No Arabic abstract
We explore the fundamental relations governing the radial and vertical velocity dispersions of stars in the Milky Way, from combined studies of complementary surveys including GALAH, LAMOST, APOGEE, the NASA $Kepler$ and K2 missions, and $Gaia$ DR2. We find that different stellar samples, even though they target different tracer populations and employ a variety of age estimation techniques, follow the same set of fundamental relations. We provide the clearest evidence to date that, in addition to the well-known dependence on stellar age, the velocity dispersions of stars depend on orbital angular momentum $L_z$, metallicity and height above the plane $|z|$, and are well described by a multiplicatively separable functional form. The dispersions have a power-law dependence on age with exponents of 0.441$pm 0.007$ and 0.251$pm 0.006$ for $sigma_z$ and $sigma_R$ respectively, and the power law is valid even for the oldest stars. For the solar neighborhood stars, the apparent break in the power law for older stars, as seen in previous studies, is due to the anti-correlation of $L_z$ with age. The dispersions decrease with increasing $L_z$ until we reach the Suns orbital angular momentum, after which $sigma_z$ increases (implying flaring in the outer disc) while $sigma_R$ flattens. The dispersions increase with decreasing metallicity, suggesting that the dispersions increase with birth radius. The dispersions also increase linearly with $|z|$. The same set of relations that work in the solar neighborhood also work for stars between $3<R/{rm kpc}<20$. Finally, the high-[$alpha$/Fe] stars follow the same relations as the low-[$alpha$/Fe] stars.
We present a spectroscopic sample of 910 distant halo stars from the Hypervelocity Star survey from which we derive the velocity dispersion profile of the Milky Way halo. The sample is a mix of 74% evolved horizontal branch stars and 26% blue stragglers. We estimate distances to the stars using observed colors, metallicities, and stellar evolution tracks. Our sample contains twice as many objects with R>50 kpc as previous surveys. We compute the velocity dispersion profile in two ways: with a parametric method based on a Milky Way potential model, and with a non-parametric method based on the caustic technique originally developed to measure galaxy cluster mass profiles. The resulting velocity dispersion profiles are remarkably consistent with those found by two independent surveys based on other stellar populations: the Milky Way halo exhibits a mean decline in radial velocity dispersion of -0.38+-0.12 km/s/kpc over 15<R<75 kpc. This measurement is a useful basis for calculating the total mass and mass distribution of the Milky Way halo.
The cooling transition temperature gas in the interstellar medium (ISM), traced by the high ions, Si IV, C IV, N V, and O VI, helps to constrain the flow of energy from the hot ISM with T >10^6 K to the warm ISM with T< 2x10^4 K. We investigate the properties of this gas along the lines of sight to 38 stars in the Milky Way disk using 1.5-2.7 km/s resolution spectra of Si IV, C IV, and N V absorption from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), and 15 km/s resolution spectra of O VI absorption from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). The absorption by Si IV and C IV exhibits broad and narrow components while only broad components are seen in N V and O VI. The narrow components imply gas with T<7x10^4 K and trace two distinct types of gas. The strong, saturated, and narrow Si IV and C IV components trace the gas associated with the vicinities of O-type stars and their supershells. The weaker narrow Si IV and C IV components trace gas in the general ISM that is photoionized by the EUV radiation from cooling hot gas or has radiatively cooled in a non-equilibrium manner from the transition temperature phase, but rarely the warm ionized medium (WIM) probed by Al III. The broad Si IV, C IV, N V, and O VI components trace collisionally ionized gas that is very likely undergoing a cooling transition from the hot ISM to the warm ISM. The cooling process possibly provides the regulation mechanism that produces N(C IV)/N(Si IV) = 3.9 +/- 1.9. The cooling process also produces absorption lines where the median and mean values of the line widths increase with the energy required to create the ion.
We analyse the orbital kinematics of the Milky Way (MW) satellite system utilizing the latest systemic proper motions for 38 satellites based on data from Gaia Data Release 2. Combining these data with distance and line-of-sight velocity measurements from the literature, we use a likelihood method to model the velocity anisotropy, $beta$, as a function of Galactocentric distance and compare the MW satellite system with those of simulated MW-mass haloes from the APOSTLE and Auriga simulation suites. The anisotropy profile for the MW satellite system increases from $betasim -2$ at $rsim20$ kpc to $betasim 0.5$ at $rsim200$ kpc, indicating that satellites closer to the Galactic centre have tangentially-biased motions while those farther out have radially-biased motions. The motions of satellites around APOSTLE host galaxies are nearly isotropic at all radii, while the $beta(r)$ profiles for satellite systems in the Auriga suite, whose host galaxies are substantially more massive in baryons than those in APOSTLE, are more consistent with that of the MW satellite system. This shape of the $beta(r)$ profile may be attributed to the central stellar disc preferentially destroying satellites on radial orbits, or intrinsic processes from the formation of the Milky Way system.
The relations between star formation and properties of molecular clouds are studied based on a sample of star forming regions in the Galactic Plane. Sources were selected by having radio recombination lines to provide identification of associated molecular clouds and dense clumps. Radio continuum and mid-infrared emission were used to determine star formation rates, while 13CO and submillimeter dust continuum emission were used to obtain masses of molecular and dense gas, respectively. We test whether total molecular gas or dense gas provides the best predictor of star formation rate. We also test two specific theoretical models, one relying on the molecular mass divided by the free-fall time, the other using the free-fall time divided by the crossing time. Neither is supported by the data. The data are also compared to those from nearby star forming regions and extragalactic data. The star formation efficiency, defined as star formation rate divided by mass, spreads over a large range when the mass refers to molecular gas; the standard deviation of the log of the efficiency decreases by a factor of three when the mass of relatively dense molecular gas is used rather than the mass of all the molecular gas.
We use a sample of 938 red clump giant stars located in the direction of the galactic long bar to study the chemistry of Milky Way bar stars. Kinematically separating stars on bar orbits from stars with inner disc orbits, we find that stars on bar-like orbits are more metal rich with a mean iron abundance of <[Fe/H]>=+0.30 compared to <[Fe/H]>=+0.03 for the inner disc. Spatially selecting bar stars is complicated by a strong vertical metallicity gradient of -1.1dex/kpc, but we find the metallicity distribution varies in a manner consistent with our orbital selection. Our results have two possible interpretations. The first is that the most metal rich stars in the inner Galaxy pre-existed the bar, but were kinematically cold at the time of bar formation and therefore more easily captured onto bar orbits when the bar formed. The second is that the most metal rich stars formed after the bar, either directly onto the bar following orbits or were captured by the bar after their formation.