arXiv subjects

Emily J. Griffith

Publications and source records attributed to Emily J. Griffith.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Empirical Constraints on the Nucleosynthesis of Nitrogen

We derive empirical constraints on the nucleosynthetic yields of nitrogen by incorporating N enrichment into our previously developed and empirically tuned multi-zone galactic chemical evolution model. We adopt a metallicity-independent ("primary") N yield from massive stars and a metallicity-dependent ("secondary") N yield from AGB stars. In our model, galactic radial zones do not evolve along the observed [N/O]-[O/H] relation, but first increase in [O/H] at roughly constant [N/O], then move upward in [N/O] via secondary N production. By $t\approx5$ Gyr, the model approaches an equilibrium [N/O]-[O/H] relation, which traces the radial oxygen gradient. We find good agreement with the [N/O]-[O/H] trend observed in extra-galactic systems if we adopt an IMF-averaged massive star yield $y_\text{N}^\text{CC}=3.6\times10^{-4}$, consistent with predictions for rapidly rotating progenitors, and a fractional AGB yield that is linear in mass and metallicity $y_\text{N}^\text{AGB}=(9\times10^{-4})(M_*/M_\odot)(Z_*/Z_\odot)$. This model reproduces the [N/O]-[O/H] relation found for Milky Way stars in the APOGEE survey, and it reproduces (though imperfectly) the trends of stellar [N/O] with age and [O/Fe]. The metallicity-dependent yield plays the dominant role in shaping the gas-phase [N/O]-[O/H] relation, but the AGB time-delay is required to match the APOGEE stellar age and [O/Fe] trends. If we add $\sim$40\% oscillations to the star formation rate, the model reproduces the scatter in gas-phase [N/O] vs. [O/H] observed in external galaxies by MaNGA. We also construct models using published AGB yields and examine their empirical successes and shortcomings. For all AGB yields we consider, simple stellar populations release half their N after only $\sim$250 Myr.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

The Impact of Black Hole Formation on Population Averaged Supernova Yields

The landscape of black hole (BH) formation -- which massive stars explode as core-collapse supernovae (CCSN) and which implode to BHs -- profoundly affects the IMF-averaged nucleosynthetic yields of a stellar population. Building on the work of Sukhbold et al. (2016), we compute IMF-averaged yields at solar metallicity for a wide range of assumptions, including neutrino-driven engine models with extensive BH formation, models with a simple mass threshold for BH formation, and a model in which all stars from $8-120 \text{M}_{\odot}$ explode. For plausible choices, the overall yields of $α$-elements span a factor of three, but changes in relative yields are more subtle, typically $0.05-0.2$ dex. For constraining the overall level of BH formation, ratios of C and N to O or Mg are promising diagnostics. For distinguishing complex, theoretically motivated landscapes from simple mass thresholds, abundance ratios involving Mn or Ni are promising because of their sensitivity to the core structure of the CCSN progenitors. We confirm previous findings of a substantial (factor $2.5-4$) discrepancy between predicted O/Mg yield ratios and observationally inferred values, implying that models either overproduce O or underproduce Mg. No landscape choice achieves across-the-board agreement with observed abundance ratios; the discrepancies offer empirical clues to aspects of massive star evolution or explosion physics still missing from the models. We find qualitatively similar results using the massive star yields of Limongi & Chieffi (2018). We provide tables of IMF-integrated yields for several landscape scenarios, and more flexible user-designed models can be implemented through the publicly available $\texttt{Versatile Integrator for Chemical Evolution}$ ($\texttt{VICE}$; https://pypi.org/project/vice/).

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2021

Residual Abundances in GALAH DR3: Implications for Nucleosynthesis and Identification of Unique Stellar Populations

We investigate the [X/Mg] abundances of 16 elements for 82,910 Galactic disk stars from GALAH+ DR3. We fit the median trends of low-Ia and high-Ia populations with a two-process model, which describes stellar abundances in terms of a prompt core-collapse and delayed Type-Ia supernova component. For each sample star, we fit the amplitudes of these two components and compute the residual $Δ$[X/H] abundances from this two-parameter fit. We find RMS residuals $\lesssim 0.07$ dex for well-measured elements and correlated residuals among some elements (such as Ba, Y, and Zn) that indicate common enrichment sources. From a detailed investigation of stars with large residuals, we infer that roughly $40\%$ of the large deviations are physical and $60\%$ are caused by problematic data such as unflagged binarity, poor wavelength solutions, and poor telluric subtraction. As one example of a population with distinctive abundance patterns, we identify 15 stars that have 0.3-0.6 dex enhancements of Na but normal abundances of other elements from O to Ni and positive average residuals of Cu, Zn, Y, and Ba. We measure the median elemental residuals of 14 open clusters, finding systematic $\sim0.1-0.4$ dex enhancements of O, Ca, K, Y, and Ba and $\sim0.2$ dex depletion of Cu in young clusters. Finally, we present a restricted three-process model where we add an asymptotic giant branch star (AGB) component to better fit Ba and Y. With the addition of the third process, we identify a population of stars, preferentially young, that have much higher AGB enrichment than expected from their SNIa enrichment.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Nucleosynthesis signatures of neutrino-driven winds from proto-neutron stars: a perspective from chemical evolution models

