No Arabic abstract
The Milky Way provides an ideal laboratory to test our understanding of galaxy evolution, owing to our ability to observe our Galaxy over fine scales. However, connecting the Galaxy to the wider galaxy population remains difficult, due to the challenges posed by our internal perspective and to the different observational techniques employed. Here, we present a sample of galaxies identified as Milky Way Analogs (MWAs) on the basis of their stellar masses and bulge-to-total ratios, observed as part of the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey. We analyse the galaxies in terms of their stellar kinematics and populations as well as their ionised gas contents. We find our sample to contain generally young stellar populations in their outskirts. However, we find a wide range of stellar ages in their central regions, and we detect central AGN-like or composite-like activity in roughly half of the sample galaxies, with the other half consisting of galaxies with central star-forming emission or emission consistent with old stars. We measure gradients in gas metallicity and stellar metallicity that are generally flatter in physical units than those measured for the Milky Way; however, we find far better agreement with the Milky Way when scaling gradients by galaxies disc scale lengths. From this, we argue much of the discrepancy in metallicity gradients to be due to the relative compactness of the Milky Way, with differences in observing perspective also likely to be a factor.
The chemical homogeneity of surviving stellar clusters contains important clues about interstellar medium (ISM) mixing efficiency, star formation, and the enrichment history of the Galaxy. Existing measurements in a handful of open clusters suggest homogeneity in several elements at the 0.03 dex level. Here we present (i) a new cluster member catalog based only on APOGEE radial velocities and Gaia-DR2 proper motions, (ii) improved abundance uncertainties for APOGEE cluster members, and (iii) the dependence of cluster homogeneity on Galactic and cluster properties, using abundances of eight elements from the APOGEE survey for ten high-quality clusters. We find that cluster homogeneity is uncorrelated with Galactocentric distance, |Z|, age, and metallicity. However, velocity dispersion, which is a proxy for cluster mass, is positively correlated with intrinsic scatter at relatively high levels of significance for [Ca/Fe] and [Mg/Fe]. We also see a possible positive correlation at a low level of significance for [Ni/Fe], [Si/Fe], [Al/Fe], and [Fe/H], while [Cr/Fe] and [Mn/Fe] are uncorrelated. The elements that show a correlation with velocity dispersion are those that are predominantly produced by core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). However, the small sample size and relatively low correlation significance highlight the need for follow-up studies. If borne out by future studies, these findings would suggest a quantitative difference between the correlation lengths of elements produced predominantly by Type~Ia SNe versus CCSNe, which would have implications for Galactic chemical evolution models and the feasibility of chemical tagging.
Studying our Galaxy, the Milky Way (MW), gives us a close-up view of the interplay between cosmology, dark matter, and galaxy formation. In the next decade our understanding of the MWs dynamics, stellar populations, and structure will undergo a revolution thanks to planned and proposed astrometric, spectroscopic and photometric surveys, building on recent advances by the Gaia astrometric survey. Together, these new efforts will measure three-dimensional positions and velocities and numerous chemical abundances for stars to the MWs edge and well into the Local Group, leading to a complete multidimensional view of our Galaxy. Studies of the multidimensional Milky Way beyond the Gaia frontier---from the edge of the Galactic disk to the edge of our Galaxys dark matter halo---will unlock new scientific advances across astrophysics, from constraints on dark matter to insights into galaxy formation.
We study high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of Milky Way type galaxies obtained within the Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments (EAGLE) project, and identify the those that best satisfy observational constraints on the Milky Way total stellar mass, rotation curve, and galaxy shape. Contrary to mock galaxies selected on the basis of their total virial mass, the Milky Way analogues so identified consistently exhibit very similar dark matter profiles inside the solar circle, therefore enabling more accurate predictions for indirect dark matter searches. We find in particular that high resolution simulated haloes satisfying observational constraints exhibit, within the inner few kiloparsecs, dark matter profiles shallower than those required to explain the so-called Fermi GeV excess via dark matter annihilation.
The vast majority of low-mass satellite galaxies around the Milky Way and M31 appear virtually devoid of cool gas and show no signs of recent or ongoing star formation. Cosmological simulations demonstrate that such quenching is expected and is due to the harsh environmental conditions that satellites face when joining the Local Group (LG). However, recent observations of Milky Way analogues in the SAGA survey present a very different picture, showing the majority of observed satellites to be actively forming stars, calling into question the realism of current simulations and the typicality of the LG. Here we use the ARTEMIS suite of high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to carry out a careful comparison with observations of dwarf satellites in the LG, SAGA, and the Local Volume (LV) survey. We show that differences between SAGA and the LG and LV surveys, as well as between SAGA and the ARTEMIS simulations, can be largely accounted for by differences in the host mass distributions and observational selection effects, specifically that low-mass satellites which have only recently been accreted are more likely to be star-forming, have a higher optical surface brightness, and are therefore more likely to be included in the SAGA survey. This picture is confirmed using data from the deeper LV survey, which shows pronounced quenching at low masses, in accordance with the predictions of LCDM-based simulations.
The ages, metallicities, alpha-elements and integrals of motion of globular clusters (GCs) accreted by the Milky Way from disrupted satellites remain largely unchanged over time. Here we have used these conserved properties in combination to assign 76 GCs to 5 progenitor satellite galaxies -- one of which we dub the Koala dwarf galaxy. We fit a leaky-box chemical enrichment model to the age-metallicity distribution of GCs, deriving the effective yield and the formation epoch of each satellite. Based on scaling relations of GC counts we estimate the original halo mass, stellar mass and mean metallicity of each satellite. The total stellar mass of the 5 accreted satellites contributed around 10$^{9}$ M$_{odot}$ in stars to the growth of the Milky Way but over 50% of the Milky Ways GC system. The 5 satellites formed at very early times and were likely accreted 8--11 Gyr ago, indicating rapid growth for the Milky Way in its early evolution. We suggest that at least 3 satellites were originally nucleated, with the remnant nucleus now a GC of the Milky Way. Eleven GCs are also identified as having formed ex-situ but could not be assigned to a single progenitor satellite.