Chronology of our Galaxy from Gaia colour-magnitude diagram fitting (ChronoGal) II. Unveiling the formation and evolution of the kinematically selected Thick and Thin Discs

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Main Authors: Fernández-Alvar, Emma, Ruiz-Lara, Tomás, Gallart, Carme, Cassisi, Santi, Surot, Francisco, González-Koda, Yllari K., Callingham, Thomas M., Queiroz, Anna B., Battaglia, Giuseppina, Thomas, Guillaume, Chiappini, Cristina, Hill, Vanessa, Dodd, Emma, Helmi, Amina, Aznar-Menargues, Guillem, de la Cueva, Alejandro, Mirabla, David, Quintana-Ansaldo, Mónica, Rivero, Alicia
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Fernández-Alvar, Emma
Ruiz-Lara, Tomás
Gallart, Carme
Cassisi, Santi
Surot, Francisco
González-Koda, Yllari K.
Callingham, Thomas M.
Queiroz, Anna B.
Battaglia, Giuseppina
Thomas, Guillaume
Chiappini, Cristina
Hill, Vanessa
Dodd, Emma
Helmi, Amina
Aznar-Menargues, Guillem
de la Cueva, Alejandro
Mirabla, David
Quintana-Ansaldo, Mónica
Rivero, Alicia
author_facet Fernández-Alvar, Emma
Ruiz-Lara, Tomás
Gallart, Carme
Cassisi, Santi
Surot, Francisco
González-Koda, Yllari K.
Callingham, Thomas M.
Queiroz, Anna B.
Battaglia, Giuseppina
Thomas, Guillaume
Chiappini, Cristina
Hill, Vanessa
Dodd, Emma
Helmi, Amina
Aznar-Menargues, Guillem
de la Cueva, Alejandro
Mirabla, David
Quintana-Ansaldo, Mónica
Rivero, Alicia
contents Understanding the formation and evolution of the Milky Way's thin and thick discs is crucial to galaxy formation studies. We derive age and metallicity distributions of the kinematic thick and thin discs using the CMDft.Gaia pipeline and Gaia DR3 data within 250 pc of the Sun, covering 1 kpc in height. Our results show that the kinematic thick disc is mostly older than 10 Gyr, undergoing three main metallicity enrichment episodes: (1) over 12 Gyr ago, peaking at [M/H] $\sim$ -0.5 dex, (2) $\sim$11 Gyr ago, rapidly increasing to solar [M/H] and spanning [$α$/Fe] from 0.3 to solar, and (3) just over 10 Gyr ago, reaching supersolar metallicities. Meanwhile, the kinematic thin disc began forming $\sim$10 Gyr ago, just as thick disc star formation ended, characterized by supersolar metallicities and low [$α$/Fe]. This transition coincides with the Milky Way's last major merger: Gaia-Sausage Enceladus (GSE). We also identify a subset of kinematic thin disc stars older than 10 Gyr with high/intermediate [$α$/Fe], indicating a transition phase. The age-metallicity relation of the thin disc suggests overlapping star formation episodes and radial mixing in the solar neighborhood, with the greatest spread $\sim$6 Gyr ago. Additionally, we detect an isolated thick disc star formation event at solar metallicity, coinciding with Sagittarius' first pericenter passage. These findings provide precise age-metallicity distributions and star formation rates, offering key insights for chemical evolution models and cosmological simulations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_19536
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Chronology of our Galaxy from Gaia colour-magnitude diagram fitting (ChronoGal) II. Unveiling the formation and evolution of the kinematically selected Thick and Thin Discs
Fernández-Alvar, Emma
Ruiz-Lara, Tomás
Gallart, Carme
Cassisi, Santi
Surot, Francisco
González-Koda, Yllari K.
Callingham, Thomas M.
Queiroz, Anna B.
Battaglia, Giuseppina
Thomas, Guillaume
Chiappini, Cristina
Hill, Vanessa
Dodd, Emma
Helmi, Amina
Aznar-Menargues, Guillem
de la Cueva, Alejandro
Mirabla, David
Quintana-Ansaldo, Mónica
Rivero, Alicia
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Understanding the formation and evolution of the Milky Way's thin and thick discs is crucial to galaxy formation studies. We derive age and metallicity distributions of the kinematic thick and thin discs using the CMDft.Gaia pipeline and Gaia DR3 data within 250 pc of the Sun, covering 1 kpc in height. Our results show that the kinematic thick disc is mostly older than 10 Gyr, undergoing three main metallicity enrichment episodes: (1) over 12 Gyr ago, peaking at [M/H] $\sim$ -0.5 dex, (2) $\sim$11 Gyr ago, rapidly increasing to solar [M/H] and spanning [$α$/Fe] from 0.3 to solar, and (3) just over 10 Gyr ago, reaching supersolar metallicities. Meanwhile, the kinematic thin disc began forming $\sim$10 Gyr ago, just as thick disc star formation ended, characterized by supersolar metallicities and low [$α$/Fe]. This transition coincides with the Milky Way's last major merger: Gaia-Sausage Enceladus (GSE). We also identify a subset of kinematic thin disc stars older than 10 Gyr with high/intermediate [$α$/Fe], indicating a transition phase. The age-metallicity relation of the thin disc suggests overlapping star formation episodes and radial mixing in the solar neighborhood, with the greatest spread $\sim$6 Gyr ago. Additionally, we detect an isolated thick disc star formation event at solar metallicity, coinciding with Sagittarius' first pericenter passage. These findings provide precise age-metallicity distributions and star formation rates, offering key insights for chemical evolution models and cosmological simulations.
title Chronology of our Galaxy from Gaia colour-magnitude diagram fitting (ChronoGal) II. Unveiling the formation and evolution of the kinematically selected Thick and Thin Discs
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.19536