Galactic Archeology with Gaia

Aida will aim at producing superior age estimates for stars in the Gaia satellite mission. These ages can be derived by Bayesian methods for borth single stars and groups of stars by combining parallaxes with abundance information (either from other surveys, or the Gaia RV sample) and the available photometry of stars compared to stellar evolution models (e.g. from B.A.S.T.I., Padova, or Parsec).

For stellar samples that have no abundance data, the information can still be extracted by modelling groups of stars in the colour-magnitude plane, as this contains the combined (but solvable) information from IMF, age, and abundance.

Once she has developed a good approach on stellar ages, Aida will use her new machinery to do Galactic archeology on the Gaia samples. Here, Aida will explore first the star formation history of the Galactic disc, also taking into account complications from radial migration of stars, or the possibility of perturbing events. She can further study the age-velocity dispersion relationship in the Galactic disc, embedded in my group's larger scale effort to resolve the different heating mechanisms in the Galactic disc and reconstruct its dynamical history.

Depending on her personal interests and preferences, Aida could also easily expand with this into the study of resonant phenomena, e.g. the dragging of resonances by the slowing galactic bar, or exploring the consequences of the (likely) transient spiral patterns in the disc. Alternatively, the project can be turned to target substructure in the halo and provide a better exploration of the Milky Way's merger history, or to target external galaxies, which will become an interesting application, once the 30m class telescopes are in place, or also with the Euclid satellite mission.

We will decide later what route is going to be taken, once Aida's skillset has taken shape and once she has a good vision how she wants to develop herself further.