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F. Combes

Publications and source records attributed to F. Combes.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

Cold gas in a complete sample of group-dominant early-type galaxies

We present IRAM 30m and APEX telescope observations of CO(1-0) and CO(2-1) lines in 36 group-dominant early-type galaxies, completing our molecular gas survey of dominant galaxies in the Complete Local-volume Groups Sample. We detect CO emission in 12 of the galaxies at >4sigma significance, with molecular gas masses in the range 0.01-6x10^8 Msol, as well as CO in absorption in the non-dominant group member galaxy NGC 5354. In total 21 of the 53 CLoGS dominant galaxies are detected in CO and we confirm our previous findings that they have low star formation rates (0.01-1 Msol/yr) but short depletion times (<1Gyr) implying rapid replenishment of their gas reservoirs. Comparing molecular gas mass with radio luminosity, we find that a much higher fraction of our group-dominant galaxies (60+-16%) are AGN-dominated than is the case for the general population of ellipticals, but that there is no clear connection between radio luminosity and the molecular gas mass. Using data from the literature, we find that at least 27 of the 53 CLoGS dominant galaxies contain HI, comparable to the fraction of nearby non-cluster early type galaxies detected in HI and significantly higher that the fraction in the Virgo cluster. We see no correlation between the presence of an X-ray detected intra-group medium and molecular gas in the dominant galaxy, but find that the HI-richest galaxies are located in X-ray faint groups. Morphological data from the literature suggests the cold gas component most commonly takes the form of a disk, but many systems show evidence of galaxy-galaxy interactions, indicating that they may have acquired their gas through stripping or mergers. We provide improved molecular gas mass estimates for two galaxies previously identified as being in the centres of cooling flows, NGC 4636 and NGC 5846, and find that they are relatively molecular gas poor compared to our other detected systems.

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Molecular gas in distant galaxies from ALMA studies

ALMA is now fully operational, and has been observing in early science mode since 2011. The millimetric (mm) and sub-mm domain is ideal to tackle galaxies at high redshift, since the emission peak of the dust at 100$μ$m is shifted in the ALMA bands (0.3mm to 1mm) for z=2 to 9, and the CO lines, stronger at the high-J levels of the ladder, are found all over the 0.3-3mm range. Pointed surveys and blind deep fields have been observed, and the wealth of data collected reveal a drop at high redshifts (z $>$ 6) of dusty massive objects, although surprisingly active and gas-rich objects have been unveiled through gravitational lensing. The window of the reionization epoch is now wide open, and ALMA has detected galaxies at z=8-9 mainly in continuum, [CII] and [OIII] lines. Galaxies have a gas fraction increasing steeply with redshift, as (1+z)$^2$, while their star formation efficiency increases also but more slightly, as (1+z)$^{0.6}$ to (1+z)$^1$. Individual object studies have revealed luminous quasars, with black hole masses much higher than expected, clumpy galaxies with resolved star formation rate compatible with the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation, extended cold and dense gas in a circumgalactic medium, corresponding to Lyman-$α$ blobs, and proto-clusters, traced by their brightest central galaxies.

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Molecular gas in two companion cluster galaxies at z=1.2

We study the molecular gas properties of two star-forming galaxies separated by 6 kpc in the projected space and belonging to a galaxy cluster selected from the Irac Shallow Cluster Survey, at a redshift $z=1.2$, i.e., $\sim2$ Gyr after the cosmic star formation density peak. This work describes the first CO detection from $1<z<1.4$ star forming cluster galaxies with no reported clear evidence of AGN. We exploit observations taken with the NOEMA interferometer at $\sim3$ mm to detect CO(2-1) line emission from the two selected galaxies, unresolved by our observations. Based on the CO(2-1) spectrum we estimate a total molecular gas mass $M({\rm H_2})=(2.2^{+0.5}_{-0.4})\times10^{10}$ $M_\odot$ and dust mass $M_{\rm dust}<4.2\times10^8~M_\odot$ for the two blended sources. The two galaxies have similar stellar masses and a large relative velocity of $\sim$400 km/s estimated from the CO(2-1) line width. These findings tend to privilege a scenario where both sources contribute to the observed CO(2-1). By using the archival Spitzer MIPS flux at 24$μ$m we estimate an ${\rm SFR(24μm)}=(28^{+12}_{-8})~M_\odot$/yr for each of the two galaxies. Assuming that the two sources equally contribute to the observe CO(2-1) our analysis yields a depletion time scale $τ_{\rm dep}=(3.9^{+1.4}_{-1.8})\times10^8$ yr, and a molecular gas to stellar mass ratio $0.17\pm0.13$ for each of two sources, separately. Our results are in overall agreement with those of other distant cluster galaxies. The two target galaxies have molecular gas mass and depletion time that are marginally compatible with, but smaller than those of main sequence field galaxies, suggesting that the molecular gas has not been refueled enough. Higher resolution and higher frequency observations will enable us to spatially resolve the two sources and possibly distinguish between different gas processing mechanisms.

