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A time-resolved picture of our Milky Way's early formation history

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arxiv 2203.12110 v1 pith:KNEBZDFJ submitted 2022-03-23 astro-ph.GA

classification astro-ph.GA
keywords diskformationgalacticstellarhalostarsassemblydifferent
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
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The formation of our Milky Way can be parsed qualitatively into different phases that resulted in its structurally different stellar populations: the halo and the disk components. Revealing a quantitative overall picture of the Galactic assembly awaits a large sample of stars with very precise ages. Here we report an analysis of such a sample using subgiant stars. We find that the stellar age-metallicity distribution p(age, metallicity) splits into two almost disjoint parts, separated at 8 Gyr. The younger reflecting a late phase of quiescent Galactic disk formation with manifest evidence for stellar radial orbit migration; the other reflecting the earlier phase, when the stellar halo and the old alpha-process-enhanced (thick) disk formed. Our results indicate that the formation of the Galactic old (thick) disk started 13 Gyr ago, only 0.8 Gyr after the Big Bang, and two Gigayears earlier than the final assembly of the inner Galactic halo. Most of these stars formed 11 Gyr ago, when the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus satellite merged with our Galaxy. Over the next 5--6 Gyr, the Galaxy experienced continuous chemical element enrichment, ultimately by a factor of 10, while the star-forming gas managed to stay well-mixed.

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Cited by 2 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Tracing the early Milky Way thin disc with the Gaia-ESO Survey

    astro-ph.GA 2026-08 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    A single metal-poor, alpha-enhanced star with thin-disc-like kinematics is identified as a candidate relic of the early Milky Way disc.

  2. Unveiling the Milky Way with a Gaia DR3 census of OB-type stars within 2 kpc. I. Tracing local Galactic structure, massive star-forming regions and core-collapse supernova progenitors

    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 conditional novelty 4.0 of 10

    A Gaia DR3-based census of 105,971 OB stars within 2 kpc maps local Galactic structure and identifies over 4,200 core-collapse supernova or black hole progenitor candidates.

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