Rich Stars Research Articles

Vergilius Provence-ban: Marcel Pagnol Bucolica-fordítása II.

In the long history of French translations of Vergilian Eclogues, the work of M. Pagnol (1895–1974) has a special place. The novelist, playwright and filmmaker (the first one of them elected to Académie Française) published his version of pastoral poems in 1958, two years after the highly artistic edition of P. Valéry. In a sociocultural approach, Pagnol’s translation is usually considered as a sophisticated tool of marketing used to remodel the image of the author. The popular and rich star of French theatre and cinema is not really accepted neither by academic literature nor by the movements of literary radicalism because of his regional features and his cheap sentimentalism. By translating Virgil in a quasi-academic way, by editing a text with a preface, commentary and notes, Pagnol would highlight his erudition and postulate a place for himself among the Classics. Nevertheless, his very funny and personal way to interpret Virgil, his cultural commentaries, and his ethical remarks based on the norms of modern urban society make the Latin poet accessible for a very wide audience. The current paper focuses on the aesthetic features of his work. Being born in Provence, passionate of the Mediterranean landscape and highly influenced by classical mythology, Pagnol appears to emphasize the Latin origins of his homeland, the cultural and ethnical continuity between the Antiquity and the 20th century, with a strong apparent wish to revive thousand-year-old traditions.

The chemistry of stars in the bar of the Milky Way

We use a sample of 938 red clump giant stars located in the direction of the Galactic long bar to study the chemistry of Milky Way bar stars. Kinematically separating stars on bar orbits from stars with inner disc orbits, we find that stars on bar-like orbits are more metal rich with a mean iron abundance of ⟨[Fe/H]⟩ = +0.30 compared to ⟨[Fe/H]⟩ = +0.03 for the inner disc. Spatially selecting bar stars is complicated by a strong vertical metallicity gradient of −1.1 dex kpc−1, but we find the metallicity distribution varies in a manner consistent with our orbital selection. Our results have two possible interpretations. The first is that the most metal rich stars in the inner Galaxy pre-existed the bar, but were kinematically cold at the time of bar formation and therefore more easily captured onto bar orbits when the bar formed. The second is that the most metal rich stars formed after the bar, either directly onto the bar following orbits or were captured by the bar after their formation.

Super-Earth masses sculpted by pebble isolation around stars of different masses

We developed a pebble-driven core accretion model to study the formation and evolution of planets around stars in the stellar mass range of 0.08 M⊙–1 M⊙. By Monte Carlo sampling of the initial conditions, the growth and migration of a large number of individual protoplanetary embryos were simulated in a population synthesis manner. We tested two hypotheses for the birth locations of embryos: at the water ice line or log-uniformly distributed over entire protoplanetary disks. Two types of disks with different turbulent viscous parametersαtof 10−3and 10−4are also investigated to shed light on the role of outward migration of protoplanets. The forming planets are compared with the observed exoplanets in terms of mass, semimajor axis, metallicity, and water content. We find that gas giant planets are likely to form when the characteristic disk sizes are larger, the disk accretion rates are higher, the disks are more metal rich, and/or their stellar hosts are more massive. Our model shows that first, the characteristic mass of super-Earth is set by the pebble isolation mass. Super-Earth masses increase linearly with the mass of its stellar host, which corresponds to one Earth mass around a late M-dwarf star and 20 Earth masses around a solar-mass star. Second, the low-mass planets, up to 20 M⊕, can form around stars with a wide range of metallicities, while massive gas giant planets are preferred to grow around metal rich stars. Third, super-Earth planets that are mainly composed of silicates, with relatively low water fractions, can form from protoplanetary embryos at the water ice line in weakly turbulent disks where outward migration is suppressed. However, if the embryos are formed over a wide range of radial distances, the super-Earths would end up having a distinctive, bimodal composition in water mass. Altogether, our model succeeds in quantitatively reproducing several important observed properties of exoplanets and correlations with their stellar hosts.

