超高速星搜寻研究进展

超高速星是一类能够从银河系逃逸的恒星,它们是银心存在超大质量黑洞的有力证据,也是研究银河系晕的形状、银河系引力势模型以及银心初始质量函数等问题的有力工具.首先介绍了最早发现的3颗早型大质量超高速星,其次介绍了海量测光和光谱数据中早型大质量超高速星、晚型小质量超高速星以及处于恒星演化晚期的sdB型超高速星的系统搜寻及起源研究.     

银河系恒星潮汐流的探测进展

银晕外区存在众多星流,它们或源自银河系的矮伴星系,或源自晕族球状星团,常分别称为矮星系星流和球状星团潮汐尾。星流可以利用各类示踪星,并通过不同的途径加以探测,对若干代表性矮星系星流和球状星团潮汐尾的探测进展做了简要的介绍。     

以星溯银河

近期,欧洲空间局“盖亚”卫星在揭开银河系形成史方面取得了重大突破。之前的研究显示,大型星系(如银河系)一般是由若干较小的星系融合的结果。于是,随之出现了一个新问题:像银河系这样的星系是许多小星系,还是少数稍大些的星系融合产生的?来自荷兰格罗宁根大学的阿米娜·海勒米(Amina Helmi)教授在其学术生涯中主要致力于寻找银河系中可能为我们提供其演化线索的“化石”。她利用银晕中恒星的化学组成、位置和轨道追溯它们的历史,并由此识别出塑造早期银河系的各个”融合者”的身份。     

银河系核球中垂向金属丰度梯度的一种可能的动力学起源机制

研究发现,即使在银河系长期缓慢演化的过程中,其核球中依然可能存在垂直的金属丰度梯度。该结果反驳了早期研究中认为的银河系核球中长期缓慢演化的过程会消除任何存在的化学丰度梯度的观点。通过使用一个模拟银河系薄盘的多体数值模拟模型得出该研究结果,该模型能自洽地通过盘的棒不稳定性和屈曲不稳定性形成一个盒状/花生状的核球,并结合化学-动力学模型,分析银河系核球中化学成分的演化。在该演化模型中设定了一个初始的径向金属丰度梯度(-0.3 dex/kpc),通过长期缓慢的演化过程,其核球部分呈现出与观测相符的垂直金属丰度梯度。对此一种可能的解释是,星系盘的金属丰度分布在长期缓慢演化的过程中经历了“两步”演化过程,首先盘星系初始半径较大的贫金属粒子在径向混合的过程中产生了更大的径向速度弥散,然后由于核球的屈曲不稳定性演化,垂向速度弥散最终会保持与径向速度弥散的一定比值(约0.8)。这个机制导致贫金属粒子在演化过程中能占据更大的垂向范围,从而形成核球的垂直金属丰度梯度。银河系核球动力学模型通过简单的化学-动力学过程揭示的核球金属丰度演化机制,应在包含更复杂的核球演化机制的模型中同样存在。此外,还通过化学动力...     

利用微引力透镜效应搜寻银河系内的重子暗物质

该文综述了利用微引力透镜效应来搜寻银河系内重子暗物质的原理、观测方法和结果以及当前国际上几个小组的工作和主要进展。简要回顾了对重子暗物质的认识过程，其中广泛分布于星系之中的暗天体被称为晕族大质量致密天体（MACHO）。综述了一些关于引力透镜的一些基本概念和基本公式，其中简单讨论了强引力透镜、弱引力透镜和微引力透镜的区别，并列出微引力透镜的两个重要参数光深和光变时标的定义及表达式。详细阐述了对于MACHO探测的方法和一些观测效应细节。综述了目前几个小组的工作，包括MACHO小组和EROS小组等，其中MACHO小组近来的工作得出MACHO为银晕的重要组成部分，其质量比例约为20％；而EROS最近工作得出的质量比例上限为7％。     

对银河系Sagittarius-Carina旋臂和晕质量的研究

利用新的银河系旋转曲线和银河系常数，由 Ｈ Ⅱ区和巨分子云等示踪天体重新确定了银河系的Ｓａｇｉｔｔａｊｒｉｕｓ－Ｃａｒｉｎａ旋臂，得到了其倾角约为１２°，并探索了旋臂倾角与银河系常数Ｒｏ，Ｖｏ的依赖关系，结果表明，减小银河系常数Ｒｏ，Ｖｏ将导致旋臂倾角的增大，从而按照对数螺旋模型估计的银河系旋臂数目有取大的趋向．同时，银河系晕的质量随着旋转曲线的下倾也将逐渐减小．     

