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The Metal-weak Milky Way Stellar Disk Hidden in the Gaia–Sausage–Enceladus Debris: The APOGEE DR17 View

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal
We have for the first time identified the early stellar disk in the Milky Way by using a combination of elemental abundances and kinematics. Using data from APOGEE DR17 and Gaia we select stars in the Mg–Mn–Al–Fe plane with elemental abundances indicative of an accreted origin and find stars with both halo-like and disk-like kinematics. The stars with halo-like kinematics lie along a lower sequence in [Mg/Fe], while the stars with disk-like kinematics lie along a higher sequence. Combined with astroseismic observations, we determine that the stars with halo-like kinematics are old, 9–11 Gyr, and that the more evolved stellar disk is about 1–2 Gyr younger. We show that the in situ fraction of stars on deeply bound orbits is not small, in fact the inner Galaxy likely harbors a genuine in situ population together with an accreted one. In addition, we show that the selection of the Gaia–Sausage–Enceladus in the En-Lz plane is not very robust. In fact, radically different selection criteria give almost identical elemental abundance signatures for the accreted stars.
Research Organization:
US Department of Energy (USDOE), Washington, DC (United States). Office of Science, Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)
Sponsoring Organization:
Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; Swedish Research Council; USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI ID:
2425347
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 953; ISSN 0004-637X
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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