Origin of α-rich young stars: clues from C, N, and O

A small set of chemically old stars that appear young by their independently derived masses has been detected. These are so-called $\alpha$-rich young stars. For a sample of 51 red-giant stars, for which spectra are available from SDSS/APOGEE and masses are available from asteroseismic measures based on \textit{Kepler} lightcurves, we derive the C, N and O abundances through an independent analysis. These stars span a wide range of N/C surface number density ratios. We interpret the high-mass stars with low N/C as being products of mergers or mass transfer during or after first dredge up, because the dredge-up features are the same as for low-mass stars. The $\alpha$-rich young stars with high N/C follow the expected trend of N/C for their mass, and could be either genuine young stars (leaving their high [$\alpha$/Fe] unexplained) or the results of mergers on the main sequence.

Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in binary rich star clusters

AbstractThree-body interactions of stellar-mass binaries with intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) in nuclei of globular clusters may produce specific features that may serve as an independent indicator of existence of the IMBHs. By means of direct N-body integrations we follow the dynamical evolution of globular clusters of moderate extension and mass with 50% binary population over a time span of ≍ 0.8 Gyr and compare the cases with and without the primordial binaries as well as with and without the IMBH. We show that (i) presence of the IMBH leads to rapid formation of a density cusp regardless of the initial binary fraction, (ii) binary rich clusters with the IMBH produce high velocity escapers at a rate of ≍ 0.1 Myr−1 and (iii) clusters hosting an IMBH together with high number of binaries form a denser halo of marginally unbound stars than clusters that lack either the IMBH or the binary population.

Surface tension of hot and dense quark matter under strong magnetic fields

We study the surface tension of hot, highly magnetized three flavor quark matter droplets, focusing specifically on the thermodynamic conditions prevailing in neutron stars, hot lepton rich protoneutron stars and neutron star mergers. We explore the role of temperature, baryon number density, trapped neutrinos, droplet size and magnetic fields within the multiple reflection expansion formalism (MRE), assuming that astrophysical quark matter can be described as a mixture of free Fermi gases composed by quarks $u$, $d$, $s$, electrons and neutrinos, in chemical equilibrium under weak interactions. We find that the total surface tension is rather unaffected by the size of the drop, but is quite sensitive to the effect of baryon number density, temperature, trapped neutrinos and magnetic fields (specially above $eB \sim 5 \times 10^{-3} \mathrm{GeV}^2$). Surface tensions parallel and transverse to the magnetic field span values up to $\sim$ 25 MeV/fm$^2$. For $T \lesssim 100$ MeV the surface tension is a decreasing function of temperature but above 100 MeV it increases monotonically with $T$. Finally, we discuss some astrophysical consequences of our results.

The assembly history of the Galactic inner halo inferred from α-element patterns

We explore the origin of the observed decline in [O/Fe] (and [Mg/Fe]) with Galactocentric distance for high-metallicity stars ([Fe/H] > -1.1), based on a sample of halo stars selected within the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) fourteenth data release (DR14). We also analyse the characteristics of the [$\alpha$/Fe] distributions in the inner-halo regions inferred from two zoom-in Milky Way mass-sized galaxies that are taken as case studies. One of them qualitatively reproduces the observed trend to have higher fraction of $\alpha$-rich star for decreasing galactocentric distance; the other exhibits the opposite trend. We find that stars with [Fe/H] > -1.1 located in the range [15 - 30] kpc are consistent with formation in two starbursts, with maxima separated by about ~ 1 Gyr. We explore the contributions of stellar populations with different origin to the [$\alpha$/Fe] gradients detected in stars with [Fe/H] > -1.1. Our analysis reveals that the simulated halo that best matches the observed chemical trends is characterised by an accretion history involving low to intermediate-mass satellite galaxies with a short and intense burst of star formation, and contributions from a more massive satellite with dynamical masses about ~ 10$^{10}$M$_{\odot}$, distributing low-[$\alpha$/Fe] stars at intermediate radius.

