42 research outputs found
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
Formation of Galactic Systems in Light of the Magnesium Abundance in Field Stars.III.the Halo
We analyze the relations between the relative magnesium abundances,
metallicities, and Galactic orbital elements for halo stars. We show that the
relative magnesium abundances in protodisk halo stars are virtually independent
of metallicity and lie within a fairly narrow range while presumably accreted
stars demonstrate a large spread in relative magnesium abundances up to
negative [Mg/Fe]. The mean metallicity of magnesium-poor ([Mg/Fe]<0.2 dex)
accreted stars has been found to be displaced toward the negative values when
passing from stars with low azimuthal velocities to those with high ones at
\Delta[Fe/H]=0.5dex. The mean apogalactic radii and inclinations of the orbits
also increase while their eccentricities decrease. As a result negative radial
and vertical gradients in relative magnesium abundances are observed in the
accreted halo in the absence of correlations between the [Mg/Fe] ratios and
other orbital elements, while these correlations are found at a high
significance level for genetically related Galactic stars. We surmise that as
the masses of dwarf galaxies decrease, the maximum SNII masses and hence, the
yield of \alpha-elements in them also decrease. In this case, the relation
between the [Mg/Fe] ratios and the inclinations and sizes of the orbits of
accreted stars is in complete agreement with numerical simulations of dynamical
processes during the interaction of galaxies. Thus the behavior of the
magnesium abundance in accreted stars suggests that the satellite galaxies are
disrupted and lose their stars en masse only after dynamical friction reduces
significantly the sizes of their orbits and drags them into the Galactic plane.
Less massive satellite galaxies are disrupted even before their orbits change
appreciably under tidal forces.Comment: accepted 2006, Astronomy Letters, Vol. 32 No. 8, P.545, 18 pages, 6
figure
Two populations among the metal-poor field RR Lyrae stars
We compute the spatial velocity components and the galactic orbital elements
for 209 metal-poor RRLyrae (ab) variable stars in the solar
neighborhood using proper motions, radial velocities, and photometric distances
available in the literature. We observe abrupt changes in the stellar spatial
and kinematical characteristics when the peculiar velocities relative to the
local standard of rest cross the threshold value,
\mbox{km s}. This provides evidence that the general population of
metal-poor RRLyrae stars is not uniform, and includes two spherical subsystems
occupying different volumes in the Galaxy. Based on the agreement between
typical parameters of corresponding subsystems of field RRLyrae stars and of
the globular clusters, studied by us earlier, we conclude that metal-poor stars
and globular clusters can be subdivided into two populations, but using
different criteria for stars and clusters. We suppose that field stars with
fast motion and clusters with redder horizontal branches constitute the
spheroidal subsystem of the accreted outer halo, with is approximately two
times larger in size than the first subsystem. It has absolutely no metallicity
gradients, most of its stars have eccentric orbits, many stars display
retrograde motion in the Galaxy, and their ages are comparatively low,
supporting the hypothesis that the objects in this subsystem have an
extragalactic origin.Comment: Accepted for A&A, 8 pages, 3 figure
Stars of extragalactic origin in the solar neighborhood
We computed the spatial velocities and the galactic orbital elements using
Hipparcos data for 77 nearest main-sequence F-G-stars with published the iron,
magnesium, and europium abundances determined from high dispersion spectra and
with the ages estimated from theoretical isochrones. A comparison with the
orbital elements of the globular clusters that are known was accreted by our
Galaxy in the past reveals stars of extragalactic origin. We show that the
relative elemental abundance ratios of r- and \alpha- elements in all the
accreted stars differ sharply from those in the stars that are genetically
associated with the Galaxy. According to current theoretical models, europium
is produced mainly in low mass Type II supernovae (SNe II), while magnesium is
synthesized in larger amounts in high mass SN II progenitors. Since all the old
accreted stars of our sample exhibit a significant Eu overabundance relative to
Mg, we conclude that the maximum masses of the SNII progenitors outside the
Galaxy were much lower than those inside it are. On the other hand, only a
small number of young accreted stars exhibit low negative ratios .
The delay of primordial star formation burst and the explosions of high mass
SNe II in a relatively small part of extragalactic space can explain this
situation. We provide evidence that the interstellar medium was weakly mixed at
the early evolutionary stages of the Galaxy formed from a single proto-galactic
cloud and that the maximum mass of the SN II progenitors increased in it with
time simultaneously with the increase in mean metallicity.Comment: Accepted for 2004, Astronomy Letters, Vol. 30, No. 3, P.148-158 15
pages, 3 figure
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
Formation of Galactic Systems in Light of the Magnesium Abundance in Field Stars: The Thick Disk
The space velocities and Galactic orbital elements of stars calculated from
the currently available high-accuracy observations in our summary catalog of
spectroscopic magnesium abundances in dwarfs and subgiants in the solar
neighborhood are used to identify thick-disk objects. The relative magnesium
abundances in thick-disk stars are shown to lie within the range
0.0<[Mg/Fe]<0.5 and to decrease with increasing metallicity starting from
[Fe/H]=-1.0. This is interpreted as evidence for a longer duration of the star
formation process in the thick disk. We have found vertical gradients in
metallicity (grad_Z[Fe/H]=-0.13\pm 0.04 kpc^{-1}) and relative magnesium
abundance (grad_Z [Mg/Fe]=0.06\pm 0.02 kpc^{-1}), which can be present in the
subsystem only in the case of its formation in a slowly collapsing protogalaxy.
The large spread in relative magnesium abundance (-0.3<[Mg/Fe]<0.5) in the
stars of the metal-poor "tail" of the thick disk which constitute 8% of the
subsystem, can be explained in terms of their formation inside isolated
interstellar clouds that interacted weakly with the matter of a single
protogalactic cloud. We have found a statistically significant negative radial
gradient in relative magnesium abundance in the thick disk (grad_R
[Mg/Fe]=-0.03\pm 0.01 kpc^{-1}) instead of the expected positive gradient. The
smaller perigalactic orbital radii and the higher eccentricities for
magnesium-richer stars, which among other stars, are currently located in a
small volume of the Galactic space near the Sun are assumed to be responsible
for the gradient inversion. A similar but statistically less significant
inversion is also observed in the subsystem for the radial metallicity
gradient.Comment: Accepted for 2005, Astronomy Letters, Vol. 31, No. 8, P.515-527; 14
pages, 6 figure
Evolution of the Velocity Ellipsoids in the Thin Disk of the Galaxy and the Radial Migration of Stars
Data from the revised Geneva--Copenhagen catalog are used to study the
influence of radial migration of stars on the age dependences of parameters of
the velocity ellipsoids for nearby stars in the thin disk of the Galaxy,
assuming that the mean radii of the stellar orbits remain constant. It is
demonstrated that precisely the radial migration of stars, together with the
negative metallicity gradient in the thin disk,are responsible for the observed
negative correlation between the metallicities and angular momenta of nearby
stars, while the angular momenta of stars that were born at the same
Galactocentric distances do not depend on either age or metallicity. (abridged)Comment: Astronomy Reports, Vol. 86 No. 9, P.1117-1126 (2009