Tagging the Chemical Evolution History of the Large Magellanic Cloud Disk

Abstract

We have used high-resolution spectra obtained with the multifiber facility FLAMES at the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory to derive kinematic properties and chemical abundances of Fe, O, Mg and Si for 89 stars in the disk of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The derived metallicity and [alpha/Fe], obtained as the average of O, Mg and Si abundances, allow us to draw a preliminary scheme of the star formation history occurred in this region of the LMC. The derived metallicity distribution shows two main components: one component (comprising ~ 84% of the sample) is peaked at [Fe/H] = -0.48 dex and it shows an [alpha/Fe] ratio slightly under solar ([alpha/Fe] ~ -0.1 dex). This population was probably originated by the main star formation event occurred 3-4 Gyr ago (possibly triggered by tidal capture of the Small Magellanic Cloud). The other component (comprising ~ 16% of the sample) is peaked at [Fe/H] ~ -1 dex and it shows an [alpha/Fe] ~ 0.2 dex. This population was probably generated during the long quiescent epoch of star formation in between the first episode and the most recent bursts. Indeed, in our sample we do not find stars with chemical properties similar to the old LMC globular clusters nor to the iron-rich and alpha-poor stars recently found in the LMC globular cluster NGC 1718 and predicted to be also in the LMC field, thus suggesting that both these components are small (< 1%) in the LMC disk population.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal (25 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables)

References in corpus (46)

• A large stellar evolution database for population synthesis studies. I. Scaled solar models and isochrones
• Star Formation Histories, Abundances and Kinematics of Dwarf Galaxies in the Local Group
• First stars V - Abundance patterns from C to Zn and supernova yields in the early Galaxy
• Color Transformations for the 2MASS Second Incremental Data Release
• Elemental Abundance Survey of The Galactic Thick Disk
• Solar Chemical Abundances Determined with a CO5BOLD 3D Model Atmosphere
• Stellar Chemical Signatures And Hierarchical Galaxy Formation
• Are the Magellanic Clouds on their First Passage about the Milky Way?
• Abundance Patterns in the Draco, Sextans and Ursa Minor Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies
• VLT/UVES Abundances in Four Nearby Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies: I. Nucleosynthesis and Abundance Ratios
• The Star Formation History of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• DAOSPEC: an automatic code for measuring equivalent widths in high-resolution stellar spectra
• The exotic chemical composition of the Sagittarius dwarf Spheroidal galaxy
• A high resolution VLT/FLAMES study of individual stars in the centre of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy
• Nucleosynthesis and the Inhomogeneous Chemical Evolution of the Carina Dwarf Galaxy
• Spectroscopy of Red Giants in the LMC Bar: Abundances, Kinematics, and the Age-Metallicity Relation
• The Ital-FLAMES survey of the Sagittarius dwarf Spheroidal galaxy. I. Chemical abundances of bright RGB stars
• Formation and evolution of the Magellanic Clouds. I.Origin of structural, kinematical, and chemical properties of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Calcium II Triplet Spectroscopy of LMC Red Giants. I. Abundances and Velocities for a Sample of Populous Clusters
• Chemical abundances in LMC stellar populations I. The Inner disk sample Based on observations collected at the VLT UT2 telescope
• Looking outside the Galaxy: the discovery of chemical anomalies in 3 old Large Magellanic Cloud clusters
• The chemical composition of red giant stars in four intermediate-age clusters of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• AGB stars in the Magellanic Clouds. II. The rate of star formation across the LMC
• The Chemical Enrichment History of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• A Review of the Distance and Structure of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Chemical Compositions of Red Giant Stars in Old Large Magellanic Cloud Globular Clusters
• The Star Formation History of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• The VMC Survey IV. The LMC star formation history and disk geometry from four VMC tiles
• Explaining the mysterious age gap of globular clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• VLT/FLAMES spectroscopy of Red Giant Branch stars in the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy
• New Photometry for the Intermediate-age LMC Globular Cluster NGC 2121 and the Nature of the LMC Age Gap
• HST Colour-Magnitude Diagrams of Six Old Globular Clusters in the LMC
• NGC 1866: a milestone for understanding the chemical evolution of stellar populations in the LMC
• Globular Cluster Abundances from High-Resolution, Integrated-Light Spectroscopy. IV. The Large Magellanic Cloud: $\alpha$, Fe-peak, Light, and Heavy Elements
• Chemical composition of the old globular clusters NGC 1786, NGC 2210 and NGC 2257 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Testing intermediate-age stellar evolution models with VLT photometry of LMC clusters. I. The data
• Bolometric correction and spectral energy distribution of cool stars in Galactic clusters
• The Magellanic Squall: Gas Replenishment from the Small to Large Magellanic Cloud
• The globular cluster NGC 1978 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• The luminosity function of the Large Magellanic Cloud globular cluster NGC 1866
• On the Iron content of NGC 1978 in the LMC: a metal rich, chemically homogeneous cluster
• Probing the RGB-phase transition: Near-IR photometry of six intermediate age LMC clusters
• The intermediate-age globular cluster NGC 1783 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Blood ties: the real nature of the LMC binary globular clusters NGC 2136 and NGC 2137
• Kinematic outliers in the LMC: constraints on star-star microlensing
• First Evidence of Globular Cluster Formation from the Ejecta of Prompt Type Ia Supernovae

Cited by in corpus (26)

• APOGEE Chemical Abundance Patterns of the Massive Milky Way Satellites
• The population of X-ray supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Chemical abundances in LMC stellar populations. II. The bar sample
• The Lazy Giants: APOGEE Abundances Reveal Low Star Formation Efficiencies in the Magellanic Clouds
• Selecting accreted populations: metallicity, elemental abundances, and ages of the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus and Sequoia populations
• Chemical abundances in the nucleus of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy
• Photometric metallicity map of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• The Alpha-element knee of the Sagittarius Stream
• Chemodynamics of a Simulated Disc Galaxy: Initial Mass Functions and SNIa Progenitors
• Chemical Abundance Analysis of Three $\alpha$-Poor, Metal-Poor Stars in the Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxy Horologium I
• The evolution of CNO elements in galaxies
• The VMC survey -- XLIV: Mapping metallicity trends in the Large Magellanic Cloud using near-infrared passbands
• Elemental Abundances in M31: First Alpha and Iron Abundance Measurements in M31's Giant Stellar Stream
• Chemical abundance study of two strongly s-process enriched post-AGB stars in the LMC: J051213.81-693537.1 and J051848.86-700246.9
• A Chandra Study of the Interstellar Metallicity in the Large Magellanic Cloud Using Supernova Remnants
• The chemical DNA of the Magellanic Clouds -- I. The chemical composition of 206 Small Magellanic Cloud red giant stars
• Elemental Abundances in M31: Gradients in the Giant Stellar Stream
• A homogeneous comparison between the chemical composition of the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy
• The chemical composition of the Small Magellanic Cloud
• Dust destruction in non-radiative shocks
• Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to TeV photon emission from the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Neutron-Capture Element Abundances in Magellanic Cloud Planetary Nebulae
• Stellar Populations and the Star Formation Histories of LSB Galaxies: V. WFC3 Color-Magnitude Diagrams
• Rediscovering the Milky Way with orbit superposition approach and APOGEE data II. Chrono-chemo-kinematics of the disc
• An Expanded Chemo-dynamical Sample of Red Giants in the Bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• A chemical close-up of the main body of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy