Turnoff Stars Research Articles

Sodium Abundances in Very Metal-poor Stars

Chemical composition of very metal-poor (VMP) stars can provide observational constraints on current models of nucleosynthesis and the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. It has been found that the scatter of [Na/Fe] versus [Fe/H] in VMP stars is very large in contrast with most other elements. Moreover, a negative slope in [Na/Fe] versus [Fe/H] was found for giants, which is very unlikely according to the theory of nucleosynthesis. For the sample of 93 VMP stars in the metallicity range −4.25 < [Fe/H] < −1.64 we obtained NLTE sodium abundances using the line profile fitting method by employing accurate atmospheric parameters determined when taking into account NLTE line formation for both Fe i and Fe ii. Originally selected from the LAMOST low-resolution spectral database, the spectra of stars were obtained with the High Dispersion Spectrograph of the Subaru Telescope. For 57 turn-off stars in metallicity domain −3.04 < [Fe/H] < −1.64, we obtained mean [Na/Fe] = −0.29 ± 0.14 and positive slope 0.09 ± 0.06. For 21 giants distributed over metallicity −3.59 < [Fe/H] < −2.19, we found mean [Na/Fe] = −0.35 ± 0.1 and positive slope 0.07 ± 0.07. Our [Na/Fe] trend is lower by ∼0.2 dex, compared to the modern GCE model. We believe the GCE model should be adjusted, by considering the associated scatter. Twelve stars in our sample are found to be outliers, with too low or too high Na abundances.

Characterizing abundance–age relations of GALAH stars using oxygen-enhanced stellar models

ABSTRACT Main-sequence turn-off (MSTO) stars and subgiant stars are good tracers of Galactic populations. We present a study of 41 034 MSTO and subgiant stars from the GALAH survey. Using a grid of stellar models that accounts for the variation of O abundances, we determine their ages with a median age uncertainty of ∼9.4 per cent. Our analysis reveals that the ages of high-O stars based on O-enhanced models are smaller than those determined with α-enhanced models, resulting in a mean fractional age difference of −5.3 per cent at [O/α] = 0.2 and −11.0 per cent at [O/α] = 0.4. This age difference significantly impacts the age distribution of thick disc and halo stars, leading to a steeper downward trend in the [Fe/H]–age plane from 8 to 14 Gyr, indicating a shorter formation time-scale and a faster chemical-enhanced history for these populations. We confirm the V-shape of the normalized age-metallicity distribution p(τ∣[Fe/H]) of thin disc stars, which is presumably a consequence of the second gas infall. Additionally, we find that the halo stars in our sample can be divided into two sequences, a metal-rich sequence (Splash stars) and a metal-poor sequence (accreted stars), with the Splash stars predominantly older than 9 Gyr and the accreted halo stars older than 10 Gyr. Finally, we observe two distinct sequences in the relations between various chemical abundances and ages for disc stars, namely a young sequence with ages &amp;lt; ∼8 Gyr and an old sequence with ages &amp;gt; ∼8 Gyr.

StarHorse results for spectroscopic surveys and Gaia DR3: Chrono-chemical populations in the solar vicinity, the genuine thick disk, and young alpha-rich stars

