| 1. |
- Smiljanic, R., et al.
(författare)
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The Gaia-ESO Survey: The analysis of high-resolution UVES spectra of FGK-type stars
- 2014
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Ingår i: Astronomy & Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 570
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The ongoing Gaia-ESO Public Spectroscopic Survey is using FLAMES at the VLT to obtain high-quality medium-resolution Giraffe spectra for about 10(5) stars and high-resolution UVES spectra for about 5000 stars. With UVES, the Survey has already observed 1447 FGK-type stars. Aims. These UVES spectra are analyzed in parallel by several state-of-the-art methodologies. Our aim is to present how these analyses were implemented, to discuss their results, and to describe how a final recommended parameter scale is defined. We also discuss the precision (method-to-method dispersion) and accuracy (biases with respect to the reference values) of the final parameters. These results are part of the Gaia-ESO second internal release and will be part of its first public release of advanced data products. Methods. The final parameter scale is tied to the scale defined by the Gaia benchmark stars, a set of stars with fundamental atmospheric parameters. In addition, a set of open and globular clusters is used to evaluate the physical soundness of the results. Each of the implemented methodologies is judged against the benchmark stars to define weights in three different regions of the parameter space. The final recommended results are the weighted medians of those from the individual methods. Results. The recommended results successfully reproduce the atmospheric parameters of the benchmark stars and the expected T-eff-log g relation of the calibrating clusters. Atmospheric parameters and abundances have been determined for 1301 FGK-type stars observed with UVES. The median of the method-to-method dispersion of the atmospheric parameters is 55K for T-eff, 0.13dex for log g and 0.07 dex for [Fe/H]. Systematic biases are estimated to be between 50-100 K for T-eff, 0.10-0.25 dex for log g and 0.05-0.10 dex for [Fe/H]. Abundances for 24 elements were derived: C, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Y, Zr, Mo, Ba, Nd, and Eu. The typical method-to-method dispersion of the abundances varies between 0.10 and 0.20 dex. Conclusions. The Gaia-ESO sample of high-resolution spectra of FGK-type stars will be among the largest of its kind analyzed in a homogeneous way. The extensive list of elemental abundances derived in these stars will enable significant advances in the areas of stellar evolution and Milky Way formation and evolution.
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| 2. |
- Bergemann, M., et al.
(författare)
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The Gaia-ESO Survey : radial metallicity gradients and age-metallicity relation of stars in the Milky Way disk
- 2014
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 565, s. A89-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We study the relationship between age, metallicity, and alpha-enhancement of FGK stars in the Galactic disk. The results are based upon the analysis of high-resolution UVES spectra from the Gaia-ESO large stellar survey. We explore the limitations of the observed dataset, i.e. the accuracy of stellar parameters and the selection effects that are caused by the photometric target preselection. We find that the colour and magnitude cuts in the survey suppress old metal-rich stars and young metal-poor stars. This suppression may be as high as 97% in some regions of the age-metallicity relationship. The dataset consists of 144 stars with a wide range of ages from 0.5 Gyr to 13.5 Gyr, Galactocentric distances from 6 kpc to 9.5 kpc, and vertical distances from the plane 0 < vertical bar Z vertical bar < 1.5 kpc. On this basis, we find that i) the observed age-metallicity relation is nearly flat in the range of ages between 0 Gyr and 8 Gyr; ii) at ages older than 9 Gyr, we see a decrease in [Fe/H] and a clear absence of metal-rich stars; this cannot be explained by the survey selection functions; iii) there is a significant scatter of [Fe/H] at any age; and iv) [Mg/Fe] increases with age, but the dispersion of [Mg/Fe] at ages > 9 Gyr is not as small as advocated by some other studies. In agreement with earlier work, we find that radial abundance gradients change as a function of vertical distance from the plane. The [Mg/Fe] gradient steepens and becomes negative. In addition, we show that the inner disk is not only more alpha-rich compared to the outer disk, but also older, as traced independently by the ages and Mg abundances of stars.
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| 3. |
- Magrini, L., et al.