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The Molecular and Ionized Gas Phases of an AGN-driven Outflow in a Typical Massive Galaxy at z=2

Nuclear outflows driven by accreting massive black holes are one of the main feedback mechanisms invoked at high-z to reproduce the distinct separation between star-forming, disk galaxies and quiescent spheroidal systems. Yet, our knowledge of feedback at high-z remains limited by the lack of observations of the multiple gas phases in galaxy outflows. In this work we use new deep, high-spatial resolution ALMA CO(3-2) and archival VLT/SINFONI H$α$ observations to study the molecular and ionized components of the AGN-driven outflow in zC400528 ---a massive, main sequence galaxy at z=2.3 in the process of quenching. We detect a powerful molecular outflow that shows a positive velocity gradient and extends for at least ~10 kpc from the nuclear region, about three times the projected size of the ionized wind. The molecular gas in the outflow does not reach velocities high enough to escape the galaxy and is therefore expected to be reaccreted. Keeping in mind the various assumptions involved in the analysis, we find that the mass and energetics of the outflow are dominated by the molecular phase. The AGN-driven outflow in zC400528 is powerful enough to deplete the molecular gas reservoir on a timescale at least twice shorter than that needed to exhaust it by star formation. This suggests that the nuclear outflow is one of the main quenching engines at work in the observed suppression of the central star-formation activity in zC400528.

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Molecular gas filaments and star-forming knots beneath an X-ray cavity in RXC J1504-0248

We present recent ALMA observations of the CO(1-0) and CO(3-2) emission lines in the brightest cluster galaxy of RXCJ1504.1$-$0248, which is one of the most extreme cool core clusters known. The central galaxy contains $1.9\times 10^{10}~M_{\odot}$ of molecular gas. The molecular gas morphology is complex and disturbed, showing no evidence for a rotationally-supported structure in equilibrium. $80\%$ of the gas is situated within the central 5 kpc of the galactic center, while the remaining gas is located in a 20 kpc long filament. The cold gas has likely condensed out of the hot atmosphere. The filament is oriented along the edge of a putative X-ray cavity, suggesting that AGN activity has stimulated condensation. This is enegetically feasible, although the morphology is not as conclusive as systems whose molecular filaments trail directly behind buoyant radio bubbles. The velocity gradient along the filament is smooth and shallow. It is only consistent with free-fall if it lies within $20^{\circ}$ of the plane of the sky. The abundance of clusters with comparably low velocities suggests that the filament is not free-falling. Both the central and filamentary gas are coincident with bright UV emission from ongoing star formation. Star formation near the cluster core is consistent with the Kennicutt-Schmidt law. The filament exhibits increased star formation surface densities, possibly resulting from either the consumption of a finite molecular gas supply or spatial variations in the CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factor.

