Explore the vast range of titles available.

We present a sample of 135,873 RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) with precise photometric metallicity and distance estimates from our newly calibrated P–ϕ 31–R 21–[Fe/H]/P–R 21–[Fe/H] and G-band absolute magnitude–metallicity relations. The P–ϕ 31–R 21–[Fe/H] and P–R 21–[Fe/H] relations for type RRab and type RRc stars are obtained from nearly 2700 Gaia-identified RRLs, with precise ϕ 31 and R 21 measurements from light curves and metallicity estimates from spectroscopy. Using a few hundreds of nearby RRLs, with accurate distances estimated from the parallax measurements in Gaia Early Data Release 3, new G-band absolute magnitude–metallicity relations and near-IR period–absolute magnitude–metallicity relations are constructed. External checks, using other high-resolution spectroscopic samples of field RRLs and RRL members of globular clusters, show that the typical uncertainties in our photometric metallicity estimates are about 0.24 and 0.16 dex for type RRab and type RRc stars, respectively, without significant systematic bias with respect to the high-resolution spectroscopic metallicity measurements. The accuracies of these metallicity estimates are much improved, especially for type RRab stars, when compared to those provided by Gaia Data Release 3. Validations of our distance estimates, again using members of globular clusters, show that the typical distance errors are only 3%–4%. The distance moduli μ 0 = 18.503 ± 0.001 (stat) ± 0.040 (syst) mag for the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and μ 0 = 19.030 ± 0.003 (stat) ± 0.043 (syst) mag for the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) are estimated from our type RRab star sample and are in excellent agreement with previous measurements. The mean metallicities of the LMC and SMC derived in this work are also consistent with previous determinations. Using our sample, a steep metallicity gradient of −0.024 ± 0.001 dex kpc−1 is found for the LMC, while a negligible metallicity gradient is obtained for the SMC.

Using a grid of empirically calibrated synthetic spectra developed in our previous study, we construct an all-sky 3D extinction map from the large collection of low-resolution XP spectra in Gaia DR3. Along each line of sight, with an area ranging from 0.2 to 13.4 deg2, we determine both the reddening and metallicity of main-sequence stars and model the foreground extinction up to approximately 3 kpc from the Sun. Furthermore, we explore variations in the total-to-selective extinction ratio in our parameter search and identify its mean systematic change across diverse cloud environments in both hemispheres. In regions outside the densest parts of the clouds, our reddening estimates are validated through comparisons with previous reddening maps. However, a notable discrepancy arises in comparison to other independent work based on XP spectra, which can be attributed to systematic offsets in their metallicity estimates. On the other hand, our metallicity scale exhibits reasonable agreement with the high-resolution spectroscopic abundance scale. We also assess the accuracy of the XP spectra by applying our calibrated models, and we confirm an increasing trend of flux overestimation at shorter wavelengths below 400 nm.

Accurate determinations of stellar parameters and distances for large complete samples of stars are keys for conducting detailed studies of the formation and evolution of our Galaxy. Here we present stellar atmospheric parameters (effective temperature, luminosity classifications, and metallicity) estimates for some 24 million stars determined from the stellar colors of SMSS DR2 and Gaia EDR3, based on training data sets with available spectroscopic measurements from previous high/medium/low-resolution spectroscopic surveys. The number of stars with photometric-metallicity estimates is 4–5 times larger than that collected by the current largest spectroscopic survey to date—LAMOST—over the course of the past decade. External checks indicate that the precision of the photometric-metallicity estimates are quite high, comparable to or slightly better than that derived from spectroscopy, with typical values around 0.05–0.15 dex for both dwarf and giant stars with [Fe/H] > −2.01.0, 0.10–0.20 dex for giant stars with −2.0 < [Fe/H] ≤ −1.0, and 0.20–0.25 dex for giant stars with [Fe/H] ≤ −2.0, and include estimates for stars as metal-poor as [Fe/H] ∼ −3.5, substantially lower than previous photometric techniques. Photometric-metallicity estimates are obtained for an unprecedented number of metal-poor stars, including a total of over three million metal-poor (MP; [Fe/H] ≤ −1.0) stars, over half a million very metal-poor (VMP; [Fe/H] ≤ −2.0) stars, and over 25,000 extremely metal-poor (EMP; [Fe/H] ≤ −3.0) stars. Moreover, distances are determined for over 20 million stars in our sample. For the over 18 million sample stars with accurate Gaia parallaxes, stellar ages are estimated by comparing with theoretical isochrones. Astrometric information is provided for the stars in our catalog, along with radial velocities for ∼10% of our sample stars, taken from completed/ongoing large-scale spectroscopic surveys.

