The Milky Way Has No Distinct

Thick Disk
Authors
 Overview
Definitions
Thick/Thin disk, Metals, [Fe/H], [α/Fe]

SDSS Survey
counts of G type Dwarf stars

Paper Intro
background to disk research

Three Key Plots

stellar mass-density as a function of scale height

Conclusion
author comments, future work
Overview of Milky Way
 Overview of Milky Way

Scale Height ~ 300pc

At one scale height above the plane, the number density of

stars drops by a factor of 1/e (0.37)
Overview of Milky Way
Scale Height ~ 1Kpc
 Metallicity (Z) of a Star

“... the proportion of its matter made up of

chemical elements other than hydrogen and
helium“ (Wikipedia)
 Metallicity (Z) of a Star

“... the proportion of its matter made up of

chemical elements other than hydrogen and
helium“ (Wikipedia)

Why Useful?

Can indicate the age of a

stellar object.
 Metal Enrichment
Enrich ISM

Jones, Mark H., and Robert J. Lambourne. An Introduction to Galaxies and Cosmology.
Cambridge University Press, 2004.
 Metal Enrichment
Enrich ISM

Current Solar Mass

Fractions

Hydrogen = 0.73

Jones, Mark H., and Robert J. Lambourne. An Introduction to Galaxies and Cosmology. Helium = 0.25
Cambridge University Press, 2004.
 Iron Abundance – [Fe/H]

Ratio of a star's iron

abundance compared to
the sun.

[Fe/H] = +1, => star has 10 times

the metallicity of the Sun

[Fe/H] = -1, => star has one tenth

the metallicity of the Sun
 Iron Abundance – [Fe/H]

Ratio of a star's iron Gives

Gives an
an observer
observer
abundance compared to information
information about
about the
the
the sun. age
age of
of aa star.
star.
Older
Older stars
stars have
have lower
lower
[Fe/H] = +1, => star has 10 times iron
iron abundance
abundance
the metallicity of the Sun because
because born
born when
when aa
large
large portion
portion of
of metals
metals
[Fe/H] = -1, => star has one tenth in
in the
the universe
universe had
had not
not
the metallicity of the Sun yet
yet been
been synthesized.
synthesized.
 Alpha Elements –
Stellar Nucleosynthesis

Alpha
elements:
C, N, O, Ca
produced in
triple-alpha
reactions in
red giant
stars.
 Alpha Abundance – [α/Fe]

Alpha-element abundance relative to Iron.

 Alpha Abundance – [α/Fe]

Alpha-element abundance relative to Iron.

Hints at the star formation history of a

stellar population
 Alpha Abundance – [α/Fe]

[α/Fe] “enhanced” ~ 0.5

α elements produced in large
quantities relative to iron from
Type II supernovae

[α/Fe] ~ 0,
α elements produced in
smaller quantities relative to
iron from Type Ia supernovae
 Alpha Abundance – [α/Fe]

[α/Fe] “enhanced” ~ 0.5

α elements produced in large Type
Type II:
II: Core-collapse
Core-collapse in in
quantities relative to iron from Massive
Massive Stars
Stars -- occur
occur in
in
Type II supernovae young
young stellar
stellar populations
populations

[α/Fe] ~ 0
α elements produced in
smaller quantities relative to
iron from Type Ia supernovae
 Alpha Abundance – [α/Fe]

[α/Fe] “enhanced” ~ 0.5

α elements produced in large Type
Type II:
II: Core-collapse
Core-collapse in in
quantities relative to iron from Massive
Massive Stars
Stars -- occur
occur in
in
Type II supernovae young
young stellar
stellar populations
populations

[α/Fe] ~ 0
α elements produced in Type
Type Ia:
Ia: White
White dwarf
dwarf in
in
smaller quantities relative to binary
binary system
system explodes
explodes --
iron from Type Ia supernovae only
only occur
occur in
in older
older
populations
populations
 Alpha Abundance – [α/Fe]

Alpha-element abundance relative to Iron.