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Spectroscopic characterization of the protocluster of galaxies around 7C 1756+6520 at z ~ 1.4

The aim of this paper is the spectroscopic study of 13 galaxies belonging to the field of the protocluster associated with the radio galaxy (RG) 7C 1756+6520 at z = 1.4156. In particular, we focus on the characterization of the nuclear activity. This analysis has been performed on rest-frame optical spectra taken with LBT-LUCI. The spectral coverage allowed us to observe emission lines such as Halpha, Hbeta, [Oiii]5007 A, and [Nii]6583 A at the z of the central RG. We observed the central part of the protocluster, which is suitable to include the radio galaxy, several spectroscopically confirmed AGN belonging to the protocluster, and other objects that might be members of the protocluster. For four previously identified protocluster members, we derived the redshift by detecting emission lines that have never detected before for these galaxies. The stacked spectrum of the galaxies in which we detected the [Oiii]5007 A emission line revealed the presence of the second line of the [Oiii] doublet at 4959 A and of Hbeta, which confirms that they belong to the protocluster. By collecting all members identified so far in this work and other members from the literature, we defined 31 galaxies, including the central RG, around z = 1.4152 +/- 0.056, corresponding to peculiar velocities <~5000 km/s with respect to the RG. The PV phase-space diagram suggests that 3 protocluster AGN and the central RG might be a virialized population that has been coexisting for a long time in the densest core region of this forming structure. This protocluster is characterized by a high fraction of AGN (23%). For one of them, AGN1317, we produced 2 BPT diagrams. The high fraction of AGN and their distribution within the protocluster seem to be consistent with predictions of some theoretical models on AGN growth and feedback.

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Resolving the nuclear obscuring disk in the Compton-thick Seyfert galaxy NGC5643 with ALMA

We present ALMA Band 6 $^{12}$CO(2--1) line and rest-frame 232GHz continuum observations of the nearby Compton-thick Seyfert galaxy NGC5643 with angular resolutions 0.11-0.26arcsec (9-21pc). The CO(2--1) integrated line map reveals emission from the nuclear and circumnuclear region with a two-arm nuclear spiral extending 10arcsec on each side. The circumnuclear CO(2--1) kinematics can be fitted with a rotating disk, although there are regions with large residual velocities and/or velocity dispersions. The CO(2--1) line profiles of these regions show two different velocity components. One is ascribed to the circular component and the other to the interaction of the AGN outflow, as traced by the [O III]5007AA emission, with molecular gas in the disk a few hundred parsecs from the AGN. On nuclear scales, we detected an inclined CO(2--1) disk (diameter 26 pc, FWHM) oriented almost in a north-south direction. The CO(2--1) nuclear kinematics can be fitted with a rotating disk which appears to be tilted with respect to the large scale disk. There are strong non-circular motions in the central 0.2-0.3 arcsec with velocities of up to 110km/s. In the absence of a nuclear bar, these motions could be explained as radial outflows in the nuclear disk. We estimate a total molecular gas mass for the nuclear disk of $M({\rm H}_2)=1.1\times 10^7\,M_\odot$ and an H$_2$ column density toward the location of the AGN of $N({\rm H}_2)\sim 5 \times 10^{23}\,{\rm cm}^{-2}$, for a standard CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factor. We interpret this nuclear molecular gas disk as the obscuring torus of NGC5643 as well as the collimating structure of the ionization cone.

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Spatially resolved cold molecular outflows in ULIRGs

We present new CO(2-1) observations of 3 low-z (~350 Mpc) ULIRG systems (6 nuclei) observed with ALMA at high-spatial resolution (~500 pc). We detect massive cold molecular gas outflows in 5 out of 6 nuclei (0.3-5)x10^8 Msun. These outflows are spatially resolved with deprojected radii of 0.25-1 kpc although high-velocity molecular gas is detected up to ~0.5-1.8 kpc (1-6 kpc deprojected). The mass outflow rates are 12-400 Msun/yr and the inclination corrected average velocity of the outflowing gas 350-550 km/s (v_max = 500-900 km/s). The origin of these outflows can be explained by the nuclear starbursts although the contribution of an obscured AGN can not be completely ruled out. The position angle (PA) of the outflowing gas along the kinematic minor axis of the nuclear molecular disk suggests that the outflow axis is perpendicular to the disk for three of these outflows. Only in one case, the outflow PA is clearly not along the kinematic minor axis. The outflow depletion times are 15-80 Myr which are slightly shorter than the star-formation (SF) depletion times (30-80 Myr). However, we estimate that only 15-30% of the outflowing gas will escape the gravitational potential of the nucleus. The majority of the outflowing gas will return to the disk after 5-10 Myr and become available to form new stars. Therefore, these outflows will not likely quench the nuclear starbursts. These outflows would be consistent with being driven by radiation pressure (momentum-driven) only if the coupling between radiation and dust increases with increasing SF rates. This can be achieved if the dust optical depth is higher in objects with higher SF. The relatively small sizes (<1 kpc) and dynamical times (<3 Myr) of the cold molecular outflows suggests that molecular gas cannot survive longer in the outflow environment or that it cannot form efficiently beyond these distances or times. (Abridged)

