Carbon measurements in two ultra-faint dwarf galaxies: Grus II and Tucana IV

TL;DR

This study analyzes the chemical composition of stars in two ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, Grus II and Tucana IV, revealing the presence of ancient, carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars that shed light on early universe star formation.

Contribution

First detailed spectroscopic analysis of stars in Grus II and Tucana IV, identifying CEMP-no stars and their chemical properties in these ultra-faint dwarf galaxies.

Findings

Discovered multiple CEMP-no stars with extremely low metallicity.

Characterized the chemical enrichment and star formation history of the galaxies.

Provided insights into the first stars and early universe chemical evolution.

Abstract

The ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (UFDs) are some of the oldest and most metal-poor environments in the Local Group. In particular, they are predicted to host the first stars (only H and He) that lit up in our Universe. No metal-free stars have been found to date, but their chemical products can be observed on the surfaces of the ancient second-generation stars such as the carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars (CEMP-no, [C/Fe]>+0.7).} However, in each UFD there are only a few stars bright enough for spectroscopic follow-up, therefore it is crucial to study as many of these systems as possible. Here we follow up stars belonging to two recently discovered UFDs, Grus II and Tucana IV. The spectra analyzed were obtained with the multi-object spectrograph FLAMES/Giraffe at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). This includes spectra in two wavelength ranges: red spectra around the CaII triplet (8498 {\AA}, 8542 {\AA}, 8662 {\AA}) used to derive radial velocity and [Fe/H], and blue spectra covering the CH band at ~ 4300 {\AA}. In total, we analyzed 21 spectra of member candidates for Grus II and 17 for Tucana IV, including both Red Giant Branch (RGB) and Horizontal Branch (HB) stars. We identified 13 members in Grus II (thereof 8 RGB stars) and 7 members in Tucana IV (thereof 3 RGB stars). Among the RGB stars in Grus II, we found three CEMP-no stars at [Fe/H]~-3 and [C/Fe]>+1 and two CEMP-no stars at slightly higher [Fe/H] and [C/Fe]>+0.7. In Tucana IV, we found one CEMP-no star ([Fe/H]=-2.75 and [C/Fe] = +0.83). This project, along with future investigations of CEMP stars in UFDs, allows us to study the impact of the first stars in these ancient and primitive systems and consequently the first chemical enrichment that occurred in the Universe.