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Profile picture Diane Feuillet

Diane Feuillet

Researcher

Profile picture Diane Feuillet

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

Author

  • David L. Nidever
  • Sten Hasselquist
  • Christian R. Hayes
  • Keith Hawkins
  • Joshua Povick
  • Steven R. Majewski
  • Verne V. Smith
  • Borja Anguiano
  • Guy S. Stringfellow
  • Jennifer S. Sobeck
  • Katia Cunha
  • Timothy C. Beers
  • Joachim M. Bestenlehner
  • Roger E. Cohen
  • D. A. Garcia-Hernandez
  • Henrik Jönsson
  • Christian Nitschelm
  • Matthew Shetrone
  • Ivan Lacerna
  • Carlos Allende Prieto
  • Rachael L. Beaton
  • Flavia Dell'Agli
  • José G. Fernández-Trincado
  • Diane Feuillet
  • Carme Gallart
  • Fred R. Hearty
  • Jon Holtzman
  • Arturo Manchado
  • Ricardo R. Muñoz
  • Robert O'Connell
  • Margarita Rosado
Show all

Summary, in English

We report the first APOGEE metallicities and α-element abundances measured for 3600 red giant stars spanning a large radial range of both the Large (LMC) and Small Magellanic Clouds, the largest Milky Way (MW) 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 Cloud (MC) stars detected to date. The LMC [α/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 [α/Fe] with decreasing [Fe/H] and constrain the "α-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 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.

Department/s

  • Lund Observatory - Has been reorganised

Publishing year

2020

Language

English

Publication/Series

Astrophysical Journal

Volume

895

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

American Astronomical Society

Topic

  • Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0004-637X