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The disc origin of the Milky Way bulge: Dissecting the chemo-morphological relations using N-body simulations and APOGEE

There is a long-standing debate on the origin of the metal-poor stellar populations of the Milky Way (MW) bulge, with the two leading scenarios being that these populations are either i) part of a classical metal-poor spheroid or ii) the same population as the chemically defined thick disc seen at the Solar neighbourhood. Here we test whether the latter scenario can reproduce the observed chemical properties of the MW bulge. To do so we compare an N-body simulation of a composite (thin+thick) stellar disc -- which evolves secularly to form a bar and a boxy/peanut (b/p) bulge -- to data from APOGEE DR13. This model, in which the thick disc is massive and centrally concentrated, can reproduce the morphology of the metal-rich and metal-poor stellar populations in the bulge, as well as the mean metallicity and [$α$/Fe] maps as obtained from the APOGEE data. It also reproduces the trends, in both longitude and latitude, of the bulge metallicity distribution function (MDF). Additionally, we show that the model predicts small but measurable azimuthal metallicity variations in the inner disc due to the differential mapping of the thin and thick disc in the bar. We therefore see that the chemo-morphological relations of stellar populations in the MW bulge are naturally reproduced by mapping the thin and thick discs of the inner MW into a b/p.

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French SKA White Book - The French Community towards the Square Kilometre Array

The "Square Kilometre Array" (SKA) is a large international radio telescope project characterised, as suggested by its name, by a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometre, and consisting of several interferometric arrays to observe at metric and centimetric wavelengths. The deployment of the SKA will take place in two sites, in South Africa and Australia, and in two successive phases. From its Phase 1, the SKA will be one of the most formidable scientific machines ever deployed by mankind, and by far the most impressive in terms of data throughput and required computing power. With the participation of almost 200 authors from forty research institutes and six private companies, the publication of this French SKA white paper illustrates the strong involvement in the SKA project of the French astronomical community and of a rapidly growing number of major scientific and technological players in the fields of Big Data, high performance computing, energy production and storage, as well as system integration.

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Molecular line emission in NGC 4945, imaged with ALMA

NGC 4945 is one of the nearest (~3.8 Mpc; 1" ~ 19 pc) starburst galaxies. ALMA band 3 (3--4\,mm) observations of HCN, HCO+, CS, C3H2, SiO, HCO, and CH3C2H were carried out with ~2" resolution. The lines reveal a rotating nuclear disk of projected size 10" x 2" with position angle ~45 deg, inclination ~75 deg and an unresolved bright central core of size <2.5". The continuum source (mostly free-free radiation) is more compact than the nuclear disk by a linear factor of two but shows the same position angle and is centered 0.39" +_ 0.14" northeast of the nuclear accretion disk defined by H2O maser emission. Outside the nuclear disk, both HCN and CS delineate molecular arms on opposite sides of the dynamical center. These are connected by a (deprojected) 0.6 kpc sized molecular bridge, likely a dense gaseous bar seen almost ends-on, shifting gas from the front and back side into the nuclear disk. Modeling this nuclear disk located farther inside <100 pc) with tilted rings indicates a coplanar outflow reaching a characteristic deprojectd velocity of ~50 km/s. All our molecular lines, with the notable exception of CH3C2H, show significant absorption near the systemic velocity (~571 km/s), within a range of ~500-660 km/s. Apparently, only molecular transitions with low critical H2-density do not show absorption. The velocity field of the nuclear disk, derived from CH3C2H, provides evidence for rigid rotation in the inner few arcseconds and a dynamical mass of M = (2.1+_0.2) x 10^8 Mo inside a galactocentric radius of 2.45", with a significantly flattened rotation curve farther out. Velocity integrated line intensity maps with most pronounced absorption show molecular peak positions up to 1.5" southwest of the continuum peak, presumably due to absorption, which appears to be most severe slightly northeast of the nuclear maser disk.

