arXiv subjects

David L. Nidever

Publications and source records attributed to David L. Nidever.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Exploring Hydrodynamic Instabilities along the Infalling High-Velocity Cloud Complex A

Complex A is a high-velocity cloud that is traversing through the Galactic halo toward the Milky Way's disk. We combine both new and archival Green Bank Telescope observations to construct a spectroscopically resolved HI~21-cm map of this entire complex at a $17.1\lesssim\log{\left({N_{\rm HI},\,1σ}/{\rm cm}^{-2}\right)}\lesssim17.9$ sensitivity for a ${\rm FWHM}=20~{\rm km}\,{\rm s}^{-1}$ line and $Δθ=9.1\,{\rm arcmins}$ or $17\lesssimΔd_θ\lesssim30~\rm pc$ spatial resolution. We find that that Complex A is has a Galactic standard of rest frame velocity gradient of $Δ\rm v_{GSR}/ΔL=25~{\rm km}\,{\rm s}^{-1}/{\rm kpc}$ along its length, that it is decelerating at a rate of $\langle a\rangle_{\rm GSR}=55~{\rm km}/{\rm yr}^2$, and that it will reach the Galactic plane in $Δt\lesssim70~{\rm Myrs}$ if it can survive the journey. We have identify numerous signatures of gas disruption. The elongated and multi-core structure of Complex A indicates that either thermodynamic instabilities or shock-cascade processes have fragmented this stream. We find Rayleigh-Taylor fingers on the low-latitude edge of this HVC; many have been pushed backward by ram-pressure stripping. On the high-latitude side of the complex, Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities have generated two large wings that extend tangentially off Complex A. The tips of these wings curve slightly forward in the direction of motion and have an elevated \hi\ column density, indicating that these wings are forming Rayleigh-Taylor globules at their tips and that this gas is becoming entangled with unseen vortices in the surrounding coronal gas. These observations provide new insights on the survivability of low-metallicity gas streams that are accreting onto $L_\star$ galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

The Second Data Release of the Survey of the MAgellanic Stellar History (SMASH)

The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC) are the largest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way and close enough to allow for a detailed exploration of their structure and formation history. The Survey of the MAgellanic Stellar History (SMASH) is a community Dark Energy Camera (DECam) survey of the Magellanic Clouds using $\sim$50 nights to sample over $\sim$2400 deg$^2$ centered on the Clouds at $\sim$20% filling factor (but with contiguous coverage in the central regions) and to depths of $\sim$24th mag in $ugriz$. The primary goals of SMASH are to map out the extended stellar peripheries of the Clouds and uncover their complicated interaction and accretion history as well as to derive spatially-resolved star formation histories of the central regions and create a "movie" of their past star formation. Here we announce the second SMASH public data release (DR2), which contains all 197 fully-calibrated DECam fields including the main body fields in the central regions. The DR2 data are available through the Astro Data Lab hosted by the NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory. We highlight three science cases that make use of the SMASH DR2 data and will be published in the future: (1) preliminary star formation histories of the LMC; (2) the search for Magellanic star clusters using citizen scientists; and, (3) photometric metallicities of Magellanic Cloud stars using the DECam $u$-band.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Second Data Release of the All-sky NOIRLab Source Catalog

We announce the second data release (DR2) of the NOIRLab Source Catalog (NSC), using 412,116 public images from CTIO-4m+DECam, the KPNO-4m+Mosaic3 and the Bok-2.3m+90Prime. NSC DR2 contains over 3.9 billion unique objects, 68 billion individual source measurements, covers $\approx$35,000 square degrees of the sky, has depths of $\approx$23rd magnitude in most broadband filters with $\approx$1-2% photometric precision, and astrometric accuracy of $\approx$7 mas. Approximately 1.9 billion objects within $\approx$30,000 square degrees of sky have photometry in three or more bands. There are several improvements over NSC DR1. DR2 includes 156,662 (61%) more exposures extending over 2 more years than in DR1. The southern photometric zeropoints in $griz$ are more accurate by using the Skymapper DR1 and ATLAS-Ref2 catalogs, and improved extinction corrections were used for high-extinction regions. In addition, the astrometric accuracy is improved by taking advantage of Gaia DR2 proper motions when calibrating the WCS of individual images. This improves the NSC proper motions to $\sim$2.5 mas/yr (precision) and $\sim$0.2 mas/yr (accuracy). The combination of sources into unique objects is performed using a DBSCAN algorithm and mean parameters per object (such as mean magnitudes, proper motion, etc.) are calculated more robustly with outlier rejection. Finally, eight multi-band photometric variability indices are calculated for each object and variable objects are flagged (23 million objects). NSC DR2 will be useful for exploring solar system objects, stellar streams, dwarf satellite galaxies, QSOs, variable stars, high-proper motion stars, and transients. Several examples of these science use cases are presented. The NSC DR2 catalog is publicly available via the NOIRLab's Astro Data Lab science platform.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Preliminary Target Selection for the DESI Milky Way Survey (MWS)

