Chemical Abundances and Mixing in Red Clump Stars of the Galaxy

Context. The stellar [α/Fe] abundance is sometimes used as a proxy for stellar age, following standard chemical evolution models for the Galaxy, as seen by different observational results. Aim. In this work, we aim to show that the open cluster NGC 6705/M 11 has a significant α-enhancement [α/Fe] > 0.1 dex, despite its young age (~300 Myr), challenging the current paradigm. Methods. We used high resolution (R > 65 000) high signal-to-noise (~70) spectra of eight red clump stars, acquired within the OCCASO survey. We determined very accurate chemical abundances of several α elements, using an equivalent width methodology (Si, Ca and Ti), and spectral synthesis fits (Mg and O). Results. We obtain [Si/Fe] = 0.13 ± 0.05, [Mg/Fe] = 0.14 ± 0.07, [O/Fe] = 0.17 ± 0.07, [Ca/Fe] = 0.06 ± 0.05, and [Ti/Fe] = 0.03 ± 0.03. Our results place these clusters within the group of young [α/Fe]-enhanced field stars recently found by several authors in the literature. The ages of our stars have an uncertainty of around 50 Myr, much more precise than for field stars. By integrating the cluster’s orbit in several non-axisymmetric Galactic potentials, we establish the M 11’s most likely birth radius as lying between 6.8–7.5 kpc from the Galactic centre, not far from its current position. Conclusions. With the robust open cluster age scale, our results prove that a moderate [α/Fe]-enhancement is no guarantee for a star to be old, and that not all α-enhanced stars can be explained with an evolved blue straggler scenario. Based on our orbit calculations, we further argue against a Galactic bar origin of M 11.

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Structure and dynamics of the Milky Way disk as revealed from the radial velocity distributions of APOGEE red clump stars

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s174392131601173x ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 11 (S321) ◽

pp. 50-50

Author(s):

Daisuke Toyouchi ◽

Masashi Chiba

Keyword(s):

Near Infrared ◽

Milky Way ◽

Radial Velocities ◽

Galactocentric Distance ◽

Chemical Abundances ◽

Structure And Dynamics ◽

Evolution Experiment ◽

Dynamical Properties ◽

Red Clump ◽

Independent Work

AbstractWe investigate the structure and dynamics of the Milky Way (MW) disk stars based on the analysis of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) data, to infer the past evolution histories of the MW disk component(s) possibly affected by radial migration and/or satellite accretions. APOGEE is the first near-infrared spectroscopic survey for a large number of the MW disk stars, providing their radial velocities and chemical abundances without significant dust extinction effects. We here adopt red-clump (RC) stars (Bovy et al. 2014), for which the distances from the Sun are determined precisely, and analyze their radial velocities and chemical abundances in the MW disk regions covering from the Galactocentric distance, R, of 5 kpc to 14 kpc. We investigate their dynamical properties, such as mean rotational velocities, 〈Vφ〉 and velocity dispersions, as a function of R, based on the MCMC Bayesian method. We find that at all radii, the dynamics of alpha-poor stars, which are candidates of young disk stars, is much different from that of alpha-rich stars, which are candidates of old disk stars. We find that our Jeans analysis for our sample stars reveals characteristic spatial and dynamical properties of the MW disk, which are generally in agreement with the recent independent work by Bovy et al. (2015) but with a different method from ours.

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A new distance to the Brick, the dense molecular cloud G0.253+0.016

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/stab089 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 502 (1) ◽

pp. 1246-1252

Author(s):

M Zoccali ◽

E Valenti ◽

F Surot ◽

O A Gonzalez ◽

A Renzini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Molecular Cloud ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Formation Rate ◽

Dynamical Evolution ◽

Galactic Centre ◽

The Galaxy ◽

Centre Region ◽

Order Of Magnitude ◽

Red Clump

ABSTRACT We analyse the near-infrared colour–magnitude diagram of a field including the giant molecular cloud G0.253+0.016 (a.k.a. The Brick) observed at high spatial resolution, with HAWK-I@VLT. The distribution of red clump stars in a line of sight crossing the cloud, compared with that in a direction just beside it, and not crossing it, allow us to measure the distance of the cloud from the Sun to be 7.20, with a statistical uncertainty of ±0.16 and a systematic error of ±0.20 kpc. This is significantly closer than what is generally assumed, i.e. that the cloud belongs to the near side of the central molecular zone, at 60 pc from the Galactic centre. This assumption was based on dynamical models of the central molecular zone, observationally constrained uniquely by the radial velocity of this and other clouds. Determining the true position of the Brick cloud is relevant because this is the densest cloud of the Galaxy not showing any ongoing star formation. This puts the cloud off by one order of magnitude from the Kennicutt–Schmidt relation between the density of the dense gas and the star formation rate. Several explanations have been proposed for this absence of star formation, most of them based on the dynamical evolution of this and other clouds, within the Galactic centre region. Our result emphasizes the need to include constraints coming from stellar observations in the interpretation of our Galaxy’s central molecular zone.