The Gaia mission has provided an invaluable wealth of astrometric data for more than a billion stars in our Galaxy. The synergy between Gaia astrometry, photometry, and spectroscopic surveys gives us comprehensive information about the Milky Way. Using the Bayesian isochrone-fitting code StarHorse, we derive distances and extinctions for more than 10 million unique stars listed in both Gaia Data Release 3 and public spectroscopic surveys: 557 559 in GALAH+ DR3, 4 531 028 in LAMOST DR7 LRS, 347 535 in LAMOST DR7 MRS, 562 424 in APOGEE DR17, 471 490 in RAVE DR6, 249 991 in SDSS DR12 (optical spectra from BOSS and SEGUE), 67 562 in the Gaia-ESO DR5 survey, and 4 211 087 in the Gaia RVS part of the Gaia DR3 release. StarHorse can increase the precision of distance and extinction measurements where Gaia parallaxes alone would be uncertain. We used StarHorse for the first time to derive stellar ages for main-sequence turnoff and subgiant branch stars, around 2.5 million stars, with age uncertainties typically around 30%; the uncertainties drop to 15% for subgiant-branch-only stars, depending on the resolution of the survey. With the derived ages in hand, we investigated the chemical-age relations. In particular, the α and neutron-capture element ratios versus age in the solar neighbourhood show trends similar to previous works, validating our ages. We used the chemical abundances from local subgiant samples of GALAH DR3, APOGEE DR17, and LAMOST MRS DR7 to map groups with similar chemical compositions and StarHorse ages, using the dimensionality reduction technique t-SNE and the clustering algorithm HDBSCAN. We identify three distinct groups in all three samples, confirmed by their kinematic properties: the genuine chemical thick disk, the thin disk, and a considerable number of young alpha-rich stars (427) that are also a part of the delivered catalogues. We confirm that the genuine thick disk’s kinematics and age properties are radically different from those of the thin disk and compatible with high-redshift (z ≈ 2) star-forming disks with high dispersion velocities. We also find a few extra chemical populations in GALAH DR3 thanks to the availability of neutron-capture element information.

Phase-space Properties and Chemistry of the Sagittarius Stellar Stream Down to the Extremely Metal-poor ([Fe/H] ≲ −3) Regime

In this work, we study the phase-space and chemical properties of the Sagittarius (Sgr) stream, the tidal tails produced by the ongoing destruction of the Sgr dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy, focusing on its very metal-poor (VMP; [Fe/H] < −2) content. We combine spectroscopic and astrometric information from SEGUE and Gaia EDR3, respectively, with data products from a new large-scale run of the StarHorse spectrophotometric code. Our selection criteria yield ∼1600 stream members, including >200 VMP stars. We find the leading arm (b > 0°) of the Sgr stream to be more metal-poor, by ∼0.2 dex, than the trailing one (b < 0°). With a subsample of turnoff and subgiant stars, we estimate this substructure’s stellar population to be ∼1 Gyr older than the thick disk’s. With the aid of an N-body model of the Sgr system, we verify that simulated particles stripped earlier (>2 Gyr ago) have present-day phase-space properties similar to lower metallicity stream stars. Conversely, those stripped more recently (<2 Gyr) are preferentially akin to metal-rich ([Fe/H] > −1) members of the stream. Such correlation between kinematics and chemistry can be explained by the existence of a dynamically hotter, less centrally concentrated, and more metal-poor population in Sgr dSph prior to its disruption, implying that this galaxy was able to develop a metallicity gradient before its accretion. Finally, we identified several carbon-enhanced metal-poor ([C/Fe] > +0.7 and [Fe/H] ≤ −1.5) stars in the Sgr stream, which might be in tension with current observations of its remaining core where such objects are not found.

On the origin of UV-dim stars: a population of rapidly rotating shell stars?

ABSTRACT The importance of stellar rotation in setting the observed properties of young star clusters has become clearer over the past decade, with rotation being identified as the main cause of the observed extended main sequence turn-off (eMSTO) phenomenon and split main sequences. Additionally, young star clusters are observed to host large fractions of rapidly rotating Be stars, many of which are seen nearly equator-on through decretion discs that cause self-extinction (the so called ‘shell stars’). Recently, a new phenomenon has been reported in the ∼1.5 Gyr star cluster NGC 1783, where a fraction of the main-equence turn-off stars appears abnormally dim in the UV. We investigate the origin of these ‘UV-dim’ stars by comparing the UV colour–magnitude diagrams of NGC 1850 (∼100 Myr), NGC 1783 (∼1.5 Gyr), NGC 1978 (∼2 Gyr), and NGC 2121 (∼2.5 Gyr), massive star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud. While the younger clusters show a non-negligible fraction of UV-dim stars, we find a significant drop of such stars in the two older clusters. This is remarkable as clusters older than ∼2 Gyr do not have an eMSTO, thus a large populations of rapidly rotating stars, because their main-sequence turn-off stars are low enough in mass to slow down due to magnetic braking. We conclude that the UV-dim stars are likely rapidly rotating stars with decretion discs seen nearly equator-on (i.e. are shell stars) and discuss future observations that can confirm or refute our hypothesis.

