292 research outputs found
The Solar Photospheric Nitrogen Abundance: Determination with 3D and 1D Model Atmospheres
We present a new determination of the solar nitrogen abundance making use of
3D hydrodynamical modelling of the solar photosphere, which is more physically
motivated than traditional static 1D models. We selected suitable atomic
spectral lines, relying on equivalent width measurements already existing in
the literature. For atmospheric modelling we used the co 5 bold 3D radiation
hydrodynamics code. We investigated the influence of both deviations from local
thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE effects) and photospheric inhomogeneities
(granulation effects) on the resulting abundance. We also compared several
atlases of solar flux and centre-disc intensity presently available. As a
result of our analysis, the photospheric solar nitrogen abundance is A(N) =
7.86 +/- 0.12.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
The Gaia-ESO Survey: the chemical structure of the Galactic discs from the first internal data release
Most high-resolution spectroscopic studies of the Galactic discs were mostly
confined to objects in the solar vicinity. Here we aim at enlarging the volume
in which individual chemical abundances are used to characterise both discs,
using the first internal data release of the Gaia-ESO survey. We derive and
discuss the abundances of eight elements (Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Fe, Cr, Ni, and
Y). The trends of these elemental abundances with iron are very similar to
those in the solar neighbourhood. We find a natural division between alpha-rich
and alpha-poor stars, best seen in the bimodality of the [Mg/M] distributions
in bins of metallicity, which we attribute to thick- and thin-disc sequences,
respectively. With the possible exception of Al, the observed dispersion around
the trends is well described by the expected errors, leaving little room for
astrophysical dispersion. Using previously derived distances from Recio-Blanco
et al. (2014b), we further find that the thick-disc is more extended vertically
and is more centrally concentrated towards the inner Galaxy than the thin-disc,
which indicates a shorter scale-length. We derive the radial and vertical
gradients in metallicity, iron, four alpha-element abundances, and Al for the
two populations, taking into account the identified correlation between R_GC
and |Z|. Radial metallicity gradient is found in the thin disc. The positive
radial individual [alpha/M] gradients found are at variance from the gradients
observed in the RAVE survey. The thin disc also hosts a negative vertical
metallicity gradient, accompanied by positive individual [alpha/M] and [Al/M]
gradients. The thick-disc, presents no radial metallicity gradient, a shallower
vertical metallicity gradient than the thin-disc, an alpha-elements-to-iron
radial gradient in the opposite sense than that of the thin disc, and positive
vertical individual [alpha/M] and [Al/M] gradients.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figure
The Gaia-ESO Survey: the most metal-poor stars in the Galactic bulge
We present the first results of the EMBLA survey (Extremely Metal-poor BuLge
stars with AAOmega), aimed at finding metal-poor stars in the Milky Way bulge,
where the oldest stars should now preferentially reside. EMBLA utilises
SkyMapper photometry to pre-select metal-poor candidates, which are
subsequently confirmed using AAOmega spectroscopy. We describe the discovery
and analysis of four bulge giants with -2.72<=[Fe/H]<=-2.48, the lowest
metallicity bulge stars studied with high-resolution spectroscopy to date.
Using FLAMES/UVES spectra through the Gaia-ESO Survey we have derived
abundances of twelve elements. Given the uncertainties, we find a chemical
similarity between these bulge stars and halo stars of the same metallicity,
although the abundance scatter may be larger, with some of the stars showing
unusual [{\alpha}/Fe] ratios.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication by MNRA
The Gaia-ESO Survey: radial metallicity gradients and age-metallicity relation of stars in the Milky Way disk
We study the relationship between age, metallicity, and alpha-enhancement of
FGK stars in the Galactic disk. The results are based upon the analysis of
high-resolution UVES spectra from the Gaia-ESO large stellar survey. We explore
the limitations of the observed dataset, i.e. the accuracy of stellar
parameters and the selection effects that are caused by the photometric target
preselection. We find that the colour and magnitude cuts in the survey suppress
old metal-rich stars and young metal-poor stars. This suppression may be as
high as 97% in some regions of the age-metallicity relationship. The dataset
consists of 144 stars with a wide range of ages from 0.5 Gyr to 13.5 Gyr,
Galactocentric distances from 6 kpc to 9.5 kpc, and vertical distances from the
plane 0 < |Z| < 1.5 kpc. On this basis, we find that i) the observed
age-metallicity relation is nearly flat in the range of ages between 0 Gyr and
8 Gyr; ii) at ages older than 9 Gyr, we see a decrease in [Fe/H] and a clear
absence of metal-rich stars; this cannot be explained by the survey selection
functions; iii) there is a significant scatter of [Fe/H] at any age; and iv)
[Mg/Fe] increases with age, but the dispersion of [Mg/Fe] at ages > 9 Gyr is
not as small as advocated by some other studies. In agreement with earlier
work, we find that radial abundance gradients change as a function of vertical
distance from the plane. The [Mg/Fe] gradient steepens and becomes negative. In
addition, we show that the inner disk is not only more alpha-rich compared to
the outer disk, but also older, as traced independently by the ages and Mg
abundances of stars.Comment: accepted for publication in A&
The Gaia-ESO survey : Processing FLAMES-UVES spectra