(författare)
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The Gaia-ESO Survey: Abundance ratios in the inner-disk open clusters Trumpler 20, NGC 4815, NGC 6705
- 2014
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Ingår i: Astronomy & Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 563
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Open clusters are key tools to study the spatial distribution of abundances in the disk and their evolution with time. Aims. Using the first release of stellar parameters and abundances of the Gaia-ESO Survey, we analyse the chemical properties of stars in three old/intermediate-age open clusters, namely NGC 6705, NGC 4815, and Trumpler 20, which are all located in the inner part of the Galactic disk at Galactocentric radius R-GC similar to 7 kpc. We aim to prove their homogeneity and to compare them with the field population. Methods. We study the abundance ratios of elements belonging to two different nucleosynthetic channels: alpha-elements and iron-peak elements. For each element, we analyse the internal chemical homogeneity of cluster members, and we compare the cumulative distributions of cluster abundance ratios with those of solar neighbourhood turn-off stars and of inner-disk/bulge giants. We compare the abundance ratios of field and cluster stars with two chemical evolution models that predict different alpha-enhancement dependences on the Galactocentric distance due to different assumptions on the infall and star-formation rates. Results. The main results can be summarised as follows: i) cluster members are chemically homogeneous within 3 sigma in all analysed elements; ii) the three clusters have comparable [El/Fe] patterns within similar to 1 sigma, but they differ in their global metal content [El/H] with NGC 4815 having the lowest metallicity; their [El/Fe] ratios show differences and analogies with those of the field population, in both the solar neighbourhood and the bulge/inner disk; iii) comparing the abundance ratios with the results of two chemical evolution models and with field star abundance distributions, we find that the abundance ratios of Mg, Ni, and Ca in NGC 6705 might require an inner birthplace, implying a subsequent variation in its R-GC during its lifetime, which is consistent with previous orbit determination. Conclusions. Using the results of the first internal data release, we show the potential of the Gaia-ESO Survey through a homogeneous and detailed analysis of the cluster versus field populations to reveal the chemical structure of our Galaxy using a completely uniform analysis of different populations. We verify that the Gaia-ESO Survey data are able to identify the unique chemical properties of each cluster by pinpointing the composition of the interstellar medium at the epoch and place of formation. The full dataset of the Gaia-ESO Survey is a superlative tool to constrain the chemical evolution of our Galaxy by disentangling different formation and evolution scenarios.
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| 4. |
- Recio-Blanco, A., et al.
(författare)
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The Gaia-ESO Survey: the Galactic thick to thin disc transition
- 2014
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Ingår i: Astronomy & Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 567
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims. The nature of the thick disc and its relation to the thin disc is presently an important subject of debate. In fact, the structural and chemo-dynamical transition between disc populations can be used as a test of the proposed models of Galactic disc formation and evolution. Methods. We used the atmospheric parameters, [alpha/Fe] abundances, and radial velocities, which were determined from the Gaia-ESO Survey GIRAFFE spectra of FGK-type stars (first nine months of observations) to provide a chemo-kinematical characterisation of the disc stellar populations. We focussed on a subsample of 1016 stars with high-quality parameters, covering the volume vertical bar Z vertical bar < 4.5 kpc and R in the range 2-13 kpc. Results. We have identified a thin to thick disc separation in the [alpha/Fe] vs. [M/H] plane, thanks to the presence of a low-density region in the number density distribution. The thick disc stars seem to lie in progressively thinner layers above the Galactic plane, as metallicity increases and [alpha/Fe] decreases. In contrast, the thin disc population presents a constant value of the mean distance to the Galactic plane at all metallicities. In addition, our data confirm the already known correlations between V-phi and [M/H] for the two discs. For the thick disc sequence, a study of the possible contamination by thin disc stars suggests a gradient up to 64 +/- 9 km s(-1) dex(-1). The distributions of azimuthal velocity, vertical velocity, and orbital parameters are also analysed for the chemically separated samples. Concerning the gradients with galactocentric radius, we find, for the thin disc, a flat behaviour of the azimuthal velocity, a metallicity gradient equal to -0.058 +/- 0.008 dex kpc(-1) and a very small positive [alpha/Fe] gradient. For the thick disc, flat gradients in [M/H] and [alpha/Fe] are derived. Conclusions. Our chemo-kinematical analysis suggests a picture where the thick disc seems to have experienced a settling process, during which its rotation increased progressively and, possibly, the azimuthal velocity dispersion decreased. At [M/H] approximate to -0.25 dex and [alpha/Fe] approximate to 0.1 dex, the mean characteristics of the thick disc in vertical distance to the Galactic plane, rotation, rotational dispersion, and stellar orbits' eccentricity agree with that of the thin disc stars of the same metallicity, suggesting a possible connection between these two populations at a certain epoch of the disc evolution. Finally, the results presented here, based only on the first months of the Gaia-ESO Survey observations, confirm how crucial large high-resolution spectroscopic surveys outside the solar neighbourhood are today for our understanding of the Milky Way history.
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| 5. |
- Howes, Louise, et al.
(författare)
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The Gaia-ESO Survey: the most metal-poor stars in the Galactic bulge
- 2014
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1365-2966 .- 0035-8711. ; 445:4, s. 4241-4246
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the first results of the EMBLA survey (Extremely Metal-poor BuLge stars with AAOmega), aimed at finding metal-poor stars in the Milky Way bulge, where the oldest stars should now preferentially reside. EMBLA utilizes SkyMapper photometry to pre-select metal-poor candidates, which are subsequently confirmed using AAOmega spectroscopy. We describe the discovery and analysis of four bulge giants with -2.72 <= [Fe/H] <= -2.48, the lowest metallicity bulge stars studied with high-resolution spectroscopy to date. Using FLAMES/UVES spectra through the Gaia-ESO Survey we have derived abundances of twelve elements. Given the uncertainties, we find a chemical similarity between these bulge stars and halo stars of the same metallicity, although the abundance scatter may be larger, with some of the stars showing unusual [alpha/Fe] ratios.
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