Elemental Abundances in the Local Group: Tracing the Formation History of the Great Andromeda Galaxy

The Local Group (LG) is an environment accessible to detailed studies of galaxy formation, providing a complement to the early universe. In particular, spectroscopy of resolved stellar populations in the LG provides kinematical and chemical information for individual stars that can be used to infer the history of L★ galaxies like the Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda (M31). The Gaia revolution in the MW, combined with spectroscopy from APOGEE and other surveys, has enabled comprehensive observational studies of the MW's formation history. In addition, comparisons to simulations can be leveraged to maximally utilize such observational data to probe the hierarchical assembly of galaxies. Toward this goal, I have analyzed simulations of chemical evolution in LG dwarf galaxies to assess their ability to match observations. The exquisite detail in which the MW has been studied is currently not achievable in any other L★ galaxy. For this reason, the MW is a template for our understanding of galaxy formation. M31 is the only external galaxy that we can currently hope study in a level of detail approaching the MW. Studies of M31 have recently taken on greater significance, given the growing body of evidence that its formation history differs substantially from that of the MW. In an era of limited information about elemental abundances in M31, I have developed a technique to apply spectral synthesis to low-resolution stellar spectroscopy in order to measure abundances for individual giant stars in distant LG galaxies. Through undertaking the largest deep, spectroscopic survey of M31 to date with my collaborators, this has resulted in the first measurements of the elemental abundances in the inner stellar halo and stellar disk of M31, and the largest homogeneous catalog of elemental abundances in M31. With this foundational work, we have opened the doors to detailed studies of the chemical composition of M31. Now, we can begin to ask--and answer--what differences in the elemental abundances of the M31 and the MW imply for our knowledge of galaxy formation in the broader universe. At the cusp of next-generation observational facilities and theoretical simulations, we can only advance toward this goal.</p

Elemental Abundances in M31: Alpha and Iron Element Abundances from Low-Resolution Resolved Stellar Spectroscopy in the Stellar Halo

Measurements of [Fe/H] and [$\alpha$/Fe] can probe the minor merging history of a galaxy, providing a direct way to test the hierarchical assembly paradigm. While measurements of [$\alpha$/Fe] have been made in the stellar halo of the Milky Way, little is known about detailed chemical abundances in the stellar halo of M31. To make progress with existing telescopes, we apply spectral synthesis to low-resolution DEIMOS spectroscopy (R $\sim$ 2500 at 7000 Angstroms) across a wide spectral range (4500 Angstroms $<$ $\lambda$ $<$ 9100 Angstroms). By applying our technique to low-resolution spectra of 170 giant stars in 5 MW globular clusters, we demonstrate that our technique reproduces previous measurements from higher resolution spectroscopy. Based on the intrinsic dispersion in [Fe/H] and [$\alpha$/Fe] of individual stars in our combined cluster sample, we estimate systematic uncertainties of $\sim$0.11 dex and $\sim$0.09 dex in [Fe/H] and [$\alpha$/Fe], respectively. We apply our method to deep, low-resolution spectra of 11 red giant branch stars in the smooth halo of M31, resulting in higher signal-to-noise per spectral resolution element compared to DEIMOS medium-resolution spectroscopy, given the same exposure time and conditions. We find $\langle$[$\alpha$/Fe]$\rangle$ = 0.49 $\pm$ 0.29 dex and $\langle$[Fe/H]$\rangle$ = 1.59 $\pm$ 0.56 dex for our sample. This implies that---much like the Milky Way---the smooth halo of M31 is likely composed of disrupted dwarf galaxies with truncated star formation histories that were accreted early in the halo's formation.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, accepted to Ap

Conga : ¿Y dónde quedó la consulta previa?

