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Register a new userEarly chemo-dynamical evolution of dwarf galaxies deduced from enrichment of r-process elements
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The abundance of elements synthesized by the rapid neutron-capture process (r-process elements) of extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars in the Local Group galaxies gives us clues to clarify the early evolutionary history of the Milky Way halo. The Local Group dwarf galaxies would have similarly evolved with building blocks of the Milky Way halo. However, how the chemo-dynamical evolution of the building blocks affects the abundance of r-process elements is not yet clear. In this paper, we perform a series of simulations using dwarf galaxy models with various dynamical times and total mass, which determine star-formation histories. We find that galaxies with dynamical times longer than 100 Myr have star formation rates less than $10^{-3} M_{odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ and slowly enrich metals in their early phase. These galaxies can explain the observed large scatters of r-process abundance in EMP stars in the Milky Way halo regardless of their total mass. On the other hand, the first neutron star merger appears at a higher metallicity in galaxies with a dynamical time shorter than typical neutron star merger times. The scatters of r-process elements mainly come from inhomogeneity of the metals in the interstellar medium whereas the scatters of $alpha$-elements are mostly due to the difference in the yield of each supernova. Our results demonstrate that the future observations of r-process elements in EMP stars will be able to constrain the early chemo-dynamical evolution of the Local Group galaxies.
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The rapid neutron-capture process (r-process) is a major process to synthesize elements heavier than iron, but the astrophysical site(s) of r-process is not identified yet. Neutron star mergers (NSMs) are suggested to be a major r-process site from nucleosynthesis studies. Previous chemical evolution studies however require unlikely short merger time of NSMs to reproduce the observed large star-to-star scatters in the abundance ratios of r-process elements relative to iron, [Eu/Fe], of extremely metal-poor stars in the Milky Way (MW) halo. This problem can be solved by considering chemical evolution in dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) which would be building blocks of the MW and have lower star formation efficiencies than the MW halo. We demonstrate that enrichment of r-process elements in dSphs by NSMs using an N-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamics code. Our high-resolution model reproduces the observed [Eu/Fe] by NSMs with a merger time of 100 Myr when the effect of metal mixing is taken into account. This is because metallicity is not correlated with time up to ~ 300 Myr from the start of the simulation due to low star formation efficiency in dSphs. We also confirm that this model is consistent with observed properties of dSphs such as radial profiles and metallicity distribution. The merger time and the Galactic rate of NSMs are suggested to be <~ 300 Myr and ~ $10^{-4}$ yr$^{-1}$, which are consistent with the values suggested by population synthesis and nucleosynthesis studies. This study supports that NSMs are the major astrophysical site of r-process.
One of the major challenges in modern astrophysics is to understand the origin and the evolution of galaxies, the bright, massive early type galaxies (ETGs) in particular. Therefore, these galaxies are likely to be good probes of galaxy evolution, star formation and, metal enrichment in the early Universe. In this context it is very important to set up a diagnostic tool able to combine results from chemo-dynamical N-Body-TSPH (NB-TSPH) simulations of ETGs with those of spectro-photometric population synthesis and evolution so that all key properties of galaxies can be investigated. The main goal of this paper is to provide a preliminary validation of the software package before applying it to the analysis of observational data. The galaxy models in use where calculated by the Padova group in two different cosmological scenarios: the SCDM, and the Lambda CDM. For these models, we recover their spectro-photometric evolution through the entire history of the Universe. We computed magnitudes and colors and their evolution with the redshift along with the evolutionary and cosmological corrections for the model galaxies at our disposal, and compared them with data for ETGs taken from the COSMOS and the GOODS databases. Starting from the dynamical simulations and photometric models at our disposal, we created synthetic images from which we derived the structural and morphological parameters. The theoretical results are compared with observational data of ETGs selected form the SDSS database. The simulated colors for the different cosmological scenarios follow the general trend shown by galaxies of the COSMOS and GOODS. Within the redshift range considered, all the simulated colors reproduce the observational data quite well.
In this review I give a summary of the state-of-the-art for what concerns the chemo-dynamical numerical modelling of galaxies in general and of dwarf galaxies in particular. In particular, I focus my attention on (i) initial conditions; (ii) the equations to solve; (iii) the star formation process in galaxies; (iv) the initial mass function; (v) the chemical feedback; (vi) the mechanical feedback; (vii) the environmental effects. Moreover, some key results concerning the development of galactic winds in galaxies and the fate of heavy elements, freshly synthesised after an episode of star formation, have been reported. At the end of this review, I summarise the topics and physical processes, relevant for the evolution of galaxies, that in my opinion are not properly treated in modern computer simulations of galaxies and that deserve more attention in the future.
There are many candidate sites of the r-process: core-collapse supernovae (including rare magnetorotational core-collapse supernovae), neutron star mergers, and neutron star/black hole mergers. The chemical enrichment of galaxies---specifically dwarf galaxies---helps distinguish between these sources based on the continual build-up of r-process elements. This technique can distinguish between the r-process candidate sites by the clearest observational difference---how quickly these events occur after the stars are created. The existence of several nearby dwarf galaxies allows us to measure robust chemical abundances for galaxies with different star formation histories. Dwarf galaxies are especially useful because simple chemical evolution models can be used to determine the sources of r-process material. We have measured the r-process element barium with Keck/DEIMOS medium-resolution spectroscopy. We present the largest sample of barium abundances (almost 250 stars) in dwarf galaxies ever assembled. We measure [Ba/Fe] as a function of [Fe/H] in this sample and compare with existing [alpha/Fe] measurements. We have found that a large contribution of barium needs to occur at more delayed timescales than core-collapse supernovae in order to explain our observed abundances, namely the significantly more positive trend of the r-process component of [Ba/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] seen for [Fe/H] <~ -1.6 when compared to the [Mg/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] trend. We conclude that neutron star mergers are the most likely source of r-process enrichment in dwarf galaxies at early times.
Light trans-iron elements such as Sr serve as the key to understanding the astrophysical sites of heavy elements. Spectroscopic studies of metal-poor stars have revealed large star-to-star scatters in the ratios of [Sr/Ba], which indicates that there are multiple sites for the production of Sr. Here we present the enrichment history of Sr by a series of the $N$-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of a dwarf galaxy with a stellar mass of 3 $times$ 10$^{6}$ $M_{odot}$. We show that binary neutron star mergers (NSMs) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars contribute to the enrichment of Sr in the metallicity ranges [Fe/H] $gtrsim$ $-$3 and [Fe/H] $gtrsim$ $-$1, respectively. It appears insufficient, however, to explain the overall observational trends of Sr by considering only these sites. We find that the models including electron-capture supernovae (ECSNe) and rotating massive stars (RMSs), in addition to NSMs and AGBs, reasonably reproduce the enrichment histories of Sr in dwarf galaxies. The contributions of both ECSNe and NSMs make scatters of $approx$ 0.2 dex in [Sr/Fe], [Sr/Ba], and [Sr/Zn] as can be seen for observed stars in the metallicity range [Fe/H] $<$ $-2$. We also find that the mass range of ECSN progenitors should be substantially smaller than $1, M_odot$ (e.g., 0.1-$0.2, M_odot$) to avoid over-prediction of [Sr/Ba] and [Sr/Zn] ratios. Our results demonstrate that NSMs, AGBs, ECSNe, and RMSs all play roles in the enrichment histories of Local Group dwarf galaxies, although more observational data are required to disentangle the relative contributions of these sources.
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