Science

Using The Cannon and GALAH DR4 to derive stellar parameters and abundances for Gaia RVS spectra

We have used The Cannon to apply stellar parameters and abundances derived from GALAH data (GALAH iDR4) to Gaia RVS spectra (Gaia DR3). We trained our data model on ~14000 selected targets common to both the surveys, utilising the stellar labels from GALAH. With this model, we are able to consistently predict stellar parameters such as T_eff, log g, [Fe/H], and abundances of several alpha elements for over 800,000 Gaia RVS spectra. Using stars from a sample of open and globular clusters present in the Gaia RVS catalogue, we have validated our metallicity estimates.

The GALAH Survey: No chemical evidence of an extragalactic origin for the Nyx stream

The ESA Gaia astrometric mission and deep photometric surveys have revolutionized our knowledge of the Milky Way. There are many ongoing efforts to search these data for substructure to find evidence of individual accretion events that built up the Milky Way and its halo. One of these newly identified features, called Nyx, was announced as an accreted stellar stream traveling in the plane of the disk.

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Chemical distribution of elements along the Galactic disk traced by Open Clusters

Open clusters are unique tools to study the chemical distribution of elements along the Galactic disk and its evolution with time. Thanks to precise astrometry and parallaxes from Gaia DR2, it is possible to identify the stars observed by GALAH (and by other spectroscopic surveys) that are members of these stellar associations. Once the cluster members are identified, radial velocities and chemical abundances from spectroscopy will allow us to characterise the Galactic cluster population as a function of kinematic, space, time and chemical abundances.

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The GALAH survey: Chemical homogeneity of the Orion complex

Due to its proximity the Orion star forming region is often used as a proxy to study processes related to star formation and observe young stars in the environment they were born in. Orion is getting additional attention within the Gaia DR2, as distance measurements are now good enough that a three dimensional structure of the complex can be explored.

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Temperature calibration from the InfraRed Flux Method in the Gaia system

We implement Gaia and 2MASS photometry in the InfraRed Flux Method and apply it to stars across different evolutionary status in the GALAH DR3 survey. We derive colour-effective temperature relations that take into account the effect of metallicity and surface gravity over the range 3600 - 9000 K. Comparison against solar-twins, Gaia benchmark stars and the latest interferometric measurements validates the precision and accuracy of these calibrations for spectral types later than F. We assess the impact of various sources of uncertainties and provide guidelines to use our relations.

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The GALAH Survey: Accreted stars also inhabit the Spite Plateau

We present lithium abundances for 105 dwarf stars in the halo of the Milky Way that were accreted as part of the Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage (GES). We use these stars to investigate the ``cosmological lithium problem'' --- the observed discrepancy between the amount of lithium in old, metal-poor dwarf stars in our Galaxy, and the amount of lithium predicted to have been produced during the Big Bang. In particular, we investigate whether the formation environment of stars plays a role in the lithium abundance and scatter of the Spite Plateau.

Milky Way Tomography with the SkyMapper Southern Survery: II: Photmetric Calibrations for the Second Data Release of the SkyMapper Southern Survey

In this paper, we apply the spectroscopy-based stellar color regression (SCR) method proposed by Yuan et al. to perform accurate photometric calibration for the second data release of the SkyMapper Southern Survey (SMSS DR2). By using a total number of over 200,000 dwarf stars with stellar atmospheric parameters taken from the GALAH DR3 and with homogeneous accurate photometry from the Gaia DR2, strong reddening dependent zero-point (ZP) errors are detected in the photometric catalog of SMSS DR2.

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Fundamental relations for the velocity dispersion of stars in the Milky Way

We explore the fundamental relations governing the radial and vertical velocity dispersions of stars in the Milky Way. We determine stellar age estimates from combined studies of complementary surveys including GALAH, LAMOST, APOGEE, and the NASA Kepler and K2 missions, and obtain parallax and proper motion from {\it Gaia} DR2. We find that stellar samples from these surveys, even though they target different tracer populations and employ a variety of age estimation techniques, follow the same set of fundamental relations.

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Do the chemical abundances of planetary host stars affect the types of planets they host?

Finding a planet that's truly like our own will need a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to solve. Whilst there are multiple criteria for what constitutes a planet like ours, we can utilise large scale galactic archaeology surveys in exoplanetary science to refine the physical properties of planet-hosting stars, whilst uncovering their chemical makeup.

The GALAH Survey: Linking Metallicity with Ridges and Arches from Gaia DR2

Gaia DR2 has revealed numerous substructures in velocity space and in the R-Vphi plane for stars within a few kpc of the solar position. Some of these substructures trace ridges of constant energy, others trace ridges of constant angular momentum. In addition, GALAH has identified that more than 40% of local stars have super solar metallicities, and their origin in the solar neighbourhood has long been a mystery.

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