The chemical fingerprints of the thin and the thick disk

The past history and origin of the different Galactic stellar populations are manifested in their different chemical abundance patterns. We obtained new elemental abundances for 553 F and G dwarf stars, to more accurately quantify these patterns for the thin and thick disks. However, the exact defin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union 2008-06, Vol.4 (S254), p.197-202
Main Authors: Feltzing, Sofia, Oey, Sally, Bensby, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Chemical elements
Chemical fingerprinting
Contributed Papers
Disks
Stars & galaxies
Stellar populations
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Summary:The past history and origin of the different Galactic stellar populations are manifested in their different chemical abundance patterns. We obtained new elemental abundances for 553 F and G dwarf stars, to more accurately quantify these patterns for the thin and thick disks. However, the exact definition of disk membership is not straightforward. Stars that have a high likelihood of belonging to the thin disk show different abundance patterns from those for the thick disk. In contrast, we show that stars for the Hercules Stream do not show unique abundance patterns, but rather follow those of the thin and thick disks. This strongly suggests that the Hercules Stream is a feature induced by internal dynamics within the Galaxy rather than the remnant of an accreted satellite.
ISSN:1743-9213
1743-9221
DOI:10.1017/S1743921308027592