We develop and apply a model to quantify the global efficiency of radial orbit migration among stars in the Milky Way disk. This model parameterizes the possible star formation and enrichment histories, radial birth profiles, and combines them with a migration model that relates present-day orbital radii to birth radii through a Gaussian probability, broadening with age τ as σ RM8 τ /8Gyr. Guided by observations, we assume that stars are born with an initially tight age-metallicity relation at given radius, which becomes subsequently scrambled by radial orbit migration, thereby providing a direct observational constraint on radial orbit migration strength σ RM8 . We fit this model with MCMC to the observed age-metallicity distribution of low-α red clump stars with Galactocentric radii between 5 and 14 kpc from APOGEE DR12, sidestepping the complex spatial selection function and accounting for the considerable age uncertainties. This simple model reproduces well the observed data, and we find a global (in radius and time) radial orbit migration efficiency in the Milky Way of σ RM8 = 3.6 ± 0.1 kpc when marginalizing over all other model aspects. This shows that radial orbit migration in the Milky Way's main disk is indeed rather strong, in line with theoretical expectations: stars migrate by about a half-mass radius over the age of the disk. The model finds the Sun's birth radius at ∼ 5.2 kpc. If such strong radial orbit migration is typical, this mechanism plays indeed an important role in setting the structural regularity of disk galaxies.

Stellar ages are a crucial component to studying the evolution of the Milky Way. Using Gaia DR2 distance estimates, it is now possible to estimate stellar ages for a larger volume of evolved stars through isochrone matching. This work presents [M/H]age and [α/M]-age relations derived for different spatial locations in the Milky Way disc. These relations are derived by hierarchically modelling the star formation history of stars within a given chemical abundance bin. For the first time, we directly observe that significant variation is apparent in the [M/H]-age relation as a function of both Galactocentric radius and distance from the disc mid-plane. The [M/H]-age relations support claims that radial migration has a significant effect in the plane of the disc. Using the [M/H] bin with the youngest mean age at each radial zone in the plane of the disc, the present-day metallicity gradient is measured to be −0.059 ± 0.010 dex kpc −1 , in agreement with Cepheids and young field stars. We find a vertically flared distribution of young stars in the outer disc, confirming predictions of models and previous observations. The mean age of the [M/H]-[α/M] distribution of the solar neighborhood suggests that the high-[M/H] stars are not an evolutionary extension of the low-α sequence. Our observational results are important constraints to Galactic simulations and models of chemical evolution.

We quantify the inside-out growth of the Milky Way's low-α stellar disk, modelling the ages, metallicities and Galactocentric radii of APOGEE red clump stars with 6 < R < 13 kpc. The current stellar distribution differs significantly from that expected from the star formation history due to the redistribution of stars through radial orbit mixing. We propose and fit a global model for the Milky Way disk, specified by an inside-out star formation history, radial orbit mixing, and an empirical, parametric model for its chemical evolution. We account for the spatially complex survey selection function, and find that the model fits all data well. We find distinct inside-out growth of the Milky Way disk; the best fit model implies that the half-mass radius of the Milky Way disk has grown by 43% over the last 7 Gyr. Yet, such inside-out growth still results in present-day age gradient weaker than 0.1 Gyr kpc −1 . Our model predicts the half-mass and half-light sizes of the Galactic disk at earlier epochs, which can be compared to the observed redshift -size relations of disk galaxies. We show that radial orbit migration can reconcile the distinct disk-size evolution with redshift, also expected from cosmological simulations, with the modest present-day age gradients seen in the Milky Way and other galaxies.

A star in the Milky Way's disk can now be at a Galactocentric radius quite distant from its birth radius for two reasons: either its orbit has become eccentric through radial heating, which increases its radial action J R ("blurring"), or merely its angular momentum L z has changed and thereby its guiding radius ("churning"). We know that radial orbit migration is strong in the Galactic low-α disk and set out to quantify the relative importance of these two effects, by devising and applying a parameterized model (p m ) for the distribution ( [ ] | ) t p p L J , , , Fe H m z R

Open clusters are unique tracers of the history of our own Galaxy’s disk. According to our membership analysis based on Gaia astrometry, out of the 226 potential clusters falling in the footprint of GALAH or APOGEE, we find that 205 have secure members that were observed by at least one of the survey. Furthermore, members of 134 clusters have high-quality spectroscopic data that we use to determine their chemical composition. We leverage this information to study the chemical distribution throughout the Galactic disk of 21 elements, from C to Eu. The radial metallicity gradient obtained from our analysis is −0.076 ± 0.009 dex kpc−1, which is in agreement with previous works based on smaller samples. Furthermore, the gradient in the [Fe/H] - guiding radius (rguid) plane is −0.073 ± 0.008 dex kpc−1. We show consistently that open clusters trace the distribution of chemical elements throughout the Galactic disk differently than field stars. In particular, at given radius, open clusters show an age-metallicity relation that has less scatter than field stars. As such scatter is often interpreted as an effect of radial migration, we suggest that these differences are due to the physical selection effect imposed by our Galaxy: clusters that would have migrated significantly also had higher chances to get destroyed. Finally, our results reveal trends in the [X/Fe]-rguid-age space, which are important to understand production rates of different elements as a function of space and time.