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Constance M. Rockosi

Publications and source records attributed to Constance M. Rockosi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Joint Modeling of GD-1 and C-19 as Old Streams

DESI observational data for the GD-1 and C-19 streams are compared to stream simulations in an evolving multi-halo potential of a Milky Way-like galaxy based on a cosmological Milky Way-like simulation. The number of subhalos decreases with time and the subhalo-stream encounter velocities rise as the Galaxy and its disk build up their mass. The streams develop from star clusters inserted at $\simeq$1 Gyr after the Big Bang and evolved for 13 Gyr to their current orbital positions. The measured velocity widths of the streams are compared to the matched simulations. Streams in a CDM subhalo population provide the best match to the velocity width, on the average, with considerable scatter. Streams younger than $\simeq$12 Gyr in CDM subhalos are insufficiently hot. Streams in the same potentials but with populations of WDM 5.5 keV subhalos are not, on the average, heated to the observed velocity widths, although some of the realizations do reach the observed levels. The stream density power spectrum measured along the length of the DESI GD-1 sample agrees with the CDM stream simulations, with 1.3 to 2.3 times more power than WDM 7 keV and 5.5 keV simulations. The simulations show that modeling specific streams from the time of the formation of their progenitor clusters is both feasible and necessary to reproduce their stream averaged kinematic properties.

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Signatures of a Tidally Induced Spiral Arm at the Anticenter of the Milky Way and a Kinematically Extended Anticenter Stream Using DESI DR2

Using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Milky Way Survey (DESI MWS), we examine the 6D space of the anticenter region of the stellar disk (150$^\circ$ $<$ Galactic longitude $<$ 220$^\circ$) using 61,883 main-sequence turnoff stars. We focus on two well-known stellar overdensities in the anticenter, the Monoceros Ring (MRi) and Anticenter Stream (ACS). We find that the MRi overdensity has kinematics consistent with a tidally induced spiral arm, a type of dynamic spiral arm created by an interaction with a satellite galaxy, most likely the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr). We use the kinematics of the MRi to calculate the two most recent passage times of Sgr are 0.25 $\pm$ 0.09 Gyrs and 1.10 $\pm$ 0.23 Gyrs from the present day. We validate that the ACS is kinematically decoupled from the MRi because they are moving in opposite radial and vertical directions. We find that the kinematics associated with the ACS are not confined to our defined overdensity. The features we see in the ACS region are likely part of a broader distribution of stars with the same kinematic signature as detected in other places, like the vertical wave in the outer disk and phase spiral.

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Constraining the Galactic bar using the M92 stellar stream

Stellar streams are excellent probes of the gravitational potential in which they evolve. In the Milky Way (MW), globular cluster (GC) streams are routinely used to infer properties about time-dependent perturbations of the underlying potential. This implies that streams with Galactocentric radii small enough to be perturbed by the MW bar should offer constraints on it, such as its pattern speed, which currently has a wide range of values reported in the literature and is important when studying stellar kinematics. The GC M92 has a small pericentre and should be affected by the bar. It has a diffuse stellar stream, but confirming stream members has previously been hindered by a lack of spectroscopic data. In this paper, we use Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) observations together with photometric and astrometric data to obtain spectroscopic members of the M92 stream for the first time. We identify a clear spatial distribution and gradients in distance moduli, proper motions, and radial velocities that confirm the stream's existence. We compare the observed stream to mock streams generated in different barred potentials and estimate the MW bar's pattern speed $Ω= 29.1^{+0.7}_{-0.4}$ km s$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-1}$ and $\dot Ω= 0.7^{+3.5}_{-2.3}$ km s$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-1}$ Gyr$^{-1}$. This is the first time a stellar stream is used to probabilistically infer these bar properties, and it opens up an exciting realm of inner Galactic potential characterisation using stellar streams.

