| |
 |
| Paper: |
The Galactic Bulge |
| Volume: |
197, XVth IAP Meeting Dynamics of Galaxies: From the Early Universe to the Present |
| Page: |
201 |
| Authors: |
Gerhard, Ortwin |
| Abstract: |
The Galactic Bulge is barred and rotates rapidly: the comparison of hydrodynamical gas flow calculations with the observed lvplots shows that its corotation radius is around 4 kpc. Based on a comparison of colour-magnitude diagrams, most of the stars in Baade's Window are coeval with the bulge globular clusters and, therefore, old (~12 gyr). The bulge stars have a broad [Fe/H] abundance distribution with mean at ≈ -0.25, and enhanced Mg and Ti abundances. Taken together, these findings strongly argue for an early, dissipative bulge formation process. The mass distribution inferred from the Milky Way's NIR bulge and disk accounts for the observed terminal velocities for R lta 5 kpc and is consistent with the locally measured surface mass density. Thus the Galaxy has a near-maximal disk. |
|
|
|
|
|