The DESI Milky Way Survey (MWS) will observe $\ge$8 million stars between $16 < r < 19$ mag, supplemented by observations of brighter targets under poor observing conditions. The survey will permit an accurate determination of stellar kinematics and population gradients; characterize diffuse substructure in the thick disk and stellar halo; enable the discovery of extremely metal-poor stars and other rare stellar types; and improve constraints on the Galaxy's 3D dark matter distribution from halo star kinematics. MWS will also enable a detailed characterization of the stellar populations within 100 pc of the Sun, including a complete census of white dwarfs. The target catalog from the preliminary selection described here is public.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Geometry of the Draco C1 Symbiotic Binary

Draco C1 is a known symbiotic binary star system composed of a carbon red giant and a hot, compact companion -- likely a white dwarf -- belonging to the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy. From near-infrared spectroscopic observations taken by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), part of Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV, we provide updated stellar parameters for the cool, giant component, and constrain the temperature and mass of the hot, compact companion. Prior measurements of the periodicity of the system, based on only a few epochs of radial velocity data or relatively short baseline photometric observations, were sufficient only to place lower limits on the orbital period ($P > 300$ days). For the first time, we report precise orbital parameters for the binary system: With 43 radial velocity measurements from APOGEE spanning an observational baseline of more than 3 years, we definitively derive the period of the system to be $1220.0^{+3.7}_{-3.5}$ days. Based on the newly derived orbital period and separation of the system, together with estimates of the radius of the red giant star, we find that the hot companion must be accreting matter from the dense wind of its evolved companion.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2020

The intrinsic reddening of the Magellanic Clouds as traced by background galaxies -- II. The Small Magellanic Cloud

We present a map of the total intrinsic reddening across ~34 deg$^{2}$ of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) derived using optical ($ugriz$) and near-infrared (IR; $YJK_{\mathrm{s}}$) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of background galaxies. The reddening map is created using a subsample of 29,274 galaxies with low levels of intrinsic reddening based on the LePhare $χ^{2}$ minimisation SED-fitting routine. We find statistically significant enhanced levels of reddening associated with the main body of the SMC compared with regions in the outskirts [$ΔE(B-V)\simeq 0.3$ mag]. A comparison with literature reddening maps of the SMC shows that, after correcting for differences in the volume of the SMC sampled, there is good agreement between our results and maps created using young stars. In contrast, we find significant discrepancies between our results and maps created using old stars or based on longer wavelength far-IR dust emission that could stem from biased samples in the former and uncertainties in the far-IR emissivity and the optical properties of the dust grains in the latter. This study represents one of the first large-scale categorisations of extragalactic sources behind the SMC and as such we provide the LePhare outputs for our full sample of ~500,000 sources.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

SMASHing the low surface brightness SMC

The periphery of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) can unlock important information regarding galaxy formation and evolution in interacting systems. Here, we present a detailed study of the extended stellar structure of the SMC using deep colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs), obtained as part of the Survey of the MAgellanic Stellar History (SMASH). Special care was taken in the decontamination of our data from MW foreground stars, including from foreground globular clusters NGC 362 and 47 Tuc. We derived the SMC surface brightness using a ``conservative'' approach from which we calculated the general parameters of the SMC, finding a staggered surface brightness profile. We also traced the fainter outskirts by constructing a stellar density profile. This approach, based on stellar counts of the oldest main sequence turn-off (MSTO) stars, uncovered a tidally disrupted stellar feature that reaches as far out as 12 degrees from the SMC centre. We also serendipitously found a faint feature of unknown origin located at $\sim 14$ degrees from the centre of the SMC and that we tentatively associated to a more distant structure. We compared our results to in-house simulations of a $1\times10^{9} M_\odot$ SMC, finding that its elliptical shape can be explained by its tidal disruption under the combined presence of the MW and the LMC. Finally, we found that the older stellar populations show a smooth profile while the younger component presents a jump in the density followed by a flat profile, confirming the heavily disturbed nature of the SMC.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Strong chemical tagging with APOGEE: 21 candidate star clusters that have dissolved across the Milky Way disc