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Characterizing the GD-1 Stream with DESI DR2 Data: Thin Stream and Hot Cocoon

GD-1 is among the longest, coldest stellar streams in the Milky Way, making it an ideal target for probing dark matter substructure through dynamical heating. We present a catalog of 608 spectroscopically confirmed GD-1 members from the first three years of Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) observations. This constitutes the largest homogeneous spectroscopic sample of GD-1, doubling the number of members previously available only through heterogeneous compilations combining multiple surveys with different systematics. Using these data, we derive updated stream tracks in sky position, proper motion, and radial velocity that extend over $100^\circ$ of the stream. We apply a Gaussian mixture model to decompose the stream into a dynamically cold thin component ($σ_V = 2.49\pm 0.28$ km s$^{-1}$, width $= 0.23\pm0.01^\circ$) and a kinematically hot cocoon ($σ_V = 6.13\pm0.75$ km s$^{-1}$, width $= 2.18\pm0.17^\circ$). The cocoon contains $\sim30\%$ of members and its velocity dispersion is consistent with $\sim11$ Gyr of heating by cold dark matter subhalos. We also detect a large proper motion dispersion ($41.36\pm4.98$ km s$^{-1}$) along the stream direction in the cocoon component. This feature indicates a significant line-of-sight distance spread in the cocoon, and its origin will be further explored in a forthcoming paper. These measurements demonstrate the power of DESI spectroscopy for characterizing the multi-component phase-space structure of stellar streams and constraining small-scale dark matter substructure.

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Constraining the Milky Way Halo Accretion History With Simulated Stellar Halos: Designing the HALO7D-X Survey

We present the design for HALO7D-X, a survey of the stellar halo to investigate the accretion history of the Milky Way. The survey will use a combination of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Gaia data for sky position and proper motions of faint stars (18<G<21.5 mag), while line-of-sight velocity, distance, [Fe/H], and [alpha/Fe] will be measured using follow-up Keck spectroscopy. The survey will cover 30 lines of sight, made up of multiple HST archival fields and optimized for Keck DEIMOS spectroscopy. We use mock survey observations of the Bullock and Johnston stellar halo simulations to investigate the sensitivity of HALO7D-X to constrain the basic parameters of the accretion history of our Galaxy's stellar halo. We find that we are sensitive to the mass distribution and accretion timeline of the stellar halo progenitors, but not their orbital circularity. We find that the simulated halos fall into three different groups based on the similarities in their distributions of the observable dimensions of our survey. These groups are also distinct from each other in the mass distribution and accretion timeline of their progenitor satellites, showing that by using similarities in our observables among halos, we are able to identify similarities in their accretion histories. With HALO7D-X we will compare real Milky Way data with simulated halos and use this connection between observables and progenitor mass and accretion timeline to learn about the formation of our Galaxy's stellar halo.

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Data-driven Discovery of Diffuse Interstellar Bands with APOGEE Spectra

Data-driven models of stellar spectra are useful tools to study non-stellar information, such as the Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs) caused by intervening interstellar material. Using $\sim 55000$ spectra of $\sim 17000$ red clump stars from the APOGEE DR16 dataset, we create 2nd order polynomial models of the continuum-normalized flux as a function of stellar parameters ($T_{eff}$, $\log g$, [Fe/H], [$α$/Fe], and Age). The model and data show good agreement within uncertainties across the APOGEE wavelength range, although many regions reveal residuals that are not in the stellar rest-frame. We show that many of these residual features -- having average extrema at the level of $\sim3\%$ in stellar flux on average -- can be attributed to incompletely-removed spectral lines from the Earth's atmosphere and DIBs from the interstellar medium (ISM). After removing most of the remaining contamination from the Earth's sky, we identify 84 absorption features not seen in unreddened sightlights that have $<50\%$ probability of being noise artifacts -- with 25 of these features having $<5\%$ probability of being noise artifacts -- including all 10 previously-known DIBs in the APOGEE wavelength range. Because many of these features occur in the wavelength windows that APOGEE uses to measure chemical abundances, characterization and removal of this non-stellar contamination is an important step in reaching the precision required for chemical tagging experiments. Proper characterization of these features will benefit Galactic ISM science and the currently-ongoing Milky Way Mapper program of SDSS-V, which relies on the APOGEE spectrograph.

