Local Stellar Kinematics from RAVE data - VII. Metallicity Gradients from Red Clump Stars

Abstract

We investigate the Milky Way Galaxy's radial and vertical metallicity gradients using a sample of 47,406 red clump stars from the RAVE DR4. This sample is more than twice the size of the largest sample in the literature investigating radial and vertical metallicity gradients. The absolute magnitude of Groenewegen (2008) is used to determine distances to our sample stars. The resulting distances agree with the RAVE DR4 distances Binney et al. (2014) of the same stars. Our photometric method also provides distances to 6185 stars that are not assigned a distance in RAVE DR4. The metallicity gradients are calculated with their current orbital positions ($R_{gc}$ and $Z$) and with their orbital properties (mean Galactocentric distance, $R_m$ and $z_{max}$), as a function of the distance to the Galactic plane: d[Fe/H]/d$R_{gc}=$-$0.047\pm 0.003$ dex/kpc for $0\le |Z|\le 0.5$ kpc and d[Fe/H]/d$R_m=$-$0.025\pm 0.002$ dex/kpc for $0\le z_{max}\le 0.5$ kpc. This reaffirms the radial metallicity gradient in the thin disc but highlights that gradients are sensitive to the selection effects caused by the difference between $R_{gc}$ and $R_m$. The radial gradient is flat in the distance interval 0.5-1 kpc from the plane and then becomes positive greater than 1 kpc from the plane. The radial metallicity gradients are also eccentricity dependent. We showed that d[Fe/H]/d$R_m=$-$0.089\pm 0.010$, -$0.073\pm 0.007$, -$0.053\pm 0.004$ and -$0.044\pm 0.002$ dex/kpc for $e_p\le 0.05$, $e_p\le 0.07$, $e_p\le 0.10$ and $e_p\le 0.20$ sub-samples, respectively, in the distance interval $0\le z_{max}\le 0.5$ kpc. Similar trend is found for vertical metallicity gradients. Both the radial and vertical metallicity gradients are found to become shallower as the eccentricity of the sample increases. These findings can be used to constrain different formation scenarios of the thick and thin discs.

18 pages, including 16 figures and 6 tables, accepted for publication in PASA

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