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A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE).I. Introduction to the Survey

The Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE) is a blind narrow-band Halpha+[NII] imaging survey carried out with MegaCam at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The survey covers the whole Virgo cluster region from its core to one virial radius (104 deg^2). The sensitivity of the survey is of f(Halpha) ~ 4 x 10^-17 erg sec-1 cm^-2 (5 sigma detection limit) for point sources and Sigma (Halpha) ~ 2 x 10^-18 erg sec^-1 cm^-2 arcsec^-2 (1 sigma detection limit at 3 arcsec resolution) for extended sources, making VESTIGE the deepest and largest blind narrow-band survey of a nearby cluster. This paper presents the survey in all its technical aspects, including the survey design, the observing strategy, the achieved sensitivity in both the narrow-band Halpha+[NII] and in the broad-band r filter used for the stellar continuum subtraction, the data reduction, calibration, and products, as well as its status after the first observing semester. We briefly describe the Halpha properties of galaxies located in a 4x1 deg^2 strip in the core of the cluster north of M87, where several extended tails of ionised gas are detected. This paper also lists the main scientific motivations of VESTIGE, which include the study of the effects of the environment on galaxy evolution, the fate of the stripped gas in cluster objects, the star formation process in nearby galaxies of different type and stellar mass, the determination of the Halpha luminosity function and of the Halpha scaling relations down to ~ 10^6 Mo stellar mass objects, and the reconstruction of the dynamical structure of the Virgo cluster. This unique set of data will also be used to study the HII luminosity function in hundreds of galaxies, the diffuse Halpha+[NII] emission of the Milky Way at high Galactic latitude, and the properties of emission line galaxies at high redshift.

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MALS-NOT: Identifying Radio-Bright Quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey

We present a preparatory spectroscopic survey to identify radio-bright, high-redshift quasars for the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS). The candidates have been selected on the basis of a single flux density limit at 1.4 GHz (>200 mJy) together with mid-infrared color criteria from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Through spectroscopic observations using the Nordic Optical Telescope, we identify 72 quasars out of 99 candidates targeted. We measure the spectroscopic redshifts based on characteristic, broad emission lines present in the spectra. Of these 72 quasars, 64 and 48 objects are at sufficiently high redshift (z>0.6 and z>1.4) to be used for the L-band and UHF-band spectroscopic follow-up with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) precursor in South Africa: the MeerKAT.

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Stellar metallicity variations across spiral arms in disk galaxies with multiple populations

This letter studies the formation of azimuthal metallicity variations in the disks of spiral galaxies in the absence of initial radial metallicity gradients. Using high-resolution $N$-body simulations, we model composite stellar discs, made of kinematically cold and hot stellar populations, and study their response to spiral arm perturbations. We find that, as expected, disk populations with different kinematics respond differently to a spiral perturbation, with the tendency for dynamically cooler populations to show a larger fractional contribution to spiral arms than dynamically hotter populations. By assuming a relation between kinematics and metallicity, namely the hotter the population, the more metal-poor it is, this differential response to the spiral arm perturbations naturally leads to azimuthal variations in the mean metallicity of stars in the simulated disk. Thus, azimuthal variations in the mean metallicity of stars across a spiral galaxy are not necessarily a consequence of the reshaping, by radial migration, of an initial radial metallicity gradient. They indeed arise naturally also in stellar disks which have initially only a negative vertical metallicity gradient.

