Metallicity fluctuation statistics in the interstellar medium and young stars – II. Elemental cross-correlations and the structure of chemical abundance space
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Observations of Milky Way stars by multiplexed spectroscopic instruments and of gas in nearby galaxies using integral field units have made it possible to measure the abundances of multiple elements in both the interstellar medium and the stars that form out of it. These observations have revealed complex correlations between elemental abundances, but thus far there has been no analytic theoretical framework to interpret these data. In this paper we extend the simple stochastically-forced diffusion model of Krumholz & Ting (2018), which has proven successful at explaining the spatial abundance patterns of single elements, to multiple elements, clarifying why elements are correlated and what controls their degree of correlation, and making quantitative predictions for the degree of correlation in both gas and young stars. We show that our results are qualitatively consistent with observed patterns, and point out how application of this theory to measured correlations should enable determination of currently unknown parameters describing r-process nucleosynthesis.
Source: The Open Journal of Astrophysics
DOI: 10.33232/001c.150356
Institution: ORCID
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4416685027