CaltechAUTHORS
Published December 10, 2014 | Version Published + Submitted
Journal Article Open

[α/Fe] Abundances of Four Outer M31 Halo Stars

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Yale University
  • 2. ROR icon Space Telescope Science Institute
  • 3. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 4. ROR icon University of California, Santa Cruz

Abstract

We present alpha element to iron abundance ratios, [α/Fe], for four stars in the outer stellar halo of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). The stars were identified as high-likelihood field halo stars by Gilbert et al. and lie at projected distances between 70 and 140 kpc from M31's center. These are the first alpha abundances measured for a halo star in a galaxy beyond the Milky Way. The stars range in metallicity between [Fe/H] = –2.2 and [Fe/H] = –1.4. The sample's average [α/Fe] ratio is +0.20 ± 0.20. The best-fit average value is elevated above solar, which is consistent with rapid chemical enrichment from Type II supernovae. The mean [α/Fe] ratio of our M31 outer halo sample agrees (within the uncertainties) with that of Milky Way inner/outer halo stars that have a comparable range of [Fe/H].

Additional Information

© 2014 American Astronomical Society. Received 2014 August 25; accepted 2014 November 6; published 2014 November 20. L.C.V. acknowledges useful conversations with Nikhil Padmanabhan during the analysis stage of this project. L.C.V. was supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (Grant DGE−1122492). M.G. and L.C.V. acknowledge support from NSF Grant AST−0908752, and P.G. acknowledges support from NSF grant AST−1010039. E.J.T. and K.G. were supported by NASA through Hubble Fellowship Grant Nos. 51316.01 and 51273.01, awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS 5-26555. Facility: Keck:II (DEIMOS)

Attached Files

Published - 2041-8205_797_1_L2.pdf

Submitted - 1410.3475v1.pdf

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
52957
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20141217-104619921

Related works

Describes
http://arxiv.org/abs/1410.3475 (URL)

Funding

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
DGE−1122492
NSF
AST−0908752
NSF
AST−1010039
NASA
51316.01
NASA
51273.01
Space Telescope Science Institute
NASA
NAS 5-26555

Dates

Created
2014-12-17
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-10
Created from EPrint's last_modified field