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APOGEE Chemical Abundance Patterns of the Massive Milky Way Satellites

Hasselquist, Sten ; Hayes, Christian R. ; Lian, Jianhui ; Weinberg, David H. ; Zasowski, Gail ; Horta, Danny ; Beaton, Rachael ; Feuillet, Diane K. LU orcid ; Garro, Elisa R. and Gallart, Carme , et al. (2021) In Astrophysical Journal 923(2).
Abstract

The SDSS-IV Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey has obtained high-resolution spectra for thousands of red giant stars distributed among the massive satellite galaxies of the Milky Way (MW): the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC/SMC), the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy (Sgr), Fornax (Fnx), and the now fully disrupted Gaia Sausage/Enceladus (GSE) system. We present and analyze the APOGEE chemical abundance patterns of each galaxy to draw robust conclusions about their star formation histories, by quantifying the relative abundance trends of multiple elements (C, N, O, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Fe, Ni, and Ce), as well as by fitting chemical evolution models to the [α/Fe]-[Fe/H] abundance plane for each galaxy.... (More)

The SDSS-IV Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey has obtained high-resolution spectra for thousands of red giant stars distributed among the massive satellite galaxies of the Milky Way (MW): the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC/SMC), the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy (Sgr), Fornax (Fnx), and the now fully disrupted Gaia Sausage/Enceladus (GSE) system. We present and analyze the APOGEE chemical abundance patterns of each galaxy to draw robust conclusions about their star formation histories, by quantifying the relative abundance trends of multiple elements (C, N, O, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Fe, Ni, and Ce), as well as by fitting chemical evolution models to the [α/Fe]-[Fe/H] abundance plane for each galaxy. Results show that the chemical signatures of the starburst in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs) observed by Nidever et al. in the α-element abundances extend to C+N, Al, and Ni, with the major burst in the SMC occurring some 3-4 Gyr before the burst in the LMC. We find that Sgr and Fnx also exhibit chemical abundance patterns suggestive of secondary star formation epochs, but these events were weaker and earlier (∼5-7 Gyr ago) than those observed in the MCs. There is no chemical evidence of a second starburst in GSE, but this galaxy shows the strongest initial star formation as compared to the other four galaxies. All dwarf galaxies had greater relative contributions of AGB stars to their enrichment than the MW. Comparing and contrasting these chemical patterns highlight the importance of galaxy environment on its chemical evolution.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
machine-readable table
in
Astrophysical Journal
volume
923
issue
2
article number
172
publisher
American Astronomical Society
external identifiers
  • scopus:85123869087
ISSN
0004-637X
DOI
10.3847/1538-4357/ac25f9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bed52331-2cb6-4692-bb2c-e109bb6429fc
date added to LUP
2022-10-27 10:42:42
date last changed
2024-05-16 11:09:17
@article{bed52331-2cb6-4692-bb2c-e109bb6429fc,
  abstract     = {{<p>The SDSS-IV Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey has obtained high-resolution spectra for thousands of red giant stars distributed among the massive satellite galaxies of the Milky Way (MW): the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC/SMC), the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy (Sgr), Fornax (Fnx), and the now fully disrupted Gaia Sausage/Enceladus (GSE) system. We present and analyze the APOGEE chemical abundance patterns of each galaxy to draw robust conclusions about their star formation histories, by quantifying the relative abundance trends of multiple elements (C, N, O, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Fe, Ni, and Ce), as well as by fitting chemical evolution models to the [α/Fe]-[Fe/H] abundance plane for each galaxy. Results show that the chemical signatures of the starburst in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs) observed by Nidever et al. in the α-element abundances extend to C+N, Al, and Ni, with the major burst in the SMC occurring some 3-4 Gyr before the burst in the LMC. We find that Sgr and Fnx also exhibit chemical abundance patterns suggestive of secondary star formation epochs, but these events were weaker and earlier (∼5-7 Gyr ago) than those observed in the MCs. There is no chemical evidence of a second starburst in GSE, but this galaxy shows the strongest initial star formation as compared to the other four galaxies. All dwarf galaxies had greater relative contributions of AGB stars to their enrichment than the MW. Comparing and contrasting these chemical patterns highlight the importance of galaxy environment on its chemical evolution.</p>}},
  author       = {{Hasselquist, Sten and Hayes, Christian R. and Lian, Jianhui and Weinberg, David H. and Zasowski, Gail and Horta, Danny and Beaton, Rachael and Feuillet, Diane K. and Garro, Elisa R. and Gallart, Carme and Smith, Verne V. and Holtzman, Jon A. and Minniti, Dante and Lacerna, Ivan and Shetrone, Matthew and Jönsson, Henrik and Cioni, Maria Rosa L. and Fillingham, Sean P. and Cunha, Katia and O'Connell, Robert and Fernández-Trincado, José G. and Munoz, Ricardo R. and Schiavon, Ricardo and Almeida, Andres and Anguiano, Borja and Beers, Timothy C. and Bizyaev, Dmitry and Brownstein, Joel R. and Cohen, Roger E. and Frinchaboy, Peter and García-Hernández, D. A. and Geisler, Doug and Lane, Richard R. and Majewski, Steven R. and Nidever, David L. and Nitschelm, Christian and Povick, Joshua and Price-Whelan, Adrian and Roman-Lopes, Alexandre and Rosado, Margarita and Sobeck, Jennifer and Stringfellow, Guy and Valenzuela, Octavio and Villanova, Sandro and Vincenzo, Fiorenzo}},
  issn         = {{0004-637X}},
  keywords     = {{machine-readable table}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{American Astronomical Society}},
  series       = {{Astrophysical Journal}},
  title        = {{APOGEE Chemical Abundance Patterns of the Massive Milky Way Satellites}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac25f9}},
  doi          = {{10.3847/1538-4357/ac25f9}},
  volume       = {{923}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}