Interpretation of Abundance Ratios

Interpretation of abundance ratios

In this paper we discuss abundance ratios and their relation to stellar nucleosynthesis and other parameters of chemical evolution models, reviewing and clarifying the correct use of the observed abundance ratios in several astrophysical contests. In particular, we start from the well known fact that abundance ratios depend on stellar yields, initial mass function and stellar lifetimes and we s...

Abundance ratios in hierarchical galaxy formation

The chemical enrichment and stellar abundance ratios of galaxies which form in a hierarchical clustering scheme are calculated. For this purpose I adopt the star formation histories (SFH) as they are delivered by semi-analytic models in Kauffmann (1996). It turns out that the average SFH of cluster ellipticals does not yield globally α-enhanced stellar populations. The star burst that occurs wh...

Abundance Ratios in Early-Type Galaxies

Although evidence is accumulating that abundance ratios in galaxies are often non-solar, they are far from understood. I resume the current evidence for non-solar abundance ratios, supplementing the recent review by Worthey (1998) with some new results. It appears that the Mg/Fe abundance ratio only depends on the mass of the galaxy, not on the formation time-scale. For massive galaxies [Mg/Fe]...

Magnesium isotopic abundance ratios in cool stars

From high resolution spectra of 61 cool dwarfs and giants, Mg isotopic abundance ratios Mg:Mg:Mg are derived from spectral synthesis of the MgH A-X lines near 5140Å. Our sample spans the range −2.5 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ 0.1, including the first measurements of Mg isotope ratios in stars with metallicities below [Fe/H]=−2.0. We confirm the decrease in Mg/Mg with decreasing [Fe/H] as predicted by recent mod...

Abundance Ratios in the Oldest Stars