An enquiry on the origins of N-rich stars in the inner Galaxy based on APOGEE chemical compositions

Kisku, Shobhit; Schiavon, Ricardo P.; Horta, Danny; Mason, Andrew; Mackereth, J. Ted; Hasselquist, Sten; García-Hernández, D. A.; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Brownstein, Joel R.; Lane, Richard R.; Minniti, Dante; Pan, Kaike; Roman-Lopes, Alexandre
Referencia bibliográfica

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Fecha de publicación:
6
2021
Número de autores
13
Número de autores del IAC
1
Número de citas
15
Número de citas referidas
14
Descripción
Recent evidence based on APOGEE data for stars within a few kpc of the Galactic Centre suggests that dissolved globular clusters (GCs) contribute significantly to the stellar mass budget of the inner halo. In this paper, we enquire into the origins of tracers of GC dissolution, N-rich stars, that are located in the inner 4 kpc of the Milky Way. From an analysis of the chemical compositions of these stars, we establish that about 30 per cent of the N-rich stars previously identified in the inner Galaxy may have an accreted origin. This result is confirmed by an analysis of the kinematic properties of our sample. The specific frequency of N-rich stars is quite large in the accreted population, exceeding that of its in situ counterparts by near an order of magnitude, in disagreement with predictions from numerical simulations. We hope that our numbers provide a useful test to models of GC formation and destruction.
Proyectos relacionados
Project Image
Nucleosíntesis y procesos moleculares en los últimos estados de la evolución estelar
Las estrellas de masa baja e intermedia (M < 8 masas solares, Ms) representan la mayoría de estrellas en el Cosmos y terminan sus vidas en la Rama Asintótica de las Gigantes (AGB) - justo antes de formar Nebulosas Planetarias (NPs) - cuando experimentan procesos nucleosintéticos y moleculares complejos. Las estrellas AGB son importantes
Domingo Aníbal
García Hernández