Chemically tagging groups of stars born in the same birth cluster is a major goal of spectroscopic surveys. To investigate the feasibility of such strong chemical tagging, we perform a blind chemical tagging experiment on abundances measured from APOGEE survey spectra. We apply a density-based clustering algorithm to the eight dimensional chemical space defined by [Mg/Fe], [Al/Fe], [Si/Fe], [K/Fe], [Ti/Fe], [Mn/Fe], [Fe/H], and [Ni/Fe], abundances ratios which together span multiple nucleosynthetic channels. In a high quality sample of 182,538 giant stars, we detect twenty-one candidate clusters with more than fifteen members. Our candidate clusters are more chemically homogeneous than a population of non-member stars with similar [Mg/Fe] and [Fe/H], even in abundances not used for tagging. Group members are consistent with having the same age and fall along a single stellar-population track in logg vs. Teff space. Each group's members are distributed over multiple kpc, and the spread in their radial and azimuthal actions increases with age. We qualitatively reproduce this increase using N-body simulations of cluster dissolution in Galactic potentials that include transient winding spiral arms. Observing our candidate birth clusters with high-resolution spectroscopy in other wavebands to investigate their chemical homogeneity in other nucleosynthetic groups will be essential to confirming the efficacy of strong chemical tagging. Our initially spatially-compact but now widely dispersed candidate clusters will provide novel limits on chemical evolution and orbital diffusion in the Galactic disc, and constraints on star formation in loosely-bound groups.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Homogeneous Analysis of Globular Clusters from the APOGEE Survey with the BACCHUS Code. II. The Southern Clusters and Overview

We investigate the Fe, C, N, O, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ce and Nd abundances of 2283 red giant stars in 31 globular clusters from high-resolution spectra observed in both the northern and southern hemisphere by the SDSS-IV APOGEE-2 survey. This unprecedented homogeneous dataset, largest to date, allows us to discuss the intrinsic Fe spread, the shape and statistics of Al-Mg and N-C anticorrelations as a function of cluster mass, luminosity, age and metallicity for all 31 clusters. We find that the Fe spread does not depend on these parameters within our uncertainties including cluster metallicity, contradicting earlier observations. We do not confirm the metallicity variations previously observed in M22 and NGC 1851. Some clusters show a bimodal Al distribution, while others exhibit a continuous distribution as has been previously reported in the literature. We confirm more than 2 populations in $ω$ Cen and NGC 6752, and find new ones in M79. We discuss the scatter of Al by implementing a correction to the standard chemical evolution of Al in the Milky Way. After correction, its dependence on cluster mass is increased suggesting that the extent of Al enrichment as a function of mass was suppressed before the correction. We observe a turnover in the Mg-Al anticorrelation at very low Mg in $ω$ Cen, similar to the pattern previously reported in M15 and M92. $ω$ Cen may also have a weak K-Mg anticorrelation, and if confirmed, it would be only the third cluster known to show such a pattern.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2020

Discovery of a disrupting open cluster far into the Milky Way halo: a recent star formation event in the leading arm of the Magellanic stream?

