Bibcode
Chou, Mei-Yin; Cunha, Katia; Majewski, Steven R.; Smith, Verne V.; Patterson, Richard J.; Martínez-Delgado, D.; Geisler, Doug
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 708, Issue 2, pp. 1290-1309 (2010).
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1
2010
Journal
Citations
60
Refereed citations
53
Description
We present high-resolution spectroscopic measurements of the abundances
of the α element titanium (Ti) and s-process elements yttrium (Y)
and lanthanum (La) for 59 candidate M giant members of the Sagittarius
(Sgr) dwarf spheroidal (dSph) + tidal tail system pre-selected on the
basis of position and radial velocity (RV). As expected, the majority of
these stars show peculiar abundance patterns compared to those of
nominal Milky Way (MW) stars, but as a group, the stars form a coherent
picture of chemical enrichment of the Sgr dSph from [Fe/H] = -1.4 to
solar abundance. This sample of spectra provides the largest number of
Ti, La, and Y abundances yet measured for a dSph, and spans
metallicities not typically probed by studies of the other, generally
more metal-poor MW satellites. On the other hand, the overall [Ti/Fe],
[Y/Fe], [La/Fe], and [La/Y] patterns with [Fe/H] of the Sgr stream plus
Sgr core do, for the most part, resemble those seen in the Large
Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and other dSphs, only shifted by Δ[Fe/H] ~
+0.4 from the LMC and by ~+1 dex from the other dSphs; these relative
shifts reflect the faster and/or more efficient chemical evolution of
Sgr compared to the other satellites, and show that Sgr has had an
enrichment history more like the LMC than the other dSphs. By tracking
the evolution of the abundance patterns along the Sgr stream we can
follow the time variation of the chemical make-up of dSph stars donated
to the Galactic halo by Sgr. This evolution demonstrates that while the
bulk of the stars currently in the Sgr dSph is quite unlike those of the
Galactic halo, an increasing number of stars farther along the Sgr
stream have abundances like MW halo stars, a trend that shows clearly
how the Galactic halo could have been contributed by present-day
satellite galaxies even if the present chemistry of those satellites is
now different from typical halo field stars. Finally, we analyze the
chemical abundances of a moving group of M giants among the Sgr leading
arm stars at the North Galactic Cap, but having RVs unlike the infalling
Sgr leading arm debris there. Through use of "chemical fingerprinting,"
we conclude that these mostly receding northern hemisphere M giants also
are Sgr stars, likely trailing arm debris overlapping the Sgr leading
arm in the north.