High-precision chemical abundances of Galactic building blocks. II. Revisiting the chemical distinctness of the Helmi streams

TL;DR

This study provides a detailed chemical analysis of Helmi stream stars, revealing their distinct low alpha-element and neutron-capture element abundances, and compares them to other halo populations to understand their origin.

Contribution

It offers the first high-resolution, homogeneous chemical abundance analysis of Helmi stream stars, clarifying their chemical distinctness from other halo stars.

Findings

Helmi stream stars show low [X/Fe] for elements from massive stars.

[$ ext{α}$/Fe] remains nearly constant across metallicities.

Helmi stream stars have extremely low [Y/Fe] at low metallicity.

Abstract

Context: The Helmi streams are a kinematic substructure whose progenitor is likely a dwarf galaxy. Although 20 years have passed since their discovery, it is still unclear whether their members are chemically distinguishable from other halo stars in the Milky Way. Aim: We aim to precisely characterize the chemical properties of the Helmi streams. Methods: We analyzed high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio spectra for 11 Helmi stream stars through a line-by-line abundance analysis. We compared the derived abundances to homogenized literature abundances of the other halo stars, including those belonging to other kinematic substructures, such as Gaia-Enceladus and Sequoia. Results: Compared to typical halo stars, the Helmi stream members clearly show low values of [X/Fe] in elements produced by massive stars, such as Na and $\alpha$-elements. This tendency is seen down to metallicities of at least [Fe/H]$\sim -2.2$, suggesting type~Ia supernovae already started to contribute to the chemical evolution at this metallicity. We find that the [$\alpha$/Fe] ratio does not evolve significantly with metallicity, making the Helmi stream stars less distinguishable from Gaia-Enceladus stars at [Fe/H]$\gtrsim -1.5$. The almost constant but low value of [$\alpha$/Fe] might be indicative of quiescent star formation with low efficiency at the beginning and bursty star formation at later times. We also find extremely low values of [Y/Fe] at low metallicity, providing further support for the claim that light neutron-capture elements are deficient in Helmi streams. While Zn is deficient at low metallicity, it shows a large spread at high metallicity. The origin of the extremely low Y abundances and Zn variations remains unclear. Conclusion: The Helmi stream stars are distinguishable from the majority of the halo stars if homogeneously derived abundances are compared.