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The Gaia-ESO Survey: A globular cluster escapee in the Galactic halo

Lind, K. ; Koposov, S. E. ; Battistini, Chiara LU ; Marino, A. F. ; Ruchti, Gregory LU ; Serenelli, A. ; Worley, C. C. ; Alves-Brito, A. ; Asplund, M. and Barklem, P. S. , et al. (2015) In Astronomy & Astrophysics 575.
Abstract
A small fraction of the halo field is made up of stars that share the light element (Z <= 13) anomalies characteristic of second generation globular cluster (GC) stars. The ejected stars shed light on the formation of the Galactic halo by tracing the dynamical history of the clusters, which are believed to have once been more massive. Some of these ejected stars are expected to show strong Al enhancement at the expense of shortage of Mg, but until now no such star has been found. We search for outliers in the Mg and Al abundances of the few hundreds of halo field stars observed in the first eighteen months of the Gaia-ESO public spectroscopic survey. One halo star at the base of the red giant branch, here referred to as 22593757-4648029... (More)
A small fraction of the halo field is made up of stars that share the light element (Z <= 13) anomalies characteristic of second generation globular cluster (GC) stars. The ejected stars shed light on the formation of the Galactic halo by tracing the dynamical history of the clusters, which are believed to have once been more massive. Some of these ejected stars are expected to show strong Al enhancement at the expense of shortage of Mg, but until now no such star has been found. We search for outliers in the Mg and Al abundances of the few hundreds of halo field stars observed in the first eighteen months of the Gaia-ESO public spectroscopic survey. One halo star at the base of the red giant branch, here referred to as 22593757-4648029 is found to have [Mg/Fe] = -0.36 +/- 0.04 and [Al/Fe] = 0.99 +/- 0.08, which is compatible with the most extreme ratios detected in GCs so far. We compare the orbit of 22593757-4648029 to GCs of similar metallicity and find it unlikely that this star has been tidally stripped with low ejection velocity from any of the clusters. However, both chemical and kinematic arguments render it plausible that the star has been ejected at high velocity from the anomalous GC omega Centauri within the last few billion years. We cannot rule out other progenitor GCs, because some may have disrupted fully, and the abundance and orbital data are inadequate for many of those that are still intact. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
stars: abundances, stars: Population II, techniques: spectroscopic, globular clusters: general, Galaxy: stellar content, Galaxy: halo
in
Astronomy & Astrophysics
volume
575
article number
L12
publisher
EDP Sciences
external identifiers
  • wos:000350249100111
  • scopus:84925255802
ISSN
0004-6361
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/201425554
project
Gaia-ESO Survey
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5787ae01-cbed-4614-a445-0f1fb7a16547 (old id 5297085)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:35:12
date last changed
2022-12-11 19:00:28
@article{5787ae01-cbed-4614-a445-0f1fb7a16547,
  abstract     = {{A small fraction of the halo field is made up of stars that share the light element (Z &lt;= 13) anomalies characteristic of second generation globular cluster (GC) stars. The ejected stars shed light on the formation of the Galactic halo by tracing the dynamical history of the clusters, which are believed to have once been more massive. Some of these ejected stars are expected to show strong Al enhancement at the expense of shortage of Mg, but until now no such star has been found. We search for outliers in the Mg and Al abundances of the few hundreds of halo field stars observed in the first eighteen months of the Gaia-ESO public spectroscopic survey. One halo star at the base of the red giant branch, here referred to as 22593757-4648029 is found to have [Mg/Fe] = -0.36 +/- 0.04 and [Al/Fe] = 0.99 +/- 0.08, which is compatible with the most extreme ratios detected in GCs so far. We compare the orbit of 22593757-4648029 to GCs of similar metallicity and find it unlikely that this star has been tidally stripped with low ejection velocity from any of the clusters. However, both chemical and kinematic arguments render it plausible that the star has been ejected at high velocity from the anomalous GC omega Centauri within the last few billion years. We cannot rule out other progenitor GCs, because some may have disrupted fully, and the abundance and orbital data are inadequate for many of those that are still intact.}},
  author       = {{Lind, K. and Koposov, S. E. and Battistini, Chiara and Marino, A. F. and Ruchti, Gregory and Serenelli, A. and Worley, C. C. and Alves-Brito, A. and Asplund, M. and Barklem, P. S. and Bensby, Thomas and Bergemann, M. and Blanco-Cuaresma, S. and Bragaglia, A. and Edvardsson, B. and Feltzing, Sofia and Gruyters, P. and Heiter, U. and Jofre, P. and Korn, A. J. and Nordlander, T. and Ryde, Nils and Soubiran, C. and Gilmore, G. and Randich, S. and Ferguson, A. M. N. and Jeffries, R. D. and Vallenari, A. and Allende Prieto, C. and Pancino, E. and Recio-Blanco, A. and Romano, D. and Smiljanic, R. and Bellazzini, M. and Damiani, F. and Hill, V. and de laverny, P. and Jackson, R. J. and Lardo, C. and Zaggia, S.}},
  issn         = {{0004-6361}},
  keywords     = {{stars: abundances; stars: Population II; techniques: spectroscopic; globular clusters: general; Galaxy: stellar content; Galaxy: halo}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{EDP Sciences}},
  series       = {{Astronomy & Astrophysics}},
  title        = {{The Gaia-ESO Survey: A globular cluster escapee in the Galactic halo}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201425554}},
  doi          = {{10.1051/0004-6361/201425554}},
  volume       = {{575}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}