Evidence for Population-dependent Vertical Motions and the Long-lived Nonsteady Lopsided Milky Way Warp

We present a Galactic disk vertical velocity analysis using OB type stars (OB stars), red clump (RC) stars, and main-sequence turnoff (MSTO) stars with different average age populations crossmatched with LAMOST DR5 and Gaia DR3. We show that the vertical velocities of the three populations clearly vary with the Galactocentric distance (R) and the younger stellar population has a stronger increasing trend in general. The bending and breathing modes indicated by the vertical motions are dependent on the populations and vary with spatial locations. These vertical motions may be due to the Galactic warp, or minor mergers, or nonequilibrium of the disk. Assuming the warp is the dominant component, we find that the amplitude of the warp (γ, Z ω ) of OB stars (younger population) is larger than that of RC stars (medium population) and the latter is also larger than that for MSTO stars (older population), which is in agreement with other independent analyses of stellar density distribution, and supports that the warp is a long-lived, nonsteady structure and is time evolving. This conclusion is robust whether the line of nodes ϕ w is fixed or is a free parameter (with ϕ w being around 3°−8.°5 as the best fit). Furthermore, we find that the warp is lopsided with asymmetries along the azimuthal angle (ϕ).

Spectroscopic follow-up of statistically selected extremely metal-poor star candidates from GALAH DR3

ABSTRACT The advent of large-scale stellar spectroscopic surveys naturally leads to the implementation of machine learning techniques to isolate, for example, small sub-samples of potentially interesting stars from the full data set. A recent example is the application of the t-SNE statistical method to ∼600 000 stellar spectra from the GALAH survey in order to identify a sample of candidate extremely metal-poor (EMP; [Fe/H] ≤ –3) stars. We report the outcome of low-resolution spectroscopic follow-up of 83 GALAH EMP candidates that lack any previous metallicity estimates. Overall, the statistical selection is found to be efficient (∼one-third of the candidates have [Fe/H] ≤ –2.75) with low contamination (&amp;lt;10 per cent have [Fe/H] &amp;gt; –2), and with a metallicity distribution function that is consistent with previous work. Five stars are found to have [Fe/H] ≤ –3.0, one of which is a main sequence turnoff star. Two other stars are revealed as likely carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars of type CEMP-s, and a known carbon star is re-identified. The results indicate that the statistical selection approach employed was successful, and therefore it can be applied to forthcoming even larger stellar spectroscopic surveys with the expectation of similar positive outcomes.

Stellar ages, masses, extinctions, and orbital parameters based on spectroscopic parameters ofGaiaDR3

