The delayed contribution of low and intermediate mass stars to chemical galactic enrichment: An analytical approach

TL;DR

This paper presents an analytical solution for chemical evolution in galaxies that accounts for the delayed enrichment from low and intermediate mass stars, improving upon previous models and matching observed abundance ratios.

Contribution

It introduces a new analytical model that incorporates stellar lifetime delays, providing a simpler alternative to numerical simulations for galactic chemical evolution.

Findings

The model reproduces observed C/O and N/O ratios in the solar vicinity.

It matches results from more complex numerical models.

The approach is useful for studying element evolution without detailed codes.

Abstract

We find a new analytical solution for the chemical evolution equations, taking into account the delayed contribution of all low and intermediate mass stars (LIMS) as one representative star that enriches the interstellar medium.This solution is built only for star formation rate proportional to the gas mass in a closed box model. We obtain increasing C/O and N/O ratios with increasing O/H, behavior impossible to match with the Instantaneous Recycling Approximation (IRA). Our results, obtained by two analytical equations, are very similar to those found by numerical models that consider the lifetimes of each star. This delayed model reproduces successfully the evolution of C/O-O/H and Y-O relations in the solar vicinity. This analytical approximation is a useful tool to study the chemical evolution of elements produced by LIMS when a galactic chemical evolutionary code is not available.