The spiral potential of the Milky Way

TL;DR

This study analyzes stellar radial velocities near the Galactic center to infer the Milky Way's spiral structure, concluding it is primarily two-armed with the Sagittarius arm being a minor feature.

Contribution

It provides observational evidence supporting a two-armed spiral potential in the Milky Way through stellar velocity analysis and simulation comparison.

Findings

Radial velocity variation fits a sinusoidal pattern with 3.4 km/s amplitude.

The main spiral structure is two-armed, not three-armed.

The Sagittarius arm is a minor inter-arm feature, not a major spiral arm.

Abstract

Radial velocities of 1726 candidate B- and A-type stars within 3deg of the Galactic center (GC) were estimated from FLAMES/VLT spectra in the range of 396-457 nm. The final sample was limited to 1507 stars with either Gaia DR2 parallaxes or main-sequence B-type stars having reliable spectroscopic distances. The solar peculiar motion in the direction of the GC relative to the local standard of rest (LSR) was estimated to Uo = 10.7+-1.3 km/s. The variation in the median radial velocity relative to the LSR as a function of distance from the sun shows a gradual increase from slightly negative values near the sun to almost 5 km/s at a distance of around 4 kpc. A sinusoidal function with an amplitude of 3.4+-1.3 km/s and a maximum at 4.0+-0.6 kpc inside the sun is the best fit to the data. A positive median radial velocity relative to the LSR around 1.8 kpc, the expected distance to the Sagittarius arm, can be excluded at a 99% level of confidence. A marginal peak detected at this distance may be associated with stellar streams in the star-forming regions, but it is too narrow to be associated with a major arm feature. A comparison with test-particle simulations in a fixed galactic potential with an imposed spiral pattern shows the best agreement with a two-armed spiral potential having the Scutum-Crux arm as the next major inner arm. A relative radial forcing of ~1.5% and a pattern speed in the range of 20-30 km/s/kpc yield the best fit. The lack of a positive velocity perturbation in the region around the Sagittarius arm excludes it from being a major arm. Thus, the main spiral potential of the Galaxy is two-armed, while the Sagittarius arm is an inter-arm feature with only a small mass perturbation associated with it.