Oxygen, sulfur, and iron radial abundance gradients of classical Cepheids across the Galactic thin disk

Abstract

Classical Cepheids (CCs) are solid distance indicators and tracers of young stellar populations. Our aim is to provide iron, oxygen, and sulfur abundances for the largest and most homogeneous sample of Galactic CCs ever analyzed. The current sample covers a wide range in Galactocentric distances (RG), pulsation modes and periods. High-resolution and high S/N spectra collected with different spectrographs were adopted to estimate the atmospheric parameters. Individual distances are based on Gaia trigonometric parallaxes or on near-infrared Period-Luminosity relations. We found that Fe and alpha-element radial gradients based on CCs display a well-defined change in the slope for RG larger than 12 kpc. Radial gradients based on open clusters, covering a wide range in age, display similar trends, meaning that the flattening in the outer disk is an intrinsic feature of the radial gradients since it is independent of age. Empirical evidence indicates that the radial gradient for S is steeper than for Fe. The difference in the slope is a factor of two in the linear fit. We also found that S is, on average, under-abundant compared with O. We performed a detailed comparison with Galactic chemical evolution models and we found that a constant Star Formation Efficiency for RG larger than 12 kpc takes account for the flattening in both Fe and alpha-elements. To further constrain the impact that predicted S yields for massive stars have on radial gradients, we adopted a "toy model" and we found that the flattening in the outermost regions requires a decrease of a factor of four in the current S predictions. Sulfur photospheric abundances, compared with other alpha-elements, have the key advantage of being a volatile element. Therefore, stellar S abundances can be directly compared with nebular S abundances in external galaxies.

arXiv comment21 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables; to be published in the A&A journal

References in corpus (111)

