Seminar: The Chemodynamic Structure and Evolution of the Milky Way

Our understanding of the Milky Way is in the midst of a revolution through the combination of large-scale spectroscopic surveys such as APOGEE and GALAH along with the Gaia satellite providing information on billions of stars across the Galaxy. I will give an overview of the current chemodynamic structure of the Milky Way from these massive surveys, ranging from the bulge to the edge of the disk, and the role that secular processes and mergers have played in the evolution of the Galaxy. I will describe our state-of-the-art chemical evolution models, which are the first to be able to match the detailed chemical structure across the Milky Way. These models incorporate many physical processes that govern the evolution of the disk, including gas physics such as accretion, cooling, and heating, along with stellar evolution and the latest chemical yields, as well as secular evolution to account for radial mixing of stars and gas within the disk. I will also describe our upcoming work to use the Milky Way as a benchmark for galaxy evolution, such as producing IFU data cubes of the Milky Way with a range of properties (inclination, distance, extinction model, spatial and spectral resolution, etc.) to enable direct comparisons of our Galaxy to external systems. I will also highlight future applications of these analysis techniques, including to our upcoming large ESO-MUSE program GECKOS. GECKOS will deliver an unprecedented sample of 35 nearby edge-on systems with high SNR out to several effective radii, providing key insights into the formation and evolution of disk galaxies.

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We shall leave for lunch at around 12:15. There will be fika after the seminar.