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Detailed abundances for the old population near the galactic center. I. Metallicity distribution of the nuclear star cluster

Rich, R. M. ; Ryde, N. LU orcid ; Thorsbro, B. LU orcid ; Fritz, T. K. ; Schultheis, M. ; Origlia, L. and Jönsson, H. LU orcid (2017) In The Astronomical Journal 154(6).
Abstract

We report the first high spectral resolution study of 17 M giants kinematically confirmed to lie within a few parsecs of the Galactic center, using R ~ 24,000 spectroscopy from Keck/NIRSPEC and a new line list for the infrared K band. We consider their luminosities and kinematics, which classify these stars as members of the older stellar population and the central cluster. We find a median metallicity of á[Fe H]ñ = -0.16 and a large spread from approximately -0.3 to +0.3 (quartiles). We find that the highest metallicities are [Fe H] < +0.6, with most of the stars being at or below the solar iron abundance. The abundances and the abundance distribution strongly resemble those of the Galactic bulge rather than the disk or halo; in our... (More)

We report the first high spectral resolution study of 17 M giants kinematically confirmed to lie within a few parsecs of the Galactic center, using R ~ 24,000 spectroscopy from Keck/NIRSPEC and a new line list for the infrared K band. We consider their luminosities and kinematics, which classify these stars as members of the older stellar population and the central cluster. We find a median metallicity of á[Fe H]ñ = -0.16 and a large spread from approximately -0.3 to +0.3 (quartiles). We find that the highest metallicities are [Fe H] < +0.6, with most of the stars being at or below the solar iron abundance. The abundances and the abundance distribution strongly resemble those of the Galactic bulge rather than the disk or halo; in our small sample we find no statistical evidence for a dependence of velocity dispersion on metallicity.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
abundances - stars, center - stars, Galaxy, late-type
in
The Astronomical Journal
volume
154
issue
6
article number
239
publisher
IOP Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:85039428619
  • wos:000415867300007
ISSN
0004-6256
DOI
10.3847/1538-3881/aa970a
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c17b5611-0605-4a78-b09f-3a79ad8dfd68
date added to LUP
2018-01-08 10:35:34
date last changed
2024-06-25 09:28:40
@article{c17b5611-0605-4a78-b09f-3a79ad8dfd68,
  abstract     = {{<p>We report the first high spectral resolution study of 17 M giants kinematically confirmed to lie within a few parsecs of the Galactic center, using R ~ 24,000 spectroscopy from Keck/NIRSPEC and a new line list for the infrared K band. We consider their luminosities and kinematics, which classify these stars as members of the older stellar population and the central cluster. We find a median metallicity of á[Fe H]ñ = -0.16 and a large spread from approximately -0.3 to +0.3 (quartiles). We find that the highest metallicities are [Fe H] &lt; +0.6, with most of the stars being at or below the solar iron abundance. The abundances and the abundance distribution strongly resemble those of the Galactic bulge rather than the disk or halo; in our small sample we find no statistical evidence for a dependence of velocity dispersion on metallicity.</p>}},
  author       = {{Rich, R. M. and Ryde, N. and Thorsbro, B. and Fritz, T. K. and Schultheis, M. and Origlia, L. and Jönsson, H.}},
  issn         = {{0004-6256}},
  keywords     = {{abundances - stars; center - stars; Galaxy; late-type}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{6}},
  publisher    = {{IOP Publishing}},
  series       = {{The Astronomical Journal}},
  title        = {{Detailed abundances for the old population near the galactic center. I. Metallicity distribution of the nuclear star cluster}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/aa970a}},
  doi          = {{10.3847/1538-3881/aa970a}},
  volume       = {{154}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}