The characteristics of the stellar populations in the Galactic bulge inform and constrain the Milky Way's formation and evolution. The metal-poor population is particularly important in light of cosmological simulations, which predict that some of the oldest stars in the Galaxy now reside in its centre. The metal-poor bulge appears to consist of multiple stellar populations that require dynamical analyses to disentangle. In this work, we undertake a detailed chemodynamical study of the metal-poor stars in the inner Galaxy. Using R ~ 20 000 VLT/GIRAFFE spectra of 319 metal-poor (-2.55dex<=[Fe/H]<=0.83dex, with mean [Fe/H]=-0.84dex) stars, we perform stellar parameter analysis and report 12 elemental abundances (C, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, Cr, Mn, Zn, Ba, and Ce) with precisions of ~0.10 dex. Based on kinematic and spatial properties, we categorize the stars into four groups, associated with the following Galactic structures: the inner bulge, the outer bulge, the halo, and the disc. We find evidence that the inner and outer bulge population is more chemically complex (i.e. higher chemical dimensionality and less correlated abundances) than the halo population. This result suggests that the older bulge population was enriched by a larger diversity of nucleosynthetic events. We also find one inner bulge star with a [Ca/Mg] ratio consistent with theoretical pair-instability supernova yields and two stars that have chemistry consistent with globular cluster stars.
Chemistry and kinematic studies can determine the origins of stellar population across the Milky Way. The metallicity distribution function of the bulge indicates that it comprises multiple populations, the more metal-poor end of which is particularly poorly understood. It is currently unknown if metal-poor bulge stars ([Fe/H]<-1dex) are part of the stellar halo in the inner most region, or a distinct bulge population or a combination of these. Cosmological simulations also indicate that the metal-poor bulge stars may be the oldest stars in the Galaxy. In this study, we successfully target metal-poor bulge stars selected using SkyMapper photometry. We determine the stellar parameters of 26 stars and their elemental abundances for 22 elements using R~47000 VLT/UVES spectra and contrast their elemental properties with that of other Galactic stellar populations. We find that the elemental abundances we derive for our metal-poor bulge stars have lower overall scatter than typically found in the halo. This indicates that these stars may be a distinct population confined to the bulge. If these stars are, alternatively, part of the inner-most distribution of the halo, this indicates that the halo is more chemically homogeneous at small Galactic radii than at large radii. We also find two stars whose chemistry is consistent with second-generation globular cluster stars. This paper is the first part of the Chemical Origins of Metal-poor Bulge Stars (COMBS) survey that will chemo-dynamically characterize the metal-poor bulge population.
We present the stellar parameters, abundances, associated errors and the linelist of a set of 23 metal-poor and very metal-poor halo stars. Stellar parameters and chemical abundances were derived in a line-by-line differential analysis from equivalent widths of UVES/VLT spectra. The differential analysis provided us unprecedented small data scatter and errors. Our sample, along with data from different authors in different metallicity ranges, allowed us to do an extensive comparison of the chemical abundances with the predictions of a Galaxy chemical evolution model.
We present the results of a deep photometric survey performed with the VLT FORS1 aimed at investigating the complex main-sequence structure of the stellar system Centauri. We confirm the presence of a double main sequence and identify its blue component (bMS) over a large field of view up to 26' from the cluster center. We found that bMS stars are significantly more concentrated toward the cluster center than the other "normal" MS stars. The bMS morphology and its position in the CMD have been used to constrain the helium overabundance required to explain the observed MS morphology.
We obtained FLAMES GIRAFFE+UVES spectra for both first and second-generation red giant branch (RGB) stars in the globular cluster (GC) NGC 362 and used them to derive abundances of 21 atomic species for a sample of 92 stars. The surveyed elements include proton-capture (O, Na, Mg, Al, Si), alpha-capture (Ca, Ti), Fe-peak (Sc, V, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu), and neutron-capture elements (Y, Zr, Ba, La, Ce, Nd, Eu, Dy). The analysis is fully consistent with that presented for twenty GCs in previous papers of this series. Stars in NGC 362 seem to be clustered into two discrete groups along the Na-O anti-correlation, with a gap at [O/Na]~0dex. Na-rich, second generation stars show a trend to be more centrally concentrated, although the level of confidence is not very high. When compared to the classical second-parameter twin NGC 288, with similar metallicity, but different horizontal branch type and much lower total mass, the proton-capture processing in stars of NGC 362 seems to be more extreme, confirming previous analysis. We discovered the presence of a secondary RGB sequence, redder than the bulk of the RGB: a preliminary estimate shows that this sequence comprises about 6% of RGB stars. Our spectroscopic data and literature photometry indicate that this sequence is populated almost exclusively by giants rich in Ba, and probably rich in all s-process elements, as found in other clusters. In this regards, NGC 362 joins previously studied GCs like NGC 1851, NGC 6656 (M 22), and NGC 7089 (M 2).
Cosmological models predict the oldest stars in the Galaxy should be found closest to the centre of the potential well, in the bulge. The Extremely Metal-poor BuLge stars with AAOmega survey (EMBLA) successfully searched for these old, metal-poor stars by making use of the distinctive SkyMapper photometric filters to discover candidate metal-poor stars in the bulge. Their metal-poor nature was then confirmed using the AAOmega spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Here we present an abundance analysis of 10 bulge stars with -2.8<[Fe/H]<-1.7 from MIKE/Magellan observations, in total determining the abundances of 22 elements. Combining these results with our previous high-resolution data taken as part of the Gaia-ESO Survey, we have started to put together a picture of the chemical and kinematic nature of the most metal-poor stars in the bulge. The currently available kinematic data are consistent with the stars belonging to the bulge, although more accurate measurements are needed to constrain the stars' orbits. The chemistry of these bulge stars deviates from that found in halo stars of the same metallicity. Two notable differences are the absence of carbon-enhanced metal-poor bulge stars, and the {alpha} element abundances exhibit a large intrinsic scatter and include stars which are underabundant in these typically enhanced elements.
