Effects of secular growth and mergers on the evolution of metallicity gradients and azimuthal variations in a Milky Way-like galaxy
We analyzed the evolution of the radial profiles and the azimuthal variations of the stellar metallicities from the VINTERGATAN simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy. We find that negative gradients exist as soon as the disk settles at high redshift, and are maintained throughout the long-term evolution of the galaxy, including during major merger events. The inside-out growth of the disk and an o