Ecology of the Milky Way and Gaia chemistry

Alejandra Recio-Blanco (Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur) - hybrid seminar (in-person in Salle NEF + remote via Zoom)

Abstract:
The European Space Agency Gaia mission has transformed our understanding of the Milky Way. It has allowed us to see the Galaxy as a heterogeneous and evolving system, in permanent interaction with its environment. The ecology of the Milky Way is born.  In June 2022, the Gaia Data Release 3, completing the previous EDR3, made possible the 3D kinematical and dynamical analysis of 33 million stars in the Milky Way and its satellites. In addition, it has opened a new era of all-sky chemo-physical analysis of stellar populations thanks to the nearly 5.6 million stars observed by the Radial Velocity Spectrometer and parameterized by the GSP-Spec module. This all-sky Gaia chemo-dynamical cartography allows a powerful and precise view of the Milky Way with unprecedented spatial coverage, statistical robustness and spectral fidelity. In this talk, I will first present the Gaia chemo-physical results, illustrating its scientific performance for stellar and Galactic studies, but not only. In addition, I will review recent results of our group on chemo-dynamical indications of Milky Way's nature and nurture evolution, including new insights about the Galactic disc.