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PHIBSS: Unified Scaling Relations of Gas Depletion Time and Molecular Gas Fractions

This paper provides an update of our previous scaling relations (Genzel et al.2015) between galaxy integrated molecular gas masses, stellar masses and star formation rates, in the framework of the star formation main-sequence (MS), with the main goal to test for possible systematic effects. For this purpose our new study combines three independent methods of determining molecular gas masses from CO line fluxes, far-infrared dust spectral energy distributions, and ~1mm dust photometry, in a large sample of 1444 star forming galaxies (SFGs) between z=0 and 4. The sample covers the stellar mass range log(M*/M_solar)=9.0-11.8, and star formation rates relative to that on the MS, delta_MS=SFR/SFR(MS), from 10^{-1.3} to 10^{2.2}. Our most important finding is that all data sets, despite the different techniques and analysis methods used, follow the same scaling trends, once method-to-method zero point offsets are minimized and uncertainties are properly taken into account. The molecular gas depletion time t_depl, defined as the ratio of molecular gas mass to star formation rate, scales as (1+z)^{-0.6}x(delta_MS)^{-0.44}, and is only weakly dependent on stellar mass. The ratio of molecular-to-stellar mass mu_gas depends on (1+z)^{2.5}x (delta_MS)^{0.52}x(M*)^{-0.36}, which tracks the evolution of the specific star formation rate. The redshift dependence of mu_gas requires a curvature term, as may the mass-dependences of t_depl and mu_gas. We find no or only weak correlations of t_depl and mu_gas with optical size R or surface density once one removes the above scalings, but we caution that optical sizes may not be appropriate for the high gas and dust columns at high-z.

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The Close AGN Reference Survey (CARS): Mrk 1018 halts dimming and experiences strong short-term variability

After changing optical AGN type from 1.9 to 1 in 1984, the AGN Mrk 1018 recently reverted back to its type 1.9 state. Our ongoing monitoring now reveals that the AGN has halted its dramatic dimming, reaching a minimum around October 2016. The minimum was followed by an outburst rising with $\sim$0.25 U-band mag/month. The rebrightening lasted at least until February 2017, as confirmed by joint Chandra and Hubble observations. Monitoring was resumed in July 2017 after the source emerged from sunblock, at which point the AGN was found only $\sim$0.4 mag brighter than its minimum. The intermittent outburst was accompanied by the appearance of a red wing asymmetry in broad-line shape, indicative of an inhomogeneous broad-line region. The current flickering brightness of Mrk 1018 following its rapid fading either suggests that the source has reignited, remains variable at a low level, or may continue dimming over the next few years. Distinguishing between these possibilities requires continuous multiwavelength monitoring.

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What the Milky Way bulge reveals about the initial metallicity gradients in the disc

We examine the metallicity trends in the Milky Way (MW) bulge - using APOGEE DR13 data - and explore their origin by comparing two N-body models of isolated galaxies which develop a bar and a boxy/peanut (b/p) bulge. Both models have been proposed as scenarios for reconciling a disc origin of the MW bulge with a negative vertical metallicity gradient. The first model is a superposition of co-spatial, i.e. overlapping, disc populations with different scaleheights, kinematics and metallicities. In this model the thick, metal-poor, and centrally concentrated disc populations contribute significantly to the stellar mass budget in the inner galaxy. The second model is a single disc with an initial steep radial metallicity gradient, which is mapped by the bar into the b/p bulge in such a way that the vertical metallicity gradient of the MW bulge is reproduced -- as shown already in previous works in the literature. However, as we show here, the latter model does not reproduce the positive longitudinal metallicity gradient of the inner disc, nor the metal-poor innermost regions of the Bulge seen in the data. On the other hand, the model with co-spatial thin and thick disc populations reproduces all the aforementioned trends. We therefore see that it is possible to reconcile a (primarily) disc origin for the MW bulge with the observed trends in metallicity by mapping the inner thin and thick discs of the MW into a b/p. For this scenario to reproduce the observations, the $α$-enhanced, metal-poor, thick disc populations must have a significant mass contribution in the inner regions -- as has been suggested for the Milky Way.

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Closing remarks and Outlook

Some highlights are given of the IAU Symposium 334, Rediscovering our Galaxy, held in Potsdam, in July 2017: from the first stars fossil records found in the halo, the carbon-enhanced metal poor CEMP-no, to the cosmological simulations presenting possible scenarios for the Milky Way formation, passing through the chemo-dynamical models of the various components, thin and thick disks, box/peanut bulge, halo, etc. The domain is experiencing (or will be in the near future) huge improvements with precise and accurate stellar ages, provided by astero-seismology, precise stellar distances and kinematics (parallaxes and proper motions from GAIA), and the big data resulting from large surveys are treated with deep learning algorithms.

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