Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The chemical evolution history of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is complex and is best understood through a comprehensive analysis of star clusters across its various regions. The VISCACHA survey aims to fully explain the chemical evolution of SMC star clusters by analyzing different sub-regions adopted from an existing framework. The west halo (WH) region, which contains the oldest and most metal-poor stellar populations, exhibits a clear age-metallicity relation (AMR) with minimal dispersion. This region shows a significant dip of ∼0.5 dex in metallicity approximately 6 Gyr ago. This was likely caused by a major merger event that subsequently accelerated the star formation rate. Clusters in the Southern Bridge (SB) and Northern Bridge regions of the SMC may have experienced distinct chemical enrichment histories, as suggested by our previous works but with limited data coverage. Furthermore, the AMR of wing/bridge (W/B) shows no sign of enrichment caused by the aforementioned merger event, but exhibits signatures of the recent collisions between the clouds contemporaneous with the epochs of the Magellanic Stream and Bridge formations. In this study, we present an updated AMR for the SB region based on a sample that includes approximately 67% of its known clusters. Contrary to the expectation of a very unique chemical evolution history, these SB clusters show a trend similar to the one of the WH clusters. The chemical evolution models that best fit the AMR trend of the SB clusters show excellent agreement with the major merger model proposed for the WH clusters. Building on this, we suggest a new unified chemical evolution model for both the WH and SB clusters, which can be explained by a major merger at ∼6 Gyr followed by episodic chemical enrichment over time.
Authors: S. Saroon, B. Dias, T. Tsujimoto, F. Maia, B. P. L. Ferreira, R. A. P. Oliveira, M. C. Parisi, A. Pérez-Villegas, D. Minniti, B. J. De Bortoli, E. Bica, P. Westera, O. J. Katime Santrich, D. Geisler, D. Sanmartim, B. C. Quint, L. Fraga, J. F. C. Santos, E. R. Garro, J. G. Fernández-Trincado, O. O. Casmir
Institutions: Universidad Andrés Bello, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, University of Warsaw, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental, Argentine National Observatory, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Vatican Observatory, Instituto de Astrofísica de La Plata, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Universidade Federal do ABC, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, University of Concepción, University of La Serena, NSF NOIRLab, NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica, European Southern Observatory, Universidad Católica del Norte
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Michigan State University, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, European Space Agency, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, Office of Science, College of Engineering, Michigan State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Awards: G1840770272, TRACING THE FORMATION OF THE MILKY WAY BULGE USING GLOBULAR CLUSTERS, SCARLET (SMC STAR CLUSTER HISTORY WITH VISCACHA), G2823776494, G2848301204, G3325778992, G3720054464, G376931201, CENTRO DE ASTROFISICA Y TECNOLOGIAS AFINES, G4417076677, G4436575305, REDISCOVERING THE MILKY WAY WITH THE VVVX NEAR-INFRARED SURVEY., G4796173437, G5157461147, G5386466380, G5659454435, 隕石超微粒子高速高精度測定による超新星r過程元素起源の直接的検証, G5752159476, G5834573078, G65609899, CENTRO DE ASTROFISICA Y TECNOLOGIAS AFINES (CATA)
OpenAlex ID: W7081575606
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