The Galactic Disk North–South Asymmetry in Metallicity May Be a New Tracer for the Disk Warp

Galactic disk warp has been widely characterized by stellar distributions and stellar kinematics but has not been traced by stellar chemistry. Here, we use a sample with over 170,000 red clump (RC) stars selected from LAMOST and APOGEE first to establish a correlation between the north–south asymmet...

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Main Authors: Weixiang Sun, Han Shen, Biwei Jiang, Xiaowei Liu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal Letters
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ada02a
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author Weixiang Sun
Han Shen
Biwei Jiang
Xiaowei Liu
author_facet Weixiang Sun
Han Shen
Biwei Jiang
Xiaowei Liu
author_sort Weixiang Sun
collection DOAJ
description Galactic disk warp has been widely characterized by stellar distributions and stellar kinematics but has not been traced by stellar chemistry. Here, we use a sample with over 170,000 red clump (RC) stars selected from LAMOST and APOGEE first to establish a correlation between the north–south asymmetry in metallicity ([Fe/H]) and the disk warp. Our results indicate that the height of the [Fe/H] midplane for the whole RC sample stars is accurately described as Z _w = 0.017 ( R  − 7.112) ^2 sin( ϕ  − 9.218). This morphology aligns closely with the warp traced by Cepheids, suggesting that the disk north–south asymmetry in [Fe/H] may serve as a new tracer for the Galactic warp. Our detailed analysis of the young/thin disk stars of this RC sample suggests that its warp is well modeled as Z _w = 0.016 ( R  − 6.507) ^2 sin( ϕ  − 4.240), indicating that the line of node of the Galactic warp is oriented at 4.240 ${}_{-1.747}^{+1.641}$ degrees.
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spelling doaj-art-7b32ebecf46d4cfba6a20b918e8317132025-08-20T02:08:47ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052025-01-019782L2410.3847/2041-8213/ada02aThe Galactic Disk North–South Asymmetry in Metallicity May Be a New Tracer for the Disk WarpWeixiang Sun0https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9277-6758Han Shen1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8962-4132Biwei Jiang2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3168-2617Xiaowei Liu3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1295-2909School of Physics and Astronomy, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, People’s Republic of China ; sunweixiang@bnu.edu.cn, bjiang@bnu.edu.cnSchool of Physics, University of New South Wales , Kensington, NSW 2032, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), AustraliaSchool of Physics and Astronomy, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 100875, People’s Republic of China ; sunweixiang@bnu.edu.cn, bjiang@bnu.edu.cnSouth-Western Institute for Astronomy Research, Yunnan University , Kunming 650500, People’s Republic of China ; x.liu@ynu.edu.cnGalactic disk warp has been widely characterized by stellar distributions and stellar kinematics but has not been traced by stellar chemistry. Here, we use a sample with over 170,000 red clump (RC) stars selected from LAMOST and APOGEE first to establish a correlation between the north–south asymmetry in metallicity ([Fe/H]) and the disk warp. Our results indicate that the height of the [Fe/H] midplane for the whole RC sample stars is accurately described as Z _w = 0.017 ( R  − 7.112) ^2 sin( ϕ  − 9.218). This morphology aligns closely with the warp traced by Cepheids, suggesting that the disk north–south asymmetry in [Fe/H] may serve as a new tracer for the Galactic warp. Our detailed analysis of the young/thin disk stars of this RC sample suggests that its warp is well modeled as Z _w = 0.016 ( R  − 6.507) ^2 sin( ϕ  − 4.240), indicating that the line of node of the Galactic warp is oriented at 4.240 ${}_{-1.747}^{+1.641}$ degrees.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ada02aGalaxy structureMilky Way diskStellar abundancesStellar kinematics
spellingShingle Weixiang Sun
Han Shen
Biwei Jiang
Xiaowei Liu
The Galactic Disk North–South Asymmetry in Metallicity May Be a New Tracer for the Disk Warp
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Galaxy structure
Milky Way disk
Stellar abundances
Stellar kinematics
title The Galactic Disk North–South Asymmetry in Metallicity May Be a New Tracer for the Disk Warp
title_full The Galactic Disk North–South Asymmetry in Metallicity May Be a New Tracer for the Disk Warp
title_fullStr The Galactic Disk North–South Asymmetry in Metallicity May Be a New Tracer for the Disk Warp
title_full_unstemmed The Galactic Disk North–South Asymmetry in Metallicity May Be a New Tracer for the Disk Warp
title_short The Galactic Disk North–South Asymmetry in Metallicity May Be a New Tracer for the Disk Warp
title_sort galactic disk north south asymmetry in metallicity may be a new tracer for the disk warp
topic Galaxy structure
Milky Way disk
Stellar abundances
Stellar kinematics
url https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ada02a
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