Two distinct halo populations in the solar neighborhood: Evidence from stellar abundance ratios and kinematics
Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Aims. Precise abundance ratios are determined for 94 dwarf stars with 5200 < Teff < 6300 K, -1.6 < [Fe/H] < -0.4, and distances D 335 pc. Most of them have halo kinematics, but 16 thick-disk stars are included.Methods. Equivalent widths of atomic lines are measured from VLT/UVES and NOT/FIES spectra with resolutions R 55 000 and R 40 000, respectively. An LTE abundance analysis based on MARCS models is applied to derive precise differential abundance ratios of Na, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, and Ni with respect to Fe.Results. The halo stars fall into two populations, clearly separated in [ α/Fe] , where α refers to the average abundance of Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti. Differences in [Na/Fe] and [Ni/Fe] are also present with a remarkably clear correlation between these two abundance ratios.Conclusions. The “high-α” stars may be ancient disk or bulge stars “heated” to halo kinematics by merging satellite galaxies or they could have formed as the first stars during the collapse of a proto-Galactic gas cloud. The kinematics of the “low-α” stars suggest that they have been accreted from dwarf galaxies, and that some of them may originate from the ω Cen progenitor galaxy.
Source: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Authors: P. E. Nissen, W. J. Schuster
Institutions: Aarhus University, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4292954434