Continued support for the RAVE survey

Lead Research Organisation: University of Oxford
Department Name: Oxford Physics

Abstract

The dominant stellar component of our Galaxy is its disc - the Sun is a part of this disc, so in every direction the disc surrounds us. The RAVE survey is a major international effort to determine the structure and history of the disc by measuring the velocities and chemical compositions of a million stars spread over the southern hemisphere. From the velocities measured it will be possible to determine the mass density throughout a sphere centred on the Sun that is several thousand light years in radius. The difference between this mass density and the observed density of stars and gas we will determine the local distribution of the mysterious dark matter that makes up more than 80% of the mass of the Universe. Within the data taken we expect to be able to identify the relics of star clusters and dwarf galaxies that have been pulled apart by the Galaxy's gravitational field. A census of such objects will help us to understand the Galaxy's star-formation and accretion history. Additional insight into the Galaxy's star-formation history will be obtained from chemical composition measurements. The data will also reveal changes in the velocities of the stars caused by the Galaxy's spiral arms, and thus deepen our understanding of the important phenomenon of spiral structure.

Publications

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McMillan P (2009) The dangers of deprojection of proper motions in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters

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Featherstone K (2015) Greece: Greek politics stall research reforms. in Nature

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Binney J (2018) Self-consistent modelling of our Galaxy with Gaia data in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

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Binney J (2014) Dynamical models and Galaxy surveys in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

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Monari G (2018) Distribution functions for resonantly trapped orbits in our Galaxy in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

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Famaey B (2018) Distribution functions for Galactic disc stellar populations in the presence of non-axisymmetric perturbations in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

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Cole D (2018) Self-consistent Modelling of the Milky Way using Gaia data in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

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Binney J (2020) Modelling our galaxy in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

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Siebert A (2011) THE RADIAL VELOCITY EXPERIMENT (RAVE): THIRD DATA RELEASE in The Astronomical Journal

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Kunder A (2017) THE RADIAL VELOCITY EXPERIMENT (RAVE): FIFTH DATA RELEASE in The Astronomical Journal

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Kordopatis G (2013) THE RADIAL VELOCITY EXPERIMENT (RAVE): FOURTH DATA RELEASE in The Astronomical Journal

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Matijevic G (2010) DOUBLE-LINED SPECTROSCOPIC BINARY STARS IN THE RAVE SURVEY in The Astronomical Journal

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Williams M (2011) THE DAWNING OF THE STREAM OF AQUARIUS IN RAVE in The Astrophysical Journal

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Ruchti G (2010) ORIGINS OF THE THICK DISK AS TRACED BY THE ALPHA ELEMENTS OF METAL-POOR GIANT STARS SELECTED FROM RAVE in The Astrophysical Journal

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Kos J (2013) DIFFUSE INTERSTELLAR BAND AT 8620 Å IN RAVE: A NEW METHOD FOR DETECTING THE DIFFUSE INTERSTELLAR BAND IN SPECTRA OF COOL STARS in The Astrophysical Journal

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Sharma S (2014) KINEMATIC MODELING OF THE MILKY WAY USING THE RAVE AND GCS STELLAR SURVEYS in The Astrophysical Journal

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Fulbright J (2010) THE RAVE SURVEY: RICH IN VERY METAL-POOR STARS in The Astrophysical Journal

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Minchev I (2014) A NEW STELLAR CHEMO-KINEMATIC RELATION REVEALS THE MERGER HISTORY OF THE MILKY WAY DISK in The Astrophysical Journal

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Kunder A. (2017) VizieR Online Data Catalog: RAVE 5th data release (Kunder+, 2017) in VizieR Online Data Catalog

 
Description This survey has been a major source of information regarding the structure and history of our Galaxy. It has produced the tightest constraints on the local density of dark matter. On the way to doing this it has enabled us to understand in much greater detail the structure of the Galaxy's stellar discs. Exploitation of the data continues.
Exploitation Route Many
Sectors Education
 
Description The RAVE consortium 
Organisation The RAVE consortium
Country Germany 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Expertise in modelling the Galaxy
Collaborator Contribution The consortium is an international collaboration involving ~40 institutes worldwide. As a result of this grant several consortium members from outside the UK have spent time in Oxford
Impact Many research papers
Start Year 2006
 
Description Talks to schools 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Reported under another grant

NA
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014