History of Milky Way Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies Imprinted on Abundance Patterns of Neutron-Capture Elements

Stellar abundance pattern of neutron-capture elements such as barium is used as a powerful tool to infer how star formation proceeded in dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies. It is found that the abundance correlation of barium with iron in stars belonging to dSph galaxies orbiting the Milky Way, i.e., Draco, Sextans, and Ursa Minor have a feature similar to the barium-iron correlation in Galactic metal-poor stars. The common feature of these two correlations can be realized by our inhomogeneous chemical evolution model based on the supernova-driven star formation scenario if dSph stars formed from gas with a velocity dispersion of ~26 km/s. This velocity dispersion together with the stellar luminosities strongly suggest that dark matter dominated dSph galaxies. The tidal force of the Milky Way links this velocity dispersion with the currently observed value <10 km/s by stripping the dark matter in dSph galaxies. As a result, the total mass of each dSph galaxy is found to have been originally ~25 times larger than at present. Our inhomogeneous chemical evolution model succeeds in reproducing the stellar [Fe/H] distribution function observed in Sextans. In this model, supernovae immediately after the end of the star formation epoch can expel the remaining gas over the gravitational potential of the dSph galaxy.Comment: 5 pages including 2 figures, to appear in ApJ Letters Vol.57

Chemical evolution of galaxies with radiation-driven dust wind

We discuss how the removal of interstellar dust by radiation pressure of stars influences the chemical evolution of galaxies by using a new one-zone chemical evolution models with dust wind. The removal efficiency of an element (e.g., Fe, Mg, and Ca) through radiation-driven dust wind in a galaxy is assumed to depend both on the dust depletion level of the element in interstellar medium and the total luminosity of the galaxy in the new model. We particularly focus on the time evolution of [alpha/Fe] and its dependence on model parameters for dust wind in this study. The principal results are as follows. The time evolution of [Ca/Fe] is significantly different between models with and without dust wind in the sense that [Ca/Fe] can be systematically lower in the models with dust wind. The time evolution of [Mg/Fe], on the other hand, can not be so different between the models with and without dust wind owing to the lower level of dust depletion for Mg. As a result of this, [Mg/Ca] can be systematically higher in the models with dust wind. We compare these results with the observed elemental features of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), because a growing number of observational studies on [alpha/Fe] for the LMC have been recently accumulated for a detailed comparison. Based on the present new results, we also discuss the origins of [alpha/Fe] in the Fornax dwarf galaxy and elliptical galaxies in the context of radiation-driven dust wind.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted for the publication of MNRA

Galactic r-process abundance feature shaped by radial migration

Growing interests in the chemical feature of r-process elements among nearby disk stars represented by the [Eu/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] diagram have sprouted since it can assess the origin of r-process elements through the comparison with theoretical models, including a test as to if neutron star mergers can be the major site of r-process nucleosynthesis. On the other hand, recent studies reveal that local chemistry is strongly coupled with the dynamics of Galactic disk, which predicts that stars radially move on the disk where the observed elemental feature is different at various Galactocentric distances. Here, we show that radial migration of stars across the Galactic disk plays a crucial role in shaping the r-process abundance feature in the solar vicinity. In this proposed scenario, we highlight the importance of migration from the outer disk where [r-process/Fe] of some old stars is predicted to be enhanced to the level beyond the expectation from the observed Galactic Fe and Eu radial gradient, which results in a large span of [r-process/Fe] among nearby disk stars. The variation in the [r-process/Fe] ratio seen across the Galactic disk as well as in dwarf galaxies may be an outcome of different stellar initial mass functions which change the occurrence frequency between supernovae leaving behind neutron stars and ones ending with black holes. Here we propose that enhancement in [Eu/Fe] is attributed to the initial mass function lacking high-mass stars such as > 25 solar masses in the scheme for which neutron star mergers are a major source of r-process elements.Comment: 11 pages including 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

