Bibcode
Aoki, W.; Arimoto, N.; Sadakane, K.; Tolstoy, E.; Battaglia, G.; Jablonka, P.; Shetrone, M.; Letarte, B.; Irwin, M.; Hill, V.; Francois, P.; Venn, K.; Primas, F.; Helmi, A.; Kaufer, A.; Tafelmeyer, M.; Szeifert, T.; Babusiaux, C.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 502, Issue 2, 2009, pp.569-578
Advertised on:
8
2009
Journal
Citations
106
Refereed citations
92
Description
Context: Individual stars in dwarf spheroidal galaxies around the Milky
Way Galaxy have been studied both photometrically and spectroscopically.
Extremely metal-poor stars among them are very valuable because they
should record the early enrichment in the Local Group. However, our
understanding of these stars is very limited because detailed chemical
abundance measurements are needed from high resolution spectroscopy. Aims: To constrain the formation and chemical evolution of dwarf
galaxies, metallicity and chemical composition of extremely metal-poor
stars are investigated. Methods: Chemical abundances of six
extremely metal-poor ([Fe/H] < -2.5) stars in the Sextans dwarf
spheroidal galaxy are determined based on high resolution spectroscopy
(R=40 000) with the Subaru Telescope High Dispersion Spectrograph. Results: (1) The Fe abundances derived from the high resolution
spectra are in good agreement with the metallicity estimated from the Ca
triplet lines in low resolution spectra. The lack of stars with [Fe/H]
⪉ -3 in Sextans, found by previous estimates from the Ca triplet, is
confirmed by our measurements, although we note that high resolution
spectroscopy for a larger sample of stars will be necessary to estimate
the true fraction of stars with such low metallicity. (2) While one
object shows an overabundance of Mg (similar to Galactic halo stars),
the Mg/Fe ratios of the remaining five stars are similar to the solar
value. This is the first time that low Mg/Fe ratios at such low
metallicities have been found in a dwarf spheroidal galaxy. No evidence
for over-abundances of Ca and Ti are found in these five stars, though
the measurements for these elements are less certain. Possible
mechanisms to produce low Mg/Fe ratios, with respect to that of Galactic
halo stars, are discussed. (3) Ba is under-abundant in four objects,
while the remaining two stars exhibit large and moderate excesses of
this element. The abundance distribution of Ba in this galaxy is similar
to that in the Galactic halo, indicating that the enrichment of heavy
elements, probably by the r-process, started at metallicities [Fe/H]
≤ -2.5, as found in the Galactic halo.
Based on data collected at Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
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