Harvard University Department of Astronomy and Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Nature. 2024 Apr;628(8006):62-65. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07127-3. Epub 2024 Feb 20.
Our Sun lies within 300 parsecs of the 2.7-kiloparsecs-long sinusoidal chain of dense gas clouds known as the Radcliffe Wave. The structure's wave-like shape was discovered using three-dimensional dust mapping, but initial kinematic searches for oscillatory motion were inconclusive. Here we present evidence that the Radcliffe Wave is oscillating through the Galactic plane while also drifting radially away from the Galactic Centre. We use measurements of line-of-sight velocity for CO and three-dimensional velocities of young stellar clusters to show that the most massive star-forming regions spatially associated with the Radcliffe Wave (including Orion, Cepheus, North America and Cygnus X) move as though they are part of an oscillating wave driven by the gravitational acceleration of the Galactic potential. By treating the Radcliffe Wave as a coherently oscillating structure, we can derive its motion independently of the local Galactic mass distribution, and directly measure local properties of the Galactic potential as well as the Sun's vertical oscillation period. In addition, the measured drift of the Radcliffe Wave radially outwards from the Galactic Centre suggests that the cluster whose supernovae ultimately created today's expanding Local Bubble may have been born in the Radcliffe Wave.
我们的太阳位于距离长 2.7 千秒差距、由密集气体云组成的正弦波状结构——拉德克利夫波的 300 秒差距内。该结构的波浪形状是通过三维尘埃测绘发现的，但最初对其摆动运动的运动学搜索并未得出明确结论。在这里，我们提出证据表明，拉德克利夫波正在穿过银河系平面，同时也从银河系中心径向漂移。我们使用 CO 的视向速度测量值和年轻恒星团的三维速度来表明，与拉德克利夫波最密切相关的最大质量恒星形成区域（包括猎户座、仙后座、北美洲和天鹅座 X）的运动就像它们是由银河系势的引力加速度驱动的摆动波的一部分。通过将拉德克利夫波视为一个相干的振荡结构，我们可以独立于局部银河系质量分布来推导其运动，并直接测量银河系势的局部特性以及太阳的垂直振荡周期。此外，拉德克利夫波从银河系中心向外的径向漂移表明，最终产生今天正在膨胀的局部泡的超新星的星团可能诞生于拉德克利夫波中。