We employ Gaia, Two Micron All Sky Survey, and ALLWISE photometry, as well as astrometric data from Gaia, to search for relatively bright very metal-poor (VMP; [Fe/H] < −2.0) giant star candidates using three different criteria: (1) the derived Gaia photometric metallicities from Xu et al., (2) the lack of stellar molecular absorption near 4.6 μm, and (3) their high tangential velocities. With different combinations of these criteria, we have identified six samples of candidates with G < 15: the Gold sample (24,304 candidates), the Silver GW sample (40,157 candidates), the Silver GK sample (120,452 candidates), the Bronze G sample (291,690 candidates), the Bronze WK sample (68,526 candidates), and the Low-b sample (4645 candidates). The Low-b sample applies to sources with low Galactic latitude, ∣b∣ < 10°, while the others are for sources with ∣b∣ > 10°. By crossmatching with results derived from medium-resolution spectroscopy (R ∼ 1800) from LAMOST DR8, we establish that the success rate for identifying VMP stars is 60.1% for the Gold sample, 39.2% for the Silver GW sample, 41.3% for the Silver GK sample, 15.4% for the Bronze G sample, 31.7% for the Bronze WK sample, and 16.6% for the Low-b sample, respectively. An additional strict cut on the quality parameter RUWE < 1.1 can further increase the success rate of the Silver GW, Silver GK, and Bronze G samples to 46.9%, 51.6%, and 29.3%, respectively. Our samples provide valuable targets for high-resolution follow-up spectroscopic observations and are made publicly available.

We combine LAMOST DR7 spectroscopic data and Gaia EDR3 photometric data to construct high-quality giant (0.7 < (BP − RP) < 1.4) and dwarf (0.5 < (BP − RP) < 1.5) samples in the high Galactic latitude region, with precise corrections for magnitude-dependent systematic errors in the Gaia photometry and careful reddening corrections using empirically determined color- and reddening-dependent coefficients. We use the two samples to build metallicity-dependent stellar loci of Gaia colors for giants and dwarfs, respectively. For a given (BP − RP) color, a 1 dex change in [Fe/H] results in about a 5 mmag change in (BP − G) color for solar-type stars. These relations are used to determine metallicity estimates from EDR3 colors. Despite the weak sensitivity, the exquisite data quality of these colors enables a typical precision of about δ [Fe/H] = 0.2 dex. Our method is valid for FGK stars with G ≤ 16, [Fe/H] ≥ −2.5, and E(B − V) ≤ 0.5. Stars with fainter G magnitudes, lower metallicities, or larger reddening suffer from higher metallicity uncertainties. With the enormous data volume of Gaia, we have measured metallicity estimates for about 27 million stars with 10 < G ≤ 16 across almost the entire sky, including over 6 million giants and 20 million dwarfs, which can be used for a number of studies. These include investigations of Galactic formation and evolution, the identification of candidate stars for subsequent high-resolution spectroscopic follow-up, the identification of wide binaries, and to obtain metallicity estimates of stars for asteroseismology and exoplanet research.

▪ Abstract  We discuss the importance of very metal-poor stars to develop an understanding of the nature of the first stars that formed in the Universe and the nucleosynthesis events associated with them, as well as to refine models of galaxy formation, in particular for large spiral galaxies such as the Milky Way. After briefly reviewing the history of the search for very metal-deficient stars in the Galaxy, we summarize ongoing efforts, concentrating on the two large objective-prism surveys that have led to the discovery of the majority of stars with [Fe/H] < −2.0 known at present: the HK survey of Beers and collaborators and the Hamburg/ESO survey of Christlieb and collaborators. We then consider the wealth of information that can be gleaned from high-resolution spectroscopic study of very metal-poor stars. We close with a list of open questions and a discussion of new survey techniques that will expand the sample of recognized very metal-deficient stars in the Galaxy by several orders of magnitude.