We present element-to-element abundance ratios measured from high dispersion spectra for 150 field subdwarfs and early subgiants with accurate Hipparcos parallaxes (errors<20%). For 50 stars new spectra were obtained using the UVES on Kueyen (VLT UT2), the McDonald 2.7m telescope, and SARG at TNG. Additionally, literature equivalent widths were taken from the works by Nissen & Schuster (1997, Cat. <J/A+A/326/751>), Fullbright (2000AJ....120.1841F), and Prochaska et al. (2000AJ....120.2513P) to complement our data. The whole sample includes both thick disk and halo stars (and a few thin disk stars); most stars have metallicities in the range -2<[Fe/H]<-0.6. We found our data, that of Nissen & Schuster, and that of Prochaska to be of comparable quality; results from Fulbright scatter a bit more, but they are still of very good quality and are extremely useful due to the large size of his sample. The results of the present analysis will be used in forthcoming papers to discuss the chemical properties of the dissipational collapse and accretion components of our Galaxy.
We presented the observed information of ten metal-poor halo stars with the metallicity range -2.3<[Fe/H]< -1.4 and derived their stellar parameters, acquired some elemental abundances relative to iron and discussed the relation between the abundance ratio and the metallicity. The stars were observed using the 6m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory with the ECHELLE spectrometer PFES equipped with the CCD (1040x1160 pixels, pixel size 16x16{mu}m). The spectral wavelength coverage is of 430-798nm with the resolving power of 15000 and the signal-to-noise ratio is about 200. It was found that oxygen abundances are nearly constant at a level of 0.6dex for our metal-poor halo stars when the non-LTE correction is considered. The alpha-elements (Mg, Si, Ca and Ti) are overabundant relative to Fe and decrease with increasing metallicity. We also obtained a significant underabundant non-LTE [Na/Fe] ratio from NaI D lines which have large deviation from LTE assumption. Scandium is marginally overabundant with respect to iron and tends to decrease with increasing metallicity like the alpha-elements. Nearly solar value of [Cr/Fe] ratio and underabundant [Mn/Fe] ratio are obtained.
We analyze spectra of 18 stars belonging to the faintest subgiant branch in omega Centauri (the SGB-a), obtained with GIRAFFE@VLT at a resolution of R~=17000 and a S/N ratio between 25 and 50. We measure abundances of Al, Ba, Ca, Fe, Ni, Si, and Ti and we find that these stars have <[Fe/H]>=-0.73+/-0.14dex, similarly to the corresponding red giant branch population (the RGB-a). We also measure <[alpha/Fe]>=+0.40+/-0.16dex, and <[Ba/Fe]>=+0.87+/-0.23dex, in general agreement with past studies. It is very interesting to note that we found a uniform Al abundance, <[Al/Fe]>=+0.32+/-0.14dex, for all the 18 SGB-a stars analysed here, thus supporting past evidence that the usual (anti-)correlations are not present in this population, and suggesting a non globular cluster-like origin of this particular population. In the dwarf galaxy hypothesis for the formation of omega Cen, this population might be the best candidate for the field population of its putative parent galaxy, although some of its properties appear contradictory. It has also been suggested that the most metal-rich population in omega Cen is significantly enriched in helium. If this is true, the traditional abundance analysis techniques, based on model atmospheres with normal helium content, might lead to errors. We have computed helium enhanced atmospheres for three stars in our sample and verified that the abundance errors due to the use of non-enhanced atmospheres are negligible. Additional, indirect support to the enhanced helium content of the SGB-a population comes from our Li upper limits.
We present Magellan/MIKE and Keck/HIRES high-resolution spectra of six red giant stars in the dwarf galaxy Segue 1. Including one additional Segue 1 star observed by Norris et al. (2010ApJ...722L.104N), high-resolution spectra have now been obtained for every red giant in Segue 1. Remarkably, three of these seven stars have metallicities below [Fe/H]=-3.5, suggesting that Segue 1 is the least chemically evolved galaxy known. We confirm previous medium-resolution analyses demonstrating that Segue 1 stars span a metallicity range of more than 2 dex, from [Fe/H]=-1.4 to [Fe/H]=-3.8. All of the Segue 1 stars are {alpha}-enhanced, with [{alpha}/Fe]~0.5. High {alpha}-element abundances are typical for metal-poor stars, but in every previously studied galaxy [{alpha}/Fe] declines for more metal-rich stars, which is typically interpreted as iron enrichment from supernova Ia. The absence of this signature in Segue 1 indicates that it was enriched exclusively by massive stars. Other light element abundance ratios in Segue 1, including carbon enhancement in the three most metal-poor stars, closely resemble those of metal-poor halo stars. Finally, we classify the most metal-rich star as a CH star given its large overabundances of carbon and s-process elements. The other six stars show remarkably low neutron-capture element abundances of [Sr/H]<-4.9 and [Ba/H]<-4.2, which are comparable to the lowest levels ever detected in halo stars. This suggests minimal neutron-capture enrichment, perhaps limited to a single r-process or weak s-process synthesizing event. Altogether, the chemical abundances of Segue 1 indicate no substantial chemical evolution, supporting the idea that it may be a surviving first galaxy that experienced only one burst of star formation.