Context.Gaia’s third data release provides radial velocities for 33 million stars and spectroscopically derived atmospheric parameters for more than 5 million targets. When combined with the astrometric data, these allow us to derive orbital and stellar parameters that are key to understanding the stellar populations of the Milky Way and to perform Galactic archaeology.Aims.We used the calibrated atmospheric parameters, 2MASS andGaia-EDR3 photometry, and parallax-based distances to compute the ages, initial stellar masses, and reddenings for the stars with spectroscopic parameters. We also derived the orbits for all of the stars with measured radial velocities and astrometry, adopting two sets of line-of-sight distances from the literature.Methods.Four different sets of ages, masses, and absolute magnitudes in different photometric bands are obtained through an isochrone fitting method, considering different combinations of input parameters. The reddenings are obtained by comparing the observed colours with those obtained from the isochrone projection. Finally, the orbits are computed adopting an axisymmetric potential of the Galaxy.Results.Comparisons with reference catalogues of field and cluster stars suggest that reliable ages are obtained for stars younger than 9–10 Gyr when the estimated relative age uncertainty is &lt; 50 per cent. For older stars, ages tend to be underestimated. The most reliable stellar type for age determination are turn-off stars, even when the input atmospheric parameters have large uncertainties. Ages for giants and main-sequence stars are retrieved with uncertainties of the order of 2 Gyr when extinction towards the star’s line of sight is less thanAV ≲ 2.5 mag.Conclusions.The catalogue of ages, initial stellar masses, reddenings, galactocentric positions and velocities, as well as the stellar orbital actions, eccentricities, apocentre, pericentre and maximum distance from the Galactic plane reached during their orbits, is made publicly available to be downloaded. With this catalogue, the full chemo-dynamical properties of the extended solar neighbourhood unfold and allow us to better identify the properties of the spiral arms, to parametrise the dynamical heating of the disc, and to thoroughly study the chemical enrichment of the Milky Way.

Photometric calibration in u-band using blue halo stars

ABSTRACT We develop a method to calibrate u-band photometry based on the observed colour of blue Galactic halo stars. The Galactic halo stars belong to an old stellar population of the Milky Way and have relatively low metallicity. The ‘blue tip’ of the halo population – the main sequence turn-off (MSTO) stars – is known to have a relatively uniform intrinsic edge u-g colour with only slow spatial variation. In SDSS data, the observed variation is correlated with Galactic Latitude, which we attribute to contamination by higher metallicity disc stars and fit with an empirical curve. This curve can then be used to calibrate u-band imaging if g-band imaging of matching depth is available. Our approach can be applied to single-field observations at |b| &amp;gt; 30°, and removes the need for standard star observations or overlap with calibrated u-band imaging. We include in our method the calibration of g-band data with ATLAS-Refcat2. We test our approach on stars in KiDS DR 4, ATLAS DR 4, and DECam imaging from the NOIRLab Source Catalog (NSC DR2), and compare our calibration with SDSS. For this process, we use synthetic magnitudes to derive the colour equations between these data sets, in order to improve zero-point accuracy. We find an improvement for all data sets, reaching a zero-point precision of 0.016 mag for KiDS (compared to the original 0.033 mag), 0.020 mag for ATLAS (originally 0.027 mag), and 0.016 mag for DECam (originally 0.041 mag). Thus, this method alone reaches the goal of 0.02 mag photometric precision in u-band for the Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).

The GALAH survey: chemical clocks

ABSTRACT We present the first large-scale study that demonstrates how ages can be determined for large samples of stars through Galactic chemical evolution. Previous studies found that the elemental abundances of a star correlate directly with its age and metallicity. Using this knowledge, we derive ages for 214 577 stars in GALAH DR3 using only overall metallicities and chemical abundances. Stellar ages are estimated via the machine learning algorithm XGBoost for stars belonging to the Milky Way disc with metallicities in the range −1 &amp;lt; [Fe/H] &amp;lt; 0.5, using main-sequence turn-off stars as our training set. We find that stellar ages for the bulk of GALAH DR3 are precise to 1–2 Gyr using this method. With these ages, we replicate many recent results on the age-kinematic trends of the nearby disc, including the solar neighbourhood’s age–velocity dispersion relationship and the larger global velocity dispersion relations of the disc found using Gaia and GALAH. These results show that chemical abundance variations at a given birth radius are small, and that strong chemical tagging of stars directly to birth clusters may prove difficult with our current elemental abundance precision. Our results highlight the need to measure abundances for as many nucleosynthetic production sites as possible in order to estimate reliable ages from chemistry. Our methods open a new door into studies of the kinematic structure and evolution of the disc, as ages may potentially be estimated to a precision of 1–2 Gyr for a large fraction of stars in existing spectroscopic surveys.

