Oxygen Abundances in Nearby FGK Stars and the Galactic Chemical Evolution of the Local Disk and Halo

TL;DR

This study analyzes oxygen abundances in 825 nearby FGK stars using high-quality spectra and non-LTE analysis, revealing complex relationships between stellar kinematics, chemical properties, and galactic evolution, with implications for understanding disk and halo formation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed chemical and kinematic analysis of local stars, highlighting the limitations of kinematic criteria in classifying stellar populations and emphasizing the roles of mergers, scattering, and migration.

Findings

Enhanced [O/Fe] in thick-disk stars compared to thin-disk stars.

Large scatter in [O/Fe] among halo stars with V<-200 km/s.

Kinematic membership criteria do not perfectly separate stellar populations.

Abstract

Atmospheric parameters and oxygen abundances of 825 nearby FGK stars are derived using high-quality spectra and a non-LTE analysis of the 777 nm O I triplet lines. We assign a kinematic probability for the stars to be thin-disk (P1), thick-disk (P2), and halo (P3) members. We confirm previous findings of enhanced [O/Fe] in thick-disk (P2>0.5) relative to thin-disk (P1>0.5) stars with [Fe/H]<-0.2, as well as a "knee" that connects the mean [O/Fe]-[Fe/H] trend of thick-disk stars with that of thin-disk members at [Fe/H]>-0.2. Nevertheless, we find that the kinematic membership criterion fails at separating perfectly the stars in the [O/Fe]-[Fe/H] plane, even when a very restrictive kinematic separation is employed. Stars with "intermediate" kinematics (P1<0.7, P2<0.7) do not all populate the region of the [O/Fe]-[Fe/H] plane intermediate between the mean thin-disk and thick-disk trends, but their distribution is not necessarily bimodal. Halo stars (P3>0.5) show a large star-to-star scatter in [O/Fe]-[Fe/H], but most of it is due to stars with Galactocentric rotational velocity V<-200 km/s; halo stars with V>-200 km/s follow an [O/Fe]-[Fe/H] relation with almost no star-to-star scatter. Early mergers with satellite galaxies explain most of our observations, but the significant fraction of disk stars with "ambiguous" kinematics and abundances suggests that scattering by molecular clouds and radial migration have both played an important role in determining the kinematic and chemical properties of solar neighborhood stars.