• The Structure of Cold Dark Matter Halos
• Measuring Reddening with SDSS Stellar Spectra and Recalibrating SFD
• Star Formation in Galaxies Along the Hubble Sequence
• Estimating distances from parallaxes. V: Geometric and photogeometric distances to 1.47 billion stars in Gaia Early Data Release 3
• Local Kinematics and the Local Standard of Rest
• galpy: A Python Library for Galactic Dynamics
• Nucleosynthesis in Chandrasekhar Mass Models for Type Ia Supernovae and Constraints on Progenitor Systems and Burning-Front Propagation
• Trigonometric Parallaxes of High Mass Star Forming Regions: the Structure and Kinematics of the Milky Way
• Galactic chemical evolution: Carbon through Zinc
• Trigonometric Parallaxes Of High-Mass Star Forming Regions: Our View Of The Milky Way
• Presupernova evolution and explosive nucleosynthesis of rotating massive stars in the metallicity range -3 <=[Fe/H]<= 0
• Painting a portrait of the Galactic disc with its stellar clusters
• Mass, Metal, and Energy Feedback in Cosmological Simulations
• Gaia Data Release 2: Mapping the Milky Way disc kinematics
• Quantifying the uncertainties of chemical evolution studies. II. Stellar yields
• Spectroscopy Made Easy: Evolution
• The Evolution of Isotope Ratios in the Milky Way Galaxy
• Some Revised Observational Constraints on the Formation and Evolution of the Galactic Disk
• The Structure of the Milky Way's Bar Outside the Bulge
• Chemical evolution with rotating massive star yields: I. The solar neighbourhood and the s-process elements
• A new code for automatic determination of equivalent widths: Automatic Routine for line Equivalent widths in stellar Spectra (ARES)
• An atmospheric radiation model for Cerro Paranal. I. The optical spectral range
• Evolution, Explosion and Nucleosynthesis of Core Collapse Supernovae
• Extragalactic chemical abundances: do HII regions and young stars tell the same story? The case of the spiral galaxy NGC 300
• Gaia Data Release 3: Analysis of RVS spectra using the General Stellar Parametriser from spectroscopy
• Three-Dimensional Distribution of the ISM in the Milky Way Galaxy: II. The Molecular Gas Disk
• Three-Dimensional Distribution of the ISM in the Milky Way Galaxy: I. The HI Disk
• The Distribution of the Elements in the Galactic Disk III. A Reconsideration of Cepheids from l = 30 to 250 Degrees
• ARES v2 - new features and improved performance
• Stellar Population gradients in galaxy discs from the CALIFA survey
• Radial migration in galactic disks caused by resonance overlap of multiple patterns: Self-consistent simulations
• On the fine structure of the Cepheid metallicity gradient in the Galactic thin disk
• Galactic Archaeology with asteroseismic ages: evidence for delayed gas infall in the formation of the Milky Way disc
• A three-dimensional map of the Milky Way using classical Cepheid variable stars
• The Gaia-ESO Public Spectroscopic Survey: Implementation, data products, open cluster survey, science, and legacy
• Shape of the oxygen abundance profiles in CALIFA face-on spiral galaxies
• Rotation Curve and Mass Distribution in the Galactic Center --- From Black Hole to Entire Galaxy ---
• From the bulge to the outer disc: StarHorse stellar parameters, distances, and extinctions for stars in APOGEE DR16 and other spectroscopic surveys
• Elemental Abundance Ratios in Stars of the Outer Galactic Disk. IV. A New Sample of Open Clusters
• Classical Cepheid Pulsation Models. X. The Period-Age Relation
• Gas Metallicities in the Extended Disks of NGC 1512 and NGC 3621. Chemical Signatures of Metal Mixing or Enriched Gas Accretion?
• The Open Cluster Chemical Abundances and Mapping Survey: IV. Abundances for 128 Open Clusters using SDSS/APOGEE DR16
• Radial mixing in the outer Milky Way disk caused by an orbiting satellite
• Correcting for Telluric Absorption: Methods, Case Studies, and Release of the TelFit Code
• Sulfur, Chlorine, and Argon Abundances in Planetary Nebulae. IV: Synthesis and the Sulfur Anomaly
• Explosive Nucleosynthesis in Near-Chandrasekhar Mass White Dwarf Models for Type Ia Supernovae: Dependence on Model Parameters
• Old open clusters in the outer Galactic disk
• An intuitive 3D map of the Galactic warp's precession traced by classical Cepheids
• Non-LTE Line-Formation and Abundances of Sulfur and Zinc in F, G, and K Stars
• The Distribution of the Elements in the Galactic Disk II. Azimuthal and Radial Variation in Abundances from Cepheids
• The Gaia-ESO Survey: radial distribution of abundances in the Galactic disc from open clusters and young field stars
• Orbital decomposition of CALIFA spiral galaxies
• Young stars and ionized nebulae in M83: comparing chemical abundances at high metallicity
• Cepheid Abundances: Multiphase Results and Spatial Gradients
• APOGEE DR16: a multi-zone chemical evolution model for the Galactic disc based on MCMC methods
• The Galactic radial abundance gradients of C, N, O, Ne, S, Cl and Ar from deep spectra of H II regions
• Galactic abundance gradients from Cepheids: alpha and heavy elements in the outer disk
• A Possible Extension of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm into the Outer Second Quadrant
• The Gaia-ESO survey: mapping the shape and evolution of the radial abundance gradients with open clusters
• Observational studies of Cepheid amplitudes. I - Period-amplitude relationships for Galactic Cepheids and interrelation of amplitudes
• Explosive Nucleosynthesis in Sub-Chandrasekhar Mass White Dwarf Models for Type Ia Supernovae: Dependence on Model Parameters
• On the alpha-element gradients of the Galactic thin disk using Cepheids
• Cepheid Variables in the Flared Outer Disk of our Galaxy
• Chemical evolution of the Milky Way: constraints on the formation of the thick and thin discs
• The ASAS-SN Catalog of Variable Stars IX: The Spectroscopic Properties of Galactic Variable Stars
• The Evolution of Oxygen and Magnesium in the Bulge and Disk of the Milky Way
• The Gaia-ESO Survey: CNO abundances in the open clusters Trumpler 20, NGC 4815, and NGC 6705
• Red Supergiants as Cosmic Abundance Probes: The Sculptor Galaxy NGC 300
• The Gaia-ESO Survey: Galactic evolution of sulphur and zinc
• A new comprehensive set of elemental abundances in DLAs III. Star formation histories
• The effects of different Type Ia SN yields on Milky Way chemical evolution
• Stellar Metallicity of the Extended Disk and Distance of the Spiral Galaxy NGC 3621
• The Gaia-ESO Survey: Age-chemical-clock relations spatially resolved in the Galactic disc
• The role of the Galactic bar in the chemical evolution of the Milky Way
• Reconstructing Cepheid Light Curve with Fourier Techniques I: The Fourier Expansion and Interrelations
• A Preliminary Calibration of the RR Lyrae Period-Luminosity Relation at Mid-Infrared Wavelengths: WISE Data
• The Near-infrared Optimal Distances Method Applied to Galactic Classical Cepheids Tightly Constrains Mid-infrared Period--Luminosity Relations
• Barium Abundances in Cepheids
• Nucleosynthesis of binary-stripped stars
• The VMC Survey -- XLVIII. Classical Cepheids unveil the 3D geometry of the LMC
• Hydrodynamics with gas-grain chemistry and radiative transfer: comparing dynamical and static models
• Tracing the Milky Way warp and spiral arms with classical Cepheids
• Stellar population astrophysics (SPA) with the TNG. Revisiting the metallicity of Praesepe (M44)
• On the Use of Field RR Lyrae as Galactic Probes. III. The $\alpha$-element abundances
• On the neutron-capture elements across the Galactic thin disk using Cepheids
• Integral Field Spectroscopy of AGN Absorption Outflows: Mrk 509 and IRAS F04250-5718
• The spiral structure of the Galaxy revealed by CS sources and evidence for the 4:1 resonance
• A new galactic chemical evolution model with dust: results for dwarf irregular galaxies and DLA systems
• Milky Way metallicity gradient from Gaia DR2 F/1O double-mode Cepheids
• The dynamical origin of the Local arm and the Sun's trapped orbit
• On the Period--Luminosity--Metallicity relation of Classical Cepheids
• A new and homogeneous metallicity scale for Galactic classical Cepheids II. The abundance of iron and alpha elements
• The photospheric solar oxygen project: III. Investigation of the centre-to-limb variation of the 630nm [OI]-NiI blend
• The AMBRE Project: Origin and evolution of sulfur in the Milky Way
• The metallicity and distance of NGC 2403 from blue supergiants
• Cepheid Metallicity in the Leavitt Law (C- MetaLL) survey: II.High-resolution spectroscopy of the most metal poor Galactic Cepheids
• On a new and homogeneous metallicity scale for Galactic classical Cepheids - I. Physical parameters
• The peculiar velocities in the Galactic outer disk--hints of the elliptical disk and the perturbation of the spiral structures
• A twisted and precessing Cepheid warp in the outer Milky Way disc
• The stellar kinematics in the solar neighborhood from LAMOST data
• The peculiar in-plane velocities in the outer disc of the Milky Way
• Impact of distance determinations on Galactic structure. I. Young and intermediate-age tracers
• A spectroscopic study of blue supergiant stars in Local Group spiral galaxies: Andromeda and Triangulum
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Environmental analysis of the orbital structures of passive galaxies
• The AMBRE Project: Solar neighbourhood chemodynamical constraints on Galactic disc evolution
• Heavy element evolution in the inner regions of the Milky Way
• Disc dichotomy signature in the vertical distribution of [Mg/Fe] and the delayed gas infall scenario
• Chemical abundances in Seyfert galaxies X. Sulphur abundance estimates
• Radial velocities in the outermost disk toward the anticenter
• From Galactic Chemical Evolution to Cosmic Supernova Rates Synchronized with Core-Collapse Supernovae Limited to the Narrow Progenitor Mass Range
• Sulfur abundances in three Galactic clusters: Ruprecht 106, Trumpler 5 and Trumpler 20

