Magnesium Isotope Ratios in omega Centauri Red Giants

TL;DR

This study measures magnesium isotope ratios in omega Centauri red giants to understand their chemical evolution, revealing unexpected isotope abundance patterns that challenge existing models of stellar nucleosynthesis.

Contribution

It provides detailed magnesium isotope ratios for omega Centauri red giants across different populations, highlighting discrepancies with theoretical predictions.

Findings

26Mg/24Mg ratio peaks at intermediate metallicities

Higher 26Mg in extreme populations than models predict

No clear correlation between 25Mg/24Mg and metallicity or Al/Fe

Abstract

We have used high resolution observations obtained at the AAT with UHRF (R ~ 100,000) and at Gemini-S with b-HROS (R ~ 150,000) to determine magnesium isotope ratios for seven omega Centauri red giants that cover a range in iron abundance from [Fe/H] = --1.78 to --0.78 dex, and for two red giants in M4 (NGC 6121). The omega Centauri stars sample both the "primordial" (i.e., O-rich, Na and Al-poor) and the "extreme" (O-depleted, Na and Al-rich) populations in the cluster. The primordial population stars in both omega Centauri and M4 show (25Mg, 26Mg)/24 Mg isotopic ratios that are consistent with those found for the primordial population in other globular clusters with similar [Fe/H] values. The isotopic ratios for the omega Centauri extreme stars are also consistent with those for extreme population stars in other clusters. The results for the extreme population stars studied indicate that the 26Mg/24Mg ratio is highest at intermediate metallicities ([Fe/H] < --1.4 dex), and for the highest [Al/Fe] values. Further, the relative abundance of 26Mg in the extreme population stars is notably higher than that of 25Mg, in contrast to model predictions. The 25Mg/24Mg isotopic ratio in fact does not show any obvious dependence on either [Fe/H] or [Al/Fe] nor, intriguingly, any obvious difference between the primordial and extreme population stars.