating some dramatic event in the life of our Galaxy. Star formation then resumed 4 Gyr ago with a somewhat bursty behaviour, metallicity near solar and average star formation rate higher than in the period before 6 Gyr ago. The derived metallicity distribution closely matches precise spectroscopic data, which also show stellar populations deviating from solar metallicity. Interestingly, our results reveal the presence of intermediate-age populations exhibiting both a metallicity typical of the thick disc, approximately [M/H] ≃ −0.5, and super-solar metallicity. Conclusions. The many tests performed indicate that, with high-precision photometric and distance data such as that provided by Gaia, CMDft.Gaia is able to achieve a precision of ≲10% and an accuracy better than 6% in the dating of stellar populations, even at old ages. A comparison with independent spectroscopic metallicity information shows that metallicity distributions are also determined with high precision, without imposing any a priori metallicity information in the fitting process. This opens the door to obtaining detailed and robust information on the evolution of the stellar populations of the Milky Way over cosmic time. As an example, we provide in this paper an unprecedentedly detailed view of the age and metallicity distributions of the stars within 100 pc of the Sun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past studies have long emphasised the key role played by galactic stellar bars in the context of disc secular evolution, via the redistribution of gas and stars, the triggering of star formation, and the formation of prominent structures such as rings and central mass concentrations. However, the exact physical processes acting on those structures, as well as the timescales associated with the building and consumption of central gas reservoirs are still not well understood. We are building a suite of hydro-dynamical RAMSES simulations of isolated, low-redshift galaxies that mimic the properties of the PHANGS sample. The initial conditions of the models reproduce the observed stellar mass, disc scale length, or gas fraction, and this paper presents a first subset of these models. Most of our simulated galaxies develop a prominent bar structure, which itself triggers central gas fuelling and the building of an over-density with a typical scale of 100−1000 pc. We confirm that if the host galaxy features an ellipsoidal component, the formation of the bar and gas fuelling are delayed. We show that most of our simulations follow a common time evolution, when accounting for mass scaling and the bar formation time. In our simulations, the stellar mass of 1010 M⊙ seems to mark a change in the phases describing the time evolution of the bar and its impact on the interstellar medium. In massive discs (M⋆ ≥ 1010 M⊙), we observe the formation of a central gas reservoir with star formation mostly occurring within a restricted starburst region, leading to a gas depletion phase. Lower-mass systems (M⋆ < 1010 M⊙) do not exhibit such a depletion phase, and show a more homogeneous spread of star-forming regions along the bar structure, and do not appear to host inner bar-driven discs or rings. Our results seem to be supported by observations, and we briefly discuss how this new suite of simulations can help our understanding of the secular evolution of main sequence disc galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Open clusters provide valuable information on stellar nucleosynthesis and the chemical evolution of the Galactic disk, as their age and distances can be measured more precisely with photometry than in the case of field stars. Aims. Our aim is to study the chemical distribution of the Galactic disk using open clusters by analyzing the existence of gradients with Galactocentric distance, azimuth, or height from the plane and dependency with age. Methods. We used the high-resolution spectra (R > 60 000) of 194 stars belonging to 36 open clusters to determine the atmospheric parameters and chemical abundances with two independent methods: equivalent widths and spectral synthesis. The sample was complemented with 63 clusters with high-resolution spectroscopy from literature. Results. We measured LTE abundances for 21 elements: α (Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti), odd-Z (Na and Al), Fe-peak (Fe, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn), and neutron-capture (Sr, Y, Zr, Ba, Ce, and Nd). We also provide non-local thermodynamic equilibrium abundances for elements when corrections are available. We find inner disk young clusters enhanced in [Mg/Fe] and [Si/Fe] compared to other clusters of their age. For [Ba/Fe], we report an age trend flattening for older clusters (age < 2.5 Ga). The studied elements follow the expected radial gradients as a function of their nucleosynthesis groups, which are significantly steeper for the oldest systems. For the first time, we investigate the existence of an azimuthal gradient, finding some hints of its existence among the old clusters (age > Ga). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Edge-on galaxies act as the best laboratories to understand the origin of thin and thick discs in galaxies. Measurement of spatially resolved stellar population properties in such galaxies, particularly age, metallicity, and [α/Fe], are crucial to understanding the formation and evolution of disc galaxies. Such measurements are made possible from stellar population model fits to deep integral field spectroscopic (IFU) observations of resolved galaxies. We utilize archival MUSE IFU observations of the edge-on galaxy ESO 544-27 to uncover the formation history of its thin and thick discs through its stellar populations. We find the thin disc of the galaxy is dominated by an old (>9 Gyr) low [α/Fe] metal-rich stellar population. Its outer thick disc is dominated by an old (>9 Gyr) high [α/Fe] metal-rich component that should have formed with higher star formation efficiency than the Milky Way thick disc. We thus find [α/Fe] dichotomy in ESO 544-27 with its thin and thick discs dominated by low and high [α/Fe] stellar populations, respectively. However, we also find a metal-rich younger (<2 Gyr old) stellar population in ESO 544-27. The galaxy was nearly quenched until its star formation was reignited recently first in the outer and inner thick disc (∼1 Gyr ago) and then in the thin disc (∼600 Myr ago). We thus find that both the low [α/Fe] thin and high [α/Fe] thick discs of ESO 544-27 are inhabited primarily by similarly old metal-rich stellar populations, a contrast to that of other galaxies with known thin and thick disc stellar population properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We measure the broad impact of galaxy structure on galaxy formation by examining the ongoing star formation and integrated star formation history as revealed through the stellar masses of galaxies at z < 7 based on JWST CEERS data from the Extended Groth Strip (EGS). Using the morphological catalog of 3965 visually classified JWST galaxies from Ferreira et al. (2023), we investigate the evolution of stars, and when they form, as a function of morphological type as well as galaxies classified as passive and starburst through spectral energy distributions. Although disc galaxies dominate the structures of galaxies at z < 7, we find that these discs are in general either 'passive', or on the main sequence of star formation, and do not contain a large population of starburst galaxies. We also find no significant correlation between morphological type and the star formation rate or colours of galaxies at z < 7. In fact, we find that the morphologically classified 'spheroids' tend to be blue and are not found to be predominately passive systems at z > 1.5. We also find that the stellar mass function for disc galaxies does not evolve significantly during this time, whereas other galaxy types, such as the peculiar population, evolve dramatically, declining at lower redshifts. This indicates that massive peculiars are more common at higher redshifts. We further find that up to z ∼ 7, the specific star formation rate (sSFR) does not vary with visual morphology, but strongly depends on stellar mass and internal galaxy mass density. This demonstrates that at early epochs galaxy assembly is a mass-driven, rather than a morphologically driven process. Quenching of star formation is therefore a mass-dominated process throughout the universe's history, likely due to the presence of supermassive black holes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have proposed that galaxy formation is catalyzed by the collision of infalling and outstreaming particles from leaky, horizonless astrophysical black holes, most likely gravastars, and based on this gave a model for the disk galaxy scale length. In this paper we modify our original scale length formula by including an activation probability P for a collision to lead to nucleation of star formation. The revised formula extrapolates from early universe JWST data to late time data to within a factor of five, and suggests that galaxy dimensions should systematically get smaller as the observed redshift z increases. We also show that particles recycling through gravastars can lead to a reduction in the temperature of the surrounding gas, through a "heat pump" refrigeration effect. This can trigger galaxy formation through enhanced star formation in the vicinity of the gravastar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]