Fe and Al Abundances for 180 Red Giants in the Globular Cluster Omega Centauri (NGC 5139)

TL;DR

This study analyzes Fe and Al abundances in 180 red giant stars of Omega Centauri, revealing multiple metallicity populations and complex Al enrichment patterns, supporting a prolonged star formation history over more than a billion years.

Contribution

First detailed spectroscopic analysis of Fe and Al in a large sample of Omega Centauri red giants, identifying multiple populations and Al enrichment processes.

Findings

Four distinct metallicity populations identified.

Large star-to-star Al abundance scatter observed.

Al abundance patterns suggest multiple enrichment sources.

Abstract

We present radial velocities, Fe, and Al abundances for 180 red giant branch (RGB) stars in the Galactic globular cluster Omega Centauri ($\omega$ Cen). The majority of our data lie in the range 11.0$<$V$<$13.5, which covers the RGB from about 1 mag. above the horizontal branch to the RGB tip. The selection procedures are biased towards preferentially observing the more metal--poor and luminous stars of $\omega$ Cen. Abundances were determined using equivalent width measurements and spectrum synthesis analyses of moderate resolution spectra (R$\approx$13,000) obtained with the Blanco 4m telescope and Hydra multifiber spectrograph. Our results are in agreement with previous studies as we find at least four different metallicity populations with [Fe/H]=--1.75, --1.45, --1.05, and --0.75, with a full range of --2.20$\la$[Fe/H]$\la$--0.70. [Al/Fe] ratios exhibit large star--to--star scatter for all populations, with the more than 1.0 dex range of [Al/Fe] decreasing for stars more metal--rich than [Fe/H]$\sim$--1.4. The minimum [Al/Fe] abundance observed for all metallicity populations is [Al/Fe]$\sim$+0.15. The maximum abundance of log $\epsilon$(Al) is reached for stars with [Fe/H]$\sim$--1.4 and does not increase further with stellar metallicity. We interpret these results as evidence for type II SNe providing the minimum [Al/Fe] ratio and a mass spectrum of intermediate mass asymptotic giant branch stars causing the majority of the [Al/Fe] scatter. These results seem to fit in the adopted scheme that star formation occurred in $\omega$ Cen over $>$1 Gyr.