解决G矮星问题的银河系化学演化三成分模型

为解释名的Ｇ矮星问题,提出银河系化学演化的三成分模型,即由银晕、厚盘和薄盘所构成的演化模型。相邻演化阶段间隔着一个快速坍缩过程,对不同星族成分的演化过程分别进行模拟,并在总体上得到一个太阳附近区域的Ｇ矮星丰度分布函数,检验了三种不同的模型：初始富化模型、比例生成模型和坍缩模型,利用最小二乘拟合得到最佳模型的参数。结果表明,太阳附近区域的化学演化受物质交换的影响较小,至少在银河系演化的晚期,可将太     

星系盘厚度效应的研究

在三维引力Poisson方程严格解基础上，探讨了有限厚星系盘基盘的动力学性质，并进一步讨论了盘的厚度效应对银河系所需晕质量的影响。研究了扰动盘的动力学性质，通过将扰动引力势Poisson方程的严格解与林家翘、徐遐生提出的自维持密度波理论相结合，建立了三维旋涡星系有限厚盘上密度波的色散关系。在此色散关系的基础上讨论了盘的局域稳定性，研究了旋涡星系旋臂的形态、三维盘状星系密度波的群速度。研究表明厚度是星系盘研究中不容忽略的重要参量。另外在有限厚盘星系密度波色散关系的基础上还探讨了一种确定星系厚度的新方法。     

老年疏散星团的金属丰度及银盘金属丰度梯度演化研究

疏散星团是探究银河系结构与演化的良好示踪体,一直以来颇受关注.之前关于疏散星团的研究中,仅有一小部分疏散星团有金属丰度参数,而且,金属丰度的测量,是基于不同质量的观测数据,采用了不同的方法.收集了一个年龄大于2 Gyr的老年疏散星团样本,通过整理这些星团成员星的金属丰度数据,一方面,以星团NGC 2682为例,对比了不同光谱巡天项目给出的星团成员星金属丰度的系统差异;另一方面,计算了星团成员星金属丰度的平均值和中位值,作为该疏散星团的金属丰度推荐值.此外,还利用该样本探究了银盘径向金属丰度梯度随时间的演化,结果表明,早期银盘有着更加陡峭的径向金属丰度梯度,随着演化时间的增加,银盘径向金属丰度梯度逐渐趋于平缓,为银盘化学演化模型提供了更加严格的观测约束.     

Estimating the Metallicity of Old Star Clusters in M33

1 INTRODUCTION Globular clusters are thought to be among the oldest radiant objects in the Universe. Thestudies of these systems have played a key role in the development of our understanding of theUniverse, including the fundamental question of the age of the Universe. The globular clustersof Milky Way can be used to probe the way in which our Galaxy formed. Studies of similarclusters in other galaxies can also provide us the properties of those galaxies in the early periodafter their …     

Stellar populations in the Canis Major overdensity

We performed a photometric multicolour survey of the core of the Canis Major overdensity at     , reaching   V ∼ 22  and covering  0.3 × 1.0  arcmin². The main aim is to unravel the complex mixture of stellar populations toward this Galactic direction, where in the recent past important signatures of an accretion event have been claimed to be detected. While our previous investigations were based on disjointed pointings aimed at revealing the large-scale structure of the third Galactic Quadrant, we now focus on a complete coverage of a smaller field centred on the Canis Major overdensity. A large wavelength baseline, in the UBVRI bands, allows us to build up a suite of colour–colour and colour–magnitude diagrams, providing a much better diagnostic tool to disentangle the stellar populations of the region. In fact, the simple use of one colour–magnitude diagram, widely employed in all the previous studies defending the existence of the Canis Major galaxy, does not allow one to separate the effects of the different parameters (reddening, age, metallicity and distance) involved in the interpretation of data, forcing to rely on heavy modelling. In agreement with our previous studies, in the same general region of the Milky Way, we recognize a young stellar population compatible with the expected structure and extension of the Local (Orion) and Outer (Norma–Cygnus) spiral arms in the Third Galactic Quadrant. Moreover, we interpret the conspicuous intermediate-age metal-poor population as belonging to the Galactic thick disc, distorted by the effect of strong disc warping at this latitude, and to the Galactic halo.     

