Investigating the amplitude and rotation of the phase spiral in the Milky Way outer disc

Abstract

Context: With the data releases from the astrometric space mission Gaia, the exploration of the structure of the Milky Way has developed in unprecedented detail and unveiled many previously unknown structures in the Galactic disc and halo. One such feature is the phase spiral where the stars in the Galactic disc form a spiral density pattern in the $Z-V_Z$ plane. Aims: We aim to characterize the shape, rotation, amplitude, and metallicity of the phase spiral in the outer disc of the Milky Way. This will allow us to better understand which physical processes caused the phase spiral and can give further clues to the Milky Way's past and the events that contributed to its current state. Methods: We use Gaia data release 3 (DR3) to get full position and velocity data on approximately 31.5 million stars, and metallicity for a subset of them. We then compute the angular momenta of the stars and develop a model to characterise the phase spiral in terms of amplitude and rotation at different locations in the disc. Results: We find that the rotation angle of the phase spiral changes with Galactic azimuth and Galactocentric radius, making the phase spiral appear to rotate about $3^{\circ }$ per degree in Galactic azimuth. Furthermore, we find that the phase spiral in the $2200-2400$ kpc km s${}^{-1}$ range of angular momentum is particularly strong compared to the phase spiral that can be observed in the solar neighbourhood. The metallicity of the phase spiral appears to match that of the Milky Way disc field stars. Conclusions: We created a new model capable of fitting several key parameters of the phase spiral. We have been able to determine the rotation rate of the phase spiral and found a peak in the phase spiral amplitude which manifests as a very clear phase spiral when using only stars with similar angular momentum.

arXiv commentPublished by A&A. 17 pages, 16 figures. Abstract abridged. Updated download links for animations

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