Chemical Abundance Analysis of Moving Group W11450 (Latham 1)

TL;DR

This study analyzes the chemical abundances of seven stars in Moving Group W11450 to determine their common origin, revealing significant metallicity scatter and suggesting they are not from a single cluster, but W11449 and W11450 may be a true binary pair.

Contribution

First detailed spectroscopic abundance analysis of W11450 stars, clarifying their unrelated origins and potential binary connection.

Findings

Stars show large metallicity scatter, indicating different origins.

W11449 and W11450 have similar chemical patterns, supporting a binary connection.

Group is not a remnant or open cluster based on chemical diversity.

Abstract

We present elemental abundances for all seven stars in Moving Group W11450 (Latham 1) to determine if they may be chemically related. These stars appear to be both spatially and kinematically related, but no spectroscopic abundance analysis exists in literature. Abundances for eight elements were derived via equivalent width analyses of high resolution (R $\sim$60,000), high signal-to-noise ratio ($\langle$SNR$\rangle\sim$100) spectra obtained with the Otto Struve 2.1m telescope and Sandiford Echelle Spectrograph at McDonald Observatory. The large star-to-star scatter in metallicity, -0.55 $\leq$ [Fe/H] $\leq$ 0.06 dex ($\sigma$= 0.25), implies these stars were not produced from the same chemically homogeneous molecular cloud, and are therefore not part of a remnant or open cluster as previously proposed. Prior to this analysis, it was suggested that two stars in the group, W11449 & W11450, are possible wide binaries. The candidate wide binary pair show similar chemical abundance patterns with not only iron, but with other elements analyzed in this study, suggesting the proposed connection between these two stars may be real.