We report chemical abundances of Na, Al, Zr, La, Nd, and Eu for 39 red giant branch (RGB) stars and 23 potential inner disk red clump stars located in Plaut's low-extinction window. We also measure lithium for a super Li-rich RGB star. The abundances were determined by spectrum synthesis of high-resolution (R ≈ 25,000), high signal-to-noise (S/N ∼ 50–100 pixel-1) spectra obtained with the Blanco 4 m telescope and Hydra multifiber spectrograph. For the bulge RGB stars, we find a general increase in the [Na/Fe] and [Na/Al] ratios with increasing metallicity, and a similar decrease in [La/Fe] and [Nd/Fe]. Additionally, the [Al/Fe] and [Eu/Fe] abundance trends almost identically follow those of the α-elements, and the [Zr/Fe] ratios exhibit relatively little change with [Fe/H]. The consistently low [La/Eu] ratios of the RGB stars indicate that at least a majority of bulge stars formed rapidly (≲1 Gyr) and before the main s-process could become a significant pollution source. In contrast, we find that the potential inner disk clump stars exhibit abundance patterns more similar to those of the thin and thick disks. Comparisons between the abundance trends at different bulge locations suggest that the inner and outer bulges formed on similar timescales. However, we find evidence of some abundance differences between the most metal-poor and metal-rich stars in various bulge fields. The data also indicate that the halo may have had a more significant impact on the outer bulge initial composition than the inner bulge composition. The [Na/Fe], and to a lesser extent [La/Fe], abundances further indicate that the metal-poor bulge, at least at ∼1 kpc from the Galactic center, and thick disk may not share an identical chemistry.
A recent analysis comparing the [Na/Fe] distributions of red giant branch (RGB) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in the Galactic globular cluster NGC 6752 found that the ratio of Napoor to Na-rich stars changes from 30:70 on the RGB to 100:0 on the AGB.The surprising paucity of Na-rich stars on the AGB in NGC 6752 warrants additional investigations to determine if the failure of a significant fraction of stars to ascend the AGB is an attribute common to all globular clusters.Therefore, we present radial velocities, [Fe/H], and [Na/Fe] abundances for 35 AGB stars in the Galactic globular cluster 47 Tucanae (47 Tuc; NGC 104), and compare the AGB [Na/Fe] distribution with a similar RGB sample published previously.The abundances and velocities were derived from high resolution spectra obtained with the Michigan/Magellan Fiber System (M2FS) and MSpec spectrograph on the Magellan-Clay 6.5m telescope.We find the average heliocentric radial velocity and [Fe/H] values to be RV helio.=-18.56 km s -1 (σ=10.21km s -1 ) and [Fe/H] =-0.68 (σ=0.08),respectively, in agreement with previous literature estimates.The average [Na/Fe] abundance is 0.12 dex lower in the 47 Tuc AGB sample compared to the RGB sample, and the ratio of Na-poor to Na-rich stars is 63:37 on the AGB and 45:55 on the RGB.However, in contrast to NGC 6752, the two 47 Tuc populations have nearly identical [Na/Fe] dispersion and interquartile range values.The data presented here suggest that only a small fraction ( 20%) of Na-rich stars in 47 Tuc may fail to ascend the AGB, which is a similar result to that observed in M13.Regardless of the cause for the lower average [Na/Fe] abundance in AGB stars, we find that Na-poor stars and at least some Na-rich stars in 47 Tuc evolve through the early AGB phase.The contrasting behavior of Na-rich stars in 47 Tuc and NGC 6752 suggests that the RGB [Na/Fe] abundance alone is insufficient for predicting if a star will ascend the AGB.
ABSTRACT This is the third paper in a series that attempts to observe a clear signature of the Galactic bar/bulge using kinematic observations of the bulge stellar populations in low foreground extinction windows. We report on the detection of ∼100 000 new proper motions in four fields covering the far side of the Galactic bar/bulge, at negative longitudes. Our proper motions have been obtained using observations from the Advance Camera for Surveys (ACS), on board of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), with a time-baseline of 8–9 years, which has produced accuracies better than 0.5 mas yr−1 for a significant fraction of the stellar populations with F814W < 23 mag. Interestingly, as shown in previous works, the Hess diagrams show a strikingly similar proper motion distribution to fields closer to the Galactic center and consistent with an old stellar population. The observed kinematics point to a significant bulge rotation, which seems to predominate even in fields as far as l ≃ −8°, and is also reflected in the changes of the velocity ellipsoid in the l, b plane as a function of distance.
