scholarly journals Chemical composition of planet building blocks as predicted by stellar population synthesis

2019 ◽  
Vol 622 ◽  
pp. A49 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Cabral ◽  
N. Lagarde ◽  
C. Reylé ◽  
A. Guilbert-Lepoutre ◽  
A. C. Robin

Context. Future space missions (TESS, CHEOPS, PLATO, and the JWST) will considerably improve our understanding of the formation and history of planetary systems by providing accurate constraints on planetary radius, mass, and atmospheric composition. Currently, observations show that the presence of planetary companions is closely linked to the metallicity and the chemical abundances of the host stars. Aims. We aim to build an integrated tool for predicting the planet building blocks (PBBs) composition as a function of the stellar populations to interpret ongoing and future large surveys. The different stellar populations we observe in our Galaxy are characterized by different metallicities and α-element abundances. We here investigate the trends of the expected PBBs composition with the chemical abundance of the host star in different parts of the Galaxy. Methods. We synthesized stellar populations with the Besançon galaxy model, which includes stellar evolutionary tracks that are computed with the stellar evolution code STAREVOL. We integrated a previously published simple stoichiometric model into this code to determine the expected composition of the PBBs. Results. We determine the expected PBB composition around FGK stars for the four galactic populations (thin and thick disks, halo, and bulge) within the Milky Way. Our solar neighborhood simulations are in good agreement with the recent results obtained with the HARPS survey for firon, fw, and the heavy element mass fraction fZ. We present evidence of a clear dependence of firon and fw on the initial alpha abundances [α/Fe] of the host star. We find that the different initial [α/Fe] distributions in the different galactic populations lead to a bimodal distribution of PBB composition. Our simulations show an iron valley that separates PBBs with high and low iron mass fractions and a water valley that separates PBBs with high and low water mass fractions. Conclusions. We linked host star abundances and expected PBB composition in an integrated model of the Galaxy. The trends we derive are an important step for statistical analyses of expected planet properties. In particular, internal structure models may use these results to derive statistical trends of rocky planet properties, constrain habitability, and prepare an interpretation of ongoing and future large-scale surveys of exoplanets.

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S254) ◽  
pp. 393-398
Author(s):  
Takuji Tsujimoto ◽  
Joss Bland-Hawthorn ◽  
Kenneth C. Freeman

AbstractComparison of elemental abundance features between old and young thin disk stars may reveal the action of ravaging winds from the Galactic bulge, which once enriched the whole disk, and set up the steep abundance gradient in the inner disk (RGC ≲ 10–;12 kpc) and simultaneously the metallicity floor ([Fe/H]~ −0.5) in the outer disk. After the end of a crucial influence by winds, chemical enrichment through accretion of a metal-poor material from the halo onto the disk gradually reduced the metallicity of the inner region, whereas an increase in the metallicity proceeded beyond a solar circle. This results in a flattening of abundance gradient in the inner disk, and our chemical evolution models confirm this mechanism for a flattening, which is in good agreement with the observations. Our scenario also naturally explains an observed break in the metallicity floor of the outer disk by young stars since the limit of self-enrichment in the outer disk is supposed to be [Fe/H]≲ −1 and inevitably incurs a direct influence of the dilution by a low-metal infall whose metallicity is [Fe/H]~ −1. Accordingly, we propose that the enrichment by large-scale winds is a crucial factor for chemical evolution of the disk, and claim to reconsider the models thus far for the disk including the solar neighborhood, in which the metallicity is predicted to monotonously increase with time. Furthermore, we anticipate that a flattening of abundance gradient together with a metal-rich floor in the outer disk are the hallmark of disk galaxies with significant central bulges.


