The GALAH+ survey: Third data release Buder, Sven; Sharma, Sanjib; Kos, Janez ...
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
2021, Volume:
506, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
ABSTRACT
The ensemble of chemical element abundance measurements for stars, along with precision distances and orbit properties, provides high-dimensional data to study the evolution of the Milky ...Way. With this third data release of the Galactic Archaeology with HERMES (GALAH) survey, we publish 678 423 spectra for 588 571 mostly nearby stars (81.2 per cent of stars are within <2 kpc), observed with the HERMES spectrograph at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. This release (hereafter GALAH+ DR3) includes all observations from GALAH Phase 1 (bright, main, and faint survey, 70 per cent), K2-HERMES (17 per cent), TESS-HERMES (5 per cent), and a subset of ancillary observations (8 per cent) including the bulge and >75 stellar clusters. We derive stellar parameters Teff, log g, Fe/H, vmic, vbroad, and vrad using our modified version of the spectrum synthesis code Spectroscopy Made Easy (sme) and 1D marcs model atmospheres. We break spectroscopic degeneracies in our spectrum analysis with astrometry from Gaia DR2 and photometry from 2MASS. We report abundance ratios X/Fe for 30 different elements (11 of which are based on non-LTE computations) covering five nucleosynthetic pathways. We describe validations for accuracy and precision, flagging of peculiar stars/measurements and recommendations for using our results. Our catalogue comprises 65 per cent dwarfs, 34 per cent giants, and 1 per cent other/unclassified stars. Based on unflagged chemical composition and age, we find 62 per cent young low-$\alpha$, 9 per cent young high-$\alpha$, 27 per cent old high-$\alpha$, and 2 per cent stars with Fe/H ≤ −1. Based on kinematics, 4 per cent are halo stars. Several Value-Added-Catalogues, including stellar ages and dynamics, updated after Gaia eDR3, accompany this release and allow chrono-chemodynamic analyses, as we showcase.
ABSTRACT
Streams of stars from captured dwarf galaxies and dissolved globular clusters are identifiable through the similarity of their orbital parameters, a fact that remains true long after the ...streams have dispersed spatially. We calculate the integrals of motion for 31 234 stars, to a distance of 4 kpc from the Sun, which have full and accurate 6D phase space positions in the Gaia DR2 catalogue. We then apply a novel combination of data mining, numerical, and statistical techniques to search for stellar streams. This process returns five high confidence streams (including one which was previously undiscovered), all of which display tight clustering in the integral of motion space. Colour–magnitude diagrams indicate that these streams are relatively simple, old, metal-poor populations. One of these resolved streams shares very similar kinematics and metallicity characteristics with the Gaia-Enceladus dwarf galaxy remnant, but with a slightly younger age. The success of this project demonstrates the usefulness of data mining techniques in exploring large data sets.
We present high-resolution Magellan/MIKE spectroscopy of 42 red giant stars in seven stellar streams confirmed by the Southern Stellar Stream Spectroscopic Survey (S5): ATLAS, Aliqa Uma, Chenab, ...Elqui, Indus, Jhelum, and Phoenix. Abundances of 30 elements have been derived from over 10,000 individual line measurements or upper limits using photometric stellar parameters and a standard LTE analysis. This is currently the most extensive set of element abundances for stars in stellar streams. Three streams (ATLAS, Aliqa Uma, and Phoenix) are disrupted metal-poor globular clusters, although only weak evidence is seen for the light-element anticorrelations commonly observed in globular clusters. Four streams (Chenab, Elqui, Indus, and Jhelum) are disrupted dwarf galaxies, and their stars display abundance signatures that suggest progenitors with stellar masses ranging from 106 to 107 M . Extensive description is provided for the analysis methods, including the derivation of a new method for including the effect of stellar parameter correlations on each star's abundance and uncertainty. This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.