Chemical composition of the young massive cluster NGC 1569-B

Context.The chemical composition of young massive clusters (YMCs) provides stellar population information on their host galaxy. As potential precursors of globular clusters (GCs), their properties can help us understand the origins of GCs and their evolution.Aims.We present a detailed chemical abundance analysis of the YMC NGC 1569-B. The host galaxy, NGC 1569, is a dwarf irregular starburst galaxy at a distance of 3.36 ± 0.20 Mpc. We derive the abundances of theα, Fe-peak, and heavy elements.Methods.We determined the abundance ratios from the analysis of an optical integrated-light (IL) spectrum of NGC 1569-B, obtained with the HIRES echelle spectrograph on the Keck I telescope. We considered different red-to-blue supergiant ratios (NRSG/NBSG), namely: the ratio obtained from a theoretical isochrone (NRSG/NBSG = 1.24), the ratio obtained from a resolved colour–magnitude diagram of the YMC (NRSG/NBSG = 1.53), and the ratio that minimises theχ2when comparing our model spectra with the observations (NRSG/NBSG = 1.90). We adopted the latter ratio for our resulting chemical abundances.Results.The derived iron abundance is sub-solar with [Fe/H] = −0.74 ± 0.05. In relation to the scaled solar composition, we find enhancedα-element abundances, [⟨Mg, Si, Ca, Ti⟩/Fe]= + 0.25 ± 0.11, with a particularly high Ti abundance of +0.49 ± 0.05. Other super-solar elements include [Cr/Fe] = +0.50 ± 0.11, [Sc/Fe] = +0.78 ± 0.20, and [Ba/Fe] = +1.28 ± 0.14, while other Fe-peak elements are close to scaled solar abundances: ([Mn/Fe] = −0.22 ± 0.12 and [Ni/Fe] = +0.13 ± 0.11).Conclusions.The composition of NGC 1569-B resembles the stellar populations of the YMC NGC 1705-1, located in a blue compact dwarf galaxy. The two YMCs agree with regard toα-elements and the majority of the Fe-peak elements, except for Sc and Ba, which are extremely super-solar in NGC 1569-B – and higher than in any YMC studied so far. The blue part of the optical spectrum of a young population is still a very challenging wavelength region to analyse using IL spectroscopic studies. This is due to the uncertain contribution to the light from blue supergiant stars, which can be difficult to disentangle from turn-off stars, even when resolved photometry is available. We suggest that the comparison of model fits at different wavelengths offers a route to determining the red-to-blue supergiant ratio from IL spectroscopy.

TOPoS

Context. The TOPoS project has the goal to find and analyse Turn-Off (TO) stars of extremely low metallicity. To select the targets for spectroscopic follow-up at high spectral resolution, we have relied on low-resolution spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Aims. In this paper we use the metallicity estimates we have obtained from our analysis of the SDSS spectra to construct the metallicity distribution function (MDF) of the Milky Way, with special emphasis on its metal-weak tail. The goal is to provide the underlying distribution out of which the TOPoS sample was extracted. Methods. We make use of SDSS photometry, Gaia photometry and distance estimates derived from the Gaia parallaxes to derive a metallicity estimate for a large sample of over 24 million TO stars. This sample is used to derive the metallicity bias of the sample for which SDSS spectra are available. Results. We determined that the spectroscopic sample is strongly biased in favour of metal-poor stars, as intended. A comparison with the unbiased photometric sample allows to correct for the selection bias. We select a sub-sample of stars with reliable parallaxes for which we combine the SDSS radial velocities with Gaia proper motions and parallaxes to compute actions and orbital parameters in the Galactic potential. This allows us to characterize the stars dynamically, and in particular to select a sub-sample that belongs to the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE) accretion event. We are thus able to provide also the MDF of GSE. Conclusions. The metal-weak tail derived in our study is very similar to that derived in the H3 survey and in the Hamburg/ESO Survey. This allows us to average the three MDFs and provide an error bar for each metallicity bin. Inasmuch the GSE structure is representative of the progenitor galaxy that collided with the Milky Way, that galaxy appears to be strongly deficient in metal-poor stars compared to the Milky Way, suggesting that the metal-weak tail of the latter has been largely formed by accretion of low mass galaxies rather than massive galaxies, such as the GSE progenitor.

