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Testing the chemical tagging technique with open clusters

Blanco-Cuaresma, S. ; Soubiran, C. ; Heiter, U. ; Asplund, M. ; Carraro, G. ; Costado, M. T. ; Feltzing, Sofia LU orcid ; Gonzalez-Hernandez, J. I. ; Jimenez-Esteban, F. and Korn, A. J. , et al. (2015) In Astronomy & Astrophysics 577.
Abstract
Context. Stars are born together from giant molecular clouds and, if we assume that the priors were chemically homogeneous and well-mixed, we expect them to share the same chemical composition. Most of the stellar aggregates are disrupted while orbiting the Galaxy and most of the dynamic information is lost, thus the only possibility of reconstructing the stellar formation history is to analyze the chemical abundances that we observe today. Aims. The chemical tagging technique aims to recover disrupted stellar clusters based merely on their chemical composition. We evaluate the viability of this technique to recover co-natal stars that are no longer gravitationally bound. Methods. Open clusters are co-natal aggregates that have managed to... (More)
Context. Stars are born together from giant molecular clouds and, if we assume that the priors were chemically homogeneous and well-mixed, we expect them to share the same chemical composition. Most of the stellar aggregates are disrupted while orbiting the Galaxy and most of the dynamic information is lost, thus the only possibility of reconstructing the stellar formation history is to analyze the chemical abundances that we observe today. Aims. The chemical tagging technique aims to recover disrupted stellar clusters based merely on their chemical composition. We evaluate the viability of this technique to recover co-natal stars that are no longer gravitationally bound. Methods. Open clusters are co-natal aggregates that have managed to survive together. We compiled stellar spectra from 31 old and intermediate-age open clusters, homogeneously derived atmospheric parameters, and 17 abundance species, and applied machine learning algorithms to group the stars based on their chemical composition. This approach allows us to evaluate the viability and efficiency of the chemical tagging technique. Results. We found that stars at different evolutionary stages have distinct chemical patterns that may be due to NLTE effects, atomic diffusion, mixing, and biases. When separating stars into dwarfs and giants, we observed that a few open clusters show distinct chemical signatures while the majority show a high degree of overlap. This limits the recovery of co-natal aggregates by applying the chemical tagging technique. Nevertheless, there is room for improvement if more elements are included and models are improved. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
stars: abundances, techniques: spectroscopic, Galaxy: abundances
in
Astronomy & Astrophysics
volume
577
article number
A47
publisher
EDP Sciences
external identifiers
  • wos:000353579600046
  • scopus:84929206771
ISSN
0004-6361
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/201425232
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b176cacc-9afd-47c4-aa15-59ecebf012b6 (old id 7432461)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:15:16
date last changed
2024-02-25 12:20:28
@article{b176cacc-9afd-47c4-aa15-59ecebf012b6,
  abstract     = {{Context. Stars are born together from giant molecular clouds and, if we assume that the priors were chemically homogeneous and well-mixed, we expect them to share the same chemical composition. Most of the stellar aggregates are disrupted while orbiting the Galaxy and most of the dynamic information is lost, thus the only possibility of reconstructing the stellar formation history is to analyze the chemical abundances that we observe today. Aims. The chemical tagging technique aims to recover disrupted stellar clusters based merely on their chemical composition. We evaluate the viability of this technique to recover co-natal stars that are no longer gravitationally bound. Methods. Open clusters are co-natal aggregates that have managed to survive together. We compiled stellar spectra from 31 old and intermediate-age open clusters, homogeneously derived atmospheric parameters, and 17 abundance species, and applied machine learning algorithms to group the stars based on their chemical composition. This approach allows us to evaluate the viability and efficiency of the chemical tagging technique. Results. We found that stars at different evolutionary stages have distinct chemical patterns that may be due to NLTE effects, atomic diffusion, mixing, and biases. When separating stars into dwarfs and giants, we observed that a few open clusters show distinct chemical signatures while the majority show a high degree of overlap. This limits the recovery of co-natal aggregates by applying the chemical tagging technique. Nevertheless, there is room for improvement if more elements are included and models are improved.}},
  author       = {{Blanco-Cuaresma, S. and Soubiran, C. and Heiter, U. and Asplund, M. and Carraro, G. and Costado, M. T. and Feltzing, Sofia and Gonzalez-Hernandez, J. I. and Jimenez-Esteban, F. and Korn, A. J. and Marino, A. F. and Montes, D. and San Roman, I. and Tabernero, H. M. and Tautvaisiene, G.}},
  issn         = {{0004-6361}},
  keywords     = {{stars: abundances; techniques: spectroscopic; Galaxy: abundances}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{EDP Sciences}},
  series       = {{Astronomy & Astrophysics}},
  title        = {{Testing the chemical tagging technique with open clusters}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201425232}},
  doi          = {{10.1051/0004-6361/201425232}},
  volume       = {{577}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}