ABSTRACT
Gaia DR2 has revealed new small-scale and large-scale patterns in the phase-space distribution of stars in the Milky Way. In cylindrical Galactic coordinates $(R,\phi ,z)$, ridge-like ...structures can be seen in the $(R,V_\phi)$ plane and asymmetric arch-like structures in the $(V_R,V_\phi)$ plane. We show that the ridges are also clearly present when the third dimension of the $(R,V_\phi)$ plane is represented by $\langle z \rangle$, $\langle V_z \rangle$, $\langle V_R \rangle$, $\langle$Fe/H$\rangle$, and $\langle \alpha /{\rm Fe}\rangle$. The maps suggest that stars along the ridges lie preferentially close to the Galactic mid-plane ($|z|\lt 0.2$ kpc), and have metallicity and $\alpha$ elemental abundance similar to that of the Sun. We show that phase mixing of disrupting spiral arms can generate both the ridges and the arches. It also generates discrete groupings in orbital energy – the ridges and arches are simply surfaces of constant energy. We identify eight distinct ridges in the Gaia DR2 data: six of them have constant energy while two have constant angular momentum. Given that the signature is strongest for stars close to the plane, the presence of ridges in $\langle z \rangle$ and $\langle V_z \rangle$ suggests a coupling between planar and vertical directions. We demonstrate, using N-body simulations that such coupling can be generated both in isolated discs and in discs perturbed by an orbiting satellite like the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy.
ABSTRACT
In order to accurately determine stellar properties, knowledge of the effective temperature of stars is vital. We implement Gaia and 2MASS photometry in the InfraRed Flux Method and apply it ...to over 360 000 stars across different evolutionary stages in the GALAH DR3 survey. We derive colour-effective temperature relations that take into account the effect of metallicity and surface gravity over the range $4000\, \rm {K}\lesssim T_{\rm {eff}}\lesssim 8000\, \rm {K}$, from very metal-poor stars to supersolar metallicities. The internal uncertainty of these calibrations is of order 40–80 K depending on the colour combination used. Comparison against solar-twins, Gaia benchmark stars, and the latest interferometric measurements validates the precision and accuracy of these calibrations from F to early M spectral types. We assess the impact of various sources of uncertainties, including the assumed extinction law, and provide guidelines to use our relations. Robust solar colours are also derived.
Globular clusters are some of the oldest bound stellar structures observed in the Universe
. They are ubiquitous in large galaxies and are believed to trace intense star-formation events and the ...hierarchical build-up of structure
. Observations of globular clusters in the Milky Way, and a wide variety of other galaxies, have found evidence for a 'metallicity floor', whereby no globular clusters are found with chemical (metal) abundances below approximately 0.3 to 0.4 per cent of that of the Sun
. The existence of this metallicity floor may reflect a minimum mass and a maximum redshift for surviving globular clusters to form-both critical components for understanding the build-up of mass in the Universe
. Here we report measurements from the Southern Stellar Streams Spectroscopic Survey of the spatially thin, dynamically cold Phoenix stellar stream in the halo of the Milky Way. The properties of the Phoenix stream are consistent with it being the tidally disrupted remains of a globular cluster. However, its metal abundance (Fe/H = -2.7) is substantially below the empirical metallicity floor. The Phoenix stream thus represents the debris of the most metal-poor globular clusters discovered so far, and its progenitor is distinct from the present-day globular cluster population in the local Universe. Its existence implies that globular clusters below the metallicity floor have probably existed, but were destroyed during Galactic evolution.
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FZAB, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Abstract
We use the second data releases of the European Space AgencyGaia astrometric survey and the high-resolution Galactic Archaeology with HERMES (GALAH) spectroscopic survey to analyse the ...structure of our Galaxy’s disc components. With GALAH, we separate the α-rich and α-poor discs (with respect to Fe), which are superposed in both position and velocity space, and examine their distributions in action space. We study the distribution of stars in the zV$\mathrm{ z}$ phase plane, for both Vϕ and VR, and recover the remarkable ‘phase spiral’ discovered by Gaia. We identify the anticipated quadrupole signature in zV$\mathrm{ z}$ of a tilted velocity ellipsoid for stars above and below the Galactic plane. By connecting our work with earlier studies, we show that the phase spiral is likely to extend well beyond the narrow solar neighbourhood cylinder in which it was found. The phase spiral is a signature of corrugated waves that propagate through the disc, and the associated non-equilibrium phase mixing. The radially asymmetric distribution of stars involved in the phase spiral reveals that the corrugation, which is mostly confined to the α-poor disc, grows in z-amplitude with increasing radius. We present new simulations of tidal disturbance of the Galactic disc by the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf. The effect on the zV$\mathrm{ z}$ phase plane lasts ${\gtrsim } 2\, \mathrm{Gyr}$, but a subsequent disc crossing wipes out the coherent structure. We find that the phase spiral was excited ${\lesssim } 0.5\, \mathrm{Gyr}$ ago by an object like Sgr with total mass ∼3 × 1010 M⊙ (stripped down from ∼5 × 1010 M⊙ when it first entered the halo) passing through the plane.
