Exploring the Galactic Anticenter Substructure with LAMOST and Gaia DR2
Tian, Hao; Zhao, Gang; Wu, Yaqian; Xu, Yan; Rix, Hans-Walter; Yang, Chengqun; Liu, Chao; Zhong, Jing; Xue, Xiang-Xiang; Zhang, Bo; Li, Jing; Carlin, Jeffrey L.; Mendez, Rene A.; Zhang, Lan; Chang, Ruixiang
India, China, Germany, United States, Chile
Abstract
We characterize the kinematic and chemical properties of 589 Galactic anticenter substructure stars (GASS) with K/M giants in integrals-of-motion space. These stars likely include members of previously identified substructures such as Monoceros, A13, and the Triangulum-Andromeda cloud. We show that these stars are in nearly circular orbits on both sides of the Galactic plane. We can see a velocity (VZ) gradient along Y-axis especially for the south GASS members. Our GASS members have similar energy and angular momentum distributions to thin-disk stars. Their location in [α/M] versus [M/H] space is more metal-poor than typical thin-disk stars, with [α/M] lower than that of the thick disk. We infer that our GASS members are part of the outer metal-poor disk stars and that the outer disk extends to 30 kpc. Considering the distance range and α-abundance features, GASS could be formed after the thick disk was formed due to the molecular cloud density decreasing in the outer disk where the star-formation rate might be less efficient compared to the inner disk.