2002 ◽  
Vol 187 ◽  
pp. 185-193
Author(s):  
Steven R. Majewski

I would like to focus on one aspect regarding the evolution of Galactic stellar populations that is particularly relevant to discussions at this symposium: Where were the sites of early star formation in the Galaxy? The large scatter in abundance ratios for metal poor stars suggests multiple early settings of star formation in the Milky Way. In this and other ways, interpretation of detailed stellar chemical abundance analyses are converging with those of spatial-kinematical analyses of field stars, star clusters and satellite galaxies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 639 ◽  
pp. A66 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Michel ◽  
J. Haldemann ◽  
C. Mordasini ◽  
Y. Alibert

Context. Planet formation theory suggests that planet bulk compositions are likely to reflect the chemical abundance ratios of their host star’s photosphere. Variations in the abundance of particular chemical species in stellar photospheres between different galactic stellar populations demonstrate that there are differences among the expected solid planet bulk compositions. Aims. We aim to present planetary mass-radius relations of solid planets for kinematically differentiated stellar populations, namely, the thin disc, thick disc, and halo. Methods. Using two separate internal structure models, we generated synthetic planets using bulk composition inputs derived from stellar abundances. We explored two scenarios, specifically iron-silicate planets at 0.1 AU and silicate-iron-water planets at 4 AU. Results. We show that there is a persistent statistical difference in the expected mass-radius relations of solid planets among the different galactic stellar populations. At 0.1 AU for silicate-iron planets, there is a 1.51–2.04% mean planetary radius difference between the thick and thin disc stellar populations, whilst for silicate-iron-water planets past the ice line at 4 AU, we calculate a 2.93–3.26% difference depending on the models. Between the halo and thick disc, we retrieve at 0.1 AU a 0.53–0.69% mean planetary radius difference, and at 4 AU we find a 1.24–1.49% difference depending on the model. Conclusions. Future telescopes (such as PLATO) will be able to precisely characterize solid exoplanets and demonstrate the possible existence of planetary mass-radius relationship variability between galactic stellar populations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (S351) ◽  
pp. 170-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo P. Schiavon ◽  
J. Ted Mackereth ◽  
Joel Pfeffer ◽  
Rob A. Crain ◽  
Jo Bovy

AbstractWe summarise recent results from analysis of APOGEE/Gaia data for stellar populations in the Galactic halo, disk, and bulge, leading to constraints on the contribution of dwarf galaxies and globular clusters to the stellar content of the Milky Way halo. Intepretation of the extant data in light of cosmological numerical simulations suggests that the Milky Way has been subject to an unusually intense accretion history at z ≳ 1.5.


1995 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
pp. 258-266
Author(s):  
Gerard Gilmore ◽  
Rodrigo Ibata

AbstractModern models of Galaxy formation make fairly specific predictions which are amenable to detailed tests with galactic kinematic and chemical abundance data. For example, popular Cold Dark Matter models ‘predict’ growth of the Galaxy about a central core, which should contain the oldest stars. Later accretion of material forms the outer halo and the disks, while continuing accretion will continue to affect the kinematic structure of both the outer halo and the thin disk. This picture, which contains aspects of both the monolithic (‘ELS’) and the multifragment (‘Searle-Zinn’) pictures often discussed in chemical evolution models, makes some specific predictions which can be tested. The essential feature of these predictions is that they are believable only for the largest scale effects. Large scale properties of the Galaxy must be measured to test them. It is these studies which need large angular scale data. One specific example of current interest is the ‘prediction’ that mergers of small satellites are an essential feature of galactic evolution. This leads one to look for kinematic and spatial structures, and ‘moving groups’, as a primary test of such models.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (S298) ◽  
pp. 366-374
Author(s):  
Alejandra Recio-Blanco

AbstractThe advent of Milky Way high-resolution spectroscopic surveys has brought our attention to the importance of precise chemical abundance measurements to disentangle the stellar population puzzle of the Galaxy. Moreover, automated stellar parameters are the bedrock of Galactic spectroscopic surveys science. They allow a rapid and homogeneous processing of extensive data sets, necessary for an efficient scientific return. In this review, I discuss the different parametrization techniques, focusing on the automated determination of individual element abundances. Each of them has its optimal application conditions that mainly depend on the computation time constraints, the spectral resolution, the wavelength domain, the data signal-to-noise ratio and parameter degeneracy problems. The main algorithms in the literature are also reviewed.


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S258) ◽  
pp. 287-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Salaris

AbstractWhite dwarfs represent the endpoint of the evolution of the large majority of stars formed in the Galaxy. In the last two decades observations and theory have improved to a level that makes possible to employ white dwarfs for determining ages of the stellar populations in the solar neighborhood, and in the nearest star clusters. This review is centered on the theory behind the methods for white dwarf age-dating, and the related uncertainties, with particular attention paid to the problem of the CO stratification, envelope thickness and chemical composition, and the white dwarf initial-final-mass relationship.


