A possible age-metallicity relation in the Galactic thick disk?
Bensby, Thomas; Feltzing, Sofia; Lundström, Ingemar (2004). A possible age-metallicity relation in the Galactic thick disk?. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 421,, 969 - 976
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Published
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English
Authors:
Bensby, Thomas
;
Feltzing, Sofia
;
Lundström, Ingemar
Department:
Lund Observatory - Has been reorganised
Abstract:
A sample of 229 nearby thick disk stars has been used to investigate theexistence of an age-metallicity relation (AMR) in the Galactic thickdisk. The results indicate that that there is indeed an age-metallicityrelation present in the thick disk. By dividing the stellar sample intosub-groups, separated by 0.1 dex in metallicity, we show that the medianage decreases by about 5-7 Gyr when going from [Fe/H] ≈ -0.8 to[Fe/H] ≈ -0.1. Combining our results with our newly publishedα-element trends for a local sample of thick disk stars that showsignatures from supernovae type Ia (SN Ia), we draw the conclusion thatthe time-scale for the peak of the SN Ia rate is of the order of 3-4 Gyrin the thick disk. The tentative evidence for a thick disk AMR that wepresent here also has implications for the thick disk formationscenario; star-formation must have been an ongoing process for severalbillion years. This appears to strengthen the hypothesis that the thickdisk originated from a merger event with a companion galaxy that puffedup a pre-existing thin disk.Based on data obtained with the Hipparcos satellite.
Keywords:
stars: Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) and C-M diagrams ;
stars: kinematics ;
Galaxy: disk ;
Galaxy: formation ;
Galaxy: solar neighbourhood ;
Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics
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