Oxygen abundances in the Galactic Bulge: evidence for fast chemical enrichment

Details Oxygen abundances in the Galactic Bulge: evidence for fast chemical enrichment Oxygen abundances in the Galactic Bulge: evidence for fast chemical enrichment

2006-09-01

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0609052v2

Astron.Astrophys.457:L1-L4,2006

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

A&A Letters, in press

Scientific paper

10.1051/0004-6361:20065659

AIMS: We spectroscopically characterize the Galactic Bulge to infer its star formation timescale, compared to the other Galactic components, through the chemical signature on its individual stars. METHODS: We derived iron and oxygen abundances for 50 K giants in four fields towards the Galactic bulge. High resolution (R=45,000) spectra for the target stars were collected with FLAMES-UVES at the VLT. RESULTS: Oxygen, as measured from the forbidden line at 6300 \AA, shows a well-defined trend with [Fe/H], with [O/Fe] higher in bulge stars than in thick disk ones, which were known to be more oxygen enhanced than thin disk stars. CONCLUSIONS: These results support a scenario in which the bulge formed before and more rapidly than the disk, and therefore the MW bulge can be regarded as a prototypical old spheroid, with a formation history similar to that of early-type (elliptical) galaxies.

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