The temporal and spatial variations of lithium abundance in the Galactic disc
Tiancheng Sun, Shaolan Bi, Xunzhou Chen, Yuxi (Lucy) Lu, Yuqin Chen,, Ming-Yi Ding, Jianrong Shi, Hongliang Yan, and Zhishuai Ge

TL;DR
This study maps the complex temporal and spatial evolution of lithium abundance in the Milky Way's disc, revealing migration patterns, enrichment processes, and gradient changes over cosmic time using a large stellar sample.
Contribution
It provides the first detailed analysis of lithium abundance variations with age and radius in the Galactic disc, incorporating precise stellar ages and 3D NLTE measurements.
Findings
Lithium abundance shows a complex pattern with age, including a decline and rapid increase.
Young Li-rich stars mainly originate from the outer disc and migrate inward.
The Galactic Li radial profile exhibits three distinct evolutionary periods with changing gradients.
Abstract
This study investigates the temporal and spatial variations in lithium abundance within the Milky Way using a sample of 22,034 main-sequence turn-off (MSTO) stars and subgiants, characterised by precise stellar ages, 3D NLTE (non-local thermodynamic equilibrium) lithium abundances, and birth radii. Our results reveal a complex variation in lithium abundance with stellar age: a gradual increase from 14 Gyr to 6 Gyr, followed by a decline between 6 Gyr and 4.5 Gyr, and a rapid increase thereafter. We find that young Li-rich stars (ages 4 Gyr, A(Li) 2.7 dex) predominantly originate from the outer disc. By binning the sample according to guiding center radius and z, we observe that these young Li-rich stars migrate radially to the local and inner discs. In addition, the stars originating from the inner disc experienced a rapid Li enrichment process between 8 Gyr and 6…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsStellar, planetary, and galactic studies · Astronomy and Astrophysical Research · Thermodynamic properties of mixtures
