The Milky Way's Early Disk Was Built in Bursts. I. Evidence from Low-angular-momentum, High-$\alpha$ Stars Scattered Out of the Protodisk by Merger Events

Tiancheng Sun, Maosheng Xiang, Shaolan Bi +3

Stars born in the high-$\alpha$ disk can later acquire low angular momentum through dynamical scattering during early merger events. Their age--metallicity distribution thus provides a…