Star formation in the Milky Way is confined to star-forming regions (OB association, HII regions, and open clusters) in the Galactic plane. It is usually assumed that these regions are found preferably along spiral arms, as is observed in other spiral galaxies. However, young early-type stars are often found at high Galactic latitudes, far away from their birthplaces in the Galactic disc. These stars are called runaway stars, and it is believed that they were ejected from their birth- places early in their lifetimes by one of two mechanisms: ejection from a binary system following the destruction of the massive companion in a supernova type II event (the binary ejection mechanism), or ejection from a dense cluster following a close gravitational encounter between two close binaries (the dynamical ejection mechanism). The aims of our study were: to improve the current understanding of the nature of high Galactic latitude runaway stars, in particular by investigating whether the theoretical ejection mechanisms could explain the more extreme cases; to show the feasibility of using high Galactic latitude stars as tracers of the spiral arms. The main technique used in this investigation was the tracing of stellar orbits back in time, given their present positions and velocities in 3D space. This technique allowed the determination of the ejection velocities, flight times and birthplaces of a sample of runaway stars. In order to obtain reasonable velocity estimates several recent catalogues of proper motion data were used. We found that the evolutionary ages of the vast majority of runaway stars is consistent with the disc ejection scenario. However, we identified three outliers which would need flight times much larger then their estimated ages in order to reach their present positions in the sky. Moreover, the ejection velocity distribution appears to be bimodal, showing evidence for two populations of runaway stars: a “low” velocity population (89 per cent of the sample), with a maximum ejection velocity of about 300 kms−1, and a “high” velocity population, with ejection velo- cities of 400 – 500 kms−1. We argue that the observed bimodality and maximum ejection velocity of 500 kms−1 can be interpreted as a natural consequence of a variation of the binary ejection mechanism. A possible connection between the “high” velocity population and the so-called hypervelocity stars is also explored, resulting in the conclusion that some stars previously identified as hypervelocity may be in fact runaway stars. The feasibility of using stars as tracers of the spiral arms was tested on a local sample, in order to obtain better quality data and larger numbers. We found that the spiral arms pattern speeds estimated from this sample (24.9±5.2 kms−1 kpc−1) and from a selected sample of runaways (22.8 ± 7.8 kms−1 kpc−1) are consistent within the errors and also consistent with other published estimates. We concluded that our estimates combined with the ones obtained in other studies suggest a value in the range 20 − 25 kms−1 kpc−1 for the pattern speed. Moreover, we concluded that an adequate representation of the spiral arms is obtained given the former pattern speed estimate, even when applied to the sample of runaway stars.

A curva de rotação da Galáxia apresenta uma anomalia perto do raio da órbita solar R0, caracterizada pela presença de um mínimo. Existem trabalhos que, embora não façam uma afirmação categórica, interpretam o mínimo como sendo o resultado do decréscimo do efeito do disco, combinado com o aumento do efeito de um hipotético halo de matéria escura. A existência de tal interpretação reforça a importância de um estudo detalhado sobre sua natureza. No presente trabalho nós mapeamos a curva de rotação entre os raios galáticos 5 < R < 12 kpc usando diversas estrelas como traçadoras, por exemplo, Cefeidas, C-Miras, etc. Através de um método original realizamos o estudo cinemático para 322 Cefeidas. A partir desse estudo determinamos os melhores valores para os parâmetros da Galáxia, V0=202 +- 15 km/s e R0=7.5 +- 0.5 kpc. A melhor escolha possível para tais parâmetros é de fundamental importância, pois estes afetam a curva de rotação deduzida a partir de dados observacionais. Após determinarmos os valores de R0 e V0, analisamos as curvas de rotação obtidas por nós e vimos que elas apresentam um mínimo a uma distância de 1.5 +- 0.3 kpc de R0. O mínimo apresenta uma velocidade de 30 +- 10 km/s menor que a velocidade encontrada no raio galático igual a R0. Simulações computacionais mostraram que esse mínimo pode ser explicado por um déficit gaussiano na densidade superficial de matéria (gás + estrelas) do disco, com um decréscimo máximo de 30% do valor da densidade superficial total próxima a R0. Esse déficit pode ser explicado pelo efeito da co-rotação. / The Galaxy rotation curve shows an anomaly near the solar radius orbit R0, characterized by the presence of a minimum. There are works that implicitly interpret the minimum as the result of the decrease of the effect of the disk, combined with increasing of effect of a hypothetical dark matter halo. The existence of this interpretation reinforces the importance of a detailed study about its nature. In this work we obtained the rotation curve between Galactic radius, 5 < R < 12 kpc, using several stars as tracers, for instance, Cepheids, C-Miras, etc. Through a new method, we studied the kinematic of 322 Cepheids. From this study we determined the best values for the Galaxy parameters, V0=202 +- 15 km/s, and R0=7.5 +- 0.5 kpc. The best possible choice for such parameters is of fundamental importance since they affect the rotation curve inferred from observational data. After determining the values of R0, and V0, we analyzed the rotation curves obtained by us, and we saw that they have a minimum at a distance of 1.5 +- 0.3 kpc from R0. The minimum shows a velocity of 30 +- 10 km/s less than the velocity found at galactic radius R0. Computational simulations showed that this minimum can be explained by a Gaussian deficit of surface density of matter (gas + stars) of disk, with a maximum decrease of 30% of the value of surface density total arround R0. This deficit is explained by the effect of co-rotation.

