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A uniform measurement of the Galactic abundance gradient
Donor, John R.,III,author.
Donor, John R.,III,author.
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2017
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Abstract
Despite living inside the Milky Way, we do not know well basic quantities such as its detailed chemical makeup at the level needed to fundamentally tie the Milky Way to studies of evolution in other galaxies. One key observable is the radial chemical abundance gradient. Open star clusters provide an age datable sample by which to measure this gradient. This measurement has previously been made using a diverse and regularly conflicting compilation of clusters from various literature studies. We present the first measurement using a large (645 stars in 49 open clusters), {\it uniform} sample of open clusters abundances. Our measurements show a general agreement with recent studies of the overall metallicity gradient, with a measured $\Delta$ [Fe/H]/$\Delta\ R_{GC}$ of -0.053 $\pm$ 0.006 dex kpc$^{-1}$. We also explore trends with $Z_{GC}$ and cluster age, and find siginifcant departure from the observed trends as the sample age increases.
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1 online resource (viii, 56 pages) :
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Physics and Astronomy
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Frinchaboy, Peter M., III