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The Astrophysical Journal
Article . 2012 . Peer-reviewed
Data sources: Crossref
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https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/ar...
Article . 2011
License: arXiv Non-Exclusive Distribution
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THE MILKY WAY HAS NO DISTINCT THICK DISK

Authors: Jo Bovy; Hans-Walter Rix; David W. Hogg; David W. Hogg;

THE MILKY WAY HAS NO DISTINCT THICK DISK

Abstract

Different stellar sub-populations of the Milky Way's stellar disk are known to have different vertical scale heights, their thickness increasing with age. Using SEGUE spectroscopic survey data, we have recently shown that mono-abundance sub-populations, defined in the [��/Fe]-[Fe/H] space, are well described by single exponential spatial-density profiles in both the radial and the vertical direction; therefore any star of a given abundance is clearly associated with a sub-population of scale height h_z. Here, we work out how to determine the stellar surface-mass density contributions at the solar radius R_0 of each such sub-population, accounting for the survey selection function, and for the fraction of the stellar population mass that is reflected in the spectroscopic target stars given populations of different abundances and their presumed age distributions. Taken together, this enables us to derive ��_{R_0}(h_z), the surface-mass contributions of stellar populations with scale height h_z. Surprisingly, we find no hint of a thin-thick disk bi-modality in this mass-weighted scale-height distribution, but a smoothly decreasing function, approximately ��_{R_0}(h_z)\propto \exp(-h_z), from h_z ~ 200 pc to h_z ~ 1 kpc. As h_z is ultimately the structurally defining property of a thin or thick disk, this shows clearly that the Milky Way has a continuous and monotonic distribution of disk thicknesses: there is no 'thick disk' sensibly characterized as a distinct component. We discuss how our result is consistent with evidence for seeming bi-modality in purely geometric disk decompositions, or chemical abundances analyses. We constrain the total visible stellar surface-mass density at the Solar radius to be ��^*_{R_0} = 30 +/- 1 M_\odot pc^{-2}.

ApJ, in press

Keywords

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA), FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

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citations
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
255
Top 1%
Top 10%
Top 0.1%
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