We report the discovery of a young (${\rm age} \sim 130~{\rm Myr}$), low-mass ($M \sim 1200~{\rm M}_\odot$), metal-poor ($[{\rm Fe}/{\rm H}] \sim -1.1$) stellar association at a heliocentric distance $D \approx 29~{\rm kpc}$, placing it far into the Milky Way halo. At its present Galactocentric position $(R, z) \sim (23, 15)~{\rm kpc}$, the association is (on the sky) near the leading arm of the gas stream emanating from the Magellanic cloud system, but is located $\approx 60^\circ$ from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) center on the other side of the Milky Way disk. If we assume that the cluster is co-located with HI gas in the stream, we directly measure the distance to the leading arm of the Magellanic stream. The measured distance is inconsistent with stream predictions from models of the LMC/SMC interaction and infall into the Milky Way that do not account for ram pressure and gas interaction with Milky Way disk. The estimated age of the cluster is consistent with the time of last passage of the leading arm gas through the Galactic midplane, and we therefore speculate that this star-formation event was triggered by its the last disk midplane passage. Most details of this idea remain a puzzle: the Magellanic stream has low column density, the Milky Way disk at this large radius has low gas density, and the relative velocity of the leading arm gas and Milky Way gas is large. However it formed, the discovery of a young stellar cluster in the Milky Way halo presents an interesting opportunity for study. This cluster was discovered with Gaia astrometry and photometry alone, but folow-up DECam photometry was crucial for measuring its properties.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Close Binary Companions to APOGEE DR16 Stars: 20,000 Binary-star Systems Across the Color-Magnitude Diagram

Many problems in contemporary astrophysics---from understanding the formation of black holes to untangling the chemical evolution of galaxies---rely on knowledge about binary stars. This, in turn, depends on discovery and characterization of binary companions for large numbers of different kinds of stars in different chemical and dynamical environments. Current stellar spectroscopic surveys observe hundreds of thousands to millions of stars with (typically) few observational epochs, which allows binary discovery but makes orbital characterization challenging. We use a custom Monte Carlo sampler (The Joker) to perform discovery and characterization of binary systems through radial-velocities, in the regime of sparse, noisy, and poorly sampled multi-epoch data. We use it to generate posterior samplings in Keplerian parameters for 232,531 sources released in APOGEE Data Release 16. Our final catalog contains 19,635 high-confidence close-binary (P < few years, a < few AU) systems that show interesting relationships between binary occurrence rate and location in the color-magnitude diagram. We find notable faint companions at high masses (black-hole candidates), at low masses (substellar candidates), and at very close separations (mass-transfer candidates). We also use the posterior samplings in a (toy) hierarchical inference to measure the long-period binary-star eccentricity distribution. We release the full set of posterior samplings for the entire parent sample of 232,531 stars. This set of samplings involves no heuristic "discovery" threshold and therefore can be used for myriad statistical purposes, including hierarchical inferences about binary-star populations and sub-threshold searches.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2020

The Lazy Giants: APOGEE Abundances Reveal Low Star Formation Efficiencies in the Magellanic Clouds

We report the first APOGEE metallicities and alpha-element abundances measured for 3600 red giant stars spanning a large radial range of both the Large (LMC) and Small Magellanic Clouds (SMC), the largest Milky Way dwarf galaxies. Our sample is an order of magnitude larger than that of previous studies, and extends to much larger radial distances. These are the first results presented that make use of the newly installed Southern APOGEE instrument on the du Pont telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. Our unbiased sample of the LMC spans a large range in metallicity, from [Fe/H]=-0.2 to very metal-poor stars with [Fe/H]=-2.5, the most metal-poor Magellanic Clouds (MCs) stars detected to date. The LMC [alpha/Fe]-[Fe/H] distribution is very flat over a large metallicity range, but rises by ~0.1 dex at -1.0<[Fe/H]<-0.5. We interpret this as a sign of the known recent increase in MC star-formation activity, and are able to reproduce the pattern with a chemical evolution model that includes a recent "starburst". At the metal-poor end, we capture the increase of [alpha/Fe] with decreasing [Fe/H], and constrain the "alpha-knee" to [Fe/H]<-2.2 in both MCs, implying a low star-formation efficiency of ~0.01 Gyr^-1. The MC knees are more metal poor than those of less massive Milky Way (MW) dwarf galaxies such as Fornax, Sculptor, or Sagittarius. One possible interpretation is that the MCs formed in a lower-density environment than the MW, a hypothesis that is consistent with the paradigm that the MCs fell into the MW's gravitational potential only recently.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

Metallicity and $α$-element Abundance Gradients along the Sagittarius Stream as Seen by APOGEE