Hints at the star Gives

Gives an an observer
observer
formation history information
information about
about the
the
age
age of of aa star
star and
and speed
speed
of a stellar of
of chemical
chemical enrichment.
enrichment.
population
 SDSS 'SEGUE' Survey
Sloan Extension for Galactic
Understanding and Exploration

Spectroscopic sub-survey of SDSS

Focused on Galactic Science

Sample of G-type dwarfs selected

by color-magnitude cut

G-type dwarfs are the most

luminous tracers

G-types have main sequence

lifetime larger than expected disk
age at all metallicities
 Paper Introduction
Stellar Density / Luminosity Profiles
Show excess over simple exponential “thin disk”
 Paper Introduction
Stellar Density / Luminosity Profiles
Show excess over simple exponential “thin disk”

Excess
Traditionally been ascribed to the presence of “thick disk”
component, distinct from both halo and thin disk
 Paper Introduction
Stellar Denisty / Luminosity Profiles
Show excess over simple exponential “thin disk”

Excess
Traditionally been ascribed to the presence of “thick disk”
component, distinct from both halo and thin disk

Thick Disk Properties

older, kinematically hotter, metal-poor, alpha-enhanced
 Paper Introduction
Stellar Density / Luminosity Profiles
Show excess over simple exponential “thin disk”

Excess
Traditionally been ascribed to the presence of “thick disk”
component, distinct from both halo and thin disk

Thick Disk Properties

older, kinematically hotter, metal-poor, alpha-enhanced

Bimodal distribution
of disk stars in [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] space (Lee et al. 2011)
 Paper Introduction
Stellar Density / Luminosity Profiles
Show excess over simple exponential “thin disk”

Excess
Traditionally been ascribed to the presence of “thick disk”
component, distinct from both halo and thin disk

Thick Disk Properties

older, kinematically hotter, metal-poor, alpha-enhanced

Bimodal distribution
of disk stars in [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] space (Lee et al. 2011)
... but no proper volume sampling.
 Paper Introduction
Stellar Density / Luminosity Profiles
Show excess over simple exponential “thin disk”

Excess
Traditionally been ascribed to the presence of “thick disk”
component, distinct from both halo and thin disk

Thick Disk Properties

older, kinematically hotter, metal-poor, alpha-enhanced

Bimodal distribution
of disk stars in [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] space (Lee et al. 2011)
... but no proper volume sampling.

Conceptual Approaches
select samples by luminosity, volume or kinematics?
 Paper Introduction
Stellar Density / Luminosity Profiles
Show excess over simple exponential “thin disk”

Excess
Traditionally been ascribed to the presence of “thick disk”
component, distinct from both halo and thin disk

Thick Disk Properties

older, kinematically hotter, metal-poor, alpha-enhanced

Bimodal distribution
of disk stars in [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] space (Lee et al. 2011)
... but no proper volume sampling.

Conceptual Approaches
select samples by luminosity, volume or kinematics?
... or select by elemental abundance - “chemical tagging”?
 Previous Result “B12”
Bovy, J. et al. The Spatial Structure of Mono-abundance
Sub-populations of the Milky Way Disk. The Astrophysical
Journal 753, 148 (2012).

Each bin of stars

in [a/Fe], [Fe/H]
space is well
represented by a
single scale
height
 Previous Result “B12”
Bovy, J. et al. The Spatial Structure of Mono-abundance
Sub-populations of the Milky Way Disk. The Astrophysical
Journal 753, 148 (2012).

Each bin of stars

in [a/Fe], [Fe/H]
space is well
represented by a
But! single scale
Number counts must be
height
corrected to account for:

- SEGUE selection bias

- limited survey volume
Distribution of G-Dwarfs
in [Fe/H], [ α/Fe] space
 Distribution of G-Dwarfs
in [Fe/H], [ α/Fe] space
α-enhanced,
low Metallicity

α-abundance ~ 0,
higher Metallicity
Distribution of G-Dwarfs
in [Fe/H], [ α/Fe] space

Bimodal
Distribution of G-Dwarfs
in [Fe/H], [ α/Fe] space

Bimodal: Because uneven

spectroscopic sampling of
underlying stellar populations
 Distribution of G-Dwarfs
in [Fe/H], [ α/Fe] space

Corrected for selection effects.

