Timing the Milky Way bar formation and the accompanying radial migration episode

¹ GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France
² Leibniz Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
³ University of Exeter, School of Physics and Astronomy, Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 4QL, UK

Received: 28 November 2023
Accepted: 25 May 2024

Abstract

We derived the metallicity profile of the Milky Way low-α disc population from 2 to 20 kpc from the Galactic centre in 1 Gyr age bins using the astroNN catalogue, and we show that it is highly structured, with a plateau between 4 and 7 kpc and a break at 10–12 kpc. We argue that these features result from the two main bar resonances, the corotation and the outer Lindblad resonance (OLR), respectively. We show that the break in the metallicity profile is most visible in stars having 7–8 Gyr, reaching an amplitude of about 0.4 dex, and it is the signpost of the position of the bar OLR. The bar formation was accompanied by an episode of radial migration triggered by it slowing down and it is responsible for spreading old metal-rich stars up to the OLR. The data show that the slowdown of the bar ended 6–7 Gyr ago. Based on numerical simulations that reproduce well the characteristic break observed in the metallicity profile, we argue that this implies that the bar formed in our Galaxy 8–10 Gyr ago. Analysis of the metallicity distribution as a function of radius shows no evidence of significant systematic outward radial migration after this first episode. We argue that the variation of the metallicity dispersion as a function of the guiding radius is dominated by the migration triggered by the bar, but also that the libration of orbits around the bar resonances induces a mixing that may have a significant impact on the observed metallicity dispersion. In contrast, the absence of a break in the metallicity profile of populations younger than ∼6 Gyr and the flattening of the gradient at younger ages is interpreted as evidence that the strength of the bar has decreased, loosening its barrier effect and allowing the gas and metals on both sides of the OLR to mix, erasing the break. Beyond the OLR, stars younger than 7 Gyr show very small metallicity dispersion, suggesting that no or limited mixing induced by the spiral arms has occurred in the outer disc.