Galactic archaeology and minimum spanning trees

MacFarlane, Ben A.; Gibson, Brad K.; Flynn, Chris M. L.

Abstract

Chemical tagging of stellar debris from disrupted open clusters and associations underpins the science cases for next-generation multi-object spectroscopic surveys. As part of the Galactic Archaeology project TraCD (Tracking Cluster Debris), a preliminary attempt at reconstructing the birth clouds of now phase-mixed thin disk debris is undertaken using a parametric minimum spanning tree (MST) approach. Empirically-motivated chemical abundance pattern uncertainties (for a 10-dimensional chemistry-space) are applied to NBODY6-realised stellar associations dissolved into a background sea of field stars, all evolving in a Milky Way potential. We demonstrate that significant population reconstruction degeneracies appear when the abundance uncertainties approach 0.1 dex and the parameterised MST approach is employed; more sophisticated methodologies will be required to ameliorate these degeneracies.

Citation

MacFarlane, B. A., Gibson, B. K., & Flynn, C. M. L. (2015). Galactic archaeology and minimum spanning trees. In I. Skillen, M. Balcells, & S. Trager (Eds.), Multi-Object Spectroscopy in the Next Decade: Big Questions, Large Surveys, and Wide Fields (79-83). Astronomical Society of the Pacific

• Publication Date: 2015
• Deposit Date: Mar 8, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 8, 2017
• Journal: Multi-object spectroscopy in the next decade
• Publisher: Astronomical Society of the Pacific
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 507
• Pages: 79-83
• Series Title: Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series
• Book Title: Multi-Object Spectroscopy in the Next Decade: Big Questions, Large Surveys, and Wide Fields
• ISBN: 9781583818985
• Keywords: Galactic archaeology, Stellar debris
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/449219
• Publisher URL: Published chapter available at http://www.aspbooks.org/a/volumes/article_details/?paper_id=37849.