No Arabic abstract
Among the myriad of data collected by the ESA Gaia satellite, about 150 million spectra will be delivered by the Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) for stars as faint as G_RVS~16. A specific stellar parametrization will be performed for most of these RVS spectra. Some individual chemical abundances will also be estimated for the brightest targets. We describe the different parametrization codes that have been specifically developed or adapted for RVS spectra within the GSP-spec working group of the analysis consortium. The tested codes are based on optimization (FERRE and GAUGUIN), projection (MATISSE) or pattern recognition methods (Artificial Neural Networks). We present and discuss their expected performances in the recovered stellar atmospheric parameters (Teff, log(g), [M/H]) for B- to K- type stars. The performances for the determinations of [alpha/Fe] ratios are also presented for cool stars. For all the considered stellar types, stars brighter than G_RVS~12.5 will be very efficiently parametrized by the GSP-spec pipeline, including solid estimations of [alpha/Fe]. Typical internal errors for FGK metal-rich and metal-intermediate stars are around 40K in Teff , 0.1dex in log(g), 0.04dex in [M/H], and 0.03dex in [alpha/Fe] at G_RVS=10.3. Similar accuracies in Teff and [M/H] are found for A-type stars, while the log(g) derivation is more accurate. For the faintest stars, with G_RVS>13-14, a spectrophotometric Teff input will allow the improvement of the final GSP-spec parametrization. The reported results show that the contribution of the RVS based stellar parameters will be unique in the brighter part of the Gaia survey allowing crucial age estimations, and accurate chemical abundances. This will constitute a unique and precious sample for which many pieces of the Milky Way history puzzle will be available, with unprecedented precision and statistical relevance.
Gaia Photometric Science Alerts (GPSA) publishes Gaia G magnitudes and Blue Photometer (BP) and Red Photometer (RP) low-resolution epoch spectra of transient events. 27 high-resolution spectra from Gaias Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) of 12 GPSAs have also been published. These 27 RVS epoch spectra are presented next to their corresponding BP and RP epoch spectra in a single place for the first time. We also present one new RVS spectrum of a 13th GPSA that could not be published by the GPSA system. Of the 13 GPSA with RVS spectra, five are photometrically classified as unknown, five as supernovae (three as SN Ia, one as SN II, one as SN IIP), one as a cataclysmic variable, one as a binary microlensing event and one as a young stellar object. The five GPSAs classified as unknown are potential scientific opportunities, while all of them are a preview of the epoch RVS spectra that will be published in Gaias fourth data release.
The Gaia mission is a magnitude-limited whole-sky survey that collects an impressive quantity of astrometric, spectro-photometric and spectroscopic data. Among all the on-board instruments, the Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) produces millions of spectra up to a magnitude of G$_{RVS} sim 16$. For the brightest RVS targets, stellar atmospheric parameters and individual chemical abundances are automatically estimated by the Generalized Stellar Parametriser - spectroscopy group (GSP-Spec). These data will be published with the third Gaia Data Release. Some major ingredients of the determination of these stellar parameters include the atomic and molecular line lists that are adopted to compute reference synthetic spectra, on which the parametrisation methods rely. We aim to build such a specific line list optimised for the analysis of RVS late-type star spectra. Starting from the Gaia-ESO line lists, we first compared the observed and synthetic spectra of six well-known reference late-type stars in the wavelength range covered by the RVS instrument. We then improved the quality of the atomic data for the transitions presenting the largest mismatches. The new line list is found to produce very high-quality synthetic spectra for the tested reference stars and has thus been adopted within GSP-Spec.
A new full-sky catalog of Radial Velocity standard stars is being built for the determination of the Radial Velocity Zero Point of the RVS on board of Gaia. After a careful selection of 1420 candidates matching well defined criteria, we are now observing all of them to verify that they are stable enough over several years to be qualified as reference stars. We present the status of this long-term observing programme on three spectrographs : SOPHIE, NARVAL and CORALIE, complemented by the ELODIE and HARPS archives. Because each instrument has its own zero-point, we observe intensively IAU RV standards and asteroids to homogenize the radial velocity measurements. We can already estimate that ~8% of the candidates have to be rejected because of variations larger than the requested level of 300 m/s.
We investigate the stellar kinematics of the Galactic disc in 7 $<$ $R$ $<$ 13,kpc using a sample of 118,945 red giant branch (RGB) stars from LAMOST and Gaia. We characterize the median, dispersion and skewness of the distributions of the 3D stellar velocities, actions and orbital parameters across the age-metallicity and the disc $R$ -- $Z$ plane. Our results reveal abundant but clear stellar kinematic patterns and structures in the age -- metallicity and the disc $R$ -- $Z$ plane. The most prominent feature is the strong variations of the velocity, action, and orbital parameter distributions from the young, metal-rich thin disc to the old, metal-poor thick disc, a number of smaller-scale structures -- such as velocity streams, north-south asymmetries, and kinematic features of spiral arms -- are clearly revealed. Particularly, the skewness of $V_{phi}$ and $J_{phi}$ reveals a new substructure at $Rsimeq12$,kpc and $Zsimeq0$,kpc, possibly related to dynamical effects of spiral arms in the outer disc. We further study the stellar migration through analysing the stellar orbital parameters and stellar birth radii. The results suggest that the thick disc stars near the solar radii and beyond are mostly migrated from the inner disc of $Rsim4 - 6$,kpc due to their highly eccentrical orbits. Stellar migration due to dynamical processes with angular momentum transfer (churning) are prominent for both the old, metal-rich stars (outward migrators) and the young metal-poor stars (inward migrators). The spatial distribution in the $R$ -- $Z$ plane for the inward migrators born at a Galactocentric radius of $>$12,kpc show clear age stratifications, possibly an evidence that these inward migrators are consequences of splashes triggered by merger events of satellite galaxies that have been lasted in the past few giga years.
Canis Major OB1 (CMa OB1) is a Galactic stellar association with a very intriguing star-formation scenario. There are more than two dozen known star clusters in its line of sight, but it is not clear which ones are physically associated with CMa OB1. We use a clustering code that employs 5-dimensional data from the Gaia DR2 catalogue to identify physical groups and obtain their astrometric parameters and, in addition, we use two different isochrone-fitting methods to estimate the ages of these groups. We find 15 stellar groups with distances between 570 pc and 1650 pc, including 10 previously known and 5 new open cluster candidates. Four groups, precisely the youngest ones ($<$ 20 Myr), CMa05, CMa06, CMa07 and CMa08, are confirmed to be part of CMa OB1. We find that CMa08, a new cluster candidate, may be the progenitor cluster of runaway stars. CMa06 coincides with the well-studied CMa R1 star-forming region. While CMa06 is still forming stars, due to the remaining material of the molecular cloud associated with the Sh 2-262 nebula, CMa05, CMa07 and CMa08 seem to be in more evolved stages of evolution, with no recent star-forming activity. The properties of these CMa OB1 physical groups fit well in a monolithic scenario of star formation, with a common formation mechanism, and having suffered multiple episodes of star formation. This suggests that the hierarchical model alone, which explains the populations of other parts of the same association, is not sufficient to explain its whole formation history.