Research Progresses of Halo Streams in the Solar Neighborhood

The stellar streams originated from the Galactic halo may be detected when they pass by the solar neighborhood, and they still keep some information at their birth times. Thus, the investigation of halo streams in the solar neighborhood is very important for understanding the formation and evolution of our Galaxy. In this paper, the researches of halo streams in the solar neighborhood are briefly reviewed. We have introduced the methods how to detect the halo streams and identify their member stars, summarized the progresses in the observation of member stars of halo streams and in the study of their origins, introduced in detail how to analyze the origins of halo streams in the solar neighborhood by means of numerical simulation and chemical abundance, and finally discussed the prospects of the LAMOST and GAIA in the research of halo streams in the solar neighborhood.     

Stellar archaeology: Exploring the Universe with metal‐poor stars

The abundance patterns of the most metal‐poor stars in the Galactic halo and small dwarf galaxies provide us with a wealth of information about the early Universe. In particular, these old survivors allow us to study the nature of the first stars and supernovae, the relevant nucleosynthesis processes responsible for the formation and evolution of the elements, early star‐ and galaxy formation processes, as well as the assembly process of the stellar halo from dwarf galaxies a long time ago. This review presents the current state of the field of “stellar archaeology” – the diverse use of metal‐poor stars to explore the high‐redshift Universe and its constituents. In particular, the conditions for early star formation are discussed, how these ultimately led to a chemical evolution, and what the role of the most iron‐poor stars is for learning about Population III supernovae yields. Rapid neutron‐capture signatures found in metal‐poor stars can be used to obtain stellar ages, but also to constrain this complex nucleosynthesis process with observational measurements. Moreover, chemical abundances of extremely metal‐poor stars in different types of dwarf galaxies can be used to infer details on the formation scenario of the halo and the role of dwarf galaxies as Galactic building blocks. I conclude with an outlook as to where this field may be heading within the next decade. A table of ~ 1000 metal‐poor stars and their abundances as collected from the literature is provided in electronic format (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Stellar Yields and Chemical Evolution — I. Abundance Ratios and Delayed Mixing in the Solar Neighbourhood

We analyse two recent computations of Type II supernova nucleosynthesis by Woosley & Weaver (hereafter WW95) and Thielemann, Nomoto & Hashimoto (hereafter TNH96), focusing on the ability to reproduce the observed [Mg/Fe] ratios in various galaxy types. We show that the yields of oxygen and total metallicity are in good agreement. However, TNH96 models produce more magnesium in the intermediate and less iron in the upper mass range of Type II supernovae than WW95 models. To investigate the significance of these discrepancies for chemical evolution, we calculate simple stellar population yields for both sets of models and different initial mass function slopes. We conclude that the Mg yields of WW95 do not suffice to explain the [Mg/Fe] overabundance either in giant elliptical galaxies and bulges or in metal-poor stars in the solar neighbourhood and the Galactic halo. Calculating the chemical evolution in the solar neighbourhood according to the standard infall model, we find that, using WW95 and TNH96 nucleosynthesis, the solar magnesium abundance is underestimated by 29 and 7 per cent, respectively.   We include the relaxation of the instantaneous mixing approximation in chemical evolution models by splitting the gas component into two different phases. In additional simulations of the chemical evolution in the solar neighbourhood, we discuss various time-scales for the mixing of the stellar ejecta with the interstellar medium. We find that a delay of the order of 10⁸ yr leads to a better fit of the observational data in the [Mg/Fe]–[Fe/H] diagram without destroying the agreement with solar element abundances and the age–metallicity relation.     

Possible Streams of the Globular Clusters in the Galaxy

1 INTRODUCTION The globular cluster (GC hereafter), as the oldest star group in the universe, has been a target that astro- physics has paid close attention to all the time. The near-field (Galaxy) cosmology makes contacts with the far-field cosmology by …     

Kinematics of hypervelocity stars in the triaxial halo of the Milky Way

Hypervelocity stars (HVSs) ejected by the massive black hole at the Galactic Centre have unique kinematic properties compared to other halo stars. Their trajectories will deviate from being exactly radial because of the asymmetry of the Milky Way potential produced by the flattened disc and the triaxial dark matter halo, causing a change of angular momentum that can be much larger than the initial small value at injection. We study the kinematics of HVSs and propose an estimator of dark halo triaxiality that is determined only by instantaneous position and velocity vectors of HVSs at large Galactocentric distances ( r ≳ 50 kpc). We show that, in the case of a substantially triaxial halo, the distribution of deflection angles (the angle between the stellar position and velocity vector) for HVSs on bound orbits is spread uniformly over the range 10°–180°. Future astrometric and deep wide-field surveys should measure the positions and velocities of a significant number of HVSs, and provide useful constraints on the shape of the Galactic dark matter halo.