A revision of the solar neighbourhood metallicity distribution

Abstract

We present a revised metallicity distribution of dwarfs in the solar neighbourhood. This distribution is centred on solar metallicity. We show that previous metallicity distributions, selected on the basis of spectral type, are biased against stars with solar metallicity or higher. A selection of G-dwarf stars is inherently biased against metal rich stars and is not representative of the solar neighbourhood metallicity distribution. Using a sample selected on colour, we obtain a distribution where approximately half the stars in the solar neighbourhood has a metallicity higher than [Fe/H]=0. The percentage of mid-metal-poor stars ([Fe/H]$<$-0.5) is approximately 4 per cent, in agreement with present estimates of the thick disc. In order to have a metallicity distribution comparable to chemical evolution model predictions, we convert the star fraction to mass fraction, and show that another bias against metal-rich stars affects dwarf metallicity distributions, due to the colour (or spectral type) limits of the samples. Reconsidering the corrections due to the increasing thickness of the stellar disc with age, we show that the Simple Closed-Box model with no instantaneous recycling approximation gives a reasonable fit to the observed distribution. Comparisons with the age-metallicity relation and abundance ratios suggest that the Simple Closed-Box model may be a viable model of the chemical evolution of the Galaxy at solar radius.

21 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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