1992 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 81-86
Author(s):  
R. Wielebinski

AbstractMagnetic fields are present in every corner of the Universe. The Earth, the Sun and most of the planets are known to possess dipolar magnetic fields. In the Galaxy many individual objects like stars, pulsars, bipolar nebulae and supernova remnants are found to have associated magnetic fields. It seems that the rotation plays a significant role in the ability of a cosmic object to develop a magnetic field. The magnetic field of the Galaxy is observed to be oriented along the galactic plane as evidenced by both optical and radio polarization observations. Radio maps of the Galactic centre reveal poloidal magnetic fields as ‘wisps’ or ‘strings’ around Sagittarius A. Observations of nearby galaxies give us remarkable information about the large-scale magnetic fields in these building blocks of the Universe. Magnetic fields play an important role in the formation of jets of radio galaxies. Further out, in clusters of galaxies, definitive evidence has been given for the existence of intergalactic magnetic fields.


1989 ◽  
Vol 120 ◽  
pp. 396-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.F. Mirabel

Summary:I highlight the evidence for inflow of neutral gas toward the disk of the Galaxy. The Milky Way is accreting 0.2-0.5 M⊙/yr of extragalactic atomic hydrogen at very high velocities. The interaction of infalling clouds with galactic material produces large-scale disturbances in the interstellar medium. Although the injection of energy into the galactic disk by infalling neutral gas is only 1% of the energy from supernovae, the impinging of high velocity neutral gas may be a relatively important source of energy in localized regions of the outer Galaxy.In the solar neighborhood the downfall rate of HI at intermediate velocities is 2.72 x 10-8 z-1(kpc) M⊙ pc-2 yr-1, which if representative of the whole galactic disk, is at least 10 times more massive than the estimated accretion rate of extragalactic HI at very high velocities. This implies that most of the neutral gas that is infalling in the solar vicinity has originated in the galactic disk. It is concluded that in the Milky Way galaxy there is a moderate inflow of extragalactic neutral gas on top of a more intensive disk-halo circulation.


1979 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 284-284
Author(s):  
Bruce G. Elmegreen

I want to make three points about star formation in spiral galaxies that follow from consideration of the internal structure of giant molecular cloud complexes (GMCC). The first point comes from pressure considerations. The total pressure inside the star-forming core of a GMCC may be written 106k)v/3kms−1)4(17pc/D)2 for virial theorem line width v and cloud diameter D; the pressure from a spiral density wave shock (SDWS) is 105 k(ns/1cm−3)(vs/20kms−1)2 and the thermal pressure in the cloud is 104 k(n/103cm−3) (T/10K) for Boltzmann constant k. These three pressures differ by factors of 10. An SDWS has too low a pressure to affect a cloud core; the only way an SDWS could influence a GMCC is if it interacted with the low thermal pressure in the cloud, i.e., the SDWS could propagate into a cloud along the direction of a magnetic field which may be the source of large scale pressure in a transverse dimension. The second point is that the density and mass of a GMCC are so large that the cloud will enter an SDWS like a cannon ball and will not be readily deflected. GMCC in other galaxies would then look like spurs on the spiral pattern and not like dust lanes. The alternative to these two points is that an as yet undiscovered (or uncommon) population of low density (100cm−3) clouds exists involving GMCC-type masses, or that smaller clouds coalesce at the SDWS. This implies that the star-forming clouds studied by molecular observers would be post-SDWS and post-gravitational collapse objects. Finally, the maximum age of a GMCC in the solar neighborhood is probably less than 50 million years. Its destruction is a result of pressure forces from the stars which it creates. Destruction in this sense does not necessarily imply that the molecules are converted into atoms – only that the cloud is pushed around. In the solar neighborhood, some clouds may, in fact, turn into 21-cm features; e.g., an HI half shell with a radius of 100 pc and a visual extinction through the shell of 0.2 mag. contains 3×105 M⊙, the mass of a GMCC. However, in the 5-kpc ring of the Galaxy, there is too much H2 relative to HI to allow any cycling between H2 and HI that is in phase with an SDWS unless the cloud remains molecular for 80% of the cycle. More likely, the cloud will be “destroyed” before that time. The implication is that cloud destruction at 5 kpc must produce molecular shells in addition to some atomic shells. This could be observed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document