KMT-2021-BLG-0240: Microlensing event with a deformed planetary signal

Aims. The light curve of the microlensing event KMT-2021-BLG-0240 exhibits a short-lasting anomaly with complex features near the peak at the 0.1 mag level from a single-lens single-source model. We conducted modeling of the lensing light curve under various interpretations to reveal the nature of the anomaly. Methods. It is found that the anomaly cannot be explained with the usual model based on a binary-lens (2L1S) or a binary-source (1L2S) interpretation. However, a 2L1S model with a planet companion can describe part of the anomaly, suggesting that the anomaly may be deformed by a tertiary lens component or a close companion to the source. From the additional modeling, we find that all the features of the anomaly can be explained with either a triple-lens (3L1S) model or a binary-lens binary-source (2L2S) model. However, it is difficult to validate the 2L2S model because the light curve does not exhibit signatures induced by the source orbital motion and the ellipsoidal variations expected by the close separation between the source stars according to the model. We, therefore, conclude that the two interpretations cannot be distinguished with the available data, and either can be correct. Results. According to the 3L1S solution, the lens is a planetary system with two sub-Jovian-mass planets in which the planets have masses of 0.32–0.47 MJ and 0.44–0.93 MJ, and they orbit an M dwarf host. According to the 2L2S solution, on the other hand, the lens is a single planet system with a mass of ~0.21 MJ orbiting a late K-dwarf host, and the source is a binary composed of a primary of a subgiant or a turnoff star and a secondary of a late G dwarf. The distance to the planetary system varies depending on the solution: ~7.0 kpc according to the 3L1S solution and ~6.6 kpc according to the 2L2S solution.

Four-hundred Very Metal-poor Stars Studied with LAMOST and Subaru. II. Elemental Abundances

We present homogeneous abundance analysis of over 20 elements for 385 very metal-poor (VMP) stars based on the LAMOST survey and follow-up observations with the Subaru Telescope. It is the largest high-resolution VMP sample (including 363 new objects) studied by a single program, and the first attempt to accurately determine evolutionary stages for such a large sample based on Gaia parallaxes. The sample covers a wide metallicity range from [Fe/H] ≲ −1.7 down to [Fe/H] ∼ −4.3, including over 110 objects with [Fe/H] ≤ −3.0. The expanded coverage in evolutionary status makes it possible to define the abundance trends respectively for giants and turnoff stars. The newly obtained abundance data confirm most abundance trends found by previous studies, but also provide useful updates and new samples of outliers. The Li plateau is seen in main-sequence turnoff stars with −2.5 < [Fe/H] < −1.7 in our sample, whereas the average Li abundance is clearly lower at lower metallicity. Mg, Si, and Ca are overabundant with respect to Fe, showing decreasing trend with increasing metallicity. Comparisons with chemical evolution models indicate that the overabundance of Ti, Sc, and Co are not well reproduced by current theoretical predictions. Correlations are seen between Sc and α-elements, while Zn shows a detectable correlation only with Ti but not with other α-elements. The fraction of carbon-enhanced stars ([C/Fe] > 0.7) is in the range of 20%–30% for turnoff stars depending on the treatment of objects for which C abundance is not determined, which is much higher than that in giants (∼8%). Twelve Mg-poor stars ([Mg/Fe] < 0.0) have been identified in a wide metallicity range from [Fe/H] ∼ −3.8 through −1.7. Twelve Eu-rich stars ([Eu/Fe] > 1.0) have been discovered in −3.4 < [Fe/H] < −2.0, enlarging the sample of r-process-enhanced stars with relatively high metallicity.