Cited by in corpus (16)

• OCCASO V. Chemical-abundance trends with Galactocentric distance and age
• Timing the Milky Way bar formation and the accompanying radial migration episode
• Mapping radial abundance gradients with Gaia-ESO open clusters: Evidence of recent gas accretion in the Milky Way disk
• A slightly oblate dark matter halo revealed by a retrograde precessing Galactic disk warp
• Cepheid Metallicity in the Leavitt Law (C- MetaLL) survey: VI: Radial abundance gradients of 29 chemical species in the Milky Way Disk
• Constraints on the history of Galactic spiral arms revealed by Gaia GSP-Spec alpha-elements
• Probing the strength of radial migration via churning by using metal-rich red giant stars from APOGEE
• Chemodynamic evolution of Sun-like stars in nearby moving groups
• Probing the origins. I. Generalised Additive Model inference of birth radii for Milky Way stars in the solar vicinity
• NGC 663 as a laboratory for massive star evolution
• Toward a Comprehensive Grid of Cepheid Models with MESA II. Impact of Physical and Numerical Assumptions on Elemental Abundances
• Solar twins in Gaia DR3 GSP-Spec I. Building a large catalog of Solar twins with ages
• CHEMOUT: CHEMical complexity in star-forming regions of the OUTer Galaxy. V. Chemical composition gradients as a function of the galactocentric radius
• Open clusters in the outer disc studied with MEGARA@GTC Auner 1 and Berkeley 102
• First large scale spatial and velocity patterns of local metal-rich stars in the Milky Way
• Cepheid Metallicity in the Leavitt Law (C--MetaLL) survey: VIII. High-Resolution IGRINS Spectroscopy of 23 Classical Cepheids: Validating NIR Abundances