Galactic chemical evolution: stellar yields and the initial mass function

Mollá, M.; Cavichia, O.; Gavilán, M.; Gibson, Brad K.

doi:10.1093/mnras/stv1102

Cited by 68 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 146 publications

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“…In Figure Although Figure 3f shows that chemical evolution tracks are sensitive diagnostics of the IMF, these differences are partly degenerate with SN yields (c.f., Mollá et al 2015). The mass cut for CCSN, which sets the division between mass ejected in the explosion and mass that falls back on the neutron star, has a large impact.…”

Section: Imfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inflow, Outflow, Yields, and Stellar Population Mixing in Chemical Evolution Models

Andrews

Weinberg

Schönrich

et al. 2017

ApJ

166

200

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Chemical evolution models are powerful tools for interpreting stellar abundance surveys and understanding galaxy evolution. However, their predictions depend heavily on the treatment of inflow, outflow, star formation efficiency (SFE), the stellar initial mass function, the Type Ia supernova delay time distribution, stellar yields, and stellar population mixing. Using flexCE, a flexible one-zone chemical evolution code, we investigate the effects of and trade-offs between parameters. Two critical parameters are SFE and the outflow massloading parameter, which shift the knee in [O/Fe]-[Fe/H] and the equilibrium abundances that the simulations asymptotically approach, respectively. One-zone models with simple star formation histories follow narrow tracks in [O/Fe]-[Fe/H] unlike the observed bimodality (separate high-α and low-α sequences) in this plane. A mix of one-zone models with inflow timescale and outflow mass-loading parameter variations, motivated by the inside-out galaxy formation scenario with radial mixing, reproduces the two sequences better than a one-zone model with two infall epochs. We present [X/Fe]-[Fe/H] tracks for 20 elements assuming three different supernova yield models and find some significant discrepancies with solar neighborhood observations, especially for elements with strongly metallicity-dependent yields. We apply principal component abundance analysis (PCAA) to the simulations and existing data to reveal the main correlations amongst abundances and quantify their contributions to variation in abundance space. For the stellar population mixing scenario, the abundances of α-elements and elements with metallicity-dependent yields dominate the first and second principal components, respectively, and collectively explain 99% of the variance in the model. flexCE is a python package available at https://github.com/bretthandrews/flexCE.

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Section: Imfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inflow, Outflow, Yields, and Stellar Population Mixing in Chemical Evolution Models

Andrews

Weinberg

Schönrich

et al. 2017

ApJ

166

200

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…A large effort has been invested in understanding the chemical patterns of galaxies using analytical and numerical chemical modelling (e.g Brook et al 2007;Calura et al 2012;Mollá et al 2015). In particular, hydrodynamical simulations provide the chemical enrichment of baryons as galaxies are assembled in a cosmological framework, opening the possibility of understanding the interplay of different physical processes in the non-linear regime of evolution (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mild evolution of the stellar metallicity gradients of disc galaxies

Tissera

Machado

Vı́lchez

et al. 2017

A&A

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Context. The metallicity gradients of the stellar populations in disc galaxies and their evolution store relevant information on the disc formation history and on those processes which could mix stars a posteriori, such as migration, bars and/or galaxy-galaxy interactions. Aims. We aim to investigate the evolution of the metallicity gradients of the whole stellar populations in disc components of simulated galaxies in a cosmological context. Methods. We analyse simulated disc galaxies selected from a cosmological hydrodynamical simulation that includes chemical evolution and a physically motivated Supernova feedback capable of driving mass-loaded galactic winds. Results. We detect a mild evolution with redshift in the metallicity slopes of −0.02 ± 0.01 dex kpc −1 from z ∼ 1. If the metallicity profiles are normalised by the effective radius of the stellar disc, the slopes show no clear evolution for z < 1, with a median value of approximately −0.23 dex r −1 reff . As a function of stellar mass, we find that metallicity gradients steepen for stellar masses smaller than ∼ 10 10.3 M ⊙ while the trend reverses for higher stellar masses, in the redshift range z = [0, 1]. Galaxies with small stellar masses have discs with larger r reff and flatter metallicity gradients than expected. We detect migration albeit weaker than in previous works. Conclusions. Our stellar discs show a mild evolution of the stellar metallicity slopes up to z ∼ 1, which is well-matched by the evolution calculated archeologically from the abundance distributions of mono-age stellar populations at z ∼ 0. The dispersion in the relations allows for stronger individual evolutions. Overall, Supernova feedback could explain the trends but an impact of migration can not be totally discarded. Galaxy-galaxy interactions or small satellite accretions can also contribute to modify the metallicity profiles in the outer parts. Disentangling the effects of these processes for individual galaxies is still a challenge in a cosmological context.

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“…It is not our goal to produce the most realistic model of the Milky Way. More sophisticated simulations for our Galaxy can be found in the literature (e.g., Chiappini et al 2001;Travaglio et al 2004;Kobayashi & Nakasato 2011;Micali et al 2013;Minchev et al 2013;Mollá et al 2015;Shen et al 2015;van de Voort et al 2015;Wehmeyer et al 2015). This paper is organized as follow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass and metallicity requirement in stellar models for galactic chemical evolution applications

Côté

West

Heger

et al. 2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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We used a one-zone chemical evolution model to address the question of how many masses and metallicities are required in grids of massive stellar models in order to ensure reliable galactic chemical evolution predictions. We used a set of yields that includes seven masses between 13 and 30 M , 15 metallicities between 0 and 0.03 in mass fraction, and two different remnant mass prescriptions. We ran several simulations where we sampled subsets of stellar models to explore the impact of different grid resolutions. Stellar yields from low-and intermediate-mass stars and from Type Ia supernovae have been included in our simulations, but with a fixed grid resolution. We compared our results with the stellar abundances observed in the Milky Way for O, Na, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, and Mn. Our results suggest that the range of metallicity considered is more important than the number of metallicities within that range, which only affects our numerical predictions by about 0.1 dex. We found that our predictions at [Fe/H] −2 are very sensitive to the metallicity range and the mass sampling used for the lowest metallicity included in the set of