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Abstract Stellar abundance measurements are subject to systematic errors that induce extra scatter and artificial correlations in elemental abundance patterns. We derive empirical calibration offsets to remove systematic trends with surface gravity in 17 elemental abundances of 288,789 evolved stars from the SDSS APOGEE survey. We fit these corrected abundances as the sum of a prompt process tracing core-collapse supernovae and a delayed process tracing Type Ia supernovae, thus recasting each star’s measurements into the amplitudesAccandAIaand the element-by-element residuals from this two-parameter fit. As a first application of this catalog, which is 8× larger than that of previous analyses that used a restricted range, we examine the median residual abundances of 14 open clusters, nine globular clusters, and four dwarf satellite galaxies. Relative to field Milky Way disk stars, the open clusters younger than 2 Gyr show ≈0.1−0.2 dex enhancements of the neutron-capture element Ce, and the two clusters younger than 0.5 Gyr also show elevated levels of C+N, Na, S, and Cu. Globular clusters show elevated median abundances of C+N, Na, Al, and Ce, and correlated abundance residuals that follow previously known trends. The four dwarf satellites show similar residual abundance patterns despite their different star formation histories, with ≈0.2–0.3 dex depletions in C+N, Na, and Al and ≈0.1 dex depletions in Ni, V, Mn, and Co. We provide our catalog of corrected APOGEE abundances, two-process amplitudes, and residual abundances, which will be valuable for future studies of abundance patterns in different stellar populations and of additional enrichment processes that affect galactic chemical evolution.
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This content will become publicly available on April 25, 2026
Many Elements Matter: Detailed Abundance Patterns Reveal Star Formation and Enrichment Differences among Milky Way Structural Components
Abstract Many nucleosynthetic channels create the elements, but two-parameter models characterized byαand Fe nonetheless predict stellar abundances in the Galactic disk to accuracies of 0.02–0.05 dex for most measured elements, near the level of current abundance uncertainties. It is difficult to make individual measurements more precise than this to investigate lower-amplitude nucleosynthetic effects, but population studies of mean abundance patterns can reveal more subtle abundance differences. Here, we look at the detailed abundances for 67,315 stars from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (or APOGEE) Data Release 17, but in abundance residuals away from a best-fit two-parameter, data-driven nucleosynthetic model. We find that these residuals show complex structures with respect to age, guiding radius, and vertical action that are not random and are also not strongly correlated with sources of systematic error such as ,Teff, and radial velocity. The residual patterns, especially in Na, C+N, Mn, and Ce, trace kinematic structures in the Milky Way, such as the inner disk, thick disk, and flared outer disk. A principal component analysis suggests that most of the observed structure is low-dimensional and can be explained by a few eigenvectors. We find that some, but not all, of the effects in the low-αdisk can be explained by dilution with fresh gas, so that the abundance ratios resemble those of stars with higher metallicity. The patterns and maps we provide can be combined with accurate forward models of nucleosynthesis, star formation, and gas infall to provide a more detailed picture of star and element formation in different Milky Way components.
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- PAR ID:
- 10644557
- Publisher / Repository:
- IOP
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astronomical Journal
- Volume:
- 169
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 0004-6256
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 280
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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