Oxygen, carbon and nitrogen evolution in galaxies

By C. Chiappini, D. Romano, F. Matteucci. 2002

207 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We discuss the evolution of oxygen, carbon and nitrogen in galaxies of different morphological type by adopting detailed chemical evolution models with different star formation histories (continuous star formation or starbursts). In all the models detailed nucleosynthesis prescriptions from supernovae of all types and low- and intermediate-mass stars are taken into account. We start by computing chemical evolution models for the Milky Way with different stellar nucleosynthesis prescriptions. Then, a comparison between model results and ‘key’ observational constraints allows us to choose the best set of stellar yields. Once the best set of yields is identified for the Milky Way, we apply the same nucleosynthesis prescriptions to other spirals (in particular M101) and dwarf irregular galaxies. We compare our model predictions with the [C,N,O/Fe] versus [Fe/H], log(C/O) versus 12 + log(O/H), log(N/O) versus 12+ log(O/H) and [C/O] versus [Fe/H] relations observed in the solar vicinity and draw the following conclusions. (i) There is no need to invoke strong stellar winds in massive stars in order to explain the evolution of the C/O ratio, as often claimed in the literature. (ii) The predicted [O/Fe] ratio as a function of metallicity is in very good agreement with the most recent data available for the solar vicinity, especially for halo stars. This fact again suggests that the oxygen stellar yields in massive stars computed by either Woosley & Weaver or Thielemann, Nomoto & Hashimoto without taking into account mass loss, reproduce the observations well. (iii) We predict that the gap observed in the [Fe/O] versus [O/H] at [O/H] ∼− 0.3 dex should be observed also in C/O versus O/H. The existence of such a gap is predicted by our model for the Milky Way and is caused by a halt in the star formation between the end of the thick disc and the beginning of the thin disc phase. Such a halt is produced by the adopted threshold gas density for the star formation rate. (iv) This threshold is also responsible for the prediction of a very slow chemical enrichment between the time of formation of the solar system (4.5 Gyr ago) and the present time, in agreement with new abundance measurements. (v) The chemical evolution models for dwarf irregulars and spirals, adopting the same nucleosynthesis prescriptions of the best model for the solar neighbourhood, well reproduce the available constraints for these objects. (vi) By taking into account the results obtained for all the studied galaxies (Milky Way, M101, dwarf galaxies and DLAs) we conclude that there is no need for claiming a strong primary component of N produced in massive stars (M > 10 M� ). (vii) Moreover, there is a strong indication that C and N are mainly produced in low- and intermediate-mass stars, at variance with recent suggestions that most of the C should come from massive stars. In particular, intermediate-mass stars with masses between 4 and 8 M� contribute mostly to N (both primary and secondary) whereas those with masses between 1 and

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/624011c9fd4f7892187227b1191aa6dba391fbad

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. P. Hopkins
2. C. Conroy
3. L. Hernquist
4. R. Dav'e
5. Volker Springel
6. M. Pettini
7. C. Steidel
8. A. Shapley