Recovering stellar population parameters via different population models and stellar libraries

Three basic ingredients are required to generate a simple stellar population (SSP) library, i.e., an initial mass function (IMF), a stellar evolution model/isochrones, and an empirical/theoretical stellar spectral library. However, there are still some uncertainties to the determination and understanding of these ingredients. We perform the spectral fitting to test the relative parameter offsets between these uncertainties using two different stellar population models, two different empirical stellar libraries, two different isochrones, and the Salpeter and Chabrier IMFs. Based on these setups, we select five SSP libraries generated with the Galaxev/STELIB and Vazdekis/MILES models, and apply them to the pPXF full-spectrum fitting of both MaNGA and mock spectra. We find that: 1) Compared to the Galaxev/STELIB model, spectral fitting qualities with the Vazdekis/MILES model have significant improvements for those metal-rich (especially over-solar) spectra, which cause better reduced $\chi^2$ distributions and more precisely fitted absorption lines. This might due to the lack of metal rich stars in the empirical STELIB library, or code improvement of the Vazdekis model. 2) When applying the Vazdekis/MILES model for spectral fitting, the IMF variation will lead to not only a systematic offset in $M_*/L_r$, but also offsets in age and metallicity, and these offsets increase with increasing stellar population ages. However, the IMF-variation caused metallicity offsets disappear in the case of Galaxev/STELIB based libraries. 3) The Padova2000 model provides a better match to the MaNGA galaxy spectra at [M/H]$_L<-1.0$, while the BaSTI model match the local galaxy spectra better at [M/H]$_L>-1.0$. Current tests suggest that spectral fitting with the Vazdekis/MILES+BaSTI combination would be a better choice for local galaxies.

Vergilius Provence-ban

In the long history of French translations of Vergilian Eclogues, the work of M. Pagnol (1895-1974) has a special place. The novelist, playwright and filmmaker (the first one of them elected to Académie Française) published his version of pastoral poems in 1958, two years after the highly artistic edition of P. Valéry. In a sociocultural approach, Pagnol’s translation is usually considered as a sophisticated tool of marketing used to remodel the image of the author. The popular and rich star of French theatre and cinema is not really accepted neither by academic literature nor by the movements of literary radicalism because of his regional features and his cheap sentimentalism. By translating Virgil in a quasi-academic way, by editing a text with a preface, commentary and notes, Pagnol would highlight his erudition and postulate a place for himself among the Classics. Nevertheless, his very funny and personal way to interpret Virgil, his cultural commentaries, and his ethical remarks based on the norms of modern urban society make the Latin poet accessible for a very wide audience. The current paper focuses on the aesthetic features of his work. Being born in Provence, passionate of the Mediterranean landscape and highly influenced by classical mythology, Pagnol appears to emphasize the Latin origins of his homeland, the cultural and ethnical continuity between the Antiquity and the 20th century, with a strong apparent wish to revive thousand-year-old traditions.

IC 4499 revised: Spectro-photometric evidence of small light-element variations

It has been suggested that IC 4499 is one of the very few old globulars to not host multiple populations with light-element variations. To follow-up on this very interesting result, here we have made use of accurate HST photometry and FLAMES at VLT high-resolution spectroscopy to investigate in more detail the stellar population properties of this system. We find that the red giant branch of the cluster is clearly bimodal in near-UV-optical colour-magnitude diagrams, thus suggesting that IC 4499 is actually composed by two sub-populations of stars with different nitrogen abundances. This represents the first detection of multiple populations in IC 4499. Consistently, we also find that one star out of six is Na-rich to some extent, while we do not detect any evidence of intrinsic spread in both Mg and O. The number ratio between stars with normal and enriched nitrogen is in good agreement with the number ratio – mass trend observed in Galactic globular clusters. Also, as typically found in other systems, nitrogen rich stars are more centrally concentrated than normal stars, although this result cannot be considered conclusive because of the limited field of view covered by our observations (∼1rh). On the contrary, we observe that both the RGB UV colour spread, which is a proxy of N variations, and Na abundance variations, are significantly smaller than those observed in Milky Way globular clusters with mass and metallicity comparable to IC 4499. The modest N and Na spreads observed in this system can be tentatively connected to the fact that IC 4499 likely formed in a disrupted dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way, as previously proposed based on its orbit.