ABSTRACT
We report the discovery of the only very nitrogen-enhanced metal-poor star known in a Galactic globular cluster. This star, in the very metal-poor cluster ESO280−SC06 , has ...$\textrm{N}/\textrm{Fe}\, \gt +2.5$, while the other stars in the cluster show no obvious enhancement in nitrogen. Around 80 NEMP stars are known in the field, and their abundance patterns are believed to reflect mass transfer from a binary companion in the asymptotic giant branch phase. The dense environment of globular clusters is detrimental to the long term survival of binary systems, resulting in a low observed binary fraction among red giants and the near absence of NEMP stars. We also identify the first known horizontal branch members of ESO280−SC06 , which allow for a much better constraint on its distance. We calculate an updated orbit for the cluster based on our revised distance of 20.6 ± 0.5 kpc, and find no significant change to its orbital properties.
GRACES observations of young [α/Fe]-rich stars Yong, David; Casagrande, Luca; Venn, Kim A ...
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
06/2016, Volume:
459, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We measure chemical abundance ratios and radial velocities in four massive (i.e. young) α/Fe-rich red giant stars using high-resolution high-S/N spectra from ESPaDOnS fed by Gemini-GRACES. Our ...differential analysis ensures that our chemical abundances are on the same scale as the Alves-Brito et al. (2010) study of bulge, thin, and thick disc red giants. We confirm that the program stars have enhanced α/Fe ratios and are slightly metal poor. Aside from lithium enrichment in one object, the program stars exhibit no chemical abundance anomalies when compared to giant stars of similar metallicity throughout the Galaxy. This includes the elements Li, O, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Ni, Cu, Ba, La, and Eu. Therefore, there are no obvious chemical signatures that can help to reveal the origin of these unusual stars. While our new observations show that only one star (not the Li-rich object) exhibits a radial velocity variation, simulations indicate that we cannot exclude the possibility that all four could be binaries. In addition, we find that two (possibly three) stars show evidence for an infrared excess, indicative of a debris disc. This is consistent with these young α/Fe-rich stars being evolved blue stragglers, suggesting their apparent young age is a consequence of a merger or mass transfer. We would expect a binary fraction of ∼50 per cent or greater for the entire sample of these stars, but the signs of the circumbinary disc may have been lost since these features can have short time-scales. Radial velocity monitoring is needed to confirm the blue straggler origin.
ABSTRACT
We investigate the Fe, C, N, O, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ce, and Nd abundances of 2283 red giant stars in 31 globular clusters from high-resolution spectra observed in both the Northern and ...Southern hemisphere by the SDSS-IV APOGEE-2 survey. This unprecedented homogeneous data set, largest to date, allows us to discuss the intrinsic Fe spread, the shape, and statistics of Al-Mg and N-C anti-correlations as a function of cluster mass, luminosity, age, and metallicity for all 31 clusters. We find that the Fe spread does not depend on these parameters within our uncertainties including cluster metallicity, contradicting earlier observations. We do not confirm the metallicity variations previously observed in M22 and NGC 1851. Some clusters show a bimodal Al distribution, while others exhibit a continuous distribution as has been previously reported in the literature. We confirm more than two populations in ω Cen and NGC 6752, and find new ones in M79. We discuss the scatter of Al by implementing a correction to the standard chemical evolution of Al in the Milky Way. After correction, its dependence on cluster mass is increased suggesting that the extent of Al enrichment as a function of mass was suppressed before the correction. We observe a turnover in the Mg-Al anticorrelation at very low Mg in ω Cen, similar to the pattern previously reported in M15 and M92. ω Cen may also have a weak K-Mg anticorrelation, and if confirmed, it would be only the third cluster known to show such a pattern.
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