Gal-HD · Our Galaxy at full HD
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-04-01 → 2020-08-21
- EU contribution
- €170,122
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Our Galaxy at full HD
Gaia is a cornerstone mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) set to produce the largest and most precise census of positions, distances and velocities for a billion stars to revolutionize our knowledge on the evolution and formation of the Milky Way (MW). Our Galaxy at full HD (Gal-HD) is a project that exploited these data to study key processes that drive the evolution of the MW and of galaxies in general. Objective 1) Assemblage of the halo. Several galaxies with very low luminosity have been found in the halo of the MW. The detection of more of these systems is extremely relevant for the comparison with cosmological simulations. The Sagittarius dwarf and its tidally striped stars (stream) is crucial since its long tidal tails should allow for a determination of the gravitational potential of the Galaxy. The plan of Gal-HD was to add velocities and scan the whole sky for the first time to detect dwarf galaxies in the halo. Objective 2) Disk dynamics. The spiral arms are one the less understood aspects of the disk dynamics but affect significantly the orbits of the disk stars. Observations of the stellar disc prior to Gaia were limited to less than 1 kpc from the Sun. The plan of Gal-HD was to investigate the kinematics of an unprecedented disk extension to constraint the role of the different mechanisms ruling the disk dynamics. Objective 3) Star formation processes. The young local associations are groups of coeval young stars moving together. Data prior to Gaia was very local and had very few stars or large velocity errors. The plan of Gal-HD was to investigate young kinematic substructures and trace back their origin. The action aimed to contribute to the European task of answering one of the key questions in astrophysics as identified in A Science Vision for European Astronomy (ASTRONET, 2007): “How did our galaxy form?”. The goals of the action have been fully met and the action has had an enormous impact on the research field even changed the paradigm of the disk evolution.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Some astrophysical mechanisms that are crucial for the evolution of our Galaxy, and of galaxies in general, like the assemblage of the Galactic halo, the spiral arms dynamics, and the star formation processes, are poorly understood. But this research field is on the verge of an important breakthrough thanks to the ESA Gaia mission that is gathering an unprecedented census of positions, distances, velocities and stellar properties for a billion stars. Now it is time that the European scientists exploit their output data. Our Galaxy at full High Definition (Gal-HD) is a project that will use the Gaia data releases and follow-up surveys to investigate key galaxy evolution processes. We will do this by detecting the signatures that they produce in the stellar phase-space of the Galaxy. Gal-HD will pioneer in: 1) the detection of Ultra Faint Dwarf Galaxies in the halo as probes for cosmological models, 2) the investigation of the large-scale kinematics of the disk and the nature of the spiral arms, 3) the study of the nearby kinematics as tracer of the local star formation. The project combines observational and theoretical astrophysics with data mining. The Experienced Researcher (ER) has deep expertise in Galactic dynamics, analysis of kinematic data and substructure detection tools. The Host Group is expert in Galactic astronomy, coordinates the development of the novel Gaia Archive and will train the ER on the Archive mining tools required. The strong preparation for the Gaia exploitation of the ER and the Host Group puts them in clear advantage to make a substantial contribution to the field and to be in the front lead of the Gaia science. This research will bring the ER closer to her long-term career goals of being a consolidated leading researcher. Gal-HD will also participate in preserving the European leadership in Galactic astronomy and space astrometry, and contribute to the Gaia scientific harvest that Europe has planned and invested for.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA · BarcelonaCoordinatorSpain
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union