APOGEE-2 Discovery of a Large Population of Relatively High-metallicity Globular Cluster Debris

Fernández-Trincado, José G. and Beers, Timothy C. and Queiroz, Anna. B. A. and Chiappini, Cristina and Minniti, Dante and Barbuy, Beatriz and Majewski, Steven R. and Ortigoza-Urdaneta, Mario and Moni Bidin, Christian and Robin, Annie C. and Moreno, Edmundo and Chaves-Velasquez, Leonardo and Villanova, Sandro and Lane, Richard R. and Pan, Kaike and Bizyaev, Dmitry (2021) APOGEE-2 Discovery of a Large Population of Relatively High-metallicity Globular Cluster Debris. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 918 (2). L37. ISSN 2041-8205

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Abstract

We report the discovery of a new, chemically distinct population of relatively high-metallicity ([Fe/H] > −0.7) red giant stars with super-solar [N/Fe] (≳+0.75) identified within the bulge, disk, and halo of the Milky Way. This sample of stars was observed during the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2); the spectra of these stars are part of the seventeenth Data Release (DR 17) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We hypothesize that this newly identified population was formed in a variety of progenitors, and is likely made up of either fully or partially destroyed metal-rich globular clusters, which we refer to as globular cluster debris (GCD), identified by their unusual photospheric nitrogen abundances. It is likely that some of the GCD stars were probable members of the Gaia–Enceladus–Sausage accretion event, along with clusters formed in situ.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Science Global Plos > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User: Unnamed user with email support@science.globalplos.com
Date Deposited: 06 May 2023 10:05
Last Modified: 06 Feb 2024 04:23
URI: http://ebooks.manu2sent.com/id/eprint/781

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