Testing formation mechanisms of the Milky Way's thick disc with RAVE: Testing thick disc formation mechanisms
Open accessAbstract
We study the eccentricity distribution of a thick-disc sample of stars (defined as those with Vy > 50 km s−1 and 1 < |z|/kpc < 3) observed in the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE). We compare this distribution with those obtained in four simulations of galaxy formation taken from the literature as compiled by Sales et al. Each simulation emphasizes different scenarios for the origin of such stars (satellite accretion, heating of a pre-existing thin disc during a merger, radial migration, and gas-rich mergers). We find that the observed distribution peaks at low eccentricities and falls off smoothly and rather steeply to high eccentricities. This finding is fairly robust to changes in distances and to plausible assumptions about thin-disc contamination. Our results favour models where the majority of stars formed in the Galaxy itself on orbits of modest eccentricity and disfavour the pure satellite accretion case. A gas-rich merger origin where most of the stars form ‘in situ’ appears to be the most consistent with our data.
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The most likely formation path for the thick disk is through gas-rich mergers, i.e., turbulent disks in which stars were forming during mergers.
“A comparison with data from RAVE and SDSS carried out later by Wilson et al. (2011) and Dierickx et al. (2010) showed that the most likely path was through gas-rich mergers, i.e., turbulent disks in which stars were forming during mergers (Brook et al. 2004).”
From Streams, Substructures, and the Early History of the Milky Way (2020) · cites this paper as Wilson et al. (2011)
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SEGUE: A SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY OF 240,000 STARS WITH <i>g</i> = 14-20
Yanny, B., Rockosi, C., Newberg, H. J., Knapp, G. R., Adelman-McCarthy, J. K., Alcorn, B., Allam, S., Prieto, C. A., An, D., Anderson, K. S. J., et al. (2009) · The Astronomical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-6256/137/5/4377 · Cited by 1,162 · see citing works
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Streams, Substructures, and the Early History of the Milky Way
Helmi, A. (2020) · Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-032620-021917 · Cited by 407 · see citing works
Self-citationGalactic Stellar Populations in the Era of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Other Large Surveys
Ivezić, Ž., Beers, T. C., & Jurić, M. (2012) · Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-081811-125504 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
- Authors
- Wilson, M. L., Helmi, A., Morrison, H. L., Breddels, M. A., Bienaymé, O., Binney, J., Bland-Hawthorn, J., Campbell, R., Freeman, K. C., Fulbright, J. P., Gibson, B. K., Gilmore, G., Grebel, E. K., Munari, U., Navarro, J. F., Parker, Q. A., Reid, W., Seabroke, G., Siebert, A., Siviero, A., Steinmetz, M., Williams, M. E. K., Wyse, R. F. G., & Zwitter, T.
- Affiliations
- Case Western Reserve University (US)
- University of Groningen (NL)
- Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg (FR)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Australian Astronomical Observatory (AU)
- Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (DE)
- Australian National University (AU)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- University of Lancashire (GB)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (IT)
- University of Victoria (CA)
- Macquarie University (AU)
- University College London (GB)
- University of Ljubljana (SI)
- Corresponding author
- Wilson, Michelle L.
- Helmi, Amina
- Venue
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2011-03-02
- Volume
- 413
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 2235-2241
- ISSN
- 0035-8711 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2097009993
- Cited by
- 56
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 7.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- CLOK (University of Central Lancashire) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- The HKU Scholars Hub (University of Hong Kong) (submittedVersion)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0098435, 0908326)
- W. M. Keck Foundation
- Johns Hopkins University
- Australian National University
- Macquarie University
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/H00243X/1, PP/D001242/1, PP/D001528/1, ST/G002479/1, ST/F002432/1)
- Australian Research Council
- FP7 Ideas: European Research Council (240271)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
- Keywords
- eccentricity distribution, radial velocity, satellite accretion, gas-rich mergers, radial migration, in situ star formation, galaxy formation simulations, RAVE
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