Galactic Kinematics from a Sample of Young Massive Stars

TL;DR

This study constructs a detailed kinematic model of the Milky Way using young massive stars, revealing spiral density wave parameters and explaining local peculiarities like the Gould Belt through density wave theory.

Contribution

The paper provides new measurements of the Galactic rotation curve and spiral density wave parameters based on a large sample of young massive stars, refining understanding of Galactic dynamics.

Findings

Galactic rotation velocity at 8 kpc is 259±16 km/s.

Spiral density wave pitch angle is -6.0±0.4 degrees.

Gould Belt peculiarities are explained by density wave effects.

Abstract

Based on published sources, we have created a kinematic database on 220 massive (>10 solar masses) young Galactic star systems located within <3 kpc of the Sun. Out of them, approximately 100 objects are spectroscopic binary and multiple star systems whose components are massive OB stars; the remaining objects are massive Hipparcos B stars with parallax errors of no more than 10 percent. Based on the entire sample, we have constructed the Galactic rotation curve, determined the circular rotation velocity of the solar neighborhood around the Galactic center at Ro=8 kpc, Vo=259+-16 km/s, and obtained the following spiral density wave parameters: the amplitudes of the radial and azimuthal velocity perturbations f_R=-10.8+/-1.2 km/s, and f_\theta=7.9+/-1.3 km/s, respectively; the pitch angle for a two-armed spiral pattern i=-6.0+/-0.4 deg., with the wavelength of the spiral density wave near the Sun being 2.6+/-0.2 kpc; and the radial phase of the Sun in the spiral density wave -120+/-4 deg. We show that such peculiarities of the Gould Belt as the local expansion of the system, the velocity ellipsoid vertex deviation, and the significant additional rotation can be explained in terms of the density wave theory. All these effects decrease noticeably once the influence of the spiral density wave on the velocities of nearby stars has been taken into account. The influence of Gould Belt stars on the Galactic parameter estimates has also been revealed. Eliminating them from the kinematic equations has led to the following new values of the spiral density wave parameters: f_\theta=2.9+/-2.1 km/s and \chi_\odot=-104+/-6 deg.