Francisco J. Mercado

From protogalaxy through thick and thin: Why did the Milky Way evolve in three kinematic phases?

Abstract APOGEE and Gaia data suggest the Milky Way’s kinematic structure evolved through three distinct phases: a disordered protogalaxy, which ‘spun up’ into a thick stellar disk, and then ‘cooled down’ to a final cold, thin stellar disk. We use a suite of FIRE-2 cosmological z...