Classical Cepheids in the Galactic thin disk I. Abundance gradients via non-local thermodynamic equilibrium spectral analysis

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nunnari, Antonino, D'Orazi, Valentina, Fiorentino, Giuliana, Braga, Vittorio F., Bono, Giuseppe, Fabrizio, Michele, Jönsson, Henrik, Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter, da Silva, Ronaldo, Bergemann, Maria, Poggio, Eloisa, Otto, Jonah M., Baeza-Villagra, Karina, Bragaglia, Angela, Ceci, Giulia, Dall'Ora, Massimo, Inno, Laura, Lardo, Carmela, Matsunaga, Noriyuki, Monelli, Matteo, Sánchez-Benavente, Manuel, Sneden, Chris, Tantalo, Maria, Thévénin, Frédéric, Di Criscienzo, Marcella, Topcu, Gamze Böcek
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908768400310272
author Nunnari, Antonino
D'Orazi, Valentina
Fiorentino, Giuliana
Braga, Vittorio F.
Bono, Giuseppe
Fabrizio, Michele
Jönsson, Henrik
Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter
da Silva, Ronaldo
Bergemann, Maria
Poggio, Eloisa
Otto, Jonah M.
Baeza-Villagra, Karina
Bragaglia, Angela
Ceci, Giulia
Dall'Ora, Massimo
Inno, Laura
Lardo, Carmela
Matsunaga, Noriyuki
Monelli, Matteo
Sánchez-Benavente, Manuel
Sneden, Chris
Tantalo, Maria
Thévénin, Frédéric
Di Criscienzo, Marcella
Topcu, Gamze Böcek
author_facet Nunnari, Antonino
D'Orazi, Valentina
Fiorentino, Giuliana
Braga, Vittorio F.
Bono, Giuseppe
Fabrizio, Michele
Jönsson, Henrik
Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter
da Silva, Ronaldo
Bergemann, Maria
Poggio, Eloisa
Otto, Jonah M.
Baeza-Villagra, Karina
Bragaglia, Angela
Ceci, Giulia
Dall'Ora, Massimo
Inno, Laura
Lardo, Carmela
Matsunaga, Noriyuki
Monelli, Matteo
Sánchez-Benavente, Manuel
Sneden, Chris
Tantalo, Maria
Thévénin, Frédéric
Di Criscienzo, Marcella
Topcu, Gamze Böcek
contents Classical Cepheids (CCs) have long been considered excellent tracers of the chemical evolution of the Milky Way's young disk. We present a homogeneous, NLTE spectroscopic analysis of 401 Galactic CCs, based on 1,351 high-resolution optical spectra, spanning Galactocentric distances from 4.6 to 29.3 kpc. Using PySME with MARCS atmospheres and state-of-the-art grids of NLTE departure coefficients, we derive atmospheric parameters and abundances for key species tracing multiple nucleosynthetic channels. Our sample-the largest CC NLTE dataset to date-achieves high internal precision and enables robust modeling of present-day thin-disk abundance patterns and radial gradients. We estimate abundance gradients using three analytic prescriptions (linear, logarithmic, bilinear with a break) within a Bayesian, outlier-robust framework, and we also apply Gaussian Process Regression to capture non-parametric variations. We find that NLTE atmospheric parameters differ systematically from LTE determinations. Moreover, iron and most elemental abundance profiles are better described by non-linear behavior rather than by single-slope linear models: logarithmic fits generally outperform simple linear models, while bilinear fits yield inconsistent break radii across elements. Gaussian Process models reveal a consistent outer-disk flattening of [X/H] for nearly all studied elements. The [X/Fe] ratios are largely flat with Galactocentric radius, indicating coherent chemical scaling with iron across the thin disk, with modest positive offsets for Na and Al and mild declines for Mn and Cu. Comparison with recent literature shows overall agreement but highlights NLTE-driven differences, especially in outer-disk abundances. These results provide tighter empirical constraints for chemo-dynamical models of the Milky Way and set the stage for future NLTE mapping with upcoming large spectroscopic surveys.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_22491
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Classical Cepheids in the Galactic thin disk I. Abundance gradients via non-local thermodynamic equilibrium spectral analysis
Nunnari, Antonino
D'Orazi, Valentina
Fiorentino, Giuliana
Braga, Vittorio F.
Bono, Giuseppe
Fabrizio, Michele
Jönsson, Henrik
Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter
da Silva, Ronaldo
Bergemann, Maria
Poggio, Eloisa
Otto, Jonah M.
Baeza-Villagra, Karina
Bragaglia, Angela
Ceci, Giulia
Dall'Ora, Massimo
Inno, Laura
Lardo, Carmela
Matsunaga, Noriyuki
Monelli, Matteo
Sánchez-Benavente, Manuel
Sneden, Chris
Tantalo, Maria
Thévénin, Frédéric
Di Criscienzo, Marcella
Topcu, Gamze Böcek
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Classical Cepheids (CCs) have long been considered excellent tracers of the chemical evolution of the Milky Way's young disk. We present a homogeneous, NLTE spectroscopic analysis of 401 Galactic CCs, based on 1,351 high-resolution optical spectra, spanning Galactocentric distances from 4.6 to 29.3 kpc. Using PySME with MARCS atmospheres and state-of-the-art grids of NLTE departure coefficients, we derive atmospheric parameters and abundances for key species tracing multiple nucleosynthetic channels. Our sample-the largest CC NLTE dataset to date-achieves high internal precision and enables robust modeling of present-day thin-disk abundance patterns and radial gradients. We estimate abundance gradients using three analytic prescriptions (linear, logarithmic, bilinear with a break) within a Bayesian, outlier-robust framework, and we also apply Gaussian Process Regression to capture non-parametric variations. We find that NLTE atmospheric parameters differ systematically from LTE determinations. Moreover, iron and most elemental abundance profiles are better described by non-linear behavior rather than by single-slope linear models: logarithmic fits generally outperform simple linear models, while bilinear fits yield inconsistent break radii across elements. Gaussian Process models reveal a consistent outer-disk flattening of [X/H] for nearly all studied elements. The [X/Fe] ratios are largely flat with Galactocentric radius, indicating coherent chemical scaling with iron across the thin disk, with modest positive offsets for Na and Al and mild declines for Mn and Cu. Comparison with recent literature shows overall agreement but highlights NLTE-driven differences, especially in outer-disk abundances. These results provide tighter empirical constraints for chemo-dynamical models of the Milky Way and set the stage for future NLTE mapping with upcoming large spectroscopic surveys.
title Classical Cepheids in the Galactic thin disk I. Abundance gradients via non-local thermodynamic equilibrium spectral analysis
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.22491