Limitations and rotation of the two-armed phase spiral in the Milky Way stellar disc

TL;DR

This study characterizes the two-armed Gaia phase spiral in the Milky Way, revealing its limited spatial extent, rotational behavior, and metallicity variations, providing insights into the Galaxy's recent disturbance history.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of the two-armed phase spiral's properties, spatial distribution, and chemical characteristics in the Milky Way disc.

Findings

Two-armed phase spiral is confined to a narrow galactocentric range.

The two-armed spiral rotates with phase angle and varies in shape.

Stars in the overdense regions have higher metallicity.

Abstract

Context: The Milky Way's history of recent disturbances is vividly demonstrated by a structure in the vertical phase-space distribution known as the Gaia phase spiral. A one-armed phase spiral has been seen widely across the Milky Way disc, while a two-armed one has only been observed in the solar neighbourhood. Aims: This study aims to determine the properties of the two-armed phase spiral and to put it in a Galactic context, with the ultimate goal of understanding the structure and history of the Milky Way disc. Methods: The Gaia DR3 data is used to trace and characterise the two-armed phase spiral. Special focus is put on the phase spiral's spatial distribution, rotational behaviour, and chemical characteristics. To quantify the properties of the phase spiral we use a model that fits a spiral pattern to the phase space distribution of the stars. Results: We find that the two-armed phase spiral is detectable only within a narrow range of galactocentric distances and angular momenta in the solar neighbourhood, $R = 8 \pm 0.5 $ kpc, $L_Z = 1450 \pm 50$ kpc km s$^{-1}$. Outside this region, the phase spiral is one-armed. The two-armed phase spiral rotates with the phase angle, like the one-armed phase spiral, and changes axis ratio with phase angle. Additionally, stars within the phase-space overdensity caused by the two-armed phase spiral pattern have slightly higher mean metallicity than stars in the underdense regions of the pattern at equivalent galactocentric distances, angular momenta, and vertical orbit extents. Conclusions: The two-armed phase spiral rotates with phase angle and its effect can be seen in metallicity, like the one-armed phase spiral. However, the limited range over which it can be found, and its variation in shape are quite different from the one-armed version, suggesting it is a much more localised phenomenon in the Galactic disc.