Tools for searching resonant moving groups in Galactic disc simulations

Abstract

One of the most plausible explanations for the origin of the moving groups is the orbital and resonant regions related to the large scale structure (bar and spiral arms) of the Milky Way (Antoja 2010). This study has been up to now restricted to the solar radius. Here we propose to investigate the origin and evolution of these structures through the analysis of the velocity distribution in the full Galactic plane, discussing the link between the kinematic substructures, overdensities (bar and spiral) and resonant regions. To facilitate the analysis of the density function (DF) on the phase space of the simulated Galactic discs, we are implementing statistical tools like EM-WEKA and FoF clustering algorithms, and moments of the distribution function (vertex deviation and third order moments).