Vertical distribution of Galactic disk stars. IV. AMR and AVR from clump giants
We present the parameters of 891 stars, mostly clump giants, includingatmospheric parameters, distances, absolute magnitudes, spatialvelocities, galactic orbits and ages. One part of this sample consistsof local giants, within 100 pc, with atmospheric parameters eitherestimated from our spectroscopic observations at high resolution andhigh signal-to-noise ratio, or retrieved from the literature. The otherpart of the sample includes 523 distant stars, spanning distances up to1 kpc in the direction of the North Galactic Pole, for which we haveestimated atmospheric parameters from high resolution but lowsignal-to-noise Echelle spectra. This new sample is kinematicallyunbiased, with well-defined boundaries in magnitude and colours. Werevisit the basic properties of the Galactic thin disk as traced byclump giants. We find the metallicity distribution to be different fromthat of dwarfs, with fewer metal-rich stars. We find evidence for avertical metallicity gradient of -0.31 dex kpc-1 and for atransition at ~4-5 Gyr in both the metallicity and velocities. Theage-metallicity relation (AMR), which exhibits a very low dispersion,increases smoothly from 10 to 4 Gyr, with a steeper increase for youngerstars. The age-velocity relation (AVR) is characterized by thesaturation of the V and W dispersions at 5 Gyr, and continuous heatingin U.
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