Two distinct halo populations in the solar neighborhood. Evidence from stellar abundance ratios and kinematics

TL;DR

This study identifies two distinct halo star populations in the solar neighborhood distinguished by their alpha-element abundances and kinematics, indicating different origins such as in-situ formation or accretion from dwarf galaxies.

Contribution

It provides detailed chemical and kinematic evidence for two separate halo populations, enhancing understanding of the Milky Way's formation history.

Findings

Halo stars split into high-alpha and low-alpha populations.

High-alpha stars may be ancient disk or bulge stars.

Low-alpha stars likely accreted from dwarf galaxies.

Abstract

Precise abundance ratios are determined for 94 dwarf stars with 5200 < Teff < 6300 K, -1.6 < [Fe/H] < -0.4, and distances D < 335 pc. Most of them have halo kinematics, but 16 thick-disk stars are included. Equivalent widths of atomic lines are measured from VLT/UVES and NOT/FIES spectra with resolutions R = 55000 and R = 40000, respectively. An LTE abundance analysis based on MARCS models is applied to derive precise differential abundance ratios of Na, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, and Ni with respect to Fe. The halo stars fall into two populations, clearly separated in [alpha/Fe], where alpha refers to the average abundance of Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti. Differences in [Na/Fe] and [Ni/Fe] are also present with a remarkably clear correlation between these two abundance ratios. The `high-alpha' stars may be ancient disk or bulge stars `heated' to halo kinematics by merging satellite galaxies or they could have formed as the first stars during the collapse of a proto-Galactic gas cloud. The kinematics of the `low-alpha' stars suggest that they have been accreted from dwarf galaxies, and that some of them may originate from the omega Cen progenitor galaxy.