The r-process in Magnetorotational Supernovae

One of the hottest open issues involving the evolution of r-process elements is fast enrichment in the early Universe. Clear evidence for the chemical enrichment of r-process elements is seen in the stellar abundances of extremely metal poor stars in the Galactic halo. However, small-mass galaxies are the ideal testbed for studying the evolutionary features of r-process enrichment given the potential rarity of production events yielding heavy r-process elements. Their occurrences become countable and thus an enrichment path due to each event can be found in the stellar abundances. We examine the chemical feature of Eu abundance at an early stage of ${\rm[Fe/H]} \lesssim -2$ in the Draco and Sculptor dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies. Accordingly, we constrain the properties of the Eu production in the early dSphs. We find that the Draco dSph experienced a few Eu production events, whereas Eu enrichment took place more continuously in the Sculptor dSph due to its larger stellar mass. The event rate of Eu production is estimated to be about one per $100$-$200$ core-collapse supernovae, and a Eu mass of $\sim (1-2) \times 10^{-5}$\ms per single event is deduced by associating this frequency with the observed plateau value of ${\rm [Eu/H]} \sim -1.3$ for ${\rm [Fe/H]} \gtrsim -2$. The observed plateau implies that early Eu enrichment ceases at ${\rm [Fe/H]} \approx -2$. Such a selective operation only in low-metallicity stars supports magnetorotational supernovae, which require very fast rotation, as the site of early Eu production. We show that the Eu yields deduced from chemical evolution agree well with the nucleosynthesis results from corresponding supernovae models.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, published in ApJL 811:L10 (2015); Title is change

Chemical Signature of a Major Merger in the Early Formation of Small Magellanic Cloud

The formation history of the Small Magellanic cloud (SMC) is unraveled based on the results of our new chemical evolution models constructed for the SMC, highlighting the observed anomaly in the age-metallicity relation for star clusters in the SMC. We first propose that evidence of a major merger is imprinted in the age-metallicity relation as a dip in [Fe/H]. Our models predict that the major merger with a mass ratio of 1:1 to 1:4 occurred at ~7.5 Gyr ago, with a good reproduction of the abundance distribution function of field stars in the SMC. Furthermore, our models predict a relatively large scatter in [Mg/Fe] for -1.4 < [Fe/H] <-1.1 as a reflection of a looping feature resulting from the temporally inverse progress of chemical enrichment, which can be tested against future observational results. Given that the observed velocity dispersion (~30 km/s) of the SMC is much smaller than that (~160 km/s) of the Galactic halo, our finding strongly implies that the predicted merger event happened in a small group environment that was far from the Galaxy and contained a number of small gas-rich dwarfs comparable to the SMC. This theoretical view is extensively discussed in the framework that considers a connection with the formation history of the Large Magellanic cloud.Comment: 5 pages including 4 figures, to appear in ApJ Letter

Diversity of Type Ia Supernovae Imprinted in Chemical Abundances

A time delay of Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) explosions hinders the imprint of their nucleosynthesis on stellar abundances. However, some occasional cases give birth to stars that avoid enrichment of their chemical compositions by massive stars and thereby exhibit a SN Ia-like elemental feature including a very low [Mg/Fe] (~-1). We highlight the elemental feature of Fe-group elements for two low-Mg/Fe objects detected in nearby galaxies, and propose the presence of a class of SNe Ia that yield the low abundance ratios of [Cr,Mn,Ni/Fe]. Our novel models of chemical evolution reveal that our proposed class of SNe Ia (slow SNe Ia) is associated with ones exploding on a long timescale after their stellar birth, and gives a significant impact on the chemical enrichment in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). In the Galaxy, on the other hand, this effect is unseen due to the overwhelming enrichment by the major class of SNe Ia that explode promptly (prompt SNe Ia) and eject a large amount of Fe-group elements. This nicely explains the different [Cr,Mn,Ni/Fe] features between the two galaxies as well as the puzzling feature seen in the LMC stars exhibiting very low Ca but normal Mg abundances. Furthermore, the corresponding channel of slow SN Ia is exemplified by performing detailed nucleosynthesis calculations in the scheme of SNe Ia resulting from a 0.8+0.6 solar mass white dwarf merger.Comment: 5 pages including 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Chemical evolution of the Large Magellanic Cloud

We adopt a new chemical evolution model for the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and thereby investigate its past star formation and chemical enrichment histories. The delay time distribution of type Ia supernovae recently revealed by type Ia supernova surveys is incorporated self-consistently into the new model. The principle results are summarized as follows. The present gas mass fraction and stellar metallicity as well as the higher [Ba/Fe] in metal-poor stars at [Fe/H]<-1.5 can be more self-consistently explained by models with steeper initial mass functions. The observed higher [Mg/Fe] (> 0.3) at [Fe/H] ~ -0.6 and higher [Ba/Fe] (>0.5) at [Fe/H] ~ -0.3 can be due to significantly enhanced star formation about 2 Gyr ago. The observed overall [Ca/Fe]-[Fe/H] relation and remarkably low [Ca/Fe] (-0.6 are consistent with models with short-delay supernova Ia and with the more efficient loss of Ca possibly caused by an explosion mechanism of type II supernovae. Although the metallicity distribution functions do not show double peaks in the models with a starburst about 2 Gyr ago, they show characteristic double peaks in the models with double starbursts at ~200 Myr and ~2 Gyr ago. The observed apparent dip of [Fe/H] around ~1.5 Gyr ago in the age--metallicity relation can be reproduced by models in which a large amount (~10^9 M_{sun}) of metal-poor ([Fe/H]<-1) gas can be accreted onto the LMC.Comment: 39 pages and 22 figures, accepted in Ap

