| 1. |
- Magrini, L., et al.
(författare)
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The Gaia-ESO Survey : the origin and evolution of s-process elements
- 2018
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 617
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Several works have found an increase of the abundances of the s-process neutron-capture elements in the youngest Galactic stellar populations. These trends provide important constraints on stellar and Galactic evolution and they need to be confirmed with large and statistically significant samples of stars spanning wide age and distance intervals. Aims. We aim to trace the abundance patterns and the time evolution of five s-process elements - two belonging to the first peak, Y and Zr, and three belonging to the second peak, Ba, La, and Ce - using the Gaia-ESO DRS results for open clusters and disc stars. Methods. From the UVES spectra of cluster member stars, we determined the average composition of clusters with ages >0.1 Gyr. We derived statistical ages and distances of field stars, and we separated them into thin and thick disc populations. We studied the time-evolution and dependence on metallicity of abundance ratios using open clusters and field stars whose parameters and abundances were derived in a homogeneous way. Results. Using our large and homogeneous sample of open clusters, thin and thick disc stars, spanning an age range larger than 10 Gyr, we confirm an increase towards young ages of s-process abundances in the solar neighbourhood. These trends are well defined for open clusters and stars located nearby the solar position and they may be explained by a late enrichment due to significant contribution to the production of these elements from long-living low-mass stars. At the same time, we find a strong dependence of the s-process abundance ratios on the Galactocentric distance and on the metallicity of the clusters and field stars. Conclusions. Our results, derived from the largest and most homogeneous sample of s-process abundances in the literature, confirm the growth with decreasing stellar ages of the s-process abundances in both field and open cluster stars. At the same time, taking advantage of the abundances of open clusters located in a wide Galactocentric range, these results offer a new perspective on the dependence of the s-process evolution on the metallicity and star formation history, pointing to different behaviours at various Galactocentric distances.
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| 2. |
- Casali, G., et al.
(författare)
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The Gaia-ESO survey : Calibrating a relationship between age and the [C/N] abundance ratio with open clusters
- 2019
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP SCIENCES S A. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 629
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context: In the era of large high-resolution spectroscopic surveys such as Gaia-ESO and APOGEE, high-quality spectra can contribute to our understanding of the Galactic chemical evolution by providing abundances of elements that belong to the different nucleosynthesis channels, and also by providing constraints to one of the most elusive astrophysical quantities: stellar age.Aims: Some abundance ratios, such as [C/N], have been proven to be excellent indicators of stellar ages. We aim at providing an empirical relationship between stellar ages and [C/N] using open star clusters, observed by the Gaia-ESO and APOGEE surveys, as calibrators.Methods: We used stellar parameters and abundances from the Gaia-ESO Survey and APOGEE Survey of the Galactic field and open cluster stars. Ages of star clusters were retrieved from the literature sources and validated using a common set of isochrones. We used the same isochrones to determine for each age and metallicity the surface gravity at which the first dredge-up and red giant branch bump occur. We studied the effect of extra-mixing processes in our sample of giant stars, and we derived the mean [C/N] in evolved stars, including only stars without evidence of extra mixing. By combining the Gaia-ESO and APOGEE samples of open clusters, we derived a linear relationship between [C/N] and (logarithmic) cluster ages.Results: We apply our relationship to selected giant field stars in the Gaia-ESO and APOGEE surveys. We find an age separation between thin-and thick-disc stars and age trends within their populations, with an increasing age towards lower metallicity populations.Conclusions: With this empirical relationship, we are able to provide an age estimate for giant stars in which C and N abundances are measured. For giant stars, the isochrone fitting method is indeed less sensitive than for dwarf stars at the turn-off. Our method can therefore be considered as an additional tool to give an independent estimate of the age of giant stars. The uncertainties in their ages is similar to those obtained using isochrone fitting for dwarf stars.
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| 3. |
- Magrini, L., et al.