We test the hypothesis that the observed first-peak (Sr, Y, Zr) and second-peak (Ba) s-process elemental abundances in low-metallicity Milky Way stars, and the abundances of the elements Mo and Ru, can be explained by a pervasive r-process contribution originating in neutrino-driven winds from highly-magnetic and rapidly rotating proto-neutron stars (proto-NSs). We construct chemical evolution models that incorporate recent calculations of proto-NS yields in addition to contributions from AGB stars, Type Ia supernovae, and two alternative sets of yields for massive star winds and core-collapse supernovae. For non-rotating massive star yields from either set, models without proto-NS winds underpredict the observed s-process peak abundances by $0.3$-$1\,\text{dex}$ at low metallicity, and they severely underpredict Mo and Ru at all metallicities. Models incorporating wind yields from proto-NSs with spin periods $P \sim 2$-$5\,\text{ms}$ fit the observed trends for all these elements well. Alternatively, models omitting proto-NS winds but adopting yields of rapidly rotating massive stars, with $v_{\rm rot}$ between $150$ and $300\,\text{km}\,\text{s}^{-1}$, can explain the observed abundance levels reasonably well for $\text{[Fe/H]}<-2$. These models overpredict [Sr/Fe] and [Mo/Fe] at higher metallicities, but with a tuned dependence of $v_{\rm rot}$ on stellar metallicity they might achieve an acceptable fit at all [Fe/H]. If many proto-NSs are born with strong magnetic fields and short spin periods, then their neutrino-driven winds provide a natural source for Sr, Y, Zr, Mo, Ru, and Ba in low-metallicity stellar populations. Conversely, spherical winds from unmagnetized proto-NSs overproduce the observed Sr, Y, and Zr abundances by a large factor.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

CNO dredge-up in a sample of APOGEE/Kepler red giants: Tests of stellar models and Galactic evolutionary trends of N/O and C/N

Surface abundances of C, N, and O in red giants are affected by processed material mixed into the stars' convective envelopes. Using a sample of $\sim 5100$ stars with elemental abundances from APOGEE and asteroseismic masses from {\it Kepler}, we test theoretical stellar models that predict this mixing, then apply these models to derive birth C, N, and O abundances for these stars. Our models with standard mixing can reproduce the observed trends to within plausible uncertainties in the birth abundances. Some models with ''extra'' mixing processes fail, predicting trends with surface gravity or evolutionary state that are not observed. Applying mixing corrections to the APOGEE abundances removes the observed age-dependence of log(N/O) and log(C/N), but it leaves trends of log(N/O) and log(C/N) with metallicity, as expected based on nucleosynthesis models. The stellar N/O trend agrees well with Dopita et al.'s calibration of gas phase log(N/O) with metallicity, and with gas phase trends in the MaNGA integral field survey of nearby galaxies. We also find a substantial separation in birth [N/Mg] ratios between high-[$α$/Fe] (''thick disc'') stars and low-[$α$/Fe] (''thin disc'') stars. We find a smaller but still clear separation for [C/Mg]. The trends of birth C and N abundances with [Fe/H] and [$α$/Fe] could affect spectroscopic age estimates for red giants that rely on the observed C/N ratio as a diagnostic of stellar mass.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Stellar Migration and Chemical Enrichment in the Milky Way Disc: A Hybrid Model

We develop a hybrid model of galactic chemical evolution that combines a multi-ring computation of chemical enrichment with a prescription for stellar migration and the vertical distribution of stellar populations informed by a cosmological hydrodynamic disc galaxy simulation. Our fiducial model adopts empirically motivated forms of the star formation law and star formation history, with a gradient in outflow mass loading tuned to reproduce the observed metallicity gradient. With this approach, the model reproduces many of the striking qualitative features of the Milky Way disc's abundance structure: (i) the dependence of the [O/Fe]-[Fe/H] distribution on radius $R_\text{gal}$ and midplane distance $|z|$; (ii) the changing shapes of the [O/H] and [Fe/H] distributions with $R_\text{gal}$ and $|z|$; (iii) a broad distribution of [O/Fe] at sub-solar metallicity and changes in the [O/Fe] distribution with $R_\text{gal}$, $|z|$, and [Fe/H]; (iv) a tight correlation between [O/Fe] and stellar age for [O/Fe] $>$ 0.1; (v) a population of young and intermediate-age $α$-enhanced stars caused by migration-induced variability in the Type Ia supernova rate; (vi) non-monotonic age-[O/H] and age-[Fe/H] relations, with large scatter and a median age of $\sim$4 Gyr near solar metallicity. Observationally motivated models with an enhanced star formation rate $\sim$2 Gyr ago improve agreement with the observed age-[Fe/H] and age-[O/H] relations, but worsen agreement with the observed age-[O/Fe] relation. None of our models predict an [O/Fe] distribution with the distinct bimodality seen in the observations, suggesting that more dramatic evolutionary pathways are required. All code and tables used for our models are publicly available through the Versatile Integrator for Chemical Evolution (VICE; https://pypi.org/project/vice).

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