Anisotropy of Halo Main Sequence Turnoff Stars Measured with New MMT Radial Velocities and Gaia Proper Motions

We measure the anisotropy of the Milky Way stellar halo traced by a dense sample of 18 < r < 21 mag F-type main sequence turnoff stars using Gaia eDR3 proper motions and new radial velocity measurements published here.

MUSE spectroscopic observations of the young massive cluster NGC 1850

Context. The double cluster NGC 1850 in the Large Magellanic Cloud is the nearest young massive cluster of the Local Group with a mass similar to those of Galactic globular clusters. Recent studies have revealed an extended morphology of its main-sequence turn-off (MSTO), which can be interpreted as a spread in either age or internal rotation. In spite of its proximity, an accurate spectroscopic determination of its chemical properties is still missing. Aims. We aim to investigate the general chemistry and the kinematics of this stellar system to test whether possible signs of multiple populations are observable in this cluster. Methods. We analysed the spectra obtained with MUSE in adaptive optics mode of 1167 stars in both components of this cluster (NGC 1850A and NGC 1850B). Thanks to this data set, we were able to measure accurate global metallicities, Ba abundances, and radial velocities for a sample of 38 red supergiants and a guess of the oxygen abundance in the brightest turn-off stars belonging to NGC 1850A. Results. We find an average metallicity of ⟨[M/H]⟩ = −0.31 ± 0.01, a mean Ba abundance of ⟨[Ba/Fe]⟩ = +0.40 ± 0.02, and a systemic radial velocity of ⟨vLOS⟩ = 251.1 ± 0.3 km s−1. The dispersion of the radial velocities suggests a dynamical mass of log(M/M⊙) = 4.84 ± 0.1, while no significant systemic rotation is detected. We detect a significant bimodality in O I line strength among the turn-off stars of NGC 1850A with ∼66% of stars with [O/Fe]∼ − 0.16 and the rest with no detectable line. The majority of O-weak stars preferentially populate the red side of the MSTO and show H lines in emission, suggesting that they are Be stars rotating close to their critical velocity. Among normal MSTO stars, red stars have broader line profiles than blue ones, on average, suggesting a correlation between colour and rotational velocity. Conclusions. The mean metallicity of this cluster lies at the metal-rich side of the metallicity distribution of the Large Magellanic Cloud following its age-metallicity relation. The Ba and O abundances agree with those measured in the bar of this galaxy. The correlation between line broadening and colour suggests that the observed colour spread among turn-off stars can be due to a wide range in rotational velocity covered by these stars.

Ages of Main-sequence Turnoff Stars from the GALAH Survey

Main-sequence turnoff (MSTO) stars are good tracers of Galactic populations since their ages can be reliably estimated from atmospheric parameters. Based on the GALAH survey, we use the Yale rotation evolution code to determine the ages of 2926 MSTO stars with a mean age uncertainty of ∼10% considering the variation of C and O abundances. The ages of CO-poor stars are systematically affected by ∼10% due to the C and O abundances, globally shifting to ∼0.5 Gyr older compared to the results using solar metal mixture. Of the stars with [Fe/H] ∼ 0.3–0.5 or [O/Fe] ≤ −0.25, many have fractional age differences of ≥20%, and even reach up to 36%. The age–metallicity relation appears to possibly indicate the existence of two distinct sequences: a young sequence of stars with ages mostly <7 Gyr, and a relatively older sequence of stars with ages mostly >7 Gyr, overlapping at 5 Gyr ≤ age ≤ 7 Gyr. Moreover, the trends of abundances-to-age ratios show two corresponding sequences, especially in the [O/Fe]–age plane. We also find that [Y/Mg] is a good chemical clock in disk populations. The young sequence and the old sequence cannot be separated based on chemistry or kinematics; therefore, stellar age is an important parameter to distinguish these two sequences in our sample.

