Analysis of the disc components of our Galaxy via kinematic and spectroscopic procedures

TL;DR

This study investigates the Galactic disc components using spectroscopic and kinematic data from GALAH DR2 and Gaia DR2, revealing that stellar populations share similar properties and that [$eta$/Fe] can distinguish between $ m extalpha$-rich and $ m extalpha$-poor stars.

Contribution

It combines kinematic and spectroscopic procedures to analyze stellar populations, providing new insights into their chemical and dynamical properties.

Findings

High probability thin-disc stars dominate across [$ extalpha$/Fe] intervals.

Stars in different populations share similar [$ extalpha$/Fe], [Fe/H], velocities, and ages.

[$ extalpha$/Fe]=0.14 dex separates $ extalpha$-rich and $ extalpha$-poor stars.

Abstract

We used the spectroscopic and astrometric data provided from the GALAH DR2 and Gaia DR2, respectively, for a large sample of stars to investigate the behaviour of the [$\alpha$/Fe] abundances via two procedures, i.e. kinematically and spectroscopically. With the kinematical procedure, we investigated the distribution of the [$\alpha$/Fe] abundances into the high/low probability thin disc, and high/low probability thick-disc populations in terms of total space velocity, [Fe/H] abundance, and age. The high probability thin-disc stars dominate in all sub-intervals of [$\alpha$/Fe], including the rich ones: [$\alpha$/Fe]$>0.3$ dex, where the high probability thick-disc stars are expected to dominate. This result can be explained by the limiting apparent magnitude of the GALAH DR2 ($V<14$ mag) and intermediate Galactic latitude of the star sample. Stars in the four populations share equivalent [$\alpha$/Fe] and [Fe/H] abundances, total space velocities and ages. Hence, none of these parameters can be used alone for separation of a sample of stars into different populations. High probability thin-disc stars with abundance $-1.3<{\rm[Fe/H]}\leq -0.5$ dex and age $9<\tau\leq13$ Gyr are assumed to have different birth places relative to the metal rich and younger ones. With the spectroscopic procedure, we separated the sample stars into $\alpha$-rich and $\alpha$-poor categories by means of their ages as well as their [$\alpha$/Fe] and [Fe/H] abundances. Stars older than 8 Gyr are richer in [$\alpha$/Fe] than the younger ones. We could estimate the abundance [$\alpha$/Fe]=0.14 dex as the boundery separating the $\alpha$-rich and $\alpha$-poor sub-samples in the [$\alpha$/Fe]$\times$[Fe/H] plane.