The History of the Milky Way from the Chemodynamics of its Stellar Populations

The goal of this thesis is to constrain the mass assembly history of the Milky Way through study of the chemodynamics of its stellar populations. The study will be based on kinematics and chemical data extracted from a combination of the Gaia satellite, SDSS/APOGEE, SDSS/Milky Way Mapper, and WEAVE. The first step will consist of an analysis of the stellar population content as well as structural and kinematic properties of M54, which is the nuclear cluster of the Sgr dSph galaxy. This initial "ice-breaker" project is aimed at familiarizing the PhD candidate with the data and methods employed in the field of Galactic Archaeology, with the goal to deliver a publication within the next year. This analysis will be based on a combination of APOGEE and MUSE data. Upon conclusion of this project the PhD candidate will start the analysis of a combination of WEAVE and SDSS data on halo stellar populations, to constrain the accretion history of the Milky Way.