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The last breath of the Sagittarius dSph

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/staa2114 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 497 (4) ◽

pp. 4162-4182 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Eugene Vasiliev ◽

Vasily Belokurov

Keyword(s):

Milky Way ◽

Dwarf Galaxy ◽

3D Structure ◽

Major Axis ◽

Final State ◽

Tidal Forces ◽

The Galaxy ◽

The Mean ◽

Red Clump ◽

Astrometric Data

ABSTRACT We use the astrometric and photometric data from Gaia Data Release 2 and line-of-sight velocities from various other surveys to study the 3D structure and kinematics of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. The combination of photometric and astrometric data makes it possible to obtain a very clean separation of Sgr member stars from the Milky Way foreground; our final catalogue contains 2.6 × 105 candidate members with magnitudes G < 18, more than half of them being red clump stars. We construct and analyse maps of the mean proper motion and its dispersion over the region ∼30 × 12 deg, which show a number of interesting features. The intrinsic 3D density distribution (orientation, thickness) is strongly constrained by kinematics; we find that the remnant is a prolate structure with the major axis pointing at ∼45° from the orbital velocity and extending up to ∼5 kpc, where it transitions into the stream. We perform a large suite of N-body simulations of a disrupting Sgr galaxy as it orbits the Milky Way over the past 2.5 Gyr, which are tailored to reproduce the observed properties of the remnant (not the stream). The richness of available constraints means that only a narrow range of parameters produce a final state consistent with observations. The total mass of the remnant is $\sim \!4\times 10^8\, \mathrm{M}_\odot$, of which roughly a quarter resides in stars. The galaxy is significantly out of equilibrium, and even its central density is below the limit required to withstand tidal forces. We conclude that the Sgr galaxy will likely be disrupted over the next Gyr.

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The Chemical Abundances of the Halo Clusters of the Galaxy

Symposium - International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s0074180900145504 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 80 ◽

pp. 177-182

Author(s):

R. Canterna ◽

R. A. Schommer

Keyword(s):

Globular Clusters ◽

Broad Band ◽

Mean Value ◽

Red Giants ◽

Galactocentric Distance ◽

Chemical Abundances ◽

Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies ◽

The Galaxy ◽

Ursa Minor ◽

Metal Abundances

Photometric metal abundances of individual red giants in eight extremely distant halo globular clusters and the Draco and Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal galaxies have been obtained using the Washington broad-band system, C, M, T1, T2(Canterna 1976). Observations were made at the KPNO 2.1-m and CTIO 1.5-m telescopes. In Table I we list for each system the mean value of [Fe/H], the number of stars observed in each system, n, the Galactocentric distance, RGC, the intrinsic color of the giant branch at the level of the horizontal branch (HB), (B-V)o,g, and the fraction of HB stars bluer than the RR Lyrae gap, fB. Sources for unpublished color-magnitude diagram (CMD) data are: Pal 11 (Canterna and Schommer), Pal 12 (Canterna and Harris), and Ursa Minor (Schommer, Olszewski and Kunkel).

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Measuring Outer Disk Warps with Optical Spectroscopy

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921308027701 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 4 (S254) ◽

pp. 283-288

Author(s):

Daniel Christlein ◽

Joss Bland-Hawthorn

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Optical Spectroscopy ◽

Column Density ◽

Rotational Velocity ◽

Chemical Abundances ◽

Circular Velocity ◽

Outer Disk ◽

The Galaxy ◽

Galaxy Disk ◽

Interesting Alternative

AbstractWarps in the outer gaseous disks of galaxies are a ubiquitous phenomenon, but it is still unclear what generates them. One theory is that warps are generated internally through spontaneous bending instabilities. Other theories suggest that they result from the interaction of the outer disk with accreting extragalactic material. In this case, we expect to find cases where the circular velocity of the warp gas is poorly correlated with the rotational velocity of the galaxy disk at the same radius. Optical spectroscopy presents itself as an interesting alternative to 21-cm observations for testing this prediction, because (i) separating the kinematics of the warp from those of the disk requires a spatial resolution that is higher than what is achieved at 21 cm at low HI column density; (ii) optical spectroscopy also provides important information on star formation rates, gas excitation, and chemical abundances, which provide clues to the origin of the gas in warps. We present here preliminary results of a study of the kinematics of gas in the outer-disk warps of seven edge-on galaxies, using multi-hour VLT/FORS2 spectroscopy.

