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Milky Way's warped disc traced by AGB stars
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Milky Way's warped disc traced by AGB stars

Tanya Kushwahaa, Mikako Matsuura, Jason Hunt, Daisuke Kawata, Roger Wesson, Timothy Davis and Jason Alexander Sergio Hunt
arXiv.org
Cornell University Library, arXiv.org
08/06/2026

Abstract

Amplitudes Asymptotic giant branch stars Cepheid variables Stellar age Stellar evolution Stellar populations
While the presence of the Galactic warp has long been established from observations of \, gas, the Gaia measurements of over 1 billion stars with parallaxes have enabled much more detailed studies using stellar populations. Here, we demonstrate that asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, an evolved phase of low- and intermediate-mass stars, can serve as an effective tracer of the Galactic warp. We use two distinct AGB populations: C-rich AGB stars, representing stars of about 1~Gyr in age with main-sequence masses of 2--2.5~ and intermediate-mass (3--5~) O-rich AGB stars, corresponding to ages of 100--300~Myr. The downward warp traced by O-rich AGB stars is consistent with that found from Cepheids, which is expected given their similar ages. The more numerous C-rich AGB stars clearly reveal the Galactic warp over a wide range of azimuthal angles. Their warp appears to reach larger amplitudes than that of Cepheids across azimuthal angles. Our results show that C-rich AGB stars, together with intermediate-mass O-rich AGB stars, provide new constraints on the Galactic warp at intermediate stellar ages, offering a new insight into the stellar age and warp amplitude relation.

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