(författare)
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The Gaia-ESO Survey : The N/O abundance ratio in the Milky Way
- 2018
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP SCIENCES S A. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 618
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The abundance ratio N/O is a useful tool to study the interplay of galactic processes, for example star formation efficiency, timescale of infall, and outflow loading factor. Aims. We aim to trace log(N/O) versus [Fe/H] in the Milky Way and to compare this ratio with a set of chemical evolution models to understand the role of infall, outflow, and star formation efficiency in the building up of the Galactic disc. Methods. We used the abundances from IDR2-3, IDR4, IDR5 data releases of the Gaia-ESO Survey both for Galactic field and open cluster stars. We determined membership and average composition of open clusters and we separated thin and thick disc field stars. We considered the effect of mixing in the abundance of N in giant stars. We computed a grid of chemical evolution models, suited to reproduce the main features of our Galaxy, exploring the effects of the star formation efficiency, infall timescale, and differential outflow. Results. With our samples, we map the metallicity range -0. 6 <= [Fe/H] <= 0.3 with a corresponding -1.2 <= log(N/O) <= -0.2, where the secondary production of N dominates. Thanks to the wide range of Galactocentric distances covered by our samples, we can distinguish the behaviour of log(N/O) in different parts of the Galaxy. Conclusions. Our spatially resolved results allow us to distinguish differences in the evolution of N/O with Galactocentric radius. Comparing the data with our models, we can characterise the radial regions of our Galaxy. A shorter infall timescale is needed in the inner regions, while the outer regions need a longer infall timescale, coupled with a higher star formation efficiency. We compare our results with nebular abundances obtained in MaNGA galaxies, finding in our Galaxy a much wider range of log(N/O) than in integrated observations of external galaxies of similar stellar mass, but similar to the ranges found in studies of individual H II regions.
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| 4. |
- Viscasillas Vázquez, C., et al.
(författare)
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The Gaia -ESO survey : Age-chemical-clock relations spatially resolved in the Galactic disc
- 2022
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 660
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The last decade has seen a revolution in our knowledge of the Galaxy thanks to the Gaia and asteroseismic space missions and the ground-based spectroscopic surveys. Aims. To complete this picture, it is necessary to map the ages of its stellar populations. During recent years, the dependence on time of abundance ratios involving slow (s) neutron-capture and α elements (called chemical-clocks) has been used to provide estimates of stellar ages, usually in a limited volume close to the Sun. We aim to analyse the relations of chemical clocks in the Galactic disc extending the range to RGC∼ 6- 20 kpc. Methods. Using the sixth internal data release of the Gaia-ESO survey, we calibrated several relations between stellar ages and abundance ratios [s/α] using a sample of open clusters, the largest one so far used with this aim (62 clusters). Thanks to their wide galactocentric coverage, we investigated the radial variations of the shape of these relations, confirming their non-universality. Results. The multi-variate relations allowed us to infer stellar ages for field stars. We estimated our accuracy (ranging from 0.0 to -0.9 Gyr) and precision (from 0.4 to 2.3 Gyr) in recovering the global ages of open clusters, and the ages of their individual members. We applied the relations with the highest correlation coefficients to the field star population, finding an older population at lower metallicity and higher [α/Fe] in the thin disc, and a younger one at higher [Fe/H] and low [α/Fe], as expected. Conclusion. We confirm that there is no single age-chemical clock relationship valid for the whole disc, but that there is a dependence on the galactocentric position, which is related to the radial variation of the star formation history combined with the non-monotonic dependence on metallicity of the yields of the s-process elements from low- and intermediate-mass stars. Finally, the abundance ratios [Ba/α] are more sensitive to age than those with [Y/α] for young disc stars, and their slopes vary less with galactocentric distance. We remind the reader that the application of such relationships to field stars is only of statistical value.
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| 5. |
- Lagarde, N., et al.
(författare)
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The Gaia-ESO Survey : impact of extra mixing on C and N abundances of giant stars
- 2018
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP SCIENCES S A. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 621
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context: The Gaia-ESO Public Spectroscopic Survey using FLAMES at the VLT has obtained high-resolution UVES spectra for a large number of giant stars, allowing a determination of the abundances of the key chemical elements carbon and nitrogen at their surface. The surface abundances of these chemical species are known to change in stars during their evolution on the red giant branch (RGB) after the first dredge-up episode, as a result of the extra mixing phenomena.Aims: We investigate the effects of thermohaline mixing on C and N abundances using the first comparison between the Gaia-ESO survey [C/N] determinations with simulations of the observed fields using a model of stellar population synthesis.Methods: We explore the effects of thermohaline mixing on the chemical properties of giants through stellar evolutionary models computed with the stellar evolution code STAREVOL. We include these stellar evolution models in the Besancon Galaxy model to simulate the [C/N] distributions determined from the UVES spectra of the Gaia-ESO survey and to compare them with the observations.Results: Theoretical predictions including the effect of thermohaline mixing are in good agreement with the observations. However, the field stars in the Gaia-ESO survey with C and N abundance measurements have a metallicity close to solar, where the efficiency of thermohaline mixing is not very large. The C and N abundances derived by the Gaia-ESO survey in open and globular clusters clearly show the impact of thermohaline mixing at low metallicity, which explains the [C/N] value observed in lower mass and older giant stars. Using independent observations of carbon isotopic ratio in clump field stars and open clusters, we also confirm that thermohaline mixing should be taken into account to explain the behaviour of C-12/C-13 as a function of stellar age.Conclusions: Overall, the current model including thermohaline mixing is able to reproduce very well the C and N abundances over the whole metallicity range investigated by the Gaia-ESO survey data.