Converted into total stellar surface-mass
densities at the solar radius using stellar
population modeling
 SEGUE corrections
Convert G-dwarf
number counts
into amount of
stellar mass
they represent:

Need:

model IMF (Initial

Mass Function)

model of the age

distribution of the
stars
 Combination

Scale Heights Mass Density

Integrate at the Solar Radius
Scale Height versus Stellar Mass Density
Scale Height versus Stellar Mass Density

Parsecs above
Galactic plane
 Scale Height versus Stellar Mass Density

Stellar Mass
Surface Density
(in Solar Units)
Parsecs above
Galactic plane
Scale Height versus Stellar Mass Density

“apha-excess”
Scale Height versus Stellar Mass Density

older
“apha-excess”

younger
Scale Height versus Stellar Mass Density

Sample Average
Scale Height versus Stellar Mass Density

Sample Average

- Smooth
- Monotonic decline
- No gaps
- No excesses
 Authors Conclusion
“... stars in the solar neighborhood have a smoothly
decreasing probability of belonging to structural
components with increasing scale heights.

This implies that the thicker disk component in the Milky

Way is simply the tail of a continuous and monotonic scale-
height distribution. This has been suggested before (e.g.,
Norris 1987; Schönrich & Binney 2009b), but never directly
measured as we do here.

As such, there is no distinct thick-disk component in our

Galaxy.”

The Milky Way Has No Thick Disk

Bovy et. al. (2012)
Informal Conclusion

“... you can

approximate a
banana by two
straight lines,
but that does not
mean the banana
is necessarily only
a two component
system...”

Hans-Walter Rix
 Future Work / Improvements

Look at the disk not out of the disk

→APOGEE, GAIA-ESO (spectroscopic surveys)

Analyze “orbits” = f([Fe/H], [α/Fe])

→need good dynamical models

Get acual ages for large number of stars

→GAIA

Run multiple suites of simulations

→what aspects of disk structure depend on:
- dynamical pre-history
- feed-back in star formation/enrichment
Hans-Walter Rix
Heidelberg Joint Astronomical Colloquium
18 December 2012
 The End

References:

Bovy, J., Rix, H.-W. & Hogg, D. W. The Milky Way Has No Distinct Thick Disk.
The Astrophysical Journal 751, 131 (2012).

Bovy, J. et al. The Spatial Structure of Mono-abundance Sub-

populations of the Milky Way Disk.
The Astrophysical Journal 753, 148 (2012).

One disk, two disks, red disk, blue disk? | astrobites.

at <http://astrobites.org/2011/12/02/one-disk-two-disks-red-disk-blue-disk/>

Zentrum für Astronomie Heidelberg - Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik.

at <http://www.ita.uni-heidelberg.de/~dullemond/hjac.shtml>
 Authors approach - “Chemical Tagging”
“Previous analysis inadequate :

1. Either analyses have started out with insisting that two vertically
exponential components be fit to the observations ... but it pre-supposes
the answer.
 Authors approach - “Chemical Tagging”
“Previous analysis inadequate :

1. Either analyses have started out with insisting that two vertically
exponential components be fit to the observations ... but it pre-supposes
the answer.

2. Decompositions have been based on geometric or kinematic sample

definitions. Absent a very clear separation of components in position or
velocity space, this approach inevitably has an air of circular reasoning that
precludes unique decompositions...
 Authors approach - “Chemical Tagging”
“Previous analysis inadequate :

1. Either analyses have started out with insisting that two vertically
exponential components be fit to the observations ... but it pre-supposes
the answer.

2. Decompositions have been based on geometric or kinematic sample

definitions. Absent a very clear separation of components in position or
velocity space, this approach inevitably has an air of circular reasoning that
precludes unique decompositions...

3. ... the right approach seems to be to define sub-samples by a property

that may correlate with disk structure but is formally independent of it,
such as stellar age or stellar abundances. Such "tags" are properties that
do not change along the orbit of the star...”