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The Nature of the Triangulum-Andromeda Stellar Structures

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921318006105 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 14 (S344) ◽

pp. 122-124

Author(s):

J. V. Sales Silva ◽

H. Perottoni ◽

K. Cunha ◽

H. J. Rocha-Pinto ◽

D. Souto ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Kinematic Analysis ◽

Dwarf Galaxies ◽

Galactic Disk ◽

Thin Disk ◽

Atmospheric Parameters ◽

Chemical Abundances ◽

The Galaxy ◽

Stellar Halo ◽

Debris Cloud

AbstractThe outer stellar halo is home to a number of substructures that are remnants of former interactions of the Galaxy with its dwarf satellites. Triangulum-Andromeda (TriAnd) is one of these halo substructures, found as a debris cloud by Rocha-Pinto et al., (2004) using 2MASS M giants. Would be these structures related to dwarf galaxies or to the galactic disk? To uncover the nature of these stars we performed a high-resolution spectroscopic study (R = 40,000) along with a kinematic analysis using Gaia data. We determined the atmospheric parameters and chemical abundances of Ca and Mg for the 13 TriAnd candidate stars along with their respective orbits. Our results indicate that the TriAnd stars analyzed have a galactic nature but that these stars are not from the local thin disk.

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Light element discontinuities suggest an early termination of star formation in the globular cluster NGC 6402 (M14)

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/stz587 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 485 (3) ◽

pp. 4311-4329 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Christian I Johnson ◽

Nelson Caldwell ◽

R Michael Rich ◽

Mario Mateo ◽

John I Bailey

Keyword(s):

Globular Clusters ◽

First Generation ◽

Light Element ◽

Chemical Abundances ◽

Intermediate Composition ◽

Chemical Enrichment ◽

The Galaxy ◽

Red Giant ◽

Composition Properties ◽

Delayed Phase

ABSTRACT NGC 6402 is among the most massive globular clusters in the Galaxy, but little is known about its detailed chemical composition. Therefore, we obtained radial velocities and/or chemical abundances of 11 elements for 41 red giant branch stars using high resolution spectra obtained with the Magellan-M2FS instrument. We find NGC 6402 to be only moderately metal-poor with 〈[Fe/H]〉 = −1.13 dex (σ = 0.05 dex) and to have a mean heliocentric radial velocity of −61.1 km s−1 (σ = 8.5 km s−1). In general, NGC 6402 exhibits mean composition properties that are similar to other inner Galaxy clusters, such as [α/Fe] ∼+0.3 dex, [Cr,Ni/Fe] ∼ 0.0 dex, and 〈[La/Eu]〉 = −0.08 dex. Similarly, we find large star-to-star abundance variations for O, Na, Mg, Al, and Si that are indicative of gas that experienced high temperature proton-capture burning. Interestingly, we not only detect three distinct populations but also find large gaps in the [O/Fe], [Na/Fe], and [Al/Fe] distributions that may provide the first direct evidence of delayed formation for intermediate composition stars. A qualitative enrichment model is discussed where clusters form stars through an early ($\lesssim$5–10 Myr) phase, which results in first generation and ‘extreme’ composition stars, and a delayed phase ($\gtrsim$40 Myr), which results in the dilution of processed and pristine gas and the formation of intermediate composition stars. For NGC 6402, the missing intermediate composition stars suggest the delayed phase terminated prematurely, and as a result the cluster may uniquely preserve details of the chemical enrichment process.

