Age-dating Red Giant Stars Associated with Galactic Disk and Halo Substructures

The vast majority of Milky Way stellar halo stars were likely accreted from a small number (less than or similar to 3) of relatively large dwarf galaxy accretion events. However, the timing of these events is poorly constrained and predominantly relies on indirect dynamical mixing arguments or imprecise age measurements of stars associated with debris structures. Here, we aim to infer robust stellar ages for stars associated with galactic substructures to more directly constrain the merger history of the Galaxy. By combining kinematic, asteroseismic, and spectroscopic data where available, we infer stellar ages for a sample of 10 red giant stars that were kinematically selected to be within the stellar halo, a subset of which are associated with the Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage halo substructure, and compare their ages to 3 red giant stars in the Galactic disk. Despite systematic differences in both absolute and relative ages determined here, age rankings of stars in this sample are robust. Passing the same observable inputs to multiple stellar age determination packages, we measure a weighted average age for the Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage stars in our sample of 8 +/- 3 (stat.) +/- 1 (sys.) Gyr. We also determine hierarchical ages using isochrones for the populations of Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage, in situ halo and disk stars, finding a Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage population age of 8.0(-2.3)(+3.2) Gyr. Although we cannot distinguish hierarchical population ages of halo or disk structures with our limited data and sample of stars, this framework should allow a distinct characterization of Galactic substructures using larger stellar samples and additional data available in the near future.

Automated summary

Research suggests that most stars in the Milky Way stellar halo were likely accreted from a small number of relatively large dwarf galaxy merging events, although the timing of these events is still uncertain. By inferring robust stellar ages, it is possible to more directly determine the merger history of the Galaxy. Despite systematic differences in absolute and relative ages determined in this study, the age rankings of the stars in the sample are robust.