Browsing by Author "Geisler, D."
Ca triplet metallicities and velocities for 12 globular clusters toward the galactic bulge
(ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, 2023-01-20) Geisler, D.; Parisi, M. C.; Dias, B.; Villanova, S.; Mauro, F.; Saviane, I.; Cohen, R. E.; Bidin, C. M.; Minniti, D.
Context. Globular clusters (GCs) are excellent tracers of the formation and early evolution of the Milky Way. The bulge GCs (BGCs) are particularly important because they can reveal vital information about the oldest in situ component of the Milky Way.Aims. Our aim is to derive the mean metallicities and radial velocities for 13 GCs that lie toward the bulge and are generally associated with this component. This region is observationally challenging because of high extinction and stellar density, which hampers optical studies of these and similar BGCs, making most previous determinations of these parameters quite uncertain.Methods. We used near-infrared low-resolution spectroscopy with the FORS2 instrument on the VLT to measure the wavelengths and equivalent widths of the CaII triplet (CaT) lines for a number of stars per cluster. We derived radial velocities, ascertained membership, and applied known calibrations to determine metallicities for cluster members, for a mean of 11 members per cluster. Unfortunately, one of our targets, VVV-GC002, which is the closest GC to the Galactic center, turned out not to have any members in our sample.Results. We derive mean cluster RV values to 3 km s(-1), and mean metallicities to 0.05 dex. We find general good agreement with previous determinations for both metallicity and velocity. On average, our metallicities are 0.07 dex more metal-rich than those of Harris (2010, arXiv:1012.3224), with a standard deviation of the difference of 0.25 dex. Our sample has metallicities between -0.21 and -1.64, and the values are distributed between the traditional metal-rich BGC peak near [Fe/H] -0.5 and a more metal-poor peak around [Fe/H] -1.1, which has recently been identified. These latter are candidates for the oldest GCs in the Galaxy, if blue horizontal branches are present, and include BH 261, NGC 6401, NGC 6540, NGC 6642, and Terzan 9. Finally, Terzan 10 is even more metal-poor. However, dynamically, Terzan 10 is likely an intruder from the halo, possibly associated with the Gaia-Enceladus or Kraken accretion events. Terzan 10 is also confirmed as an Oosterhoff type II GC based on our results.Conclusions. The CaT technique is an excellent method for deriving mean metallicities and velocities for heavily obscured GCs. Our sample provides reliable mean values for these two key properties via spectroscopy of a significant number of members per cluster for this important yet previously poorly studied sample of BGCs. We emphasize that the more metal-poor GCs are excellent candidates for being ancient relics of bulge formation. The lone halo intruder in our sample, Terzan 10, is conspicuous for also having by far the lowest metallicity, and casts doubt on the possibility of any bona fide BGCs at metallicities below about -1.5.
CAPOS: the bulge Cluster APOgee Survey IV elemental abundances of the bulge globular cluster NGC 6558
(MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 2023-10-20) González-Díaz, D.; Fernández-Trincado, J. G.; Villanova, S.; Geisler, D.; Barbuy, B.; Minniti, D.; Beers, T. C.; Bidin, C. M.; Mauro, F.; Muñoz, C.; Tang, B. T.; Soto, M.; Monachesi, A.; Lane, R. R.; Frelijj, H.
This study presents the results concerning six red giant stars members of the globular cluster NGC 6558. Our analysis utilized high-resolution near-infrared spectra obtained through the CAPOS initiative (the APOgee Surv e y of Clusters in the Galactic Bulge), which focuses on surv e ying clusters within the Galactic Bulge, as a component of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment II surv e y (APOGEE-2). We employ the Brussels Automatic Code for Characterizing High accUracy Spectra ( BACCHUS ) code to provide line-by-line elemental-abundances for Fe-peak (Fe, Ni), alpha-(O, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti), light-(C, N), odd-Z (Al), and the s-process element (Ce) for the four stars with high-signal-to-noise ratios. This is the first reliable measure of the CNO abundances for NGC 6558. Our analysis yields a mean metallicity for NGC 6558 of ([Fe/H]) = -1.15 +/- 0.08, with no evidence for a metallicity spread. We find a Solar Ni abundance, ([Ni/Fe]) similar to + 0.01, and a moderate enhancement of alpha-elements, ranging between + 0.16 and < + 0.42, and a slight enhancement of the s-process element ([Ce/Fe]) similar to + 0.19. We also found low levels of ([Al/Fe]) similar to + 0.09, but with a strong enrichment of nitrogen, [N/Fe] > + 0.99, along with a low level of carbon, [C/Fe] < -0.12. This behaviour of Nitrogen-Carbon is a typical chemical signature for the presence of multiple stellar populations in virtually all GCs; this is the first time that it is reported in NGC 6558. We also observed a remarkable consistency in the behaviour of all the chemical species compared to the other CAPOS bulge GCs of the same metallicity.
