The Chemical Enrichment Histories Across The Milky Way Disk

The variation of metal production over time and its dilution in the interstellar medium depend on the star formation and gas accretion rates.

Measuring age-chemistry relations across the Milky Way disk provides key constraints on the gas accretion and star formation histories, and offers insight into the birth locations of stars.

We present a study based on a sample of nearly 30000 dwarf stars from the APOGEE DR17 survey within 2 kpc of the Sun, for which we measure accurate ages. Various parameter combinations are tested to optimize stellar age determination from isochrones. The resulting age-chemistry relations for a selected subsample of 12000 stars are interpreted with the aid of a chemical evolution model. The data reveal a well-defined, tight thick disk sequence, characterized by high [alpha/Fe], subsolar metallicities, and ages older than 8 Gyr.

The thin disk, with lower [alpha/Fe] and younger ages, exhibits a wide spread in metallicity at all ages, with apparent structures. Dividing the sample by guiding radius into inner, intermediate, and outer disks shows distinct chemical evolution patterns. The inner disk displays a monotonic, homogeneous chemical evolution with little dispersion, while the outer disk shows little metallicity increase over the past 8 Gyr.

The solar neighborhood appears as a mixture, not only due to stellar migration but also because the chemical evolution of the ISM in this intermediate region results from the mixing of gas from the inner and outer disks.

In particular, we demonstrate that the solar vicinity experienced a decrease in the mean ISM metallicity 7-9 Gyr ago. A plausible explanation involves a radial inflow of lower-metallicity gas from the outer disk at that time, which diluted the gas leftover by the thick disk formation, contributing to the observed metallicity gradient in the intermediate region.

Valeria Cerqui, Misha Haywood, Owain Snaith, Paola Di Matteo, Laia Casamiquela

Comments: Revised version submitted to A&A
Subjects: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
Cite as: arXiv:2504.20160 [astro-ph.GA] (or arXiv:2504.20160v1 [astro-ph.GA] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2504.20160
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Submission history
From: Valeria Cerqui
[v1] Mon, 28 Apr 2025 18:02:51 UTC (23,293 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.20160

Astrobiology,