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Prime Focus Spectrograph: A very wide-field, massively multiplexed, optical & near-infrared spectrograph for Subaru Telescope

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921315010480 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 11 (S319) ◽

pp. 55-55

Author(s):

Naoyuki Tamura ◽

Keyword(s):

System Integration ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Survey Design ◽

Large Field ◽

Wide Field ◽

Chemical Abundances ◽

Short Article ◽

The Galaxy ◽

Galaxy Populations ◽

Stellar Masses

AbstractThis short article is about Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS), a very wide-field, massively-multiplexed, and optical & near-infrared (NIR) spectrograph as a next generation facility instrument on Subaru Telescope. More details and updates are available on the PFS official website (http://pfs.ipmu.jp), blog (http://pfs.ipmu.jp/blog/), and references therein.The project, instrument, & timelinePFS will position 2400 fibers to science targets or blank sky in the 1.3 degree field on the Subaru prime focus. These fibers will be quickly (~60sec) reconfigurable and feed the photons during exposures to the Spectrograph System (SpS). SpS consists of 4 modules each of which accommodate ~600 fibers and deliver spectral images ranging from 380nm to 1260nm simultaneously at one exposure via the 3 arms of blue, red, and NIR cameras. The instrument development has been undertaken by the international collaboration at the initiative of Kavli IPMU. The project is now going into the construction phase aiming at system integration and on-sky engineering observations in 2017-2018, and science operation in 2019.The survey design has also been under development envisioning a survey spanning ~300 nights over ~5 years in the framework of Subaru Strategic Program (SSP). The key science areas are: Cosmology, galaxy/AGN evolution, and Galactic Archaeology (GA) (Takada et al. 2014). The cosmology program will be to constrain the nature of dark energy via a survey of emission line galaxies over a comoving volume of 10 Gpc3 at z=0.8-2.4. In the galaxy/AGN program, the wide wavelength coverage of PFS as well as the large field of view will be exploited to characterize the galaxy populations and its clustering properties over a wide redshift range. A survey of color-selected galaxies/AGN at z = 1-2 will be conducted over 20 square degrees yielding a fair sample of galaxies with stellar masses down to ~1010M⊙. In the GA program, radial velocities and chemical abundances of stars in the Milky Way, dwarf spheroids, and M31 will be used to understand the past assembly histories of those galaxies and the structures of their dark matter halos. Spectra will be taken for 1 million stars as faint as V = 22 mag therefore out to large distances from the Sun.PFS will provide powerful spectroscopic capabilities even in the era of Euclid, LSST, WFIRST and TMT, and the effective synergies are expected for further unique science outputs.

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Local Stellar Kinematics from RAVE data – V. Kinematic Investigation of the Galaxy with Red Clump Stars

Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia ◽

10.1017/pasa.2014.5 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 31 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

S. Karaali ◽

S. Bilir ◽

S. Ak ◽

E. Yaz Gökçe ◽

Ö. Önal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Velocity Component ◽

Galactic Plane ◽

Radial Distance ◽

Vertical Direction ◽

Space Velocity ◽

Galactic Centre ◽

Galactic Rotation ◽

Stellar Kinematics ◽

The Galaxy ◽

Red Clump

AbstractWe investigated the space velocity components of 6 610 red clump (RC) stars in terms of vertical distance, Galactocentric radial distance and Galactic longitude. Stellar velocity vectors are corrected for differential rotation of the Galaxy which is taken into account using photometric distances of RC stars. The space velocity components estimated for the sample stars above and below the Galactic plane are compatible only for the space velocity component in the direction to the Galactic rotation of the thin disc stars. The space velocity component in the direction to the Galactic rotation (Vlsr) shows a smooth variation relative to the mean Galactocentric radial distance (Rm), while it attains its maximum at the Galactic plane. The space velocity components in the direction to the Galactic centre (Ulsr) and in the vertical direction (Wlsr) show almost flat distributions relative to Rm, with small changes in their trends at Rm ~ 7.5 kpc. Ulsr values estimated for the RC stars in quadrant 180° < l ⩽ 270° are larger than the ones in quadrants 0° < l ⩽ 90° and 270° < l ⩽ 360°. The smooth distribution of the space velocity dispersions reveals that the thin and thick discs are kinematically continuous components of the Galaxy. Based on the Wlsr space velocity components estimated in the quadrants 0° < l ⩽ 90° and 270° < l ⩽ 360°, in the inward direction relative to the Sun, we showed that RC stars above the Galactic plane move towards the North Galactic Pole, whereas those below the Galactic plane move in the opposite direction. In the case of quadrant 180° < l ⩽ 270°, their behaviour is different, i.e. the RC stars above and below the Galactic plane move towards the Galactic plane. We stated that the Galactic long bar is the probable origin of many, but not all, of the detected features.

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