Hot Subdwarf Stars Identified in Gaia DR2 with Spectra of LAMOST DR6 and DR7. II. Kinematics

TL;DR

This study combines Gaia DR2 data with LAMOST spectra to analyze the 3D kinematics and orbital properties of 182 hot subdwarf stars, revealing their population distributions and likely formation channels.

Contribution

It provides a detailed kinematic classification of hot subdwarfs based on their helium content, supporting binary evolution models and identifying different formation channels.

Findings

He-rich hot subdwarfs show larger velocity dispersions.

Distribution of helium groups varies across Galactic populations.

Different formation channels are inferred for helium-deficient and He-rich stars.

Abstract

Combining the LAMOST radial velocities with Gaia parallaxes and proper motions, we presented 3D Galactic space motions and the orbits of 182 single-lined hot subdwarf stars. These stars have been identified by Lei et al. (2020) in Gaia DR2 with LAMOST DR6 and DR7 spectra. He-rich hot subdwarf stars with log(y)>0 show the largest standard deviations of the Galactic velocity components and orbital parameters, while those with -1<log(y)<0 exhibit the second largest standard deviations. The two groups of He-deficient stars with log(y)<-1 show similar standard deviations, which is systematically lower compared to He-rich stars. We also presented a kinematic population classification of the four hot subdwarf helium groups based on their positions in the U-V velocity diagram, J_z-eccentricity diagram and their Galactic orbits. The overall tendency of the fractional distributions of the four hot subdwarf helium groups in the halo, thin disk and thick disk is largely consistent with the findings reported by Luo et al.(2019) based on LAMOST DR5, which appears to support the predictions of binary population synthesis (Han et al. 2003; 2008). He-deficient stars with -2.2<log(y)<-1 likely origin from stable the Roche lobe overflow channel, He-deficient stars with log(y)<-2.2 from the common envelope ejection channel, and He-rich stars with log(y)>0 from the merger channel of double He white dwarf stars. The fraction of He-rich hot subdwarf stars with -1<log(y)<0 in the thin disk and the halo are far higher than in the thick disk, which implies that these stars have different formation channels in the thin disk and in the halo.