Preliminary Abundance Analysis of Galactic Bulge Main Sequence, Subgiant, and Giant Branch Stars Observed During Microlensing with Keck/HIRES

We present an abundance analysis of six main sequence turnoff, subgiant, and giant branch stars toward the Galactic bulge that were observed with Keck/HIRES during microlensing events. This is an early look at the first detailed chemical analysis of main sequence stars in the Galactic bulge. Lensing events allow the effective aperture of Keck to be increased beyond its current dimensions; although, some events still stretched its spectroscopic capabilities. Future large telescopes with high resolution and high throughput spectrometers will allow the study of abundances in distant stellar populations and in less evolved stars with greater ease.Comment: 8 pages including 2 figures. To appear in SPIE proceedings on Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation. Uses spie.cl

Variable stars in the VVV globular clusters

Indexación: Scopus.The VVV survey observed some of the most crowded and most obscured regions in the inner Milky Way during the last years. A significant sample of the less known globular clusters in our galaxy lie there. Combining the high-resolution, wide-field, near infrared capabilities of the survey camera, the use of 5 different filters, and multi-epoch observations, we are able to overcome many of the previous challenges that prevented a proper study of these objects. Particularly, the identification of the RR Lyrae stars in these globular clusters is proving to be a fundamental tool to establish accurately their distances and reddenings, and to infer information about the Oosterhoff dichotomy that Galactic globular clusters seem to follow. © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2017.https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2017/21/epjconf_puls2017_01022.pd

Gauging the Helium Abundance of the Galactic Bulge RR Lyrae Stars

Indexación: Scopus.We report the first estimate of the He abundance of the population of RR Lyrae stars in the Galactic bulge. This is done by comparing the recent observational data with the latest models. We use the large samples of ab-type RR Lyrae stars found by OGLE IV in the inner bulge and by the VVV survey in the outer bulge. We present the result from the new models computed by Marconi et al., showing that the minimum period for fundamental RR Lyrae pulsators depends on the He content. By comparing these models with the observations in a period versus effective temperature plane, we find that the bulk of the bulge ab-type RR Lyrae are consistent with primordial He abundance Y = 0.245, ruling out a significant He-enriched population. This work demonstrates that the He content of the bulge RR Lyrae is different from that of the bulk of the bulge population as traced by the red clump giants that appear to be significantly more He-rich.http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aaa8e3/met

The central spheroids of Milky Way mass-sized galaxies

Indexación: Scopus.PBT, DM and AM acknowledge partial support from the Nucleo UNAB 2015 DI-677-15/N of Universidad Andres Bello. PBT acknowledges partial support from Fondecyt Regular 1150334 and the Southern Astrophysics Network (SAN) collaboration funded by Conicyt, and PICT 2011-0959 and PIP 2012-0396 (Mincyt, Argentina). DM and MZ are supported by the BASAL Center for Astrophysics and Associated Technologies (CATA) through grant PFB-06, and the Ministry for the Economy, Development, and Tourism, Programa Iniciativa Cientifica Milenio through grant IC120009, awarded to the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS), and by FONDECYT Regular grant No. 1130196. DC and TCB acknowledge partial support for this work from grant PHY 14-30152; Physics Frontier Center/JINA Center for the Evolution of the Elements (JINA-CEE), awarded by the US National Science Foundation. REGM acknowledges support from Ci?ncia sem Fronteiras (CNPq, Brazil).We study the properties of the central spheroids located within 10 kpc of the centre of mass of MilkyWay mass-sized galaxies simulated in a cosmological context. The simulated central regions are dominated by stars older than 10 Gyr, mostly formed in situ, with a contribution of ~30 per cent from accreted stars. These stars formed in well-defined starbursts, although accreted stars exhibit sharper and earlier ones. The fraction of accreted stars increases with galactocentric distance, so that at a radius of~8-10 kpc, a fraction of~40 per cent, on average, is detected. Accreted stars are slightly younger, lower metallicity, and more α-enhanced than in situ stars. A significant fraction of old stars in the central regions come from a few (2-3) massive satellites (~1010M⊙). The bulge components receive larger contributions of accreted stars formed in dwarfs smaller than ~109.5M⊙. The difference between the distributions of ages and metallicities of old stars is thus linked to the accretion histories - those central regions with a larger fraction of accreted stars are those with contributions from more massive satellites. The kinematical properties of in situ and accreted stars are consistent with the latter being supported by their velocity dispersions, while the former exhibit clear signatures of rotational support. Our simulations demonstrate a range of characteristics, with some systems exhibiting a co-existing bar and spheroid in their central regions, resembling in some respect the central region of the Milky Way. © 2016 The Authors.https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/473/2/1656/422260

Reddening and metallicity maps of the Milky Way bulge from VVV and 2MASS III. The first global photometric metallicity map of the Galactic bulge

We investigate the large scale metallicity distribution in the Galactic bulge, using a large spatial coverage, in order to constrain the bulge formation scenario. We use the VISTA variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey data and 2MASS photometry, covering 320 sqdeg of the Galactic bulge, to derive photometric metallicities by interpolating of the (J-Ks)0 colors of individual Red Giant Branch stars based on a set of globular cluster ridge lines. We then use this information to construct the first global metallicity map of the bulge with a resolution of 30'x45'. The metallicity map of the bulge revealed a clear vertical metallicity gradient of ~0.04 dex/deg (~0.28 dex/kpc), with metal-rich stars ([Fe/H]~0) dominating the inner bulge in regions closer to the galactic plane (|b|<5). At larger scale heights, the mean metallicity of the bulge population becomes significantly more metal-poor. This fits in the scenario of a boxy-bulge originated from the vertical inestability of the Galactic bar, formed early via secular evolution of a two component stellar disk. Older, metal-poor stars dominate at higher scale heights due to the non-mixed orbits from the originally hotter thick disk stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&