Date of Acceptance: 19/03/2014The Gaia-ESO Survey is a large public spectroscopic survey that aims to derive radial velocities and fundamental parameters of about 105 Milky Way stars in the field and in clusters. Observations are carried out with the multi-object optical spectrograph FLAMES, using simultaneously the medium-resolution (R ~ 20 000) GIRAFFE spectrograph and the high-resolution (R ~ 47 000) UVES spectrograph. In this paper we describe the methods and the software used for the data reduction, the derivation of the radial velocities, and the quality control of the FLAMES-UVES spectra. Data reduction has been performed using a workflow specifically developed for this project. This workflow runs the ESO public pipeline optimizing the data reduction for the Gaia-ESO Survey, automatically performs sky subtraction, barycentric correction and normalisation, and calculates radial velocities and a first guess of the rotational velocities. The quality control is performed using the output parameters from the ESO pipeline, by a visual inspection of the spectra and by the analysis of the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra. Using the observations of the first 18 months, specifically targets observed multiple times at different epochs, stars observed with both GIRAFFE and UVES, and observations of radial velocity standards, we estimated the precision and the accuracy of the radial velocities. The statistical error on the radial velocities is Ï ~ 0.4 km s-1 and is mainly due to uncertainties in the zero point of the wavelength calibration. However, we found a systematic bias with respect to the GIRAFFE spectra (~0.9 km s-1) and to the radial velocities of the standard stars (~0.5 km s-1) retrieved from the literature. This bias will be corrected in the future data releases, when a common zero point for all the set-ups and instruments used for the survey is be established.Peer reviewe
The Gaia-ESO Survey: Chromospheric Emission, Accretion Properties, and Rotation in Velorum and Chamaeleon I
We use the fundamental parameters delivered by the GES consortium in the
first internal data release to select the members of Vel and Cha I
among the UVES and GIRAFFE spectroscopic observations. A total of 140
Vel members and 74 Cha I members were studied. We calculated stellar
luminosities through spectral energy distributions, while stellar masses were
derived by comparison with evolutionary tracks. The spectral subtraction of
low-activity and slowly rotating templates, which are rotationally broadened to
match the of the targets, enabled us to measure the equivalent widths
(EWs) and the fluxes in the H and H lines. The H line
was also used for identifying accreting objects and for evaluating the mass
accretion rate (). The distribution of for the
members of Vel displays a peak at about 10 km s with a tail
toward faster rotators. There is also some indication of a different
distribution for the members of its two kinematical populations. Only a handful
of stars in Vel display signatures of accretion, while many more
accretors were detected in the younger Cha~I. Accreting and active stars occupy
two different regions in a -flux diagram and we propose a
criterion for distinguishing them. We derive in the ranges
-yr and -yr
for Vel and Cha I accretors, respectively. We find less scatter in the
relation derived through the H EWs, when
compared to the H diagnostics, in agreement with other authors
The Gaia-ESO Survey : The analysis of high-resolution UVES spectra of FGK-type stars
Date of Acceptance: 01/09/2014Context. The ongoing Gaia-ESO Public Spectroscopic Survey is using FLAMES at the VLT to obtain high-quality medium-resolution Giraffe spectra for about 105 stars and high-resolution UVES spectra for about 5000 stars. With UVES, the Survey has already observed 1447 FGK-type stars. Aims. These UVES spectra are analyzed in parallel by several state-of-the-art methodologies. Our aim is to present how these analyses were implemented, to discuss their results, and to describe how a final recommended parameter scale is defined. We also discuss the precision (method-to-method dispersion) and accuracy (biases with respect to the reference values) of the final parameters. These results are part of the Gaia-ESO second internal release and will be part of its first public release of advanced data products. Methods. The final parameter scale is tied to the scale defined by the Gaia benchmark stars, a set of stars with fundamental atmospheric parameters. In addition, a set of open and globular clusters is used to evaluate the physical soundness of the results. Each of the implemented methodologies is judged against the benchmark stars to define weights in three different regions of the parameter space. The final recommended results are the weighted medians of those from the individual methods. Results. The recommended results successfully reproduce the atmospheric parameters of the benchmark stars and the expected Teff-log g relation of the calibrating clusters. Atmospheric parameters and abundances have been determined for 1301 FGK-type stars observed with UVES. The median of the method-to-method dispersion of the atmospheric parameters is 55 K for Teff, 0.13 dex for log g and 0.07 dex for [Fe/H]. Systematic biases are estimated to be between 50-100 K for Teff, 0.10-0.25 dex for log g and 0.05-0.10 dex for [Fe/H]. Abundances for 24 elements were derived: C, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Y, Zr, Mo, Ba, Nd, and Eu. The typical method-to-method dispersion of the abundances varies between 0.10 and 0.20 dex. Conclusions. The Gaia-ESO sample of high-resolution spectra of FGK-type stars will be among the largest of its kind analyzed in a homogeneous way. The extensive list of elemental abundances derived in these stars will enable significant advances in the areas of stellar evolution and Milky Way formation and evolution.Peer reviewe
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