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APOGEE DR14/DR15 Abundances in the Inner Milky Way

Zasowski, G. ; Schultheis, M. ; Hasselquist, S. ; Cunha, K. ; Sobeck, J. ; Johnson, J. A. ; Rojas-Arriagada, A. ; Majewski, S. R. ; Andrews, B. H. and Jönsson, H. LU orcid , et al. (2019) In Astrophysical Journal 870(2).
Abstract

We present an overview of the distributions of 11 elemental abundances in the Milky Way's (MW) inner regions, as traced by APOGEE stars released as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 14/15 (DR14/DR15), including O, Mg, Si, Ca, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Na, Al, and K. This sample spans ∼4000 stars with R GC ≤ 4.0 kpc, enabling the most comprehensive study to date of these abundances and their variations within the innermost few kiloparsecs of the MW. We describe the observed abundance patterns ([X/Fe]-[Fe/H]), compare to previous literature results and to patterns in stars at the solar Galactocentric radius (R GC), and discuss possible trends with DR14/DR15 effective temperatures. We find that the position of... (More)

We present an overview of the distributions of 11 elemental abundances in the Milky Way's (MW) inner regions, as traced by APOGEE stars released as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 14/15 (DR14/DR15), including O, Mg, Si, Ca, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Na, Al, and K. This sample spans ∼4000 stars with R GC ≤ 4.0 kpc, enabling the most comprehensive study to date of these abundances and their variations within the innermost few kiloparsecs of the MW. We describe the observed abundance patterns ([X/Fe]-[Fe/H]), compare to previous literature results and to patterns in stars at the solar Galactocentric radius (R GC), and discuss possible trends with DR14/DR15 effective temperatures. We find that the position of the [Mg/Fe]-[Fe/H] "knee" is nearly constant with R GC, indicating a well-mixed star-forming medium or high levels of radial migration in the early inner Galaxy. We quantify the linear correlation between pairs of elements in different subsamples of stars and find that these relationships vary; some abundance correlations are very similar between the α-rich and α-poor stars, but others differ significantly, suggesting variations in the metallicity dependencies of certain supernova yields. These empirical trends will form the basis for more detailed future explorations and for the refinement of model comparison metrics. That the inner MW abundances appear dominated by a single chemical evolutionary track and that they extend to such high metallicities underscore the unique importance of this part of the Galaxy for constraining the ingredients of chemical evolution modeling and for improving our understanding of the evolution of the Galaxy as a whole.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Galaxy: abundances, Galaxy: bulge, stars: abundances
in
Astrophysical Journal
volume
870
issue
2
article number
138
publisher
American Astronomical Society
external identifiers
  • scopus:85060239851
ISSN
0004-637X
DOI
10.3847/1538-4357/aaeff4
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f4209648-73a5-4a32-a06f-9c5015a20e0d
date added to LUP
2019-02-01 08:43:52
date last changed
2022-12-23 01:30:20
@article{f4209648-73a5-4a32-a06f-9c5015a20e0d,
  abstract     = {{<p>We present an overview of the distributions of 11 elemental abundances in the Milky Way's (MW) inner regions, as traced by APOGEE stars released as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 14/15 (DR14/DR15), including O, Mg, Si, Ca, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Na, Al, and K. This sample spans ∼4000 stars with R <sub>GC</sub> ≤ 4.0 kpc, enabling the most comprehensive study to date of these abundances and their variations within the innermost few kiloparsecs of the MW. We describe the observed abundance patterns ([X/Fe]-[Fe/H]), compare to previous literature results and to patterns in stars at the solar Galactocentric radius (R <sub>GC</sub>), and discuss possible trends with DR14/DR15 effective temperatures. We find that the position of the [Mg/Fe]-[Fe/H] "knee" is nearly constant with R <sub>GC</sub>, indicating a well-mixed star-forming medium or high levels of radial migration in the early inner Galaxy. We quantify the linear correlation between pairs of elements in different subsamples of stars and find that these relationships vary; some abundance correlations are very similar between the α-rich and α-poor stars, but others differ significantly, suggesting variations in the metallicity dependencies of certain supernova yields. These empirical trends will form the basis for more detailed future explorations and for the refinement of model comparison metrics. That the inner MW abundances appear dominated by a single chemical evolutionary track and that they extend to such high metallicities underscore the unique importance of this part of the Galaxy for constraining the ingredients of chemical evolution modeling and for improving our understanding of the evolution of the Galaxy as a whole.</p>}},
  author       = {{Zasowski, G. and Schultheis, M. and Hasselquist, S. and Cunha, K. and Sobeck, J. and Johnson, J. A. and Rojas-Arriagada, A. and Majewski, S. R. and Andrews, B. H. and Jönsson, H. and Beers, T. C. and Chojnowski, S. D. and Frinchaboy, P. M. and Holtzman, J. A. and Minniti, D. and Nidever, D. L. and Nitschelm, C.}},
  issn         = {{0004-637X}},
  keywords     = {{Galaxy: abundances; Galaxy: bulge; stars: abundances}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{American Astronomical Society}},
  series       = {{Astrophysical Journal}},
  title        = {{APOGEE DR14/DR15 Abundances in the Inner Milky Way}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaeff4}},
  doi          = {{10.3847/1538-4357/aaeff4}},
  volume       = {{870}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}