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Age gradients throughout the Galaxy with long-period variables

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Grady, J 
Evans, NW 

Abstract

We assemble the largest sample of oxygen rich Miras to date and highlight their importance for age-dating the components of the Galaxy. Using data from the Catalina Rapid Transient Survey and the All Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae, we extract a clean sample of ∼2,400 O-Miras, stretching from the Galactic Bulge to the distant halo. Given that the period of O-Miras correlates with age, this offers a new way of determining age gradients throughout the Galaxy. We use our sample to show (i) disk O-Miras have periods increasing on moving outwards from ~ 3 to 15 kpc, so the outer disk O-Miras are younger than the inner disk, (ii) the transition from younger disk to halo O-Miras occurs at r ~ 15 kpc and is marked by a plummeting in period, (iii) there exists a population of young O-Miras likely kicked from the disk to heights of order of |Z| ~ 10 kpc, (iv) great circle counts of old Miras show strong evidence for distant debris agglomeration associated with the Magellanic Clouds, (v) seven stars in our samples are located at distances between 200 and 500 kpc surpassing all previously established records, and, finally, (vi) O-Miras may be present in the Fornax, Sculptor, Sextans and Leo II Galactic dwarf spheroidals, as well as the distant globular cluster Pal 4. We spotlight the importance of O-Mira in the Era of Gaia as universal chronometers of the Galactic populations.

Description

Keywords

Galaxy: disc, Galaxy: halo, Galaxy: structure

Journal Title

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0035-8711
1365-2966

Volume Title

483

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Rights

Publisher's own licence
Sponsorship
European Research Council (308024)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/N000927/1)