论文标题
NYX流的高分辨率化学丰度
High-Resolution Chemical Abundances of the Nyx Stream
论文作者
论文摘要
NYX是附近的,前体和高分子恒星流,物理上包含在厚的磁盘中,但起源不明。 NYX可能是破坏矮星系的残留物,在这种情况下,相关的暗物质子结构可能会影响地面暗物质直接检测实验。另外,NYX可能是银河系磁盘形成和进化的签名。为了确定NYX的起源,我们使用Keck/Hires和Magellan/Mike获得了34颗NYX恒星的高分辨率光谱。差异化学丰度分析表明,大多数NYX星居住在金属富含金属的($ \ \ Mbox {[Fe/H]}> -1 $)高 - $ $α$分量与厚磁盘上是无法区分的。这排除了最初建议的场景,即NYX是单个大型矮星银河合并的残余。但是,我们还确定了五个具有类似于金属螺旋厚的磁盘的化学丰度的五个基本较高的贫困星($ \ mbox {[[Fe/h]} \ sim -2.0 $)。目前尚不清楚恒星与厚磁盘上的恒星如何在此类的高分子轨道上可以在化学上相同。我们建议两种最有可能的情况:NYX是早期较小矮星系合并的结果,或者它是银河系磁盘早期旋转的记录 - 尽管没有完美地重现了化学动力学观察结果。最有可能的地层场景表明,未来的光谱调查应在太阳能社区以外找到类似NYX的结构。
Nyx is a nearby, prograde, and high-eccentricity stellar stream physically contained in the thick disk but with an unknown origin. Nyx could be the remnant of a disrupted dwarf galaxy, in which case the associated dark matter substructure could affect terrestrial dark matter direct detection experiments. Alternatively, Nyx could be a signature of the Milky Way's disk formation and evolution. To determine the origin of Nyx, we obtained high-resolution spectroscopy of 34 Nyx stars using Keck/HIRES and Magellan/MIKE. A differential chemical abundance analysis shows that most Nyx stars reside in a metal-rich ($\mbox{[Fe/H]} > -1$) high-$α$ component that is chemically indistinguishable from the thick disk. This rules out an originally suggested scenario that Nyx is the remnant of a single massive dwarf galaxy merger. However, we also identify five substantially more metal-poor stars ($\mbox{[Fe/H]} \sim -2.0$) that have chemical abundances similar to the metal-weak thick disk. It remains unclear how stars chemically identical to the thick disk can be on such prograde, high-eccentricity orbits. We suggest two most likely scenarios: that Nyx is the result of an early minor dwarf galaxy merger or that it is a record of the early spin-up of the Milky Way disk -- although neither perfectly reproduces the chemodynamic observations. The most likely formation scenarios suggest that future spectroscopic surveys should find Nyx-like structures outside of the Solar Neighborhood.