Program: GS-2004A-Q-20
Title: | Comparative Chemical Evolution in Stellar Populations: Infrared Spectroscopy of Galactic Bulge Red Giants |
PI: | Verne V Smith |
Co-I(s): | Donald Terndrup, Katia Cunha, Nicholas B Suntzeff |
Abstract
High-resolution, high-quality infrared spectroscopy of red giant
stars in the Galactic bulge is now possible. Chemical abundances
derived from such stellar spectra can be used to study chemical
evolution in a distinctive environment within the Milky Way. Two
important elements whose abundances are especially amenable to analysis via
infrared spectroscopy are oxygen and fluorine, observable as OH and
HF vibration-rotation lines in the infrared. Oxygen abundances, when
combined with those from iron, provide information on the average
star formation rate over time. Fluorine abundances are a unique
tracer of the quantitative yields from neutrino spallation nucleosynthesis
that occurs during supernova core collapse: this exotic nuclear
process may play an important role in chemical evolution.
We will determine the O/Fe and F/O abundance ratios in a sample of 6
red giant stars, spanning a range in metallicity and belonging to the bulge
population. This work will result in the most accurate determinations
of oxygen versus iron in the bulge, as well as the first fluorine
abundances. Both of the prime targeted species, O and F, probe the output
from massive stars that explode as supernovae of Type II. The
abundance ratios derived here will allow us to compare the rate of
chemical evolution in the bulge to other populations in the Milky Way,
such as the disk and the halo.
Publications using this program's data
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[data]
[ADS] Fluorine Abundance Variations in Red Giants of the Globular Cluster M4 and Early-Cluster Chemical Pollution
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[data]
[ADS] Chemical Evolution of the Galactic Bulge as Derived from High-Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy of K and M Red Giants
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[data]
[ADS] Chemical similarities between Galactic bulge and local thick disk red giant stars
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[data]
[ADS] Fluorine Abundances in the Milky Way Bulge
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[data]
[ADS] Chemical evolution of fluorine in the bulge. High-resolution K-band spectra of giants in three fields