α-element enhancements in the Magellanic Interstellar Medium: evidence for recent star formation

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: De Cia, Annalisa, Roman-Duval, Julia, Konstantopoulou, Christina, Noterdaeme, Pasquier, Ramburuth-Hurt, Tanita, Velichko, Anna, Fox, Andrew J., Ledoux, Cédric, Petitjean, Patrick, Jermann, Iris, Krogager, Jens-Kristian
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author De Cia, Annalisa
Roman-Duval, Julia
Konstantopoulou, Christina
Noterdaeme, Pasquier
Ramburuth-Hurt, Tanita
Velichko, Anna
Fox, Andrew J.
Ledoux, Cédric
Petitjean, Patrick
Jermann, Iris
Krogager, Jens-Kristian
author_facet De Cia, Annalisa
Roman-Duval, Julia
Konstantopoulou, Christina
Noterdaeme, Pasquier
Ramburuth-Hurt, Tanita
Velichko, Anna
Fox, Andrew J.
Ledoux, Cédric
Petitjean, Patrick
Jermann, Iris
Krogager, Jens-Kristian
contents Important questions on the chemical composition of the neutral ISM in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) are still open. It is usually assumed that their metallicity is uniform and equal to that measured in hot stars and HII regions, but direct measurements on the neutral ISM have not been performed until now. Deriving the metallicity from the observed metal abundances is not straightforward because they also depend on the depletion of metals into dust as well as nucleosynthesis effects such as $α$-element enhancement. We collect literature column densities of TiII, NiII, CrII, FeII, MnII, SiII, CuII, MgII, SII, PII, ZnII, and OI in the neutral ISM towards 32 and 22 hot stars in the LMC and SMC. We measure the metallicity, dust depletion, and $α$-element enhancements in the neutral ISM in the LMC and SMC. We find $α$-element enhancements in the neutral ISM in most systems, on average 0.26 dex (0.35 dex) for the LMC (SMC), and Mn under-abundance in the SMC (on average $-0.35$ dex). These are higher than for stars at similar metallicities. The observed $α$-element enhancements and Mn under-abundance are likely due to bursts of star formation, more recently than ~1 Gyr ago, that enriched the ISM from core-collapse supernovae. We find total neutral ISM metallicities that are mostly consistent with hot stars metallicity, on average [M/H]$_{\rm tot} = -0.33$ ($-0.83$), in the LMC (SMC). In six systems, however, we find significantly lower metallicities, two out of 32 in the LMC (with ~16% solar) and four out of 22 in the SMC (3 and 10% solar), two of which are in the outskirts of the SMC near the Magellanic Bridge, a region known for having a lower metallicity. With the exception of lines of sight towards the Magellanic Bridge, the neutral gas in the LMC and SMC appears fairly well mixed in terms of metallicity. [abridged]
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_07963
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle α-element enhancements in the Magellanic Interstellar Medium: evidence for recent star formation
De Cia, Annalisa
Roman-Duval, Julia
Konstantopoulou, Christina
Noterdaeme, Pasquier
Ramburuth-Hurt, Tanita
Velichko, Anna
Fox, Andrew J.
Ledoux, Cédric
Petitjean, Patrick
Jermann, Iris
Krogager, Jens-Kristian
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Important questions on the chemical composition of the neutral ISM in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) are still open. It is usually assumed that their metallicity is uniform and equal to that measured in hot stars and HII regions, but direct measurements on the neutral ISM have not been performed until now. Deriving the metallicity from the observed metal abundances is not straightforward because they also depend on the depletion of metals into dust as well as nucleosynthesis effects such as $α$-element enhancement. We collect literature column densities of TiII, NiII, CrII, FeII, MnII, SiII, CuII, MgII, SII, PII, ZnII, and OI in the neutral ISM towards 32 and 22 hot stars in the LMC and SMC. We measure the metallicity, dust depletion, and $α$-element enhancements in the neutral ISM in the LMC and SMC. We find $α$-element enhancements in the neutral ISM in most systems, on average 0.26 dex (0.35 dex) for the LMC (SMC), and Mn under-abundance in the SMC (on average $-0.35$ dex). These are higher than for stars at similar metallicities. The observed $α$-element enhancements and Mn under-abundance are likely due to bursts of star formation, more recently than ~1 Gyr ago, that enriched the ISM from core-collapse supernovae. We find total neutral ISM metallicities that are mostly consistent with hot stars metallicity, on average [M/H]$_{\rm tot} = -0.33$ ($-0.83$), in the LMC (SMC). In six systems, however, we find significantly lower metallicities, two out of 32 in the LMC (with ~16% solar) and four out of 22 in the SMC (3 and 10% solar), two of which are in the outskirts of the SMC near the Magellanic Bridge, a region known for having a lower metallicity. With the exception of lines of sight towards the Magellanic Bridge, the neutral gas in the LMC and SMC appears fairly well mixed in terms of metallicity. [abridged]
title α-element enhancements in the Magellanic Interstellar Medium: evidence for recent star formation
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.07963