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Register a new userA bottom-heavy initial mass function for the likely-accreted blue-halo stars of the Milky Way
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We use Gaia DR2 to measure the initial mass function (IMF) of stars within 250 pc and masses in the range 0.2 < m/Msun < 1.0, separated according to kinematics and metallicity, as determined from Gaia transverse velocity, v_T, and location on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HRD). The predominant thin-disc population (v_T < 40 km/s) has an IMF similar to traditional (e.g. Kroupa 2001}) stellar IMFs, with star numbers per mass interval dN/dm described by a broken power law, m^(-alpha), and index alpha_high=2.03 +0.14/-0.05 above m~0.5, shallowing to alpha_low=1.34 +0.11/-0.22 at m~<0.5. Thick-disc stars (60 km/s < v_T < 150 km/s) and stars belonging to the high-metallicity or red-sequence halo (v_T > 100 km/s or v_T > 200 km/s, and located above the isochrone on the HRD with metallicity [M/H] > -0.6) have a somewhat steeper high-mass slope, alpha_high=2.35 +0.97/-0.19 (and a similar low-mass slope alpha_low=1.14 +0.42/-0.50). Halo stars from the blue sequence, which are characterised by low-metallicity ([M/H] < -0.6), however, have a distinct, bottom-heavy IMF, well-described by a single power law with alpha=1.82 +0.17/-0.14 over most of the mass range probed. The IMF of the low-metallicity halo is reminiscent of the Salpeter-like IMF that has been measured in massive early-type galaxies, a stellar population that, like Milky-Way halo stars, has a high ratio of alpha elements to iron, [alpha/Fe]. Blue-sequence stars are likely the debris from accretion by the Milky Way, ~10 Gyrs ago, of the Gaia-Enceladus dwarf galaxy, or similar events. These results hint at a distinct mode of star formation common to two ancient stellar populations -- elliptical galaxies and galaxies possibly accreted early-on by ours.
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The characteristic mass that sets the peak of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is closely linked to the thermodynamic behaviour of interstellar gas, which controls how gas fragments as it collapses under gravity. As the Universe has grown in metal abundance over cosmic time, this thermodynamic behaviour has evolved from a primordial regime dominated by the competition between compressional heating and molecular hydrogen cooling to a modern regime where the dominant process in dense gas is protostellar radiation feedback, transmitted to the gas by dust-gas collisions. In this paper we map out the primordial-to-modern transition by constructing a model for the thermodynamics of collapsing, dusty gas clouds at a wide range of metallicities. We show the transition from the primordial regime to the modern regime begins at metallicity $Zsim 10^{-4} rm{Z_odot}$, passes through an intermediate stage where metal line cooling is dominant at $Z sim 10^{-3},rm{Z_{odot}}$, and then transitions to the modern dust- and feedback-dominated regime at $Zsim 10^{-2} rm{Z_odot}$. In low pressure environments like the Milky Way, this transition is accompanied by a dramatic change in the characteristic stellar mass, from $sim 50,rm{M_odot}$ at $Z sim 10^{-6},rm{Z_{odot}}$ to $sim 0.3,rm{M_odot}$ once radiation feedback begins to dominate, which marks the appearance of the modern bottom-heavy Milky Way IMF. In the high pressure environments typical of massive elliptical galaxies, the characteristic mass for the modern, dust-dominated regime falls to $sim 0.1,rm{M_{odot}}$, thus providing an explanation for the brown dwarf rich population observed in these galaxies. We conclude that metallicity is a key driver of variations in the characteristic stellar mass, and by extension, the IMF.
Although Blue Horizontal Branch (BHB) stars are commonly used to trace halo substructure, the stars bluer than (g-r)<-0.3 are ignored due to the difficulty in determining their absolute magnitudes. The blue extention of the horizontal branch (HBX) includes BHB tail stars and Extreme Horizontal Branch (EHB) stars. We present a method for identifying HBX stars in the field, using spectra and photometry from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 14 (SDSS DR14). We derive an estimate for the absolute magnitudes of BHB tail and EHB stars as a function of color, and use this relationship to calculate distances. We identify an overdensity of HBX stars that appears to trace the northern end of the Hercules-Aquila Cloud (HAC). We identify three stars that are likely part of a tidal stream, but this is not enough stars to explain the observed overdensity. Combining SDSS data with Gaia DR2 proper motions allows us to show that the orbits of the majority of the HBX stars in the overdensity are on high eccentricity orbits similar to those in the Virgo Radial Merger/Gaia-Enceladus/Gaia Sausage structure, and that the overdensity of high eccentricity orbits extends all the way to the Virgo Overdensity. We use stellar kinematics to separate the HBX stars into disk stars andhalo stars. The halo stars are primarily on highly eccentric (radial) orbits. The fraction of HBX stars that are EHBs is highest in the disk population and lowest in the low eccentricity halo stars.
