Triangulum-Andromeda overdensity: a region with a complex stellar population

TL;DR

This study investigates the Triangulum-Andromeda overdensity's stellar population, revealing its complex chemical and kinematic properties, and suggesting it may be related to outer disk structures or remnants of a disrupted dwarf galaxy.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed chemical and kinematic analysis of TriAnd stars, highlighting their unique chemical patterns and potential origins.

Findings

TriAnd stars show a wide metallicity range, including metal-poor stars.

Kinematic and chemical data segregate TriAnd members from non-members.

TriAnd's chemical pattern resembles outer disk clusters but with lower metallicity.

Abstract

The Triangulum--Andromeda (TriAnd) overdensity is a distant structure of the Milky Way located in the second Galactic quadrant well below the Galactic plane. Since its discovery, its nature has been under discussion, whether it could be old perturbations of the Galactic disk or the remains of a disrupted former dwarf galaxy. In this study, we investigate the kinematics and chemical composition in 13 stars selected as TriAnd candidates from 2MASS photometry. The sample was observed using the GRACES high-resolution spectrograph attached to the Gemini North telescope. Based on radial velocities obtained from the spectra and the astrometric data from GAIA, three different kinematic criteria were used to classify our sample stars as belonging to the TriAnd overdensity. The TriAnd confirmed members in our sample span a range in metallicities, including two metal-poor stars ([Fe/H] $\sim$ -1.3 dex). We show that the adopted kinematical classification also chemically segregates TriAnd and non-TriAnd members of our sample, indicating a unique chemical pattern of the TriAnd stars. Our results indicate different chemical patterns for the [Na/Fe], [Al/Fe], [Ba/Fe], and [Eu/Fe] ratios in the TriAnd stars when compared to the chemical pattern of the local disk; the paucity of studies chemically characterizing the outer disk population of the Milky Way is the main obstacle in establishing that the TriAnd population is chemically similar to field stars in the outer disk. But TriAnd chemical pattern is reminiscent of that found in outer disk open clusters, although the latter are significantly more metal-rich than TriAnd.