That’s So Retro: The Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus Merger Trajectory as the Origin of the Chemical Abundance Bimodality in the Milky Way Disk

Abstract

Abstract The Milky Way (MW) is thought to have experienced a ∼3:1 mass-ratio merger event near redshift z ∼ 2 with a significantly retrograde trajectory. This now-disrupted dwarf galaxy is commonly known as the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE). In this paper, we investigate the impact of the GSE merger trajectory on metal abundances in the MW disk. We construct numerical models of Galactic chemical evolution (GCE) incorporating radial gas flows to account for angular momentum transport during the merger event. Unlike prograde trajectories, radial and retrograde mergers are generally accompanied by a major sinking event in which much of the interstellar medium falls toward the Galactic center. This effect leads to a net decrease in surface density across much of the disk. Ongoing Type Ia supernova explosions then drive a rapid decline in [ α /Fe] due to the lowered gas supply. Consequently, radial and retrograde trajectories increase (decrease) the number of low- (high-) [ α /Fe] stellar populations relative to prograde trajectories. If high-[ α /Fe] stars form in sufficient numbers through other mechanisms, the effect of the retrograde trajectory can produce a bimodal [ α /Fe] distribution at fixed [Fe/H], as observed in the MW. In models dominated by low-[ α /Fe] stellar populations, a bimodality does not arise because the retrograde trajectory cannot increase the number of high-[ α /Fe] stars. More broadly, our results highlight the importance of gas dynamics in GCE models featuring major merger events.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. The Astrophysical Journal, 2026 · DOI ↗