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BP3M: Bayesian Positions, Parallaxes, and Proper Motions derived from the Hubble Space Telescope and Gaia data

We present a hierarchical Bayesian pipeline, BP3M, that measures positions, parallaxes, and proper motions (PMs) for cross-matched sources between Hubble~Space~Telescope (HST) images and Gaia -- even for sparse fields ($N_*<10$ per image) -- expanding from the recent GaiaHub tool. This technique uses Gaia-measured astrometry as priors to predict the locations of sources in HST images, and is therefore able to put the HST images onto a global reference frame without the use of background galaxies/QSOs. Testing our publicly-available code in the Fornax and Draco dSphs, we measure accurate PMs that are a median of 8-13 times more precise than Gaia DR3 alone for $20.5<G<21~\mathrm{mag}$. We are able to explore the effect of observation strategies on BP3M astrometry using synthetic data, finding an optimal strategy to improve parallax and position precision at no cost to the PM uncertainty. Using 1619 HST images in the sparse COSMOS field (median 9 Gaia sources per HST image), we measure BP3M PMs for 2640 unique sources in the $16<G<21.5~\mathrm{mag}$ range, 25% of which have no Gaia PMs; the median BP3M PM uncertainty for $20.25<G<20.75~\mathrm{mag}$ sources is $0.44~$mas/yr compared to $1.03~$mas/yr from Gaia, while the median BP3M PM uncertainty for sources without Gaia-measured PMs ($20.75<G<21.5~\mathrm{mag}$) is $1.16~$mas/yr. The statistics that underpin the BP3M pipeline are a generalized way of combining position measurements from different images, epochs, and telescopes, which allows information to be shared between surveys and archives to achieve higher astrometric precision than that from each catalog alone.

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HALO7D III: Chemical Abundances of Milky Way Halo Stars from Medium Resolution Spectra

The Halo Assembly in Lambda Cold Dark Matter: Observations in 7 Dimensions (HALO7D) survey measures the kinematics and chemical properties of stars in the Milky Way (MW) stellar halo to learn about the formation of our Galaxy. HALO7D consists of Keck II/DEIMOS spectroscopy and Hubble Space Telescope-measured proper motions of MW halo main sequence turn-off (MSTO) stars in the four CANDELS fields. HALO7D consists of deep pencil beams, making it complementary to other contemporary wide-field surveys. We present the [Fe/H] and [$α$/Fe] abundances for 113 HALO7D stars in the Galactocentric radial range of $\sim 10-40$ kpc. Using the full 7D chemodynamical data (3D positions, 3D velocities, and abundances) of HALO7D, we measure the velocity anisotropy, $β$, of the halo velocity ellipsoid for each field and for different metallicity-binned subsamples. We find that two of the four fields have stars on very radial orbits, while the remaining two have stars on more isotropic orbits. Separating the stars into high, mid, and low [Fe/H] bins at $-2.2$ dex and $-1.1$ dex for each field separately, we find differences in the anisotropies between the fields and between the bins; some fields appear dominated by radial orbits in all bins while other fields show variation between the [Fe/H] bins. These chemodynamical differences are evidence that the HALO7D fields have different fractional contributions from the progenitors that built up the MW stellar halo. Our results highlight the additional information that is available on smaller spatial scales when compared to results from a spherical average of the stellar halo.

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Fast, Slow, Early, Late: Quenching Massive Galaxies at z~0.8

