Data-driven diagnosis of the Milky Way disk dynamics

Abstract: Let’s start with a thought experiment: Imagine an ideal river in which we can measure with perfect precision both the position and the velocity of every water particle. If this river is unperturbed, these particles move together, with their velocity vectors pointing to the same direction. Now place a rock somewhere upstream: as particles encounter the obstacle, their paths are deflected, and downstream the once–uniform velocity distribution bears a characteristic distortion that encodes the rock’s size, shape, and location.

In galactic dynamics, the water becomes the stars and the rock can be anything from the Galactic bar to a passing dwarf galaxy. Thanks to the Gaia mission and other surveys, we now have an amazing six-dimensional map of stellar positions and velocities in the Solar Neighbourhood. By measuring local deviations from an equilibrium velocity distribution, we aim to infer the unseen mass distribution of the Milky Way and reconstruct its past encounters with other galaxies.

Tribunal:

President: Dr. Amina Helmi

Secretary: Dr. Francesca Figueras Siñol

Vocal: Dr. Jason Hunt

Suplents:

Dr. Friedrich Anders

Dr. Daisuke Kawata

Directors: Dr. Maria Teresa Antoja Castelltort and Dr. Pau Ramos Ramírez

Tutor: Dr. Alberto Manrique Oliva