Dynamical Ages of the Young Local Associations with $\textit{Gaia}$

TL;DR

This paper estimates the dynamical ages and birthplaces of nine Young Local Associations using Gaia data, orbital integration, and error analysis, revealing two star formation episodes in the local galaxy.

Contribution

It introduces a new method for deriving dynamical ages of YLAs based on orbital integration with error accounting, applied uniformly to nine associations using Gaia data.

Findings

Dynamical ages range from 3 to 13 Myr for three associations.

Lower limits for four associations' ages are provided.

Evidence suggests two star formation episodes in the local galaxy.

Abstract

The Young Local Associations constitute an excellent sample for the study of a variety of astrophysical topics, especially the star formation process in low-density environments. Data from the Gaia mission allows us to undertake studies of the YLAs with unprecedented accuracy. We determine the dynamical age and place of birth of a set of associations in a uniform and dynamically consistent manner. There are nine YLAs in our sample $\epsilon$ Chamaeleontis, TW Hydrae, $\beta$ Pictoris, Octans, Tucana-Horologium, Columba, Carina, Argus and AB Doradus. We designed a method for deriving the dynamical age of the YLAs based on the orbital integration. It involves a strategy to account for the effect of observational errors and we tested it using mock YLAs. Finally, we applied it to our set of nine YLAs with astrometry from the first Gaia data release and complementary on-ground radial velocities from the literature. Our orbital analysis yields a first estimate of the dynamical age of 3$^{+9}_{-0}$ Myr, 13$^{+7}_{-0}$ Myr and 5$^{+23}_{-0}$ Myr for $\epsilon$ Cha, $\beta$ Pict and Tuc-Hor, respectively. For four other associations (Oct, Col, Car and Arg), we provide a lower limit for the dynamical age. Our rigorous error treatment indicates that TW Hya and AB Dor deserve further study. Our dynamical ages are compatible spectroscopic and isochrone fitting ages obtained elsewhere. From the orbital analysis, we suggest a scenario with two episodes of star formation: one ~40 Myr ago in the first quadrant that gave birth to $\epsilon$ Cha, TW Hya and $\beta$ Pic, and another 5-15 Myr ago close to the Sun that formed Tuc-Hor, Col, and Car. Future Gaia data will provide the necessary accuracy to improve the present results, especially for the controversial age determinations, and additional evidence for the proposed scenario, once a complete census of YLAs and better membership can be obtained.