Beryllium abundances in turn-off stars of globular clusters with the CUBES spectrograph

Globular clusters host multiple stellar populations that display star-to-star variation of light elements that are affected by hot hydrogen burning (e.g., He, C, N, O). Several scenarios have been suggested to explain these variations. Most involve multiple star formation episodes, where later generations are born from material contaminated by the nucleosynthetic products of the previous stellar generation(s). One difficulty in the modelling of such scenarios is knowing the extent to which processed and pristine material are mixed. In this context, beryllium abundances measured in turn-off stars of different generations can provide new information. Beryllium originates from cosmic-ray spallation and can only be destroyed inside stars. Beryllium abundances can thus directly measure the degree of pollution of the material that formed stars in globular clusters. Turn-off stars in globular clusters are however faint and such studies are beyond the capabilities of current instrumentation. In this work, we show the progress that the CUBES spectrograph will bring to this area. Our simulations indicate that CUBES will enable the detection of variations of about 0.6 dex in the Be abundances between stars from different generations, in several nearby globular clusters with turn-off magnitude down to $V$ = 18 mag.

Estimate of the Mass and Radial Profile of the Orphan–Chenab Stream's Dwarf-galaxy Progenitor Using MilkyWay@home

Abstract We fit the mass and radial profile of the Orphan–Chenab Stream’s (OCS) dwarf-galaxy progenitor by using turnoff stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Dark Energy Camera to constrain N-body simulations of the OCS progenitor falling into the Milky Way on the 1.5 PetaFLOPS MilkyWay@home distributed supercomputer. We infer the internal structure of the OCS’s progenitor under the assumption that it was a spherically symmetric dwarf galaxy composed of a stellar system embedded in an extended dark matter halo. We optimize the evolution time, the baryonic and dark matter scale radii, and the baryonic and dark matter masses of the progenitor using a differential evolution algorithm. The likelihood score for each set of parameters is determined by comparing the simulated tidal stream to the angular distribution of OCS stars observed in the sky. We fit the total mass of the OCS’s progenitor to (2.0 ± 0.3) × 107 M ⊙ with a mass-to-light ratio of γ = 73.5 ± 10.6 and (1.1 ± 0.2) × 106 M ⊙ within 300 pc of its center. Within the progenitor’s half-light radius, we estimate a total mass of (4.0 ± 1.0) × 105 M ⊙. We also fit the current sky position of the progenitor’s remnant to be (α, δ) = ((166.0 ± 0.9)°, (−11.1 ± 2.5)°) and show that it is gravitationally unbound at the present time. The measured progenitor mass is on the low end of previous measurements and, if confirmed, lowers the mass range of ultrafaint dwarf galaxies. Our optimization assumes a fixed Milky Way potential, OCS orbit, and radial profile for the progenitor, ignoring the impact of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Characterizing epochs of star formation across the Milky Way disc using age–metallicity distributions of GALAH stars

ABSTRACT We provide a detailed map of the ages and metallicities of turn-off stars in the Milky Way disc based on data from GALAH DR3 and Gaia EDR3. From this map, we identify previously undetected features in the age–metallicity distribution of disc stars and interpret these results as indicating a three-phase formation history of the Milky Way. In the first phase, inner disc stars form along a single age–metallicity sequence and are today kinematically hot. The end of this phase is marked by a local minimum in the inner disc age distribution 10 Gyr ago. At this time, we find the stellar populations to transition from high to low alpha-element abundances and from high to low vertical velocity dispersion. In the second phase, stars form across the disc with outwardly decreasing metallicity. In this phase, inner disc stars form at supersolar metallicities in a continuation of the early age–metallicity relation, while outer disc stars begin forming at metallicities at least 0.5 dex lower. Finally, the third phase is associated with a recent burst of star formation across the local disc marked by a local minimum in the age–metallicity distribution 4–6 Gyr ago. Future quantitative comparisons between the observed age–metallicity distribution and those of simulated galaxies could help constrain the processes driving each of the star formation phases.