We investigate the stellar populations for a sample of 161 massive, mainly quiescent galaxies at $\langle z_{\rm obs} \rangle=0.8$ with deep Keck/DEIMOS rest-frame optical spectroscopy (HALO7D survey). With the fully Bayesian framework Prospector, we simultaneously fit the spectroscopic and photometric data with an advanced physical model (including non-parametric star-formation histories, emission lines, variable dust attenuation law, and dust and AGN emission) together with an uncertainty and outlier model. We show that both spectroscopy and photometry are needed to break the dust-age-metallicity degeneracy. We find a large diversity of star-formation histories: although the most massive ($M_{\star}>2\times10^{11}~M_{\odot}$) galaxies formed the earliest (formation redshift of $z_{\rm f}\approx5-10$ with a short star-formation timescale of $τ_{\rm SF}\lesssim1~\mathrm{Gyr}$), lower-mass galaxies have a wide range of formation redshifts, leading to only a weak trend of $z_{\rm f}$ with $M_{\star}$. Interestingly, several low-mass galaxies with have formation redshifts of $z_{\rm f}\approx5-8$. Star-forming galaxies evolve about the star-forming main sequence, crossing the ridgeline several times in their past. Quiescent galaxies show a wide range and continuous distribution of quenching timescales ($τ_{\rm quench}\approx0-5~\mathrm{Gyr}$) with a median of $\langleτ_{\rm quench}\rangle=1.0_{-0.9}^{+0.8}~\mathrm{Gyr}$ and of quenching epochs of $z_{\rm quench}\approx0.8-5.0$ ($\langle z_{\rm quench}\rangle=1.3_{-0.4}^{+0.7}$). This large diversity of quenching timescales and epochs points toward a combination of internal and external quenching mechanisms. In our sample, rejuvenation and "late bloomers" are uncommon. In summary, our analysis supports the "grow & quench" framework and is consistent with a wide and continuously-populated diversity of quenching timescales.

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The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)

We present the status of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) and its plans and opportunities for the coming decade. DESI construction and its initial five years of operations are an approved experiment of the US Department of Energy and is summarized here as context for the Astro2020 panel. Beyond 2025, DESI will require new funding to continue operations. We expect that DESI will remain one of the world's best facilities for wide-field spectroscopy throughout the decade. More about the DESI instrument and survey can be found at https://www.desi.lbl.gov.

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HALO7D II: The Halo Velocity Ellipsoid and Velocity Anisotropy with Distant Main Sequence Stars

The Halo Assembly in Lambda-CDM: Observations in 7 Dimensions (HALO7D) dataset consists of Keck II/DEIMOS spectroscopy and Hubble Space Telescope-measured proper motions of Milky Way (MW) halo main sequence turnoff stars in the CANDELS fields. In this paper, the second in the HALO7D series, we present the proper motions for the HALO7D sample. We discuss our measurement methodology, which makes use of a Bayesian mixture modeling approach for creating the stationary reference frame of distant galaxies. Using the 3D kinematic HALO7D sample, we estimate the parameters of the halo velocity ellipsoid, $\langle v_ϕ \rangle, σ_r, σ_ϕ, σ_θ$, and the velocity anisotropy $β$. Using the full HALO7D sample, we find $β=0.63 \pm 0.05$ at $\langle r \rangle =24$ kpc. We also estimate the ellipsoid parameters for our sample split into three apparent magnitude bins; the posterior medians for these estimates of $β$, while consistent with one another, increase as a function of mean sample distance. Finally, we estimate $β$ in each of the individual HALO7D fields. We find that the velocity anisotropy $β$ can vary from field to field, which suggests that the halo is not phase mixed at $\langle r \rangle =24$ kpc. We explore the $β$ variation across the skies of two stellar halos from the \textit{Latte} suite of FIRE-2 simulations, finding that both simulated galaxies show $β$ variation over a similar range to the variation observed across the four HALO7D fields. The accretion histories of the two simulated galaxies result in different $β$ variation patterns; spatially mapping $β$ is thus a way forward in characterizing the accretion history of the Galaxy.

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HALO7D I: The Line of Sight Velocities of Distant Main Sequence Stars in the Milky Way Halo

The Halo Assembly in Lambda-CDM: Observations in 7 Dimensions (HALO7D) dataset consists of Keck II/DEIMOS spectroscopy and Hubble Space Telescope-measured proper motions of Milky Way halo main sequence turnoff stars in the CANDELS fields. In this paper, we present the spectroscopic component of this dataset, and discuss target selection, observing strategy, and survey properties. We present a new method of measuring line-of-sight (LOS) velocities by combining multiple spectroscopic observations of a given star, utilizing Bayesian hierarchical modeling. We present the LOS velocity distributions of the four HALO7D fields, and estimate their means and dispersions. All of the LOS distributions are dominated by the "hot halo": none of our fields are dominated by substructure that is kinematically cold in the LOS velocity component. Our estimates of the LOS velocity dispersions are consistent across the different fields, and these estimates are consistent with studies using other types of tracers. To complement our observations, we perform mock HALO7D surveys using the synthetic survey software Galaxia to "observe'" the Bullock & Johnston (2005) accreted stellar halos. Based on these simulated datasets, the consistent LOS velocity distributions across the four HALO7D fields indicates that the HALO7D sample is dominated by stars from the same massive (or few relatively massive) accretion event(s).

