Stellar Objects of Extragalactic Origin in the Galactic Halo

We identified globular clusters and field stars of extragalactic origin and investigated their chemical, physical, and kinematical properties. This objects as supposed was captured by the Galaxy at different times from debris of the dwarf satellite galaxies disrupted by its tidal forces. The results are follows. (1) The majorities of metal-poor stellar objects in the Galaxy have an extragalactic origin. (2) The masses of the accreted globular clusters decrease with the removal from the center and the plane of the Galaxy. (3) The relative abundances of chemical elements in the accreted and genetically connected stars are essentially distinguished. (4) The accreted field stars demonstrate the decrease of the relative magnesium abundanses with an increase in sizes and inclinations of their orbits. (5) The stars of the Centaurus moving group were born from the matter, in which star formation rate was considerably lower than in the early Galaxy. On the base of these properties was made a conclusion that with the decrease of the masses of the dwarf galaxies in them simultaneously decrease the average masses of globular clusters and the maximum masses of supernova SNe II. Namely latter fact leads to the decrease of the relative abundances of \alpha-elements in their metal-poor stars

Star Formation History in the Galactic Thin Disk

The behavior of the relative magnesium abundances in the thin-disk stars versus their orbital radii suggests that the star formation rate in the thin disk decreases with increasing Galactocentric distance, and there was no star formation for some time outside the solar circle while this process was continuous within the solar circle. The decrease in the star formation rate with increasing Galactocentric distance is responsible for the existence of a negative radial metallicity gradient in the thin disk. At the same time the relative magnesium abundance exhibits no radial gradient. It is in detail considered the influence of selective effects on the form of both age - metallicity and age - relative magnesium abundance diagrams. It is shown that the first several billion years of the formation of the thin disk interstellar medium in it was on the average sufficiently rich in heavy elements ( = -0.22), badly mixed (\sigma_[Fe/H] = 0.21), and the average relative magnesium abundance was comparatively high ( = 0.10). Approximately 5 billion years ago average metallicity began to systematically increase, and its dispersion and the average relative magnesium abundance - to decrease. These properties may be explained by an increase in star formation rate with the simultaneous intensification of the processes of mixing the interstellar medium in the thin disk, provoke possible by interaction the Galaxy with the completely massive by satellite galaxy

Relationship between the Velocity Ellipsoids of Galactic-Disk Stars and their Ages and Metallicities

The dependences of the velocity ellipsoids of F-G stars of the thin disk of the Galaxy on their ages and metallicities are analyzed based on the new version of the Geneva-Copenhagen Catalog. The age dependences of the major, middle, and minor axes of the ellipsoids, and also of the dispersion of the total residual veltocity, obey power laws with indices 0.25,0.29,0.32, and 0.27 (with uncertainties \pm 0.02). Due to the presence of thick-disk objects, the analogous indices for all nearby stars are about a factor of 1.5 larger. Attempts to explain such values are usually based on modeling relaxation processes in the Galactic disk. With increasing age, the velocity ellipsoid increases in size and becomes appreciably more spherical, turns toward the direction of the Galactic center, and loses angular momentum. The shape of the velocity ellipsoid remains far from equilibrium. With increasing metallicity, the velocity ellipsoid for stars of mixed age increases in size, displays a weak tendency to become more spherical, and turns toward the direction of the Galactic center (with these changes occurring substantially more rapidly in the transition through the metallicity [Fe/H]= -0.25). Thus, the ellipsoid changes similarly to the way it does with age; however, with decreasing metallicity, the rotational velocity about the Galactic center monotonically increases, rather than decreases(!). Moreover, the power-law indices for the age dependences of the axes depend on the metallicity, and display a maximum near [Fe/H]=-0.1. The age dependences of all the velocity-ellipsoid parameters for stars with equal metallicity are roughly the same. It is proposed that the appearance of a metallicity dependence of the velocity ellipsoids for thin-disk stars is most likely due to the radial migration of stars.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, accepted 2009, Astronomy Reports, Vol. 53 No. 9, P.785-80