Citations in the corpus

• The Evolution of the C/O Ratio in Metal-poor Halo Stars (2003, methodology): “As explained above, the rise in the [C/O] ratio with metallicity from the halo to the disk has been known for several years and has been successfully modelled by a number of previous studies (e.g. Henry et al. 2000; Carigi 2003; Chiappini et al. 2003a,b; Prantzos 2003b).”
• First stars VI - Abundances of C, N, O, Li, and mixing in extremely metal-poor giants. Galactic evolution of the light elements (2004, background): “Recently, however, Chiappini et al. (2003) questioned the very presence of the plateau and its significance as an evolutionary curve.”
• Population Synthesis in the Blue. IV. Accurate Model Predictions for Lick Indices and UBV Colors in Single Stellar Populations (2007, background): “Secondary contribution to nitrogen enrichment is predominantly due to stellar winds from AGB stars with zero-age-main-sequence masses in the 4-8 M⊙ range (Chiappini et al. 2003), whose lifetimes, according to the Geneva evolutionary tracks (Lejeune & Schaerer 2001), are of the order of 40-200 Myr.”
• Estimating stellar birth radii and the time evolution of Milky Way’s ISM metallicity gradient (2018, background): “…the solar vicinity, however, is not expected to have increased much in the last ∼ 4 Gyr because of the low star formation rate (SFR) at the solar radius during this period, possibly combined with continuous infall of primordial gas onto the disk (e.g., Chiappini et al. 2003; Asplund et al. 2009).”
• A Cosmic Abundance Standard: Chemical Homogeneity of the Solar Neighborhood and the ISM Dust-Phase Composition (2008, background): “2 of Chiappini et al. 2003).”
• Oxygen trends in the Galactic thin and thick disks (2003, background): “…this study the models of Galactic chemical evolution did not match the observed [O/Fe] trend at [Fe/H] > 0 since the models predict a downward trend (see e.g. Chiappini et al. 2003 for the most recent models) while the observed trend leveled out (see e.g. Nissen et al. 2002 and discussion in Sect.”
• Quantifying the uncertainties of chemical evolution studies II. Stellar yields (2010, background): “However, it is still debated whether it comes mainly from LIMSs or massive stars (see e.g. Henry et al. 2000; Chiappini et al. 2003; Akerman et al. 2004; Carigi et al. 2005; Cescutti et al. 2009,for different points of view).”
• A Search for Extended Ultraviolet Disk (XUV-Disk) Galaxies in the Local Universe (2007, background): “The chemical evolution of a galaxy is also driven by the star formation history (Boissier & Prantzos 2000, Chiappini et al. 2003).”
• Dynamics for galactic archaeology (2013, background): “The classical work on chemical evolution (Pagel & Patchett, 1974; Ferrini et al., 1992) restricted attention to the solar cylinder, and later work (e.g. Chiappini et al., 2003) neglected diffusion in Lz.”
• The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) (2007, unknown): “…and chemical enrichment of stellar populations, which, in turn, fuel ever more sophisticated galactic dynamical and chemodynamical models (e.g., Chiappini et al. 2001, 2003; Sellwood & Binney 2002; Abadi et al. 2003; Bournaud et al. 2009; Schönrich & Binney 2009; Minchev & Famaey 2010; Bird…”
• CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVAE FROM 9 TO 120 SOLAR MASSES BASED ON NEUTRINO-POWERED EXPLOSIONS (2015, background): “The iron-to-oxygen ratio was nearly normal, despite the fact that overallthe massive stars only account for a minor fraction of the iron in the Sun (Section 6.4.3 and Wheeler et al. 1989; Meléndez & Barbuy 2002; Chiappini et al. 2003).”
• PHYSICAL CONDITIONS IN A YOUNG, UNREDDENED, LOW-METALLICITY GALAXY AT HIGH REDSHIFT (2010, background): “It is therefore unlikely that carbon production is dominated by 1 < M < 3 M⊙ stars as suggested by Chiappini et al. (2003).”
• Λ Cold Dark Matter, Stellar Feedback, and the Galactic Halo Abundance Pattern (2005, background): “…1976; Tinsley 1980; Twarog 1980; Matteucci & Greggio 1986; Matteucci & Tornambe 1987; Matteucci & Francois 1989; Wheeler et al. 1989; Ferrini et al. 1992; Timmes et al. 1995; Tsujimoto et al. 1995; Devriendt et al. 1999; Ferreras & Silk 2000; Chiappini et al. 2003; Lanfranchi & Matteucci 2004).”
• Chemodynamical evolution of the Milky Way disk - I. The solar vicinity (2012, background): “As discussed by Chiappini et al. (2003) (see also Table 5 by Asplund et al. 2009), the metallicity in the solar vicinity is not expectedto have increased much since the Sun’s formation, i.e., in the last ∼4 Gyr, because of the rather inefficient star formation rate (SFR) at the solar radius during…”
• Constraining the Milky Way assembly history with Galactic Archaeology (2016, background): “The metallicity of the solar vicinity, however, is not expected to increase much since the Sun’s formation, or in the last ∼4 Gyr, due to the rather inefficient star formation rate (SFR) at the solar radius during this period (e.g., Asplund et al. 2009; Chiappini et al. 2003).”