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1. The contribution of N-rich stars to the Galactic stellar halo using APOGEE red giants

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3598  

   Horta, Danny ; Mackereth, J Ted ; Schiavon, Ricardo P ; Hasselquist, Sten ; Bovy, Jo ; Allende Prieto, Carlos ; Beers, Timothy C ; Cunha, Katia ; García-Hernández, D A ; Kisku, Shobhit S ; et al ( December 2020 , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   ABSTRACT The contribution of dissolved globular clusters (GCs) to the stellar content of the Galactic halo is a key constraint on models for GC formation and destruction, and the mass assembly history of the Milky Way. Earlier results from APOGEE pointed to a large contribution of destroyed GCs to the stellar content of the inner halo, by as much as 25 ${{\ \rm per\ cent}}$, which is an order of magnitude larger than previous estimates for more distant regions of the halo. We set out to measure the ratio between nitrogen-rich (N-rich) and normal halo field stars, as a function of distance, by performing density modelling of halo field populations in APOGEE DR16. Our results show that at 1.5 kpc from the Galactic Centre, N-rich stars contribute a much higher 16.8$^{+10.0}_{-7.0}\, {{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ fraction to the total stellar halo mass budget than the 2.7$^{+1.0}_{-0.8}\, {{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ ratio contributed at 10 kpc. Under the assumption that N-rich stars are former GC members that now reside in the stellar halo field, and assuming the ratio between first and second population GC stars being 1:2, we estimate a total contribution from disrupted GC stars of the order of 27.5$^{+15.4}_{-11.5}\, {{\ \rmmore »per\ cent}}$ at r = 1.5 kpc and 4.2$^{+1.5}_{-1.3}\, {{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ at r = 10 kpc. Furthermore, since our methodology requires fitting a density model to the stellar halo, we integrate such density within a spherical shell from 1.5 to 15 kpc in radius, and find a total stellar mass arising from dissolved and/or evaporated GCs of MGC,total = 9.6$^{+4.0}_{-2.6}\, \times$ 107 M⊙.« less
2. The Milky Way bar and bulge revealed by APOGEE and Gaia EDR3

   https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039030  

   Queiroz, A. B. ; Chiappini, C. ; Perez-Villegas, A. ; Khalatyan, A. ; Anders, F. ; Barbuy, B. ; Santiago, B. X. ; Steinmetz, M. ; Cunha, K. ; Schultheis, M. ; et al ( December 2021 , Astronomy & Astrophysics)

   We investigate the inner regions of the Milky Way using data from APOGEE and Gaia EDR3. Our inner Galactic sample has more than 26 500 stars within | X Gal |< 5 kpc, | Y Gal |< 3.5 kpc, | Z Gal |< 1 kpc, and we also carry out the analysis for a foreground-cleaned subsample of 8000 stars that is more representative of the bulge–bar populations. These samples allow us to build chemo-dynamical maps of the stellar populations with vastly improved detail. The inner Galaxy shows an apparent chemical bimodality in key abundance ratios [ α /Fe], [C/N], and [Mn/O], which probe different enrichment timescales, suggesting a star formation gap (quenching) between the high- and low- α populations. Using a joint analysis of the distributions of kinematics, metallicities, mean orbital radius, and chemical abundances, we can characterize the different populations coexisting in the innermost regions of the Galaxy for the first time. The chemo-kinematic data dissected on an eccentricity–| Z | max plane reveal the chemical and kinematic signatures of the bar, the thin inner disc, and an inner thick disc, and a broad metallicity population with large velocity dispersion indicative of a pressure-supported component. The interplay between thesemore »different populations is mapped onto the different metallicity distributions seen in the eccentricity–| Z | max diagram consistently with the mean orbital radius and V ϕ distributions. A clear metallicity gradient as a function of | Z | max is also found, which is consistent with the spatial overlapping of different populations. Additionally, we find and chemically and kinematically characterize a group of counter-rotating stars that could be the result of a gas-rich merger event or just the result of clumpy star formation during the earliest phases of the early disc that migrated into the bulge. Finally, based on 6D information, we assign stars a probability value of being on a bar orbit and find that most of the stars with large bar orbit probabilities come from the innermost 3 kpc, with a broad dispersion of metallicity. Even stars with a high probability of belonging to the bar show chemical bimodality in the [ α /Fe] versus [Fe/H] diagram. This suggests bar trapping to be an efficient mechanism, explaining why stars on bar orbits do not show a significant, distinct chemical abundance ratio signature.« less
3. Elemental Abundances in M31: Properties of the Inner Stellar Halo*