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Maximizing Science in the Era of LSST: A Community-Based Study of Needed US Capabilities

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will be a discovery machine for the astronomy and physics communities, revealing astrophysical phenomena from the Solar System to the outer reaches of the observable Universe. While many discoveries will be made using LSST data alone, taking full scientific advantage of LSST will require ground-based optical-infrared (OIR) supporting capabilities, e.g., observing time on telescopes, instrumentation, computing resources, and other infrastructure. This community-based study identifies, from a science-driven perspective, capabilities that are needed to maximize LSST science. Expanding on the initial steps taken in the 2015 OIR System Report, the study takes a detailed, quantitative look at the capabilities needed to accomplish six representative LSST-enabled science programs that connect closely with scientific priorities from the 2010 decadal surveys. The study prioritizes the resources needed to accomplish the science programs and highlights ways that existing, planned, and future resources could be positioned to accomplish the science goals.

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Carbon Stars in the Satellites and Halo of M31

We spectroscopically identify a sample of carbon stars in the satellites and halo of M31 using moderate-resolution optical spectroscopy from the Spectroscopic and Photometric Landscape of Andromeda's Stellar Halo survey. We present the photometric properties of our sample of 41 stars, including their brightness with respect to the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) and their distributions in various color-color spaces. This analysis reveals a bluer population of carbon stars fainter than the TRGB and a redder population of carbon stars brighter than the TRGB. We then apply principal component analysis to determine the sample's eigenspectra and eigencoefficients. Correlating the eigencoefficients with various observable properties reveals the spectral features that trace effective temperature and metallicity. Putting the spectroscopic and photometric information together, we find the carbon stars in the satellites and halo of M31 to be minimally impacted by dust and internal dynamics. We also find that while there is evidence to suggest that the sub-TRGB stars are extrinsic in origin, it is also possible that they are are particularly faint members of the asymptotic giant branch.

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Isotropic at the Break? 3D Kinematics of Milky Way Halo Stars in the Foreground of M31

We present the line-of-sight (LOS) velocities for 13 distant main sequence Milky Way halo stars with published proper motions. The proper motions were measured using long baseline (5-7 years) multi-epoch HST/ACS photometry, and the LOS velocities were extracted from deep (5-6 hour integrations) Keck II/DEIMOS spectra. We estimate the parameters of the velocity ellipsoid of the stellar halo using a Markov chain Monte Carlo ensembler sampler method. The velocity second moments in the directions of the Galactic $(l,b,$ LOS) coordinate system are $\langle v^2_l \rangle^{1/2} = 138^{+43}_{-26}$ km/s, $\langle v^2_b \rangle^{1/2} = 88^{+28}_{-17}$ km/s, and $\langle v^2_{\rm{LOS}} \rangle^{1/2} = 91^{+27}_{-14}$ km/s. We use these ellipsoid parameters to constrain the velocity anisotropy of the stellar halo. Ours is the first measurement of the anisotropy parameter $β$ using 3D kinematics outside of the solar neighborhood. We find $β=-0.3^{+0.4}_{-0.9}$, consistent with isotropy and lower than solar neighborhood $β$ measurements by 2$σ$ ($β_{SN} \sim 0.5-0.7$). We identify two stars in our sample that are likely members of the known TriAnd substructure, and excluding these objects from our sample increases our estimate of the anisotropy to $β=0.1^{+0.4}_{-1.0}$, which is still lower than solar neighborhood measurements by $1σ$. The potential decrease in $β$ with Galactocentric radius is inconsistent with theoretical predictions, though consistent with recent observational studies, and may indicate the presence of large, shell-type structure (or structures) at $r \sim 25$ kpc. The methods described in this paper will be applied to a much larger sample of stars with 3D kinematics observed through the ongoing HALO7D program.