Weighing the two stellar components of the Galactic bulge

Context.Recent spectroscopic surveys of the Galactic bulge have unambiguously shown that the bulge contains two main components, which are best separated by their iron content, but also differ in spatial distribution, kinematics, and abundance ratios. The so-called metal poor component peaks at [Fe/H] ∼ −0.4, while the metal rich component peaks at [Fe/H] ∼ +0.3. The total metallicity distribution function is therefore bimodal with a dip at [Fe/H] ∼ 0. The relative fraction of the two components changes significantly across the bulge area. Aims. We provide, for the first time, the fractional contribution of the metal poor and metal rich stars to the stellar mass budget of the Galactic bulge and its variation across the bulge area. Methods. This result follows from the combination of the stellar mass profile obtained empirically, by our group, from VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea data, with the relative fraction of metal poor and metal rich stars, across the bulge area, derived from the GIRAFFE Inner Bulge spectroscopic Survey. Results. We find that metal poor stars make up 48% of the total stellar mass of the bulge, within the region |l| &lt; 10, |b| &lt; 9.5 and that the remaining 52% are made up of metal rich stars. The latter dominate the mass budget at intermediate latitudes |b| ∼ 4, but become marginal in the outer bulge (|b| &gt; 8). The metal poor component is more axisymmetric than the metal rich component, and it is at least comparable and possibly slightly dominant in the inner few degrees. As a result, the metal poor component, which does not follow the main bar, is not marginal in terms of the total mass budget as previously thought, and this new observational evidence must be included in bulge models. While the trend of the total radial velocity dispersion follows the total stellar mass, when we examine the velocity dispersion of each component individually, we find that metal poor stars have higher velocity dispersion where they make up a smaller fraction of the stellar mass, and vice versa. This is due to the kinematical and spatial distribution of the two metallicity components being significantly different, as already discussed in the literature.

On the AGB stars of M 4: a robust disagreement between spectroscopic observations and theory

Several recent spectroscopic investigations have presented conflicting results on the existence of Na-rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in the Galactic globular cluster M4 (NGC6121). The studies disagree on whether or not Na-rich red giant branch (RGB) stars evolve to the AGB. For a sample of previously published HER- MES/AAT AGB and RGB stellar spectra we present a re-analysis of O, Na, and Fe abundances, and a new analysis of Mg and Al abundances; we also present CN band strengths for this sample, derived from low-resolution AAOmega spectra. Following a detailed literature comparison, we find that the AGB samples of all studies consistently show lower abundances of Na and Al, and are weaker in CN, than RGB stars in the cluster. This is similar to recent observations of AGB stars in NGC 6752 and M 62. In an attempt to explain this result, we present new theoretical stellar evolutionary models for M 4; however, these predict that all stars, including Na-rich RGB stars, evolve onto the AGB. We test the robustness of our abundance results using a variety of atmospheric models and spectroscopic methods; however, we do not find evidence that systematic modelling uncertainties can explain the apparent lack of Na- rich AGB stars in M4. We conclude that an unexplained, but robust, discordance between observations and theory remains for the AGB stars in M 4.

A Masing BAaDE’s Window

AbstractWe report on the Bulge Asymmetries and Dynamic Evolution (BAaDE) survey which has observed 19 000 MSX color selected red giant stars for SiO maser emission at 43 GHz with the VLA and is in the process of observing 9 000 of these stars with ALMA at 86 GHz in the Southern sky. Our setup covers the main maser transitions, as well as those of isotopologues and selected lines of carbon-bearing species. Observations of this set of lines allow a far-reaching catalog of line-of-sight velocities in the dust-obscured regions where optical surveys cannot reach. Our preliminary detection rate is close to 70%, predicting a wealth of new information on the distribution of metal rich stars, their kinematics as function of location in the Galaxy, as well as the occurrence of lines and line ratios between the different transitions in combination with the spectral energy distribution from about 1 to 100 μm. Similar to the OH/IR stars, a clear kinematic signature between disk and bulge stars can be seen. Furthermore, the SiO J = →10 (v=3) line plays a prominent role in the derived maser properties.