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abb474  

   Escala, Ivanna ; Kirby, Evan N. ; Gilbert, Karoline M. ; Wojno, Jennifer ; Cunningham, Emily C. ; Guhathakurta, Puragra ( October 2020 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   We present measurements of [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] for 128 individual red giant branch stars (RGB) in the stellar halo of M31, including its Giant Stellar Stream (GSS), obtained using spectral synthesis of low- and medium-resolution Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy (and 6000, respectively). We observed four fields in M31's stellar halo (at projected radii of 9, 18, 23, and 31 kpc), as well as two fields in the GSS (at 33 kpc). In combination with existing literature measurements, we have increased the sample size of [Fe/H] and [α/Fe] measurements from 101 to a total of 229 individual M31 RGB stars. From this sample, we investigate the chemical abundance properties of M31's inner halo, findingand. Between 8 and 34 kpc, the inner halo has a steep [Fe/H] gradient (−0.025 ± 0.002 dex kpc⁻¹) and negligible [α/Fe] gradient, where substructure in the inner halo is systematically more metal-rich than the smooth component of the halo at a given projected distance. Although the chemical abundances of the inner stellar halo are largely inconsistent with that of present-day dwarf spheroidal (dSph) satellite galaxies of M31, we identified 22 RGB stars kinematically associated with the smooth component of the stellar halomore »that have chemical abundance patterns similar to M31 dSphs. We discuss formation scenarios for M31's halo, concluding that these dSph-like stars may have been accreted from galaxies of similar stellar mass and star formation history, or of higher stellar mass and similar star formation efficiency.

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4. Gas-rich, Field Ultra-diffuse Galaxies Host Few Gobular Clusters

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acaaab  

   Jones, Michael G. ; Karunakaran, Ananthan ; Bennet, Paul ; Sand, David J. ; Spekkens, Kristine ; Mutlu-Pakdil, Burçin ; Crnojević, Denija ; Janowiecki, Steven ; Leisman, Lukas ; Fielder, Catherine E. ( December 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   We present Hubble Space Telescope imaging of 14 gas-rich, low-surface-brightness galaxies in the field at distances of 25–36 Mpc, with mean effective radii andg-band central surface brightnesses of 1.9 kpc and 24.2 mag arcsec⁻². Nine meet the standard criteria to be considered ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs). An inspection of point-like sources brighter than the turnover magnitude of the globular cluster luminosity function and within twice the half-light radii of each galaxy reveals that, unlike those in denser environments, gas-rich, field UDGs host very few old globular clusters (GCs). Most of the targets (nine) have zero candidate GCs, with the remainder having one or two candidates each. These findings are broadly consistent with expectations for normal dwarf galaxies of similar stellar mass. This rules out gas-rich, field UDGs as potential progenitors of the GC-rich UDGs that are typically found in galaxy clusters. However, some in galaxy groups may be directly accreted from the field. In line with other recent results, this strongly suggests that there must be at least two distinct formation pathways for UDGs, and that this subpopulation is simply an extreme low surface brightness extension of the underlying dwarf galaxy population. The root cause of their diffuse stellar distributionsmore »remains unclear, but the formation mechanism appears to only impact the distribution of stars (and potentially dark matter), without strongly impacting the distribution of neutral gas, the overall stellar mass, or the number of GCs.

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5. The mass-loss rates of star clusters with stellar-mass black holes: implications for the globular cluster mass function

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad1287  

   Gieles, Mark ; Gnedin, Oleg Y. ( May 2023 , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   Stellar-mass black holes (BHs) can be retained in globular clusters (GCs) until the present. Simulations of GC evolution find that the relaxation driven mass-loss rate is elevated if BHs are present, especially near dissolution. We capture this behaviour in a parametrized mass-loss rate, bench marked by results from N-body simulations, and use it to evolve an initial GC mass function (GCMF), similar to that of young massive clusters in the Local Universe, to an age of 12 Gyr. Low-metallicity GCs ([Fe/H] ≲ −1.5) have the highest mass-loss rates, because of their relatively high BH masses, which combined with their more radial orbits and stronger tidal field in the past explains the high turnover mass of the GCMF ($\sim 10^5\, {\rm M}_\odot$ ) at large Galactic radii ($\gtrsim 10\, {\rm kpc}$ ). The turnover mass at smaller Galactic radii is similar because of the upper mass truncation of the initial GCMF and the lower mass-loss rate due to the higher metallicities. The density profile in the Galaxy of mass lost from massive GCs ($\gtrsim 10^{5}\, {\rm M}_\odot$ ) resembles that of nitrogen-rich stars in the halo, confirming that these stars originated from GCs. We conclude that two-body relaxation is the dominantmore »effect in shaping the GCMF from a universal initial GCMF, because including the effect of BHs reduces the need for additional disruption mechanisms.

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