Kushwahaa, Tanya, Matsuura, Mikako  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5529-5593, Hunt, Jason A. S., Kawata, Daisuke, Wesson, Roger and Davis, Timothy A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4932-9379
2026.
Milky Way’s warped disc traced by AGB stars.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
550
(2)
, stag1130.
10.1093/mnras/stag1130
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Abstract
While the presence of the Galactic warp has long been established from observations of H I gas, the Gaia measurements of over 1 billion stars with parallaxes have enabled much more detailed studies using stellar populations. Here, we demonstrate that asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, an evolved phase of low- and intermediate-mass stars, can serve as an effective tracer of the Galactic warp. We use two distinct AGB populations: C-rich AGB stars, representing stars of about 1 Gyr in age with main-sequence masses of 2–2.5 M⊙, and intermediate-mass (3–5 M⊙) O-rich AGB stars, corresponding to ages of 100–300 Myr. The downward warp traced by O-rich AGB stars is consistent with that found from Cepheids, which is expected given their similar ages. The more numerous C-rich AGB stars clearly reveal the Galactic warp over a wide range of azimuthal angles. Their warp appears to reach larger amplitudes than that of Cepheids across azimuthal angles. Our results show that C-rich AGB stars, together with intermediate-mass O-rich AGB stars, provide new constraints on the Galactic warp at intermediate stellar ages, offering a new insight into the stellar age and warp amplitude relation.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > Physics and Astronomy |
| Additional Information: | License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Start Date: 2026-06-16 |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
| ISSN: | 0035-8711 |
| Funders: | STFC |
| Projects: | ST/W000830/1 |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 2 July 2026 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 8 June 2026 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Aug 2026 14:42 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/187882 |
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