Stellar population of the superbubble N 206 in the LMC

Context. Clusters or associations of early-type stars are often associated with a “superbubble” of hot gas. The formation of such superbubbles is caused by the feedback from massive stars. The complex N 206 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) exhibits a superbubble and a rich massive star population. Aims. Our goal is to perform quantitative spectral analyses of all massive stars associated with the N 206 superbubble in order to determine their stellar and wind parameters. We compare the superbubble energy budget to the stellar energy input and discuss the star formation history of the region. Methods. We observed the massive stars in the N 206 complex using the multi-object spectrograph FLAMES at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). Available ultra-violet (UV) spectra from archives are also used. The spectral analysis is performed with Potsdam Wolf–Rayet (PoWR) model atmospheres by reproducing the observations with the synthetic spectra. Results. We present the stellar and wind parameters of the OB stars and the two Wolf–Rayet (WR) binaries in the N 206 complex. Twelve percent of the sample show Oe/Be type emission lines, although most of them appear to rotate far below critical. We found eight runaway stars based on their radial velocity. The wind-momentum luminosity relation of our OB sample is consistent with the expectations. The Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (HRD) of the OB stars reveals a large age spread (1–30 Myr), suggesting different episodes of star formation in the complex. The youngest stars are concentrated in the inner part of the complex, while the older OB stars are scattered over outer regions. We derived the present day mass function for the entire N 206 complex as well as for the cluster NGC 2018. The total ionizing photon flux produced by all massive stars in the N 206 complex is Q0 ≈ 5 × 1050 s−1, and the mechanical luminosity of their stellar winds amounts to Lmec = 1.7 × 1038 erg s−1. Three very massive Of stars are found to dominate the feedback among 164 OB stars in the sample. The two WR winds alone release about as much mechanical luminosity as the whole OB star sample. The cumulative mechanical feedback from all massive stellar winds is comparable to the combined mechanical energy of the supernova explosions that likely occurred in the complex. Accounting also for the WR wind and supernovae, the mechanical input over the last five Myr is ≈ 2.3 × 1052 erg. Conclusions. The N206 complex in the LMC has undergone star formation episodes since more than 30 Myr ago. From the spectral analyses of its massive star population, we derive a current star formation rate of 2.2 × 10−3 M⊙ yr−1. From the combined input of mechanical energy from all stellar winds, only a minor fraction is emitted in the form of X-rays. The corresponding input accumulated over a long time also exceeds the current energy content of the complex by more than a factor of five. The morphology of the complex suggests a leakage of hot gas from the superbubble.

A 3.5 million Solar masses black hole in the centre of the ultracompact dwarf galaxy fornax UCD3

The origin of ultracompact dwarfs (UCDs), a class of compact stellar systems discovered two decades ago, still remains a matter of debate. Recent discoveries of central supermassive black holes in UCDs likely inherited from their massive progenitor galaxies provide support for the tidal stripping hypothesis. At the same time, on statistical grounds, some massive UCDs might be representatives of the high luminosity tail of the globular cluster luminosity function. Here we present a detection of a $3.3^{+1.4}_{-1.2}\times10^6\,M_{\odot}$ black hole ($1\sigma$ uncertainty) in the centre of the UCD3 galaxy in the Fornax cluster, that corresponds to 4 per cent of its stellar mass. We performed isotropic Jeans dynamical modelling of UCD3 using internal kinematics derived from adaptive optics assisted observations with the SINFONI spectrograph and seeing limited data collected with the FLAMES spectrograph at the ESO VLT. We rule out the zero black hole mass at the $3\sigma$ confidence level when adopting a mass-to-light ratio inferred from stellar populations. This is the fourth supermassive black hole found in a UCD and the first one in the Fornax cluster. Similarly to other known UCDs that harbour black holes, UCD3 hosts metal rich stars enhanced in $\alpha$-elements that supports the tidal stripping of a massive progenitor as its likely formation scenario. We estimate that up to 80 per cent of luminous UCDs in galaxy clusters host central black holes. This fraction should be lower for UCDs in groups, because their progenitors are more likely to be dwarf galaxies, which do not tend to host central black holes.

