SDSS-III/APOGEE: Detailed Abundances of Galactic Star Clusters

TL;DR

This paper describes the SDSS-III/APOGEE survey, which provides high-resolution infrared spectra of stars in galactic clusters to analyze their kinematics and chemical compositions, enhancing our understanding of galaxy evolution.

Contribution

It introduces the APOGEE survey's capabilities, target selection methods, and its potential to study a large number of star clusters in detail for the first time.

Findings

High-resolution spectra enable precise chemical abundance measurements.

Kinematic data with errors <= 0.5 km/s improve cluster membership identification.

Survey will target 25-30 key clusters and many additional clusters over three years.

Abstract

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III/Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (SDSS-III/APOGEE) is a large-scale spectroscopic survey of Galactic stars and star clusters. The SDSS-III/APOGEE survey is designed to produce high-S/N, R = 27,500-31,000 spectra that cover a wavelength range of 1.51 to 1.68 microns. By utilizing APOGEE's excellent kinematics (error <= 0.5 km/s) and abundances (errors ~ 0.1 dex), we will be able to study star cluster kinematics and chemical properties in detail. Over the course of the 3-year survey beginning in 2011, APOGEE will target 25-30 key open and globular clusters. In addition, the large area coverage of the SDSS focal plane will also allow us to target stars in 100-200 additional star clusters during the main survey observations. We present the strength of APOGEE for both open and globular star cluster studies and the methods of identifying probable clusters members utilizing 2MASS and IRAC/WISE data.