Using 3D positions and kinematics of stars relative to the Sagittarius (Sgr) orbital plane and angular momentum, we identify 166 Sgr stream members observed by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) that also have Gaia DR2 astrometry. This sample of 63/103 stars in the Sgr trailing/leading arm are combined with an APOGEE sample of 710 members of the Sgr dwarf spheroidal core (385 of them newly presented here) to establish differences of 0.6 dex in median metallicity and 0.1 dex in [$α$/Fe] between our Sgr core and dynamically older stream samples. Mild chemical gradients are found internally along each arm, but these steepen when anchored by core stars. With a model of Sgr tidal disruption providing estimated dynamical ages (i.e., stripping times) for each stream star, we find a mean metallicity gradient of 0.12 +/- 0.03 dex/Gyr for stars stripped from Sgr over time. For the first time, an [$α$/Fe] gradient is also measured within the stream, at 0.02 +/- 0.01 dex/Gyr using magnesium abundances and 0.04 +/- 0.01 dex/Gyr using silicon, which imply that the Sgr progenitor had significant radial abundance gradients. We discuss the magnitude of those inferred gradients and their implication for the nature of the Sgr progenitor within the context of the current family of Milky Way satellite galaxies, and suggest that more sophisticated Sgr models are needed to properly interpret the growing chemodynamical detail we have on the Sgr system.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

A DECam View of the Diffuse Dwarf Galaxy Crater II: Variable Stars

Time series observations of a single dithered field centered on the diffuse dwarf satellite galaxy Crater II were obtained with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at the 4m Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile, uniformly covering up to two half-light radii. Analysis of the $g$ and $i$ time series results in the identification and characterization of 130 periodic variable stars, including 98 RR Lyrae stars, 7 anomalous Cepheids, and 1 SX Phoenicis star belonging to the Crater II population, and 24 foreground variables of different types. Using the large number of ab-type RR Lyrae stars present in the galaxy, we obtained a distance modulus to Crater II of $(m-M)_0=20.333\pm 0.004$ (stat) $\pm 0.07$ (sys). The distribution of the RR Lyrae stars suggests an elliptical shape for Crater II, with an ellipticity of 0.24 and a position angle of $153^\circ$. From the RR Lyrae stars we infer a small metallicity dispersion for the old population of Crater II of only 0.17 dex. There are hints that the most metal-poor stars in that narrow distribution have a wider distribution across the galaxy, while the slightly more metal rich part of the population is more centrally concentrated. Given the features in the color-magnitude diagram of Crater II, the anomalous Cepheids in this galaxy must have formed through a binary evolution channel of an old population.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

Spectroscopy of the Young Stellar Association Price-Whelan 1: Origin in the Magellanic Leading Arm and Constraints on the Milky Way Hot Halo

We report spectroscopic measurements of stars in the recently discovered young stellar association Price-Whelan 1 (PW 1), which was found in the vicinity of the Leading Arm (LA) of the Magellanic Stream. We obtained Magellan+MIKE high-resolution spectra of the 28 brightest stars in PW 1 and used The Cannon to determine their stellar parameters. We find that the mean metallicity of PW 1 is [Fe/H]=-1.23 with a small scatter of 0.06 dex and the mean radial velocity is Vhelio=276.7 km/s with a dispersion of 11.0 km/s. Our results are consistent in Teff, logg, and [Fe/H] with the young and metal-poor characteristics (116 Myr and [Fe/H]=-1.1) determined for PW 1 from our discovery paper. We find a strong correlation between the spatial pattern of the PW 1 stars and the LA II gas with an offset of -10.15 deg in L_MS and +1.55 deg in B_MS. The similarity in metallicity, velocity, and spatial patterns indicates that PW 1 likely originated in LA II. We find that the spatial and kinematic separation between LA II and PW 1 can be explained by ram pressure from Milky Way gas. Using orbit integrations that account for the LMC and MW halo and outer disk gas, we constrain the halo gas density at the orbital pericenter of PW 1 to be n_halo (17 kpc) = 2.7 (3) x 10^-3 atoms/cm^3 and the disk gas density at the midplane at 20 kpc to be n_disk (20 kpc,0) = 6.0 (1.8) x 10^-2 atoms/cm^3. We, therefore, conclude that PW 1 formed from the LA II of the Magellanic Stream, making it a powerful constraint on the Milky Way-Magellanic interaction.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

The intrinsic reddening of the Magellanic Clouds as traced by background galaxies -- I. The bar and outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud

We present a method to map the total intrinsic reddening of a foreground extinguishing medium via the analysis of spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of background galaxies. In this pilot study, we implement this technique in two distinct regions of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) - the bar and the southern outskirts - using a combination of optical and near-infrared $ugrizYJK_{\mathrm{s}}$ broadband imaging. We adopt the LePhare $χ^{2}$-minimisation SED-fitting routine and various samples of galaxies and/or quasi-stellar objects to investigate the intrinsic reddening. We find that only when we construct reddening maps using objects classified as galaxies with low levels of intrinsic reddening (i.e. ellipticals/lenticulars and early-type spirals), the resultant maps are consistent with previous literature determinations i.e. the intrinsic reddening of the SMC bar is higher than that in the outer environs. We employ two sets of galaxy templates - one theoretical and one empirical - to test for template dependencies in the resulting reddening maps and find that the theoretical templates imply systematically higher reddening values by up to 0.20 mag in $E(B-V)$. A comparison with previous reddening maps, based on the stellar components of the SMC, typically shows reasonable agreement. There is, however, significant variation amongst the literature reddening maps as to the level of intrinsic reddening associated with the bar. Thus, it is difficult to unambiguously state that instances of significant discrepancies are the result of appreciable levels of dust not accounted for in some literature reddening maps or whether they reflect issues with our adopted methodology.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

Close companions around young stars

Multiplicity is a fundamental property that is set early during stellar lifetimes, and it is a stringent probe of the physics of star formation. The distribution of close companions around young stars is still poorly constrained by observations. We present an analysis of stellar multiplicity derived from APOGEE-2 spectra obtained in targeted observations of nearby star-forming regions. This is the largest homogeneously observed sample of high-resolution spectra of young stars. We developed an autonomous method to identify double lined spectroscopic binaries (SB2s). Out of 5007 sources spanning the mass range of $\sim$0.05--1.5 \msun, we find 399 binaries, including both RV variables and SB2s. The mass ratio distribution of SB2s is consistent with a uniform for $q<0.95$ with an excess of twins with $q>0.95$. The period distribution is consistent with what has been observed in close binaries ($<10$ AU) in the evolved populations. Three systems are found to have $q\sim$0.1, with a companion located within the brown dwarf desert. There are not any strong trends in the multiplicity fraction (MF) as a function of cluster age from 1 to 100 Myr. There is a weak dependence on stellar density, with companions being most numerous at $Σ_*\sim30$ stars/pc$^{-2}$, and decreasing in more diffuse regions. Finally, disk-bearing sources are deficient in SB2s (but not RV variables) by a factor of $\sim$2; this deficit is recovered by the systems without disks. This may indicate a quick dispersal of disk material in short-period equal mass systems that is less effective in binaries with lower $q$.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2019

Identifying Sagittarius Stream Stars By Their APOGEE Chemical Abundance Signatures

The SDSS-IV Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey provides precise chemical abundances of 18 chemical elements for $\sim$ 176,000 red giant stars distributed over much of the Milky Way Galaxy (MW), and includes observations of the core of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr). The APOGEE chemical abundance patterns of Sgr have revealed that it is chemically distinct from the MW in most chemical elements. We employ a \emph{k}-means clustering algorithm to 6-dimensional chemical space defined by [(C+N)/Fe], [O/Fe], [Mg/Fe], [Al/Fe], [Mn/Fe], and [Ni/Fe] to identify 62 MW stars in the APOGEE sample that have Sgr-like chemical abundances. Of the 62 stars, 35 have \emph{Gaia} kinematics and positions consistent with those predicted by \emph{N}-body simulations of the Sgr stream, and are likely stars that have been stripped from Sgr during the last two pericenter passages ($<$ 2 Gyr ago). Another 20 of the 62 stars exhibit chemical abundances indistinguishable from the Sgr stream stars, but are on highly eccentric orbits with median $r_{\rm apo} \sim $ 25 kpc. These stars are likely the `accreted' halo population thought to be the result of a separate merger with the MW 8-11 Gyr ago. We also find one hypervelocity star candidate. We conclude that Sgr was enriched to [Fe/H] $\sim$ -0.2 before its most recent pericenter passage. If the `accreted halo' population is from one major accretion event, then this progenitor galaxy was enriched to at least [Fe/H] $\sim$ -0.6, and had a similar star formation history to Sgr before merging.

astro-ph.GA↗