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A Spectroscopic and Photometric Exploration of the C/M Ratio in the Disk of M31

We explore the ratio (C/M) of carbon-rich to oxygen-rich thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch(TP-AGB) stars in the disk of M31 using a combination of moderate-resolution optical spectroscopy from the Spectroscopic Landscape of Andromeda's Stellar Halo (SPLASH) survey and six-filter Hubble Space Telescope photometry from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) survey.Carbon stars were identified spectroscopically. Oxygen-rich M-stars were identifed using three different photometric definitions designed to mimic, and thus evaluate, selection techniques common in the literature. We calculate the C/M ratio as a function of galactocentric radius, present-day gas-phase oxygen abundance, stellar metallicity, age (via proxy defined as the ratio of TP-AGB stars to red giant branch, RGB, stars), and mean star formation rate over the last 400 Myr. We find statistically significant correlations between log(C/M) and all parameters. These trends are consistent across different M-star selection methods, though the fiducial values change. Of particular note is our observed relationship between log(C/M) and stellar metallicity, which is fully consistent with the trend seen across Local Group satellite galaxies. The fact that this trend persists in stellar populations with very different star formation histories indicates that the C/M ratio is governed by stellar properties alone.

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Probing Galactic Structure with the Spatial Correlation Function of SEGUE G-dwarf Stars

We measure the two-point correlation function of G-dwarf stars within 1-3 kpc of the Sun in multiple lines-of-sight using the Schlesinger et al. G-dwarf sample from the SDSS SEGUE survey. The shapes of the correlation functions along individual SEGUE lines-of-sight depend sensitively on both the stellar-density gradients and the survey geometry. We fit smooth disk galaxy models to our SEGUE clustering measurements, and obtain strong constraints on the thin- and thick-disk components of the Milky Way. Specifically, we constrain the values of the thin- and thick-disk scale heights with 3% and 2% precision, respectively, and the values of the thin- and thick-disk scale lengths with 20% and 8% precision, respectively. Moreover, we find that a two-disk model is unable to fully explain our clustering measurements, which exhibit an excess of clustering at small scales (< 50 pc). This suggests the presence of small-scale substructure in the disk system of the Milky Way.

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The Vertical Metallicity Gradient of the Milky Way Disk: Transitions in [a/Fe] Populations

Using G dwarfs from the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE) survey, we have determined a vertical metallicity gradient over a large volume of the Milky Way's disk, and examined how this gradient varies for different [a/Fe] subsamples. This sample contains over 40,000 stars with low-resolution spectroscopy over 144 lines of sight. We employ the SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline (SSPP) to obtain estimates of effective temperature, surface gravity, [Fe/H], and [a/Fe] for each star and extract multiple volume-complete subsamples of approximately 1000 stars each. Based on the survey's consistent target-selection algorithm, we adjust each subsample to determine an unbiased picture of the disk in [Fe/H] and [a/Fe]; consequently, each individual star represents the properties of many. The SEGUE sample allows us to constrain the vertical metallicity gradient for a large number of stars over a significant volume of the disk, between ~0.3 and 1.6 kpc from the Galactic plane, and examine the in situ structure, in contrast to previous analyses which are more limited in scope. This work does not pre-suppose a disk structure, whether composed of a single complex population or a distinct thin and thick disk component. The metallicity gradient is -0.243 +0.039 -0.053 dex/kpc for the sample as a whole, which we compare to various literature results. Each [a/Fe] subsample dominates at a different range of heights above the plane of the Galaxy, which is exhibited in the gradient found in the sample as a whole. Stars over a limited range in [a/Fe] show little change in median [Fe/H] with height. If we associate [a/Fe] with age, our consistent vertical metallicity gradients with [a/Fe] suggest that stars formed in different epochs exhibit comparable vertical structure, implying similar star-formation processes and evolution.

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