Nitrogen evolution in the halo, thick disc, thin disc and bulge of the Galaxy

Abstract

We study the evolution of nitrogen in the Galactic halo, thick disc, thin disc and bulge by comparing detailed chemical evolution models with recent observations. The models used in this work have already been constrained to explain the abundance patterns of $\alpha$-elements and the metallicity distribution functions of halo, disc and bulge stars; here, we adopt them to investigate the origin and evolution of N in the different Galactic components. First, we consider different sets of yields and study the importance of the various channels proposed for N production. Secondly, we apply the reference models to study the evolution of both the Galactic discs and bulge. We conclude that: i) primary N produced by rotating massive stars is required to reproduce the plateau in log(N/O) and [N/Fe] ratios at low metallicity, as well as the secondary and primary production from low- and intermediate-mass stars to reproduce the data of the thin disc. ii) The parallel model can provide a good explanation of the evolution of N abundance in the thick and thin discs; we confirm that the thick disc has evolved much faster than the thin disc, in agreement with the results from the abundance patterns of other chemical elements. iii) Finally, we present new model predictions for N evolution in the Galactic bulge, and we show that the observations in bulge stars can be explained if massive stars rotate fast during the earliest phases of Galactic evolution, in agreement with findings from the abundance pattern of carbon.

10 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (23)

• First stars VI - Abundances of C, N, O, Li, and mixing in extremely metal-poor giants. Galactic evolution of the light elements
• Very low metallicity massive star models: Pre-SN evolution and primary nitrogen production
• A strong case for fast stellar rotation at very low metallicities
• The evolution of CNO isotopes: a new window on cosmic star-formation history and the stellar IMF in the age of ALMA
• Disentangling the Galactic Halo with APOGEE: I. Chemical and Kinematical Investigation of Distinct Metal-Poor Populations
• Super and massive AGB stars - III. Nucleosynthesis in metal-poor and very metal-poor stars - Z=0.001 and 0.0001
• The AMBRE Project: chemical evolution models for the Milky Way thick and thin discs
• Formation & evolution of the Galactic bulge: constraints from stellar abundances
• APOGEE DR16: a multi-zone chemical evolution model for the Galactic disc based on MCMC methods
• Chemical evolution of the Milky Way: constraints on the formation of the thick and thin discs
• The effect of stellar migration on Galactic chemical evolution: a heuristic approach
• The Gaia-ESO Survey: CNO abundances in the open clusters Trumpler 20, NGC 4815, and NGC 6705
• The origin of stellar populations in the Galactic bulge from chemical abundances
• Light Elements in the Universe
• On the variation of carbon abundance in galaxies and its implications
• Solar Elemental Abundances
• The Gaia-ESO Survey: Carbon abundance in the Galactic thin and thick disks
• Fluorine in the solar neighborhood: modelling the Galactic thick and thin discs
• The origin of abundance gradients in the Milky Way: the predictions of different models
• Modelling the chemical evolution of Zr, La, Ce and Eu in the Galactic discs and bulge
• Heavy element evolution in the inner regions of the Milky Way
• An enquiry on the origins of N-rich stars in the inner Galaxy basedon APOGEE chemical compositions
• Planetary nebulae in the inner Milky Way: new abundances

Cited by in corpus (7)

• The evolution of CNO elements in galaxies
• Zero and extremely low metallicity rotating massive stars: evolution, explosion, and nucleosynthesis up to the heaviest nuclei
• The impact of very massive stars on the chemical evolution of extremely metal-poor galaxies
• Empirical Constraints on the Nucleosynthesis of Nitrogen
• Gas-phase Fe/O and Fe/N abundances in Star-Forming Regions. Relations between nucleosynthesis, metallicity and dust
• Nitrogen Abundance Distribution in the inner Milky Way
• Chemical enrichment in LINERs from MaNGA. I. Tracing Oxygen and Nitrogen Nuclear Abundances in LINERs with Varied Ionizing Sources