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Project type/Form of grant
Grant for employment or scholarship
Title [sv]
Hur satte Vintergatan ihop sin massa
Title [en]
How did the Milky Way assemble its mass
Abstract [sv]
Galaxer utgör de fundamentala strukturerna i universum. För att förstå hur universum fungerar måste vi förstå galaxer generellt men också  individuellt. Genom observationer kan vi se hur olika fysikaliska processer formar galaxerna, hur galaxerna rör sig i universum och egenskaperna hos de stjärnor och den gas som utgör materien i galaxerna. Vi vet att det finns galaxer av alla storlekar men vi vet inte om de processer som formar dem fungerar på samma sätt i små och stora galaxer. I mitt projekt kommer jag att jämföra hur stjärnbildningen fungerar i galaxer av olika storlek för att förstå om galaxerna massa påverkar den småsklaiga fysiken inne i galaxerna.Galaxer består av stjärnor, gas och damm. Det är stjärnorna som kan berätta om galaxens utveckling.  Varje stjärna har den kemiska sammansättningen dess galax hade i det ögonblick som stjärnan bildades. Den kemiska sammansättningen i galaxen förändras med tiden eftersom varje generation av stjärnor skapar mer och nya grundämnen och släpper ut dem i galaxen. Ur den anrikade gasen bildas nästa generation av stjärnor. Det betyder att gassammansättningen vid varje given tidpunkt har påverkats av all tidigare stjärnbildning i galaxen. Genom att observera den kemiska sammansättning hos stjärnor med olika åldrar får vi en historisk inblick i vad som har hänt med galaxen under dess livstid.Stora galaxer dominerar sin lokala region av universum och drar till sig mindre dvärggalaxer genom gravitationen. Dvärgalaxerna kommer  så småningom att sväljas av den stora galaxen som integrerar de nya stjärnorna som sina egna. Dessa nya stjärnor behåller dock ledtrådar till sitt främmande ursprung genom sin kemiska sammansättning. Mitt projekt kommer att katalogisera vilka stjärnor som bildades utanför Vintergatan och hur deras ursprungsgalaxer såg ut.
Abstract [en]
Galaxies are observed at every stage of apparent maturity in both the very early universe and today. Using the Milky Way as an example of a mature galaxy with a turbulent history, I will investigate 1) How did the Milky Way assemble its mass? and 2) How is galaxy evolution reflected in the elemental abundance patterns of stars? I will develop custom models to determine which elements are most sensitive to differences in galaxy evolution and what they indicate about the host galaxy’s properties. Using signatures from the elemental abundance patterns in stars, I will identify accreted stellar populations in the Milky Way and characterize the dwarf galaxies that brought them. The project will be organized into four sub-projects lead by either the PI or the postdoc to be hired. Models of low-mass galaxy chemical evolution will be developed and used to determine the evolutionary history and mass of nearby dwarf galaxy and accreted Milky Way stellar populations based on elemental abundance measurements. The observational data will come from three large spectroscopic surveys: APOGEE (completed), WEAVE (starting 2022), and 4MOST (starting 2023). We will be active members in these surveys, contributing to data quality assessment and gaining detailed expert knowledge of the data. We will provide a public catalog of galaxy models, a full characterization of three local dwarf galaxies, and the mass assembly history of the Milky Way, a pillar in understanding galaxy evolution generally.
Publications (1 of 1) Show all publications
Feltzing, S., Feuillet, D. & Bensby, T. (2026). Dawn of the Milky Way Disk: Determination of When a Rotationally Supported Disk Appears and Dating the Spin-up of the Disk. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 1004(2), Article ID L28.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Dawn of the Milky Way Disk: Determination of When a Rotationally Supported Disk Appears and Dating the Spin-up of the Disk
2026 (English)In: Astrophysical Journal Letters, ISSN 2041-8205, E-ISSN 2041-8213, Vol. 1004, no 2, article id L28Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Spiral galaxies, like the Milky Way, transform at some point in time into a rotationally supported system. Using an extant dataset consisting of 319,835 subgiants from LAMOST with precise ages from the literature, we determine, for the first time, the age when the Milky Way disk spins up, i.e., when the mean circular velocity changes from halo-like to disk-like. We find in concordance previous studies that report that the spin-up takes place for −1.25 < [Fe/H]< −0.9, and we can date this transition to a mean age of 12.1 ± 2.8 Gyr (median age 12.4 Gyr). We further study when the disk became rotationally supported, i.e., when the ordered, disky motion dominates over the random motions. We find that this happens for −1.25 < [Fe/H]< −1. The transition is very rapid in age. This gives support to the idea that the spin-up seen in this and other works genuinely traces the motion to a rotationally supported disk, which has not previously been shown. These transitions are traced by the high-α stars, while the low-α stars do not spin up but start directly at approximately the circular velocity seen for the Sun today. The low-α disk is rotationally supported with no transition period in [Fe/H] or in age.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP), 2026
National Category
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-592069 (URN)10.3847/2041-8213/ae6f14 (DOI)001791617500001 ()2-s2.0-105041625185 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2022-03274Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, 2020.0061
Available from: 2026-06-24 Created: 2026-06-24 Last updated: 2026-06-24Bibliographically approved
Principal InvestigatorFeuillet, Diane
Coordinating organisation
Uppsala University
Funder
Period
2023-01-01 - 2026-12-31
National Category
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Identifiers
DiVA, id: project:8721Project, id: 2022-03274_VR

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