High Resolution Optical Spectroscopy of Hot Post-AGB Star Candidates LS IV-04 1 and LB3116

We present LTE analysis of high resolution optical spectra for B-type hot PAGB stars LS IV-04 1 and LB3116 (LSE 237). The spectra of these high Galactic latitude stars were obtained with the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) and the UCLES spectrograph. The standard 1D LTE analysis with line-blanketed LTE model atmospheres and spectral synthesis provided fundamental atmospheric parameters of Teff= 15 000±1000 K, log g= 2.5±0.2, ξ = 5.0±1.0 km s−1, [M/H] = −1.81 dex, and v sin i= 5 km s−1 for LSIV-04 1 and Teff= 16 000±1000 K, log g= 2.5±0.1, v sin i= 25 km s−1, and [Fe/H] = −0.93 dex for LB 3116. Chemical abundances of ten different elements were obtained. For LS IV-04 1, its derived model temperature contradicts with previous analysis results. The upper limits for its nitrogen and oxygen abundances were reported for the first time. The magnesium, silicon and calcium were overabundant (i.e. [Mg/Fe] = 0.8 dex, [Si/Fe] = 0.5 dex, [Ca/Fe] = 0.9 dex). With its metal-poor photosphere and VLSR ≈ 96 km s−1, LSIV-04 1 is likely a population II star and most probably a PAGB star. LTE abundances of LB 3116 were reported for the first time. The spectrum of this helium rich star shows 0.9 dex enhancement in the nitrogen. The photosphere of the star is slightly deficient in Mg, Si, and S. (i.e. [Mg/Fe] = −0.2 dex, [Si/Fe] = −0.4 dex, [S/Fe] = −0.2 dex). The Al is slightly enhanced. The phosphorus is overabundant, i.e. [P/Fe] ≈ 1.7 ± 0.47 dex, hence LB3116 may be the first example of a PAGB star which is rich in phosphorus. With its high radial velocity (i.e.VLSR = 73 km s−1), and the deficiencies observed in C, Mg, Si, and S indicate that LB 3116 is likely a hot PAGB star at high galactic latitude.

Radial Velocities of RR Lyrae Stars in and around NGC 6441

Abstract Detailed elemental abundance patterns of metal-poor ([Fe/H] ∼ −1 dex) stars in the Galactic bulge indicate that a number of them are consistent with globular cluster (GC) stars and may be former members of dissolved GCs. This would indicate that a few per cent of the Galactic bulge was built up from destruction and/or evaporation of GCs. Here, an attempt is made to identify such presumptive stripped stars originating from the massive, inner Galaxy GC NGC 6441 using its rich RR Lyrae variable star (RRL) population. We present radial velocities of 40 RRLs centered on the GC NGC 6441. All 13 of the RRLs observed within the cluster tidal radius have velocities consistent with cluster membership, with an average radial velocity of 24 ± 5 km s−1 and a star-to-star scatter of 11 km s−1. This includes two new RRLs that were previously not associated with the cluster. Eight RRLs with radial velocities consistent with cluster membership but up to three time the distance from the tidal radius are also reported. These potential extra-tidal RRLs also have exceptionally long periods, which is a curious characteristic of the NGC 6441 RRL population that hosts RRLs with periods longer than seen anywhere else in the Milky Way. As expected of stripped cluster stars, most are inline with the cluster’s orbit. Therefore, either the tidal radius of NGC 6441 is underestimated and/or we are seeing dissolving cluster stars stemming from NGC 6441 that are building up the old spheroidal bulge.

