Homogeneous abundance analysis of dwarf, subgiant and giant FGK stars with and without giant planets

We have analyzed high-resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio optical spectra of nearby FGK stars with and without detected giant planets in order to homogeneously measure their photospheric parameters, mass, age, and the abundances of volatile (C, N, and O) and refractory (Na, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Ba) elements. Our sample contains 309 stars from the solar neighborhood (up to the distance of 100 pc), out of which 140 are dwarfs, 29 are subgiants, and 140 are giants. The photospheric parameters are derived from the equivalent widths of Fe I and Fe II lines. Masses and ages come from the interpolation in evolutionary tracks and isochrones on the HR diagram. The abundance determination is based on the equivalent widths of selected atomic lines of the refractory elements and on the spectral synthesis of C_2, CN, C I, O I, and Na I features. We apply a set of statistical methods to analyze the abundances derived for the three subsamples. Our results show that: i) giant stars systematically exhibit underabundance in [C/Fe] and overabundance in [N/Fe] and [Na/Fe] in comparison with dwarfs, a result that is normally attributed to evolution-induced mixing processes in the envelope of evolved stars; ii) for solar analogs only, the abundance trends with the condensation temperature of the elements are correlated with age and anticorrelated with the surface gravity, which is in agreement with recent studies; iii) as in the case of [Fe/H], dwarf stars with giant planets are systematically enriched in [X/H] for all the analyzed elements, except for O and Ba (the former due to limitations of statistics), confirming previous findings in the literature that not only iron has an important relation with the planetary formation; and iv) giant planet hosts are also significantly overabundant for the same metallicity when the elements from Mg to Cu are combined together.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures, 8 table

Chemical Evolution of the Galaxy Based on the Oscillatory Star Formation History

We model the star formation history (SFH) and the chemical evolution of the Galactic disk by combining an infall model and a limit-cycle model of the interstellar medium (ISM). Recent observations have shown that the SFH of the Galactic disk violently variates or oscillates. We model the oscillatory SFH based on the limit-cycle behavior of the fractional masses of three components of the ISM. The observed period of the oscillation ($\sim 1$ Gyr) is reproduced within the natural parameter range. This means that we can interpret the oscillatory SFH as the limit-cycle behavior of the ISM. We then test the chemical evolution of stars and gas in the framework of the limit-cycle model, since the oscillatory behavior of the SFH may cause an oscillatory evolution of the metallicity. We find however that the oscillatory behavior of metallicity is not prominent because the metallicity reflects the past integrated SFH. This indicates that the metallicity cannot be used to distinguish an oscillatory SFH from one without oscillations.Comment: 21 pages LaTeX, to appear in Ap

The metallicity distribution of G dwarfs in the solar neighbourhood

We derive a new metallicity distribution of G dwarfs in the solar neighbourhood, using uvby photometry and up-to-date parallaxes. Our distribution comprises 287 G dwarfs within 25 pc from the Sun, and differs considerably from the classic solar neighbourhood distribution of Pagel & Patchett and Pagel by having a prominent single peak around [Fe/H] = -0.20 dex. The raw data are corrected for observational errors and cosmic scatter assuming a deviation of 0.1. In order to obtain the true abundance distribution, we use the correction factors given by Sommer-Larsen, which take into account the stellar scale heights. The distribution confirms the G dwarf problem, that is, the paucity of metal-poor stars relative to the predictions of the simple model of chemical evolution. Another feature of this distribution, which was already apparent in previous ones, is the small number of metal-rich stars again in comparison with the simple model. Our results indicate that it is very difficult to fit the simple model to this distribution, even with the definition of an `effective yield'. A comparison with several models from the literature is made. We find that models with infall are the most appropriate to explain the new metallicity distribution. We also show that the metallicity distribution is compatible with a major era of star formation occurring 5 to 8 Gyr ago, similar to results found by several authors.Comment: Tex, uses mn.tex v1.6, 13 pages, 8 figures available upon request, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of Roy. Astr. So