Stripping of nitrogen-rich AGB ejecta from interacting dwarf irregular galaxies

Dwarf irregular galaxies (dIrrs) including the Magellanic Clouds in the local Universe, in many cases, exhibit an unusually low N/O abundance ratio (log N/O ~ -1.5) in H II regions as compared with the solar value (~-0.9). This ratio is broadly equivalent to the average level of extremely metal-poor stars in the Galactic halo, suggesting that N released from asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars is missing in the present-day interstellar matter of these dIrrs. We find evidence for past tidal interactions in the properties of individual dIrrs exhibiting low N/O ratios, while a clear signature of interactions is unseen for dIrrs with high N/O ratios. Accordingly, we propose that the ejecta of massive AGB stars that correspond to a major production site of N can be stripped from dIrrs that have undergone a strong interaction with a luminous galaxy. The physical process of its stripping is made up of two stages: (i) the ejecta of massive AGB stars in a dIrr are first merged with those of the bursting prompt SNe Ia and pushed up together to the galaxy halo, and (ii) subsequently through tidal interactions with a luminous galaxy, these ejecta are stripped from a dwarf galaxy's potential well. Our new chemical evolution models with stripping of AGB ejecta succeed in reproducing the observed low N/O ratio. Furthermore, we perform N-body + hydrodynamical simulations to trace the fate of AGB ejecta inside a dIrr orbiting the Milky Way, and confirm that a tidal interaction is responsible for the efficient stripping of AGB ejecta from dIrrs.Comment: 11 pages including 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Formation of globular clusters with internal abundance spreads in r-process elements: strong evidence for prolonged star formation

Several globular clusters (GCs) in the Galaxy are observed to show internal abundance spreads in r-process elements (e.g., Eu). We here propose a new scenario which explains the origin of these GCs (e.g., M5 and M15). In this scenario, stars with no/little abundance variations first form from a massive molecular cloud (MC). After all of the remaining gas of the MC is expelled by numerous supernovae, gas ejected from asymptotic giant branch stars can be accumulated in the central region of the GC to form a high-density intra-cluster medium (ICM). Merging of neutron stars then occurs to eject r-process elements, which can be efficiently trapped in and subsequently mixed with the ICM. New stars formed from the ICM can have r-process abundances quite different from those of earlier generations of stars within the GC. This scenario can explain both (i) why r-process elements can be trapped within GCs and (ii) why GCs with internal abundance spreads in r-process elements do not show [Fe/H] spreads. Our model shows that (i) a large fraction of Eu-rich stars can be seen in Na-enhanced stellar populations of GCs, as observed in M15, and (ii) why most of the Galactic GCs do not exhibit such internal abundance spreads. Our model demonstrates that the observed internal spreads of $r$-process elements in GCs provide strong evidence for prolonged star formation (~10^8 yr).Comment: 19pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Enrichment history of r-process elements shaped by a merger of neutron star pairs

The origin of r-process elements remains unidentified and still puzzles us. The recent discovery of evidence for the ejection of r-process elements from a short-duration gamma-ray burst singled out neutron star mergers (NSMs) as their origin. In contrast, core-collapse supernovae are ruled out as the main origin of heavy r-process elements (A>110) by recent numerical simulations. However, the properties characterizing NSM events - their rarity and high yield of r-process elements per event - have been claimed to be incompatible with the observed stellar records on r-process elements in the Galaxy. We add to this picture with our results, which show that the observed constant [r-process/H] ratio in faint dwarf galaxies and one star unusually rich in r-process in the Sculptor galaxy agree well with this rarity of NSM events. Furthermore, we found that a large scatter in the abundance ratios of r-process elements to iron in the Galactic halo can be reproduced by a scheme that incorporates an assembly of various protogalactic fragments, in each of which r-process elements supplied by NSMs pervade the whole fragment while supernovae distribute heavy elements only inside the regions swept up by the blast waves. Our results demonstrate that NSMs occurring at Galactic rate of 12-23 per Myr are the main site of r-process elements, and we predict the detection of gravitational waves from NSMs at a high rate with upcoming advanced detectors.Comment: 4 pages including 2 figures, accepted for publication in A&A Letter