Bibcode
Lee, Young Sun; Beers, Timothy C.; Allende-Prieto, C.; Lai, David K.; Rockosi, Constance M.; Morrison, Heather L.; Johnson, Jennifer A.; An, Deokkeun; Sivarani, Thirupathi; Yanny, Brian
Bibliographical reference
The Astronomical Journal, Volume 141, Issue 3, article id. 90 (2011).
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3
2011
Citations
146
Refereed citations
141
Description
We present a method for the determination of [α/Fe] ratios from
low-resolution (R = 2000) SDSS/SEGUE stellar spectra. By means of a
star-by-star comparison with degraded spectra from the ELODIE spectral
library and with a set of moderately high-resolution (R = 15, 000) and
medium-resolution (R = 6000) spectra of SDSS/SEGUE stars, we demonstrate
that we are able to measure [α/Fe] from SDSS/SEGUE spectra (with
S/N>20/1) to a precision of better than 0.1 dex, for stars with
atmospheric parameters in the range T eff = [4500, 7000] K,
log g = [1.5, 5.0], and [Fe/H] = [-1.4, +0.3], over the range
[α/Fe] = [-0.1, +0.6]. For stars with [Fe/H] <-1.4, our method
requires spectra with slightly higher signal-to-noise to achieve this
precision (S/N>25/1). Over the full temperature range considered, the
lowest metallicity star for which a confident estimate of [α/Fe]
can be obtained from our approach is [Fe/H] ~-2.5 preliminary tests
indicate that a metallicity limit as low as [Fe/H] ~-3.0 may apply to
cooler stars. As a further validation of this approach, weighted
averages of [α/Fe] obtained for SEGUE spectra of likely member
stars of Galactic globular clusters (M15, M13, and M71) and open
clusters (NGC 2420, M67, and NGC 6791) exhibit good agreement with the
values of [α/Fe] from previous studies. The results of the
comparison with NGC 6791 imply that the metallicity range for the method
may extend to ~+0.5.
Related projects
Chemical Abundances in Stars
Stellar spectroscopy allows us to determine the properties and chemical compositions of stars. From this information for stars of different ages in the Milky Way, it is possible to reconstruct the chemical evolution of the Galaxy, as well as the origin of the elements heavier than boron, created mainly in stellar interiors. It is also possible to
Carlos
Allende Prieto