El presente Trabajo Académico busca analizar si el proceso de consulta previa era aplicable para la aprobación del Estudio de Impacto Ambiental del Proyecto Minero Conga; o si solo era necesario cumplir con el procedimiento de participación ciudadana para cumplir con la normativa vigente y obtener la certificación ambiental. Se parte de la hipótesis que, a la fecha de la aprobación del Estudio de Impacto Ambiental, Minera Yanacocha no contaba con la obligación de realizar el proceso de consulta previa, puesto que no era un requisito para la aprobación del mencionado instrumento de gestión ambiental; sino una obligación por parte de Estado Peruano relacionado al cumplimiento del Convenio 169 de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo. En la última década, en el Perú, la consulta previa se encuentra relacionada con el procedimiento de participación ciudadana, esto es porque se califica a la consulta previa como un mecanismo de participación ciudadana (ESDA, 2013, p.179). Sin embargo, es menester dejar en claro que ambas son figuras que, si bien parecieran cumplir con la misma finalidad, son distintas entre sí. La consulta previa tiene la finalidad de preservar los valores culturales propios de los pueblos indígenas y tribales mediante el otorgamiento de voz para decidir sobre su propio desarrollo en su territorio; por otro lado, la participación ciudadana se caracteriza por incluir a los pueblos indígenas en todas las fases del ciclo de elaboración, aplicación y evaluación de políticas y programas de desarrollo nacional o regional que les pueda afectar. No solo en la fase inicial, como en el derecho a la consulta previa, sino en todo el ciclo. Sin perjuicio de que se concluye que el Proyecto Minero Conga no debió realizar el procedimiento de consulta previa, es menester dejar en claro que, tanto la consulta previa como los procesos de participación ciudadana deben ser fortalecidos, con la finalidad que sean utilizados como verdaderos mecanismos que promuevan el diálogo fluido y eficiente entre los actores involucrados, de manera tal que la población aledaña al Proyecto recupere la confianza de las decisiones de la administración pública (decisiones públicas) y de las empresas mineras (decisiones privadas).Trabajo académic

Elemental Abundances in M31: A Comparative Analysis of Alpha and Iron Element Abundances in the the Outer Disk, Giant Stellar Stream, and Inner Halo of M31

We measured [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] using spectral synthesis of low-resolution stellar spectroscopy for 70 individual red-giant-branch stars across four fields spanning the outer disk, Giant Stellar Stream (GSS), and inner halo of M31. Fields at M31-centric projected distances of 23 kpc in the halo, 12 kpc in the halo, 22 kpc in the GSS, and 26 kpc in the outer disk are α-enhanced, with ⟨ [α/Fe]〉= 0.43, 0.50, 0.41, and 0.58, respectively. The 23 and 12 kpc halo fields are relatively metal-poor, with ⟨ [Fe/H]⟩ = −1.54 and −1.30, whereas the 22 kpc GSS and 26 kpc outer disk fields are relatively metal-rich with ⟨ [Fe/H]⟩ = −0.84 and −0.92, respectively. For fields with substructure, we separated the stellar populations into kinematically hot stellar halo components and kinematically cold components. We did not find any evidence of a radial [α/Fe] gradient along the high surface brightness core of the GSS between ~17 and 22 kpc. However, we found tentative suggestions of a negative radial [α/Fe] gradient in the stellar halo, which may indicate that different progenitor(s) or formation mechanisms contributed to the build up of the inner versus outer halo. Additionally, the [α/Fe] distribution of the metal-rich ([Fe/H] > −1.5), smooth inner stellar halo (r_(proj) ≾ 26 kpc) is inconsistent with having formed from the disruption of a progenitor(s) similar to present-day M31 satellite galaxies. The 26 kpc outer disk is most likely associated with the extended disk of M31, where its high α-enhancement provides support for an episode of rapid star formation in M31's disk possibly induced by a major merger

Modelling chemical abundance distributions for dwarf galaxies in the Local Group: the impact of turbulent metal diffusion

We investigate stellar metallicity distribution functions (MDFs), including Fe and ${\alpha}$-element abundances, in dwarf galaxies from the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. We examine both isolated dwarf galaxies and those that are satellites of a Milky Way-mass galaxy. In particular, we study the effects of including a sub-grid turbulent model for the diffusion of metals in gas. Simulations that include diffusion have narrower MDFs and abundance ratio distributions, because diffusion drives individual gas and star particles toward the average metallicity. This effect provides significantly better agreement with observed abundance distributions of dwarf galaxies in the Local Group, including the small intrinsic scatter in [${\alpha}$/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] (less than 0.1 dex). This small intrinsic scatter arises in our simulations because the interstellar medium (ISM) in dwarf galaxies is well-mixed at nearly all cosmic times, such that stars that form at a given time have similar abundances to within 0.1 dex. Thus, most of the scatter in abundances at z = 0 arises from redshift evolution and not from instantaneous scatter in the ISM. We find similar MDF widths and intrinsic scatter for satellite and isolated dwarf galaxies, which suggests that environmental effects play a minor role compared with internal chemical evolution in our simulations. Overall, with the inclusion of metal diffusion, our simulations reproduce abundance distribution widths of observed low-mass galaxies, enabling detailed studies of chemical evolution in galaxy formation.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, published in MNRA