Detecting outliers and learning complex structures with large spectroscopic surveys – a case study with APOGEE stars

In this work we apply and expand on a recently introduced outlier detection algorithm that is based on an unsupervised random forest. We use the algorithm to calculate a similarity measure for stellar spectra from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE). We show that the similarity measure traces non-trivial physical properties and contains information about complex structures in the data. We use it for visualization and clustering of the dataset, and discuss its ability to find groups of highly similar objects, including spectroscopic twins. Using the similarity matrix to search the dataset for objects allows us to find objects that are impossible to find using their best fitting model parameters. This includes extreme objects for which the models fail, and rare objects that are outside the scope of the model. We use the similarity measure to detect outliers in the dataset, and find a number of previously unknown Be-type stars, spectroscopic binaries, carbon rich stars, young stars, and a few that we cannot interpret. Our work further demonstrates the potential for scientific discovery when combining machine learning methods with modern survey data.

Confirming chemical clocks: asteroseismic age dissection of the Milky Way disk(s)

Investigations of the origin and evolution of the Milky Way disk have long relied on chemical and kinematic identification of its components to reconstruct our Galactic past. Difficulties in determining precise stellar ages have restricted most studies to small samples, normally confined to the solar neighbourhood. Here we break this impasse with the help of asteroseismic inference and perform a chronology of the evolution of the disk throughout the age of the Galaxy. We chemically dissect the Milky Way disk population using a sample of red giant stars spanning out to 2~kpc in the solar annulus observed by the {\it Kepler} satellite, with the added dimension of asteroseismic ages. Our results reveal a clear difference in age between the low- and high-$\alpha$ populations, which also show distinct velocity dispersions in the $V$ and $W$ components. We find no tight correlation between age and metallicity nor [$\alpha$/Fe] for the high-$\alpha$ disk stars. Our results indicate that this component formed over a period of more than 2~Gyr with a wide range of [M/H] and [$\alpha$/Fe] independent of time. Our findings show that the kinematic properties of young $\alpha$-rich stars are consistent with the rest of the high-$\alpha$ population and different from the low-$\alpha$ stars of similar age, rendering support to their origin being old stars that went through a mass transfer or stellar merger event, making them appear younger, instead of migration of truly young stars formed close to the Galactic bar.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: Churning through the Milky Way

Context. There have been conflicting results with respect to the extent that radial migration has played in the evolution of the Galaxy. Additionally, observations of the solar neighborhood have shown evidence of a merger in the past history of the Milky Way that drives enhanced radial migration. Aims. We attempt to determine the relative fraction of stars that have undergone significant radial migration by studying the orbital properties of metal-rich ([Fe/H] &gt; 0.1) stars within 2 kpc of the Sun. We also aim to investigate the kinematic properties, such as velocity dispersion and orbital parameters, of stellar populations near the Sun as a function of [Mg/Fe] and [Fe/H], which could show evidence of a major merger in the past history of the Milky Way. Methods. We used a sample of more than 3000 stars selected from the fourth internal data release of the Gaia-ESO Survey. We used the stellar parameters from the Gaia-ESO Survey along with proper motions from PPMXL to determine distances, kinematics, and orbital properties for these stars to analyze the chemodynamic properties of stellar populations near the Sun. Results. Analyzing the kinematics of the most metal-rich stars ([Fe/H] &gt; 0.1), we find that more than half have small eccentricities (e&lt; 0.2) or are on nearly circular orbits. Slightly more than 20% of the metal-rich stars have perigalacticons Rp&gt; 7 kpc. We find that the highest [Mg/Fe], metal-poor populations have lower vertical and radial velocity dispersions compared to lower [Mg/Fe] populations of similar metallicity by ~10 km s-1. The median eccentricity increases linearly with [Mg/Fe] across all metallicities, while the perigalacticon decreases with increasing [Mg/Fe] for all metallicities. Finally, the most [Mg/Fe]-rich stars are found to have significant asymmetric drift and rotate more than 40 km s-1 slower than stars with lower [Mg/Fe] ratios. Conclusions. While our results cannot constrain how far stars have migrated, we propose that migration processes are likely to have played an important role in the evolution of the Milky Way, with metal-rich stars migrating from the inner disk toward to solar neighborhood and past mergers potentially driving enhanced migration of older stellar populations in the disk.