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| 6. |
- Tautvaišiene, G., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia -ESO Survey : Detailed elemental abundances in red giants of the peculiar globular cluster NGC 1851
- 2022
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 658
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. NGC 1851 is one of several globular clusters for which multiple stellar populations of the subgiant branch have been clearly identified and a difference in metallicity detected. A crucial piece of information on the formation history of this cluster can be provided by the sum of A(C+N+O) abundances. However, these values have lacked a general consensus thus far. The separation of the subgiant branch can be based on age and/or A(C+N+O) abundance differences. Aims. Our main aim was to determine carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen abundances for evolved giants in the globular cluster NGC 1851 in order to check whether or not the double populations of stars are coeval. Methods. High-resolution spectra, observed with the FLAMES-UVES spectrograph on the ESO VLT telescope, were analysed using a differential model atmosphere method. Abundances of carbon were derived using spectral synthesis of the C2 band heads at 5135 and 5635.5 Å. The wavelength interval 6470-6490 Å, with CN features, was analysed to determine nitrogen abundances. Oxygen abundances were determined from the [O I] line at 6300 Å. Abundances of other chemical elements were determined from equivalent widths or spectral syntheses of unblended spectral lines. Results. We provide abundances of up to 29 chemical elements for a sample of 45 giants in NGC 1851. The investigated stars can be separated into two populations with a difference of 0.07 dex in the mean metallicity, 0.3 dex in the mean C/N, and 0.35 dex in the mean s-process dominated element-to-iron abundance ratios [s/Fe]. No significant difference was determined in the mean values of A(C+N+O) as well as in abundance to iron ratios of carbon, α- and iron-peak-elements, and of europium. Conclusions. As the averaged A(C+N+O) values between the two populations do not differ, additional evidence is given that NGC 1851 is composed of two clusters, the metal-rich cluster being by about 0.6 Gyr older than the metal-poor one. A global overview of NGC 1851 properties and the detailed abundances of chemical elements favour its formation in a dwarf spheroidal galaxy that was accreted by the Milky Way.
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| 7. |
- van der Swaelmen, M., et al.
(författare)
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The Gaia-ESO survey : Placing constraints on the origin of r-process elements
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 670
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context: A renewed interest in the origin of r-process elements has been stimulated by the multi-messenger observation of the gravitational event GW170817, with the detection of both gravitational waves and electromagnetic waves corresponding to the merger of two neutron stars. Such a phenomenon has been proposed as one of the main sources of the r-process. However, the origin of the r-process elements at different metallicities is still under debate.Aims: We aim at investigate the origin of the r-process elements in the Galactic thin-disc population.Methods: From the sixth internal data release of the Gaia-ESO, we have collected a large sample of Milky Way (MW) thin- and thick-disc stars for which abundances of Eu, O, and Mg are available. The sample consists of members of 62 open clusters (OCs), located at a Galactocentric radius between similar to 5kpc and similar to 20kpc in the disc, in the metallicity range [- 0.5,0.4], and covering an age interval from 0.1 to 7 Gy, and about 1300 Milky Way disc field stars in the metallicity range [- 1.5,0.5]. We compare the observations with the results of a chemical evolution model, in which we varied the nucleosynthesis sources for the three elements considered.Results: Our main result is that Eu in the thin disc is predominantly produced by sources with short lifetimes, such as magneto-rotationally driven SNe. There is no strong evidence for additional sources at delayed times.Conclusions: Our findings do not imply that there cannot be a contribution from mergers of neutron stars in other environments, as in the halo or in dwarf spheroidal galaxies, but such a contribution is not needed to explain Eu abundances at thin-disc metallicities.
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