Using vast new data samples to understand the disk of the Milky Way

像我们银河系这样的盘状星系是如何从膨胀的宇宙中形成的？本项目旨在改进我们的模型这一过程。通过观测得到的数值模型是理解星系形成的关键。这些模型详细地预测了星系的性质，但必须根据观测到的星系盘中恒星的运动和化学性质进行测试和修改。充足的数据至关重要，但目前尚不具备。这种情况即将改变。该项目计划利用两次大规模新调查的观测结果来测量100万颗盘星的化学性质和运动，以便为数值模型提供适当的信息。它还计划使用新技术来寻找早期宇宙星系盘中强烈星星形成事件的化学指纹。

How did disk galaxies like our Milky Way form from the expanding universe? This project seeks to improve our models of this process. Numerical models informed by observation are the key to understanding galaxy formation. The models predict the properties of galaxies in detail, but must be tested and modified relative to the observed motions and chemical properties of stars in the Galactic disk. Adequate data is essential but not yet available. This is about to change. This project plans to use observations from two vast new surveys to measure the chemical properties and motions of a million disk stars, in order to inform the numerical models properly. It also plans to use new techniques to search for chemical fingerprints of intense star formation events in galactic disks in the early universe.