We exploit the [Mg/Mn]-[Al/Fe] chemical abundance plane to help identify nearby halo stars in the 14th data release from the APOGEE survey that have been accreted on to the Milky Way. Applying a Gaussian Mixture Model, we find a `blob of 856 likely accreted stars, with a low disc contamination rate of ~7%. Cross-matching the sample with the second data release from Gaia gives us access to parallaxes and apparent magnitudes, which place constraints on distances and intrinsic luminosities. Using a Bayesian isochrone pipeline, this enables us to estimate new ages for the accreted stars, with typical uncertainties of ~20%. Our new catalogue is further supplemented with estimates of orbital parameters. The blob stars span a metallicities between -0.5 to -2.5, and [Mg/Fe] between -0.1 to 0.5. They constitute ~30% of the metal-poor ([Fe/H] < -0.8) halo at metallicities of ~-1.4. Our new ages are mainly range between 8 to 13 Gyr, with the oldest stars the metal-poorest, and with the highest [Mg/Fe] abundance. If the blob stars are assumed to belong to a single progenitor, the ages imply that the system merged with our Milky Way around 8 Gyr ago and that star formation proceeded for ~5 Gyr. Dynamical arguments suggest that such a single progenitor would have a total mass of ~1011Msun, similar to that found by other authors using chemical evolution models and simulations. Comparing the scatter in the [Mg/Fe]-[Fe/H] plane of the blob stars to that measured for stars belonging to the Large Magellanic Cloud suggests that the blob does indeed contain stars from only one progenitor.
The Milky Way underwent its last significant merger ten billion years ago, when the Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage (GES) was accreted. Accreted GES stars and progenitor stars born prior to the merger make up the bulk of the inner halo. Even though these two main populations of halo stars have similar $durations$ of star formation prior to their merger, they differ in [$alpha$/Fe]-[Fe/H] space, with the GES population bending to lower [$alpha$/Fe] at a relatively low value of [Fe/H]. We use cosmological simulations of a Milky Way to argue that the different tracks of the halo stars through the [$alpha$/Fe]-[Fe/H] plane are due to a difference in their star formation history and efficiency, with the lower mass GES having its low and constant star formation regulated by feedback whilst the higher mass main progenitor has a higher star formation rate prior to the merger. The lower star formation efficiency of GES leads to lower gas pollution levels, pushing [$alpha$/Fe]-[Fe/H] tracks to the left. In addition, the increasing star formation rate maintains a higher relative contribution of Type~II SNe to Type~Ia SNe for the main progenitor population that formed during the same time period, thus maintaining a relatively high [$alpha$/Fe]. Thus the different positions of the downturns in the [$alpha$/Fe]-[Fe/H] plane for the GES stars are not reflective of different star formation durations, but instead reflect different star formation efficiencies. We argue that cosmological simulations match a wide range of independent observations, breaking degeneracies that exist in simpler models.
We report on the global structure of the Milky Way (MW) stellar halo up to its outer boundary based on the analysis of blue-horizontal branch stars (BHBs). These halo tracers are extracted from the $(g,r,i,z)$ band multi-photometry in the internal data release of the on-going Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) surveyed over $sim550$~deg$^2$ area. In order to select most likely BHBs by removing blue straggler stars (BSs) and other contamination in a statistically significant manner, we have developed and applied an extensive Bayesian method, instead of the simple color cuts adopted in our previous work, where each of the template BHBs and non-BHBs obtained from the available catalogs is represented as a mixture of multiple Gaussian distributions in the color-color diagrams. We found from the candidate BHBs in the range of 18.5<g<23.5 mag that the radial density distribution over a Galactocentric radius of r=36-360 kpc can be approximated as a single power-law profile with an index of $alpha=3.74^{+0.21}_{-0.22}$ or a broken power-law profile with an index of $alpha_{rm in}=2.92^{+0.33}_{-0.33}$ at $r$ below a broken radius of $r_{rm b}=160^{+18}_{-19}$~kpc and a very steep slope of $alpha_{rm out}=15.0^{+3.7}_{-4.5}$ at $r>r_{rm b}$. The latter profile with a prolate shape having an axial ratio of $q=1.72^{+0.44}_{-0.28}$ is most likely and this halo may hold a rather sharp boundary at r=160kpc. The slopes of the halo density profiles are compared with those from the suite of hydrodynamical simulations for the formation of stellar halos. This comparison suggests that the MW stellar halo may consist of the two overlapping components: the in situ. inner halo as probed by RR Lyrae stars showing a relatively steep radial density profile and the ex situ. outer halo with a shallow profile probed by BHBs here, which is made by accretion of small stellar systems.
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