A curva de rotação da Galáxia apresenta uma anomalia perto do raio da órbita solar R0, caracterizada pela presença de um mínimo. Existem trabalhos que, embora não façam uma afirmação categórica, interpretam o mínimo como sendo o resultado do decréscimo do efeito do disco, combinado com o aumento do efeito de um hipotético halo de matéria escura. A existência de tal interpretação reforça a importância de um estudo detalhado sobre sua natureza. No presente trabalho nós mapeamos a curva de rotação entre os raios galáticos 5 < R < 12 kpc usando diversas estrelas como traçadoras, por exemplo, Cefeidas, C-Miras, etc. Através de um método original realizamos o estudo cinemático para 322 Cefeidas. A partir desse estudo determinamos os melhores valores para os parâmetros da Galáxia, V0=202 +- 15 km/s e R0=7.5 +- 0.5 kpc. A melhor escolha possível para tais parâmetros é de fundamental importância, pois estes afetam a curva de rotação deduzida a partir de dados observacionais. Após determinarmos os valores de R0 e V0, analisamos as curvas de rotação obtidas por nós e vimos que elas apresentam um mínimo a uma distância de 1.5 +- 0.3 kpc de R0. O mínimo apresenta uma velocidade de 30 +- 10 km/s menor que a velocidade encontrada no raio galático igual a R0. Simulações computacionais mostraram que esse mínimo pode ser explicado por um déficit gaussiano na densidade superficial de matéria (gás + estrelas) do disco, com um decréscimo máximo de 30% do valor da densidade superficial total próxima a R0. Esse déficit pode ser explicado pelo efeito da co-rotação. / The Galaxy rotation curve shows an anomaly near the solar radius orbit R0, characterized by the presence of a minimum. There are works that implicitly interpret the minimum as the result of the decrease of the effect of the disk, combined with increasing of effect of a hypothetical dark matter halo. The existence of this interpretation reinforces the importance of a detailed study about its nature. In this work we obtained the rotation curve between Galactic radius, 5 < R < 12 kpc, using several stars as tracers, for instance, Cepheids, C-Miras, etc. Through a new method, we studied the kinematic of 322 Cepheids. From this study we determined the best values for the Galaxy parameters, V0=202 +- 15 km/s, and R0=7.5 +- 0.5 kpc. The best possible choice for such parameters is of fundamental importance since they affect the rotation curve inferred from observational data. After determining the values of R0, and V0, we analyzed the rotation curves obtained by us, and we saw that they have a minimum at a distance of 1.5 +- 0.3 kpc from R0. The minimum shows a velocity of 30 +- 10 km/s less than the velocity found at galactic radius R0. Computational simulations showed that this minimum can be explained by a Gaussian deficit of surface density of matter (gas + stars) of disk, with a maximum decrease of 30% of the value of surface density total arround R0. This deficit is explained by the effect of co-rotation.

I present the development of two near infrared proper motion pipelines for high resolution near infrared data from UKIDSS and the VISTA VVV survey. The UKIDSS pipeline is capable of accuracies of order 5-10 mas yr⁻¹ for bright sources with the largest epoch baselines (~ 8 years). The VVV pipeline reaches 1-2 mas yr⁻¹ proper motion precision at the bright end and parallax measurements at ~ 1 mas precision. It will be possible to improve upon the VVV astrometric precision due to increases in data volume and further pipeline development. I have used the proper motion pipelines to generate three near infrared proper motion catalogues of the UKIDSS LAS and GPS and the VVV survey. The LAS proper motion catalogue covers 1500 deg2 at high Galactic latitudes and contains approximately 15 million sources with two J band epochs. The GPS proper motion catalogue covers 1500 deg2 of the northern Galactic plane and contains approximately 400 million sources with two K band epochs. The VVV proper motion catalogue covers 560 deg2 of the Galactic bulge and disc and contains approximately 200 million sources with between 50 and 150 Ks band epochs. I have also produced a preliminary 5σ parallax catalogue containing 3403 VVV sources. The LAS and GPS proper motion catalogues have been used by myself and other authors to identify and study many new examples of high proper motion stars, brown dwarfs, ul-tracool dwarf benchmark candidates, cool white dwarfs, substellar subdwarfs and nearby sources within < 25 pc. These catalogues remain far from fully exploited and will be a useful resource for future research by the astronomical community. Exploitation of the VVV proper motion catalogue is still in its infancy, yet it has already generated large numbers of new high proper motion sources. These include new brown dwarf candi-dates, important benchmark objects, and nearby sources which have previously avoided detection. Parallax results from the VVV pipeline will be useful to improve low mass star/ultracool dwarf luminosity functions, significantly increasing the numbers of brown dwarfs with known parallaxes and illustrates how general purpose multi-epoch wide area surveys can generate parallaxes. Finally, I discuss the long term usefulness of such catalogues in the Gaia era and how they might be exploited in the future.