Kinematics beats dust: unveiling nested substructure in the perturbed outer disc of the Milky Way

We use the Gaia eDR3 data and legacy spectroscopic surveys to map the Milky Way disc substructure towards the Galactic Anticentre at heliocentric distances d≥10kpc⁠. We report the discovery of multiple previously undetected new filaments embedded in the outer disc in highly extincted regions. Stars...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Laporte, Chervin F. P., Koposov, Sergey E., Belokurov, Vasily
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/296871
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/296871
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Galaxy: disc
Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics
Galaxy: stellar content
Galaxy: structure
Descripción
Sumario:We use the Gaia eDR3 data and legacy spectroscopic surveys to map the Milky Way disc substructure towards the Galactic Anticentre at heliocentric distances d≥10kpc⁠. We report the discovery of multiple previously undetected new filaments embedded in the outer disc in highly extincted regions. Stars in these overdensities have distance gradients expected for disc material and move on disc-like orbits with vϕ∼170−230kms−1⁠, showing small spreads in energy. Such a morphology argues against a quiescently growing Galactic thin disc. Some of these structures are interpreted as excited outer disc material, kicked up by satellite impacts and currently undergoing phase mixing (disc streams, ‘feathers’). Due to the long time-scale in the outer disc regions, these structures can stay coherent in configuration space over several Gyrs. We nevertheless note that some of these structures could also be folds in the perturbed disc seen in projection from the Sun’s location. A full 6D phase–space characterization and age dating of these structures should help distinguish between the two possible morphologies.