Chemodynamical Analysis of Metal-rich High-eccentricity Stars in the Milky Way's Disk

Ayeon Lee, Young Sun Lee, Young Kwang Kim, Timothy C. Beers, Deokkeun An

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Abstract

We present a chemodynamical analysis of 11,562 metal-rich, high-eccentricity halo-like main-sequence stars, which have been referred to as the Splash or Splashed Disk, selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope. When divided into two groups, a low-[α/Fe] population (LAP) and a high-[α/Fe] population (HAP), based on kinematics and chemistry, we find that they exhibit very distinct properties, indicative of different origins. From a detailed analysis of their orbital inclinations, we suggest that the HAP arises from a large fraction (∼90%) of heated disk stars and a small fraction (∼10%) of in situ stars from a starburst population, likely induced by interaction of the Milky Way with the Gaia-Sausage/Enceladus (GSE) or another early merger. The LAP comprises about half accreted stars from the GSE and half formed by the GSE-induced starburst. Our findings further imply that the Splash stars in our sample originated from at least three different mechanisms: accretion, disk heating, and a merger-induced starburst.

Original languageEnglish
Article number56
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume945
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Mar 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

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