We construct a sample of 644 carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars with abundance analyses based on moderate- to high-resolution spectroscopic studies. Dynamical parameters for these stars are estimated based on radial velocities, Bayesian parallax-based distance estimates, and proper motions from Gaia EDR3 and DR3, supplemented by additional available information where needed. After separating our sample into the different CEMP morphological groups in the Yoon–Beers diagram of absolute carbon abundance versus metallicity, we used the derived specific energies and actions (E, J r , J ϕ , J z ) to cluster them into Chemodynamically Tagged Groups (CDTGs). We then analyzed the elemental-abundance dispersions within these clusters by comparing them to the dispersion of clusters that were generated at random. We find that, for the Group I (primarily CEMP-s and CEMP-r/s) clustered stars, there exist statistically insignificant intracluster dispersions in [Fe/H], [C/Fe] c (evolution corrected carbon), and [Mg/Fe] when compared to the intracluster dispersions of randomly clustered Group I CEMP stars. In contrast, the Group II (primarily CEMP-no) stars exhibit clear similarities in their intracluster abundances, with very low, statistically significant, dispersions in [C/Fe] c and marginally significant results in [Mg/Fe]. These results strongly indicate that Group I CEMP stars received their carbon enhancements from local phenomena, such as mass transfer from an evolved binary companion in regions with extended star formation histories, while the CDTGs of Group II CEMP stars formed in low-metallicity environments that had already been enriched in carbon, likely from massive rapidly rotating ultra- and hyper-metal-poor stars and/or supernovae associated with high-mass early-generation stars.

ω Centauri is the most massive and chemically complex multipopulation globular cluster with a wide metallicity range that has been extensively studied photometrically and spectroscopically. Using the wide metallicity range of ω Cen, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry (F275W, F336W, F435W, F625W), and MUSE spectroscopy ([M/H]), we derive [M/H]- and MF625W-dependent stellar loci to estimate photometric metallicities from HST colors. Our tests yield metallicity precisions of 0.10 dex for giants and 0.22 dex for fainter dwarfs. We construct a photometric metallicity catalog from simultaneous F336W, F435W, and F625W observations (plus F275W where available), containing 20,778 giants and 346,546 dwarfs. A subsample of 20,533 giants is used to study the spatial metallicity distribution and gradient. We find no significant metallicity gradient within the half-light radius, consistent with previous work. Moreover, the previously reported ringlike structure is less pronounced in our data, and no physically significant irregular two-dimensional metallicity pattern is detected, indicating that the stellar subpopulations are well mixed within the half-light radius. Our catalog significantly extends the metallicity sample of ω Cen, and this approach can be applied to other HST data to estimate photometric metallicities.

We continue our series of papers on phase-space distributions of stars in the Milky Way based on photometrically derived metallicities and Gaia astrometry, with a focus on the halo−disk interface in the local volume. To exploit various photometric databases, we develop a method of empirically calibrating synthetic stellar spectra based on a comparison with observations of stellar sequences and individual stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the SkyMapper Sky Survey, and the Pan-STARRS1 surveys, overcoming band-specific corrections employed in our previous work. In addition, photometric zero-point corrections are derived to provide an internally consistent photometric system with a spatially uniform metallicity zero-point. Using our phase-space diagrams, we find a remarkably narrow sequence in the rotational velocity (v ϕ ) versus metallicity ([Fe/H]) space for a sample of high proper-motion stars (>25 mas yr−1), which runs along Gaia Sausage/Enceladus (GSE) and the Splash substructures and is linked to the disk, spanning nearly 2 dex in [Fe/H]. Notably, a rapid increase of v ϕ from a nearly zero net rotation to ∼180 km s−1 in a narrow metallicity interval (−0.6 ≲ [Fe/H] ≲ −0.4) suggests that some of these stars emerged quickly on a short gas-depletion timescale. Through measurements of a scale height and length, we argue that these stars are distinct from those heated dynamically by mergers. This chain of high proper-motion stars provides additional support for recent discoveries suggesting that a starburst took place when the young Milky Way encountered the gas-rich GSE progenitor, which eventually led to the settling of metal-enriched gas onto the disk.