9 papers
Hot or Cold? Radial Redistribution of Stars in FIRE Simulations of Milky Way-Mass Galaxies and the Asymmetry of Inward versus Outward Migrators
Cecilia Steel, Andrew Wetzel, Rori Kang +3
Stars can radially redistribute (migrate) within galactic disks. The degree to which this occurs as dynamically `cold' (preserves orbital eccentricity) or `hot' (increases eccentri…
No Stream Left Unscathed: The imprint of a host galaxy
Arpit Arora, Peter S. Ferguson, Jacob Nibauer +11
Stellar streams from disrupted globular clusters are excellent probes of dark matter (DM) subhalos. Observed Milky Way streams display a remarkable diversity of features: spurs, ga…
Radial redistribution of stellar orbits in FIRE simulations of Milky-Way-mass galaxies
Matthew A. Bellardini, Fiona McCluskey, Andrew Wetzel +3
A central question in galactic dynamics and galactic archeology is: how much do the orbits of stars redistribute (migrate) after birth? We use the FIRE-2 cosmological zoom-in simul…
The origin of strong -element bimodalities in FIRE simulations of Milky Way-mass galaxies
Megan Barry, Andrew Wetzel, Sarah Loebman +2
One of the Milky Way's characteristic features is a strongly bimodal distribution of -process elements, such as Mg, at fixed [Fe/H] in stellar abundances. We examine patterns i…
Spiral Structure Properties, Dynamics, and Evolution in MW-mass Galaxy Simulations
J. R. Quinn, S. R. Loebman, K. J. Daniel +8
The structure of spiral galaxies is essential to understanding the dynamics and evolution of disk galaxies; however, the precise nature of spiral arms remains uncertain. Two challe…
Understanding the Origin and Dynamical Evolution of the Unique Open Star Cluster Berkeley 20 using FIRE Simulations
Alessa I. Wiggins, Jamie R. Quinn, Micah Oeur +11
Open clusters (OCs) act as key probes that can be leveraged to constrain the formation and evolution of the Milky Way (MW)'s disk, as each has a unique chemical fingerprint and wel…