Search Publications
The Milky Way Halo in Action Space
Myeong, G. C.; Evans, N. W.; Belokurov, V. +2 more
We analyze the structure of the local stellar halo of the Milky Way using ∼60000 stars with full phase space coordinates extracted from the SDSS-Gaia catalog. We display stars in action space as a function of metallicity in a realistic axisymmetric potential for the Milky Way Galaxy. The metal-rich population is more distended toward high radial a…
An Empirical Measurement of the Initial-Final Mass Relation with Gaia White Dwarfs
Rix, Hans-Walter; El-Badry, Kareem; Weisz, Daniel R.
We use data from Gaia’s second data release (DR2) to constrain the initial-final mass relation (IFMR) for field stars with initial masses 0.9 ≲ m in/M ⊙ ≲ 8. Precise parallaxes have revealed unprecedented substructure in the white dwarf (WD) cooling sequence on the color-magnitude diagram (CMD). Some of this substructure stem…
Resolving the ISM at the Peak of Cosmic Star Formation with ALMA: The Distribution of CO and Dust Continuum in z ∼ 2.5 Submillimeter Galaxies
Smail, Ian; Brandt, W. N.; Rybak, M. +17 more
We use Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observations of four submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) at z ∼ 2-3 to investigate the spatially resolved properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) at scales of 1-5 kpc (0.″1-0.″6). The velocity fields of our sources, traced by the 12CO(J = 3-2) emission, are consistent with disk rotation to the …
Evolution of protoplanetary disks from their taxonomy in scattered light: spirals, rings, cavities, and shadows
Ménard, F.; van der Plas, G.; Ginski, C. +11 more
Context. Dozens of protoplanetary disks have been imaged in scattered light during the last decade.
Aims: The variety of brightness, extension, and morphology from this census motivates a taxonomical study of protoplanetary disks in polarimetric light to constrain their evolution and establish the current framework of this type of observation…
Warp, waves, and wrinkles in the Milky Way
Schönrich, Ralph; Dehnen, Walter
We derive unbiased distance estimates for the Gaia-TGAS data set by correcting for the bias due to the distance dependence of the selection function, which we measure directly from the data. From these distances and proper motions, we estimate the vertical and azimuthal velocities, W and Vφ, and angular momentum Lz for stars …
Retrieval analysis of 38 WFC3 transmission spectra and resolution of the normalization degeneracy
Heng, Kevin; Fisher, Chloe
A comprehensive analysis of 38 previously published Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) transmission spectra is performed using a hierarchy of nested-sampling retrievals: with versus without clouds, grey versus non-grey clouds, isothermal versus non-isothermal transit chords, and with water, hydrogen cyanide, and/or ammonia. We revisit the `normalization d…
The origin of the Gaia phase-plane spiral
Binney, James; Schönrich, Ralph
A simple model is presented of the formation of the spiral in the (z, vz) phase plane of solar-neighbourhood stars that was recently discovered in Gaia data. The key is that the frequency Ωz at which stars oscillate vertically depends on angular momentum about the z-axis in addition to the amplitude of the star's vertical osc…
A population of luminous accreting black holes with hidden mergers
Lu, Jessica R.; Schawinski, Kevin; Sartori, Lia F. +11 more
Major galaxy mergers are thought to play an important part in fuelling the growth of supermassive black holes1. However, observational support for this hypothesis is mixed, with some studies showing a correlation between merging galaxies and luminous quasars2,3 and others showing no such association4,5. Recent obse…
The internal rotation of globular clusters revealed by Gaia DR2
van der Marel, R. P.; Bellini, A.; Libralato, M. +5 more
Line-of-sight kinematic studies indicate that many Galactic globular clusters have a significant degree of internal rotation. However, three-dimensional kinematics from a combination of proper motions (PMs) and line-of-sight velocities are needed to unveil the role of angular momentum in the formation and evolution of these old stellar systems. He…
DustPedia: Multiwavelength photometry and imagery of 875 nearby galaxies in 42 ultraviolet-microwave bands
Bianchi, S.; Fritz, J.; De Looze, I. +16 more
Aims: The DustPedia project is capitalising on the legacy of the Herschel Space Observatory, using cutting-edge modelling techniques to study dust in the 875 DustPedia galaxies - representing the vast majority of extended galaxies within 3000 km s-1 that were observed by Herschel. This work requires a database of multiwavelength im…