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The Gaia-ESO Survey: Evidence of atomic diffusion in M67

Bertelli Motta, C. ; Pasquali, A. ; Richer, J. ; Michaud, G. ; Salaris, M. ; Bragaglia, A. ; Magrini, L. ; Randich, S. ; Grebel, E. K. and Adibekyan, V. , et al. (2018) In Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 478(1). p.425-438
Abstract

Investigating the chemical homogeneity of stars born from the same molecular cloud at virtually the same time is very important for our understanding of the chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium and with it the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. One major cause of inhomogeneities in the abundances of open clusters is stellar evolution of the cluster members. In this work, we investigate variations in the surface chemical composition of member stars of the old open clusterM67 as a possible consequence of atomic diffusion effects taking place during the main-sequence phase. The abundances used are obtained from high-resolution UVES/FLAMES spectra within the framework of the Gaia-ESO Survey. We find that the surface abundances of... (More)

Investigating the chemical homogeneity of stars born from the same molecular cloud at virtually the same time is very important for our understanding of the chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium and with it the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. One major cause of inhomogeneities in the abundances of open clusters is stellar evolution of the cluster members. In this work, we investigate variations in the surface chemical composition of member stars of the old open clusterM67 as a possible consequence of atomic diffusion effects taking place during the main-sequence phase. The abundances used are obtained from high-resolution UVES/FLAMES spectra within the framework of the Gaia-ESO Survey. We find that the surface abundances of stars on the main sequence decrease with increasing mass reaching a minimum at the turn-off. After deepening of the convective envelope in subgiant branch stars, the initial surface abundances are restored.We found themeasured abundances to be consistent with the predictions of stellar evolutionary models for a cluster with the age and metallicity of M67. Our findings indicate that atomic diffusion poses a non-negligible constraint on the achievable precision of chemical tagging methods.

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@article{2b04f872-80c2-4c15-a4a4-f6b7732c7b28,
  abstract     = {{<p>Investigating the chemical homogeneity of stars born from the same molecular cloud at virtually the same time is very important for our understanding of the chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium and with it the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. One major cause of inhomogeneities in the abundances of open clusters is stellar evolution of the cluster members. In this work, we investigate variations in the surface chemical composition of member stars of the old open clusterM67 as a possible consequence of atomic diffusion effects taking place during the main-sequence phase. The abundances used are obtained from high-resolution UVES/FLAMES spectra within the framework of the Gaia-ESO Survey. We find that the surface abundances of stars on the main sequence decrease with increasing mass reaching a minimum at the turn-off. After deepening of the convective envelope in subgiant branch stars, the initial surface abundances are restored.We found themeasured abundances to be consistent with the predictions of stellar evolutionary models for a cluster with the age and metallicity of M67. Our findings indicate that atomic diffusion poses a non-negligible constraint on the achievable precision of chemical tagging methods.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bertelli Motta, C. and Pasquali, A. and Richer, J. and Michaud, G. and Salaris, M. and Bragaglia, A. and Magrini, L. and Randich, S. and Grebel, E. K. and Adibekyan, V. and Blanco-Cuaresma, S. and Drazdauskas, A. and Fu, X. and Martell, S. and Tautvaišiene, G. and Gilmore, G. and Alfaro, E. J. and Bensby, T. and Flaccomio, E. and Koposov, S. E. and Korn, A. J. and Lanzafame, A. C. and Smiljanic, R. and Bayo, A. and Carraro, G. and Casey, A. R. and Costado, M. T. and Damiani, F. and Franciosini, E. and Heiter, U. and Hourihane, A. and Jofré, P. and Lardo, C. and Lewis, J. and Monaco, L. and Morbidelli, L. and Sacco, G. G. and Sousa, S. G. and Worley, C. C. and Zaggia, S.}},
  issn         = {{0035-8711}},
  keywords     = {{Galaxy: Abundances; Galaxy: Evolution; Stars: Abundances; Stars: Evolution}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{425--438}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}},
  title        = {{The Gaia-ESO Survey: Evidence of atomic diffusion in M67}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty1011}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/mnras/sty1011}},
  volume       = {{478}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}