The Milky Way's nuclear stellar disc: A dynamically cool and metal-rich component formed from the Central Molecular Zone?

TL;DR

This study reveals that the Milky Way's nuclear stellar disc is a chemically and kinematically distinct, dynamically cool component with a metal-rich population likely formed from gas in the Central Molecular Zone, differing from the inner Bulge.

Contribution

The paper provides the first detailed kinematic and metallicity analysis of the NSD, showing its unique properties and suggesting a different formation history from the inner Bulge.

Findings

NSD is kinematically cool with decreasing velocity dispersion with metallicity.

Metal-rich stars in the NSD rotate similarly to gas in the Central Molecular Zone.

Metal-poor stars show slower rotation and signs of counter-rotation.

Abstract

The nuclear stellar disc (NSD) is, together with the nuclear star cluster (NSC) and the central massive black hole, one of the main components in the central parts of our Milky Way. However, until recently, only few studies of the stellar content of the NSD have been obtained due to extreme extinction and stellar crowding. With a dedicated KMOS (VLT, ESO) spectroscopic survey, we study the kinematics and global metallicities of the NSD based on the observations of K/M giant stars. We trace radial velocities and metallicities which were derived based on spectral indices (Na I and CO) along the NSD and compare those with a Galactic Bulge sample of APOGEE (DR16) and data from the NSC. We find that the metallicity distribution function and the fraction of metal-rich and metal-poor stars in the NSD are different from the corresponding distributions and ratios of the NSC and the Galactic Bulge. By tracing the velocity dispersion as a function of metallicity, we clearly see that the NSD is kinematically cool and that the velocity dispersion decreases with increasing metallicity contrary to the inner Bulge sample of APOGEE ($\rm |b| < 4^{o}$). Using molecular gas tracers ($\rm H_{2}CO$, CO(4-3)) of the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) we find an astonishing agreement between the gas rotation and the rotation of the metal-rich population indicating that the metal-rich stars could have formed from gas in the CMZ. On the other hand, the metal-poor stars show a much slower rotation profile with signs of counter-rotation indicating a different origin of these stars. Coupling kinematics with global metallicities, our results demonstrate that the NSD is chemically and kinematically distinct with respect to the inner Bulge indicating a different formation scenario.