VLT/FLAMES spectroscopy of red giant branch stars in the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy

Context. Fornax is one of the most massive dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Local Group. The Fornax field star population is dominated by intermediate age stars but star formation was going on over almost its entire history. It has been proposed that Fornax experienced a minor merger event. Aims. Despite recent progress, only the high metallicity end of Fornax field stars ([Fe/H] > -1.2 dex) has been sampled in larger number via high resolution spectroscopy. We want to better understand the full chemical evolution of this galaxy by better sampling the whole metallicity range, including more metal poor stars. Methods. We use the VLT-FLAMES multi-fibre spectrograph in high-resolution mode to determine the abundances of several a, iron-peak and neutron-capture elements in a sample of 47 individual red giant branch stars in the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy. We combine these abundances with accurate age estimates derived from the age probability distribution from the colour-magnitude diagram of Fornax. Results. Similar to other dwarf spheroidal galaxies, the old, metal-poor stars of Fornax are typically alpha-rich while the young metal-rich stars are a-poor. In the classical scenario of the time delay between Type II (SNe II) and Type Ia Supernovae (SNe la), we confirm that SNe la started to contribute to the chemical enrichment at [Fe/H] between -2.0 and -1.8 dex. We find that the onset of SNe Ia took place between 12-10 Gyr ago. The high values of [Ba/Fe], [La/Fe] reflect the influence of SNe Ia and AGB stars in the abundance pattern of the younger stellar population of Fornax. Conclusions. Our findings of low [alpha/Fe] and enhanced [Eu/Mg] are compatible with an initial mass function that lacks the most massive stars and with star formation that kept going on throughout the whole history of Fornax. We find that massive stars kept enriching the interstellar medium in alpha-elements, although they were not the main contributor to the iron enrichment.

The last stages of star formation in the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Sextans

Romaine Theler

This thesis is anchored in the research of better understanding of the chemical evolution of galaxies. Many dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph) are orbiting the Milky Way displaying various star formation histories. The formation of these dwarf galaxies and the drivers of their evolution are still not well understood. We studied in detail one of them, Sextans, a low mass dSph composed of an old population. 90% of Sextans stars were formed 11-14 Gyr ago (Lee et al. 2009). Battaglia et al. (2011) show the presence of a radial metallicity gradient in Sextans considering observation based on intermediate resolution spectroscopy until the tidal radius. For a projected radius R < 0.8 deg stars cover the whole range of [Fe/H], while for R > 0.8 deg all stars are metal-poor [Fe/H] < -2.2 dex. Due to its distance and its low surface brightness high resolution spectra are required to obtain accurate abundances. Up to recently only 14 Sextans stars have been observed in high resolution spectroscopy (Shetrone et al. 2001; Aoki et al. 2009; Tafelmeyer et al. 2010; Honda et al. 2011) but in majority they were focused only on extremely metal-poor stars. In order to understand the chemical evolution of Sextans we needed to study a statistically significant sample of stars covering a larger metallicity range. This has been done in this work based on the largest high resolution spectroscopic sample of 87 red giant branch stars ever obtained in such low mass dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Our sample of stars located in the center of Sextans displays a large metallicity distribution ranging from -1.0 dex to -3.5 dex. We derived abundances of 10 elements : 3 alpha-elements (Mg, Ca and Ti), 5 iron-peak elements (Sc, Cr,Mn, Co and Ni) and 2 neutron-capture elements (Ba and Eu). Combining the results we had the first picture of the chemical evolution of Sextans. From [alpha/Fe] distribution reflecting the ratio between supernovae [SNe II/SNe Ia], we found that the domination of SNeIa in chemical evolution occurred around [Fe/H] = -2.0 dex. A lower knee than for Fornax and Sculptor suggests that star formation was less efficient in Sextans in agreement with their respective estimated mass. The absence of intrinsic scatter in [alpha/Fe] showed that in the center of Sextans the interstellar medium has been homogeneously enriched through star formation. Some hypothesis like tidal interactions with the Milky Way could explain this abundance homogeneity in the center of the galaxy and the metallicity gradient toward the outskirts. Abundances in iron-peak elements and neutron-capture elements give new observational constraints for a better understanding of the various nucleosynthesis sources of these elements.

EPFL2015

VLT/FLAMES high-resolution chemical abundances in Sculptor: a textbook dwarf spheroidal galaxy

Pascale Jablonka

We present detailed chemical abundances for 99 red-giant branch stars in the centre of the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy, which have been obtained from high-resolution VLT/FLAMES spectroscopy. The abundances of Li, Na, alpha-elements (O, Mg, Si, Ca Ti), iron-peak elements (Sc, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn), and r- and s-process elements (Ba, La, Nd, Eu) were all derived using stellar atmosphere models and semi-automated analysis techniques. The iron abundances populate the whole metallicity distribution of the galaxy with the exception of the very low metallicity tail, -2.3

EDP Sciences2019

Nucleosynthesis And The Inhomogeneous Chemical Evolution Of The Carina Dwarf Galaxy

Pascale Jablonka

The detailed abundances of 23 chemical elements in nine bright red giant branch stars in the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy are presented based on high-resolution spectra gathered at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and Magellan telescopes. A spherical model atmospheres analysis is applied using standard methods (local thermodynamic equilibrium and plane-parallel radiative transfer) to spectra ranging from 380 to 680 nm. Stellar parameters are found to be consistent between photometric and spectroscopic analyses, both at moderate and high resolution. The stars in this analysis range in metallicity from -2.9 < [Fe/H] < -1.3, and adopting the ages determined by Lemasle et al., we are able to examine the chemical evolution of Carina's old and intermediate-aged populations. One of the main results from this work is the evidence for inhomogeneous mixing in Carina and therefore for a poor statistical sampling of the supernova contributions when forming stars; a large dispersion in [Mg/Fe] indicates poor mixing in the old population, an offset in the [alpha/Fe] ratios between the old and intermediate-aged populations (when examined with previously published results) suggests that the second star formation event occurred in alpha-enriched gas, and one star, Car-612, seems to have formed in a pocket enhanced in SN Ia/II products. This latter star provides the first direct link between the formation of stars with enhanced SN Ia/II ratios in dwarf galaxies to those found in the outer Galactic halo (Ivans et al.). Another important result is the potential evidence for SNII driven winds. We show that the very metal-poor stars in Carina have not been enhanced in asymptotic giant branch or SN Ia products, and therefore their very low ratios of [Sr/Ba] suggests the loss of contributions from the early SNe II. Low ratios of [Na/Fe], [Mn/Fe], and [Cr/Fe] in two of these stars support this scenario, with additional evidence from the low [Zn/Fe] upper limit for one star. It is interesting that the chemistry of the metal-poor stars in Carina is not similar to those in the Galaxy, most of the other dwarf spheroidal galaxies, or the ultra faint dwarfs, and suggests that Carina may be at the critical mass where some chemical enrichments are lost through SN II driven winds.

2012

The last stages of star formation in the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Sextans

Romaine Theler

EPFL2015

Nucleosynthesis And The Inhomogeneous Chemical Evolution Of The Carina Dwarf Galaxy

Pascale Jablonka

2012