We present chemical abundances of several proton-capture, α-, Fe-peak, and neutron-capture elements and radial velocities for 21 red giant branch (RGB) and asymptotic giant branch members of the Galactic globular cluster M12. Abundances are based on equivalent width measurements and synthetic spectral analyses of moderate-resolution spectra (R ∼ 15,000) obtained with the 3.5 m WIYN telescope and Hydra multifiber spectrograph. The stars observed range from the RGB tip (M = -2.47) down to about 0.50 mag above the level of the horizontal branch (M = +0.11). Our spectroscopic analysis suggests that M12 is a moderately metal-poor cluster with [Fe/H] = -1.54 (σ = 0.09). While the Na abundances exhibit a range of 0.90 dex, Mg and Al abundances are enhanced by 0.37 and 0.54 dex and are nearly constant at all RGB luminosities, in contrast to the blue horizontal-branch cluster M13. The α- and Fe-peak elements indicate that M12 has undergone a similar chemical enrichment history to that of globular clusters and field stars of comparable metallicity, with ⟨[α/Fe]⟩ = +0.33 (σ = 0.11). M12 also appears to be slightly r-process-rich, with ⟨[Eu/Ba,La]⟩ = +0.22 (σ = 0.18).
A combined effort utilizing spectroscopy and photometry has revealed the existence of a new globular cluster class. These "anomalous" clusters, which we refer to as "iron-complex" clusters, are differentiated from normal clusters by exhibiting large (>0.10 dex) intrinsic metallicity dispersions, complex sub-giant branches, and correlated [Fe/H] and s-process enhancements. In order to further investigate this phenomenon, we have measured radial velocities and chemical abundances for red giant branch stars in the massive, but scarcely studied, globular cluster NGC 6273. The velocities and abundances were determined using high resolution (R~27,000) spectra obtained with the Michigan/Magellan Fiber System (M2FS) and MSpec spectrograph on the Magellan-Clay 6.5m telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. We find that NGC 6273 has an average heliocentric radial velocity of +144.49 km s^-1 (sigma=9.64 km s^-1) and an extended metallicity distribution ([Fe/H]=-1.80 to -1.30) composed of at least two distinct stellar populations. Although the two dominant populations have similar [Na/Fe], [Al/Fe], and [alpha/Fe] abundance patterns, the more metal-rich stars exhibit significant [La/Fe] enhancements. The [La/Eu] data indicate that the increase in [La/Fe] is due to almost pure s-process enrichment. A third more metal-rich population with low [X/Fe] ratios may also be present. Therefore, NGC 6273 joins clusters such as omega centauri, M 2, M 22, and NGC 5286 as a new class of iron-complex clusters exhibiting complicated star formation histories.
We have obtained high-resolution spectra of 32 giants in the open cluster NGC 7789 using the Wisconsin–Indiana–Yale–NOAO Hydra spectrograph. We explore differences in atmospheric parameters and elemental abundances caused by the use of the linelist developed for the Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) compared to one based on Arcturus used in our previous work. [Fe/H] values decrease when using the GES linelist instead of the Arcturus-based linelist; these differences are probably driven by systematically lower (∼−0.1 dex) GES surface gravities. Using the GES linelist we determine abundances for 10 elements—Fe, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Na, Ni, Zr, Ba, and La. We find the cluster's average metallicity [Fe/H] = 0.03 ± 0.07 dex, in good agreement with literature values, and a lower [Mg/Fe] abundance than has been reported before for this cluster (0.11 ± 0.05 dex). We also find the neutron-capture element barium to be highly enhanced—[Ba/Fe] = +0.48 ± 0.08—and disparate from cluster measurements of neutron-capture elements La and Zr (−0.08 ± 0.05 and 0.08 ± 0.08, respectively). This is in accordance with recent discoveries of supersolar Ba enhancement in young clusters along with more modest enhancement of other neutron-capture elements formed in similar environments.
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