Chemical evolution of the Galactic Center
V. Grieco, F. Matteucci, N. Ryde, M. Schultheis, S. Uttenthaler

TL;DR
This study models the chemical evolution of the Galactic Center, revealing a history of rapid early star formation and suggesting a top-heavy initial mass function, with implications for understanding bulge formation.
Contribution
It introduces a detailed chemical evolution model for the Galactic Center that constrains its formation history and star formation episodes based on spectroscopic data.
Findings
Early strong starburst with high efficiency was key to observed metallicity.
A top-heavy initial mass function better explains the data.
Recent star formation was likely triggered by gas infall induced by the galactic bar.
Abstract
In recent years, the Galactic Center (GC) region (200 pc in radius) has been studied in detail with spectroscopic stellar data as well as an estimate of the ongoing star formation rate. The aims of this paper are to study the chemical evolution of the GC region by means of a detailed chemical evolution model and to compare the results with high resolution spectroscopic data in order to impose constraints on the GC formation history.The chemical evolution model assumes that the GC region formed by fast infall of gas and then follows the evolution of alpha-elements and Fe. We test different initial mass functions (IMFs), efficiencies of star formation and gas infall timescales. To reproduce the currently observed star formation rate, we assume a late episode of star formation triggered by gas infall/accretion. We find that, in order to reproduce the [alpha/Fe] ratios as well as the…
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