Detailed mapping of the Galactic disc structure in the solar neighbourhood through LAMOST K dwarfs

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Galactic disc is one of the main components of the Milky Way, which contributes most of the luminosity. Its structure is essential for understanding the formation and evolution of the Milky Way. Using 174 443 K-type dwarf stars observed by both Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope and Gaia Data Release 3, we study the disc density profile in the local volume within 1200 pc. In the azimuthal dimension, we find strong asymmetric signal of the thin disc. The surface density and the scale height of the southern disc significantly change versus the azimuthal angle at the same Galactocentric distance R. Meanwhile, in the vertical dimension, the scale height of the northern disc has quite different trend than that of the southern one. The scale height of the southern disc shows a decreasing trend with ϕ ∼ −2.5°, and change to an increasing one with ϕ ∼ 5.0°. Meanwhile, the scale height of the northern disc has a consistently smaller increase. Finally, we divide the entire sample into three subsamples based on metallicity and all three subsamples show significant non-axisymmetric and north–south asymmetric signals in the Galactic disc. Furthermore, we find that the scale height of the metal-poor ([Fe/H] < −0.4 dex) subsample in the northern disc is greater than that of the metal-rich ([Fe/H] > −0.1 dex) subsample. However, in the southern disc, the scale height exhibits varying relationships across different metallicity slices.