Galactic Archaeology with TESS: Prospects for Testing the Star Formation History in the Solar Neighbourhood
A period of quenching between the formation of the thick and thin disks of the Milky Way has been recently proposed to explain the observed age-[α/Fe] distribution of stars in the solar neighbourhood. However, robust constraints on stellar ages are currently available for only a limited number of st...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
EDP Sciences
2017-01-01
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| Series: | EPJ Web of Conferences |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201716005006 |
| _version_ | 1818454848371163136 |
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| author | Thomas Alexandra Stevenson Emma Gittins Fabian W. R. Miglio Andrea Davies Guy Girardi Léo Campante Tiago L. Schofield Mathew |
| author_facet | Thomas Alexandra Stevenson Emma Gittins Fabian W. R. Miglio Andrea Davies Guy Girardi Léo Campante Tiago L. Schofield Mathew |
| author_sort | Thomas Alexandra |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A period of quenching between the formation of the thick and thin disks of the Milky Way has been recently
proposed to explain the observed age-[α/Fe] distribution of stars in the solar neighbourhood. However, robust constraints on stellar ages are currently available for only a limited number of stars. The all-sky survey TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) will observe the brightest stars in the sky and thus can be used to investigate the age distributions of stars in these components of the Galaxy via asteroseismology, where previously this has been diffcult using other techniques. The aim of this preliminary study was to determine whether TESS will be able to provide evidence for quenching periods during the star formation history of the Milky Way. Using a population synthesis code, we produced populations based on various stellar formation history models and limited the analysis to red-giant-branch stars. We investigated the mass-Galactic-disk-height distributions, where stellar mass was used as an age proxy, to test for whether periods of quenching can be observed by TESS. We found that even with the addition of 15% noise to the inferred masses, it will be possible for TESS to find evidence for/against quenching periods suggested in the literature (e.g. between 7 and 9 Gyr ago), therefore providing stringent constraints on the formation and evolution of the Milky Way. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T22:01:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-21cc7be353ff4546a330ba5b6a5dcdb0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2100-014X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T22:01:24Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | EDP Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | EPJ Web of Conferences |
| spelling | doaj.art-21cc7be353ff4546a330ba5b6a5dcdb02022-12-21T22:45:59ZengEDP SciencesEPJ Web of Conferences2100-014X2017-01-011600500610.1051/epjconf/201716005006epjconf_azores2017_05006Galactic Archaeology with TESS: Prospects for Testing the Star Formation History in the Solar NeighbourhoodThomas AlexandraStevenson EmmaGittins Fabian W. R.Miglio AndreaDavies GuyGirardi LéoCampante Tiago L.Schofield MathewA period of quenching between the formation of the thick and thin disks of the Milky Way has been recently proposed to explain the observed age-[α/Fe] distribution of stars in the solar neighbourhood. However, robust constraints on stellar ages are currently available for only a limited number of stars. The all-sky survey TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) will observe the brightest stars in the sky and thus can be used to investigate the age distributions of stars in these components of the Galaxy via asteroseismology, where previously this has been diffcult using other techniques. The aim of this preliminary study was to determine whether TESS will be able to provide evidence for quenching periods during the star formation history of the Milky Way. Using a population synthesis code, we produced populations based on various stellar formation history models and limited the analysis to red-giant-branch stars. We investigated the mass-Galactic-disk-height distributions, where stellar mass was used as an age proxy, to test for whether periods of quenching can be observed by TESS. We found that even with the addition of 15% noise to the inferred masses, it will be possible for TESS to find evidence for/against quenching periods suggested in the literature (e.g. between 7 and 9 Gyr ago), therefore providing stringent constraints on the formation and evolution of the Milky Way.https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201716005006 |
| spellingShingle | Thomas Alexandra Stevenson Emma Gittins Fabian W. R. Miglio Andrea Davies Guy Girardi Léo Campante Tiago L. Schofield Mathew Galactic Archaeology with TESS: Prospects for Testing the Star Formation History in the Solar Neighbourhood EPJ Web of Conferences |
| title | Galactic Archaeology with TESS: Prospects for Testing the Star Formation History in the Solar Neighbourhood |
| title_full | Galactic Archaeology with TESS: Prospects for Testing the Star Formation History in the Solar Neighbourhood |
| title_fullStr | Galactic Archaeology with TESS: Prospects for Testing the Star Formation History in the Solar Neighbourhood |
| title_full_unstemmed | Galactic Archaeology with TESS: Prospects for Testing the Star Formation History in the Solar Neighbourhood |
| title_short | Galactic Archaeology with TESS: Prospects for Testing the Star Formation History in the Solar Neighbourhood |
| title_sort | galactic archaeology with tess prospects for testing the star formation history in the solar neighbourhood |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201716005006 |
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