Chemo-dynamical tagging in the outskirts: The origins of stellar substructures in the Magellanic Clouds
(ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, 2023-12-12) Munoz, C.; Monachesi, A.; Nidever, D. L.; Majewski, S. R.; Cheng, X. L.; Olsen, K.; Choi, Y.; Zivick, P.; Geisler, D.; Almeida, A.; Munoz, R. R.; Nitschelm, C.; Roman-Lopes, A.; Lane, R. R.; Fernández-Trincado, J. G.
We present the first detailed chemical analysis from APOGEE-2S observations of stars in six regions of recently discovered substructures in the outskirts of the Magellanic Clouds extending to 20(degrees) from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) center. We also present, for the first time, the metallicity and alpha-abundance radial gradients of the LMC and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) out to 11(degrees) and 6(degrees), respectively. Our chemical tagging includes 13 species including light, alpha-, and Fe-peak elements. We find that the abundances of all of these chemical elements in stars populating two regions in the northern periphery, along the northern "stream-like" feature, show good agreement with the chemical patterns of the LMC, and thus likely have an LMC origin. For substructures located in the southern periphery of the LMC we find more complex chemical and kinematical signatures, indicative of a mix of LMC-like and SMC-like populations. The southern region closest to the LMC shows better agreement with the LMC, whereas that closest to the SMC shows a much better agreement with the SMC chemical pattern. When combining this information with 3D kinematical information for these stars, we conclude that the southern region closest to the LMC likely has an LMC origin, whereas that closest to the SMC has an SMC origin and the other two southern regions have a mix of LMC and SMC origins. Our results add to the evidence that the southern substructures of the LMC periphery are the product of close interactions between the LMC and SMC, and thus likely hold important clues that can constrain models of their detailed dynamical histories.
Multiple Populations in Low-mass Globular Clusters: Eridanus
(ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2023-02-01) Wang, Y.; Tang, B. T.; Li, C. Y.; Baumgardt, H.; Muñoz, R. R.; Fernández-Trincado, J. G.; Geisler, D.; Fang, Y. Q.
Multiple populations (MPs), characterized by variations in light elemental abundances, have been found in stellar clusters in the Milky Way, Magellanic Clouds, as well as several other dwarf galaxies. Based on a large number of observations, mass has been suggested to be a key parameter affecting the presence and appearance of MPs in stellar clusters. To further investigate the existence of MPs in low-mass clusters and explore the mass threshold for the formation of MPs, we carried out a project studying the composition of the stellar population in several lowmass Galactic globular clusters. Here we present our study on the cluster Eridanus. With blue-UV low-resolution spectra obtained with the OSIRIS/Multi-object spectrograph on the Gran Telescopio Canarias, we computed the spectral indices of CH and CN for a sample of giant stars and derived their carbon and nitrogen abundances using model spectra. A significant dispersion in the initial surface abundance of nitrogen was found in the sample, indicating the existence of MPs in Eridanus. Inspecting the age-initial mass distribution of in situ clusters with MPs, we find a slight trend that initial mass increases with increasing age, and the lowest initial masses of logM(initial) similar to 4.98 and 5.26 are found at the young and old end, respectively, which might provide a rough reference for the mass threshold for clusters to form MPs. However, more observations of clusters with low initial masses are still necessary before any firm conclusion can be drawn.