Tracing the Galactic Thick Disk to Solar Metallicities

Summary, in English

We show that the Galactic thick disk reaches at least solar metallicities and that it experienced strong chemical enrichment during a period of ~3 Gyr, ending around 8-9 Gyr ago. This finding puts further constraints on the relation and interface between the thin and thick disks and their formation processes. Our results are based on a detailed elemental abundance analysis of 261 kinematically selected F and G dwarf stars in the solar neighborhood: 194 likely members of the thick disk and 67 likely members of the thin disk, in the range -1.3<~[Fe/H]<~+0.4.



Based on data collected with the 6.5 m Magellan telescopes at the Las Campanas Observatory and with the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory (ESO proposal 72.B-0179).

• Författare: T. Bensby; A. R. Zenn; M. S. Oey; S. Feltzing
• Avdelning/ar: Astronomi - Har omorganiserats
• Publiceringsår: 2007
• Språk: Engelska
• Sidor: 13-16
• Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie: Astrophysical Journal
• Volym: 663
• Issue: 1
• Länkar: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007ApJ...663L..13B; http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/519792
• Dokumenttyp: Artikel i tidskrift
• Förlag: American Astronomical Society
• Ämne: Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
• Nyckelord: Galaxy: disk; Galaxy: evolution; Galaxy: formation; Solar neighborhood; Stars: abundances; Stars: kinematics
• Aktiv: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt: ISSN: 0004-637X