Chemical Feature of Eu abundance in the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy

TL;DR

This study investigates the chemical abundances of r-process elements, especially Eu, in the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy to understand the origin and timing of r-process enrichment, suggesting neutron star mergers as a key source.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed Eu and Ba abundance measurements in Draco stars, revealing patterns consistent with neutron star mergers as the r-process site and indicating early Eu enrichment.

Findings

Eu abundance is broadly constant for [Fe/H]>-2.

Very metal-poor stars show extremely low Eu, indicating a sudden Eu increase at [Fe/H]~-2.2.

Early Eu production likely occurred before most stars formed in Draco.

Abstract

Chemical abundance of r-process elements in nearby dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies is a powerful tool to probe the site of r-process since their small-mass scale can sort out individual events producing r-process elements. A merger of binary neutron stars is a promising candidate of this site. In faint, or less massive dSph galaxies such as the Draco, a few binary neutron star mergers are expected to have occurred at most over the whole past. We have measured chemical abundances including Eu and Ba of three red giants in the Draco dSph by Subaru/HDS observation. The Eu detection for one star with [Fe/H]=-1.45 confirms a broadly constant [Eu/H] of ~-1.3 for stars with [Fe/H]>-2. This feature is shared by other dSphs with similar masses, i.e., the Sculptor and the Carina, and suggests that neutron star merger is the origin of r-process elements in terms of its rarity. In addition, two very metal-poor stars with [Fe/H]=-2.12 and -2.51 are found to exhibit very low Eu abundances such as [Eu/H]<-2 with an implication of a sudden increase of Eu abundance by more than 0.7 dex at [Fe/H] ~ -2.2 in the Draco dSph. In addition, the detection of Ba abundances for these stars suggests that the r-process enrichment initiated no later than the time when only a few % of stars in the present-day Draco dSph was formed. Though an identification of the origin of an early Eu production inside the Draco dSph should be awaited until more abundance data of stars with [Fe/H]<-2 in the Draco as well as other faint dSphs become available, the implied early emergence of Eu production event might be reconciled with the presence of extremely metal-poor stars enriched by r-process elements in the Galactic halo.