The Galactic inner spiral arms revealed by the Gaia ESO Survey chemical abundances. Metallicity and [Mg/Fe] ratios

Abstract

Recent observational advances, such as Gaia DR3 GSP-Spec, have highlighted the potential of chemical abundances in tracing and revealing the structure of spiral arms. Building on these studies, we aim to trace the Milky Way's inner spiral arms using chemical abundance data from the Gaia-ESO Survey (GES). By mapping over-densities in [Fe/H] and [Mg/Fe], we seek to identify spiral arms in both radial and vertical planes, detect substructures, and compare our results with recent Galactic chemical evolution models. We used chemical abundance data from the Gaia-ESO Survey to create spatial maps of [Fe/H], [Mg/H], and [Mg/Fe] excess across the Galactic inner disc. We compared our results with the spiral arm models proposed by Spitoni et al. (2023) and Barbillon et al. (2024). For the first time, the inner spiral arms were revealed using chemical abundance patterns. We detected [Fe/H] enhancements and [Mg/Fe] under-abundances that consistently trace the Scutum and Sagittarius arms. A connecting spur between these arms is observed in the [Mg/H] plane. The alignment between our observations and the results of our 2D chemical evolution models reinforces the significance of spiral arm transits in driving both azimuthal and radial variations in chemical abundances. Our results confirm that spiral arms can be traced using stellar chemical abundances with GES data, providing a new perspective on the structure of the inner Galaxy. The consistency between enhanced [Fe/H] and lower [Mg/Fe] ratios, as observed in previous studies, further strengthens the reliability of our findings. The observed spur, bifurcation, and vertical substructures align well with recent models and studies, indicating that chemical maps can significantly contribute to our understanding of Galactic spiral arms.

7 pages and 7 figures. Recommended for publication in the section "5. Galactic structure, stellar clusters and populations" of Astronomy & Astrophysics

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