Identification of an [α/Fe]—enhanced thick disk component in an edge-on Milky Way analog

Nicholas Scott; Jesse van de Sande; Sanjib Sharma; Joss Bland-Hawthorn; Ken Freeman; Ortwin Gerhard; Michael R. Hayden; Richard McDermid

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abfc57

Identification of an [α/Fe]—enhanced thick disk component in an edge-on Milky Way analog

Nicholas Scott^*, Jesse van de Sande, Sanjib Sharma, Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Ken Freeman, Ortwin Gerhard, Michael R. Hayden, Richard McDermid

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Milky Way disk consists of two prominent components—a thick, alpha-rich, low-metallicity component and a thin, metal-rich, low-alpha component. External galaxies have been shown to contain thin- and thick-disk components, but whether distinct components in the [α/Fe]–[Z/H] plane exist in other Milky Way-like galaxies is not yet known. We present Very Large Telescope (VLT)—Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) observations of UGC 10738, a nearby, edge-on Milky Way-like galaxy. We demonstrate through stellar population synthesis model fitting that UGC 10738 contains alpha-rich and alpha-poor stellar populations with similar spatial distributions to the same components in the Milky Way. We discuss how the finding that external galaxies also contain chemically distinct disk components may act as a significant constraint on the formation of the Milky Way’s own thin and thick disk.

Original language	English
Article number	L11
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume	913
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/abfc57
Publication status	Published - 20 May 2021

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abstract = "The Milky Way disk consists of two prominent components—a thick, alpha-rich, low-metallicity component and a thin, metal-rich, low-alpha component. External galaxies have been shown to contain thin- and thick-disk components, but whether distinct components in the [α/Fe]–[Z/H] plane exist in other Milky Way-like galaxies is not yet known. We present Very Large Telescope (VLT)—Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) observations of UGC 10738, a nearby, edge-on Milky Way-like galaxy. We demonstrate through stellar population synthesis model fitting that UGC 10738 contains alpha-rich and alpha-poor stellar populations with similar spatial distributions to the same components in the Milky Way. We discuss how the finding that external galaxies also contain chemically distinct disk components may act as a significant constraint on the formation of the Milky Way{\textquoteright}s own thin and thick disk.",

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T1 - Identification of an [α/Fe]—enhanced thick disk component in an edge-on Milky Way analog

AU - Scott, Nicholas

AU - van de Sande, Jesse

AU - Sharma, Sanjib

AU - Bland-Hawthorn, Joss

AU - Freeman, Ken

AU - Gerhard, Ortwin

AU - Hayden, Michael R.

AU - McDermid, Richard

PY - 2021/5/20

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AB - The Milky Way disk consists of two prominent components—a thick, alpha-rich, low-metallicity component and a thin, metal-rich, low-alpha component. External galaxies have been shown to contain thin- and thick-disk components, but whether distinct components in the [α/Fe]–[Z/H] plane exist in other Milky Way-like galaxies is not yet known. We present Very Large Telescope (VLT)—Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) observations of UGC 10738, a nearby, edge-on Milky Way-like galaxy. We demonstrate through stellar population synthesis model fitting that UGC 10738 contains alpha-rich and alpha-poor stellar populations with similar spatial distributions to the same components in the Milky Way. We discuss how the finding that external galaxies also contain chemically distinct disk components may act as a significant constraint on the formation of the Milky Way’s own thin and thick disk.

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JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters

JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters

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ER -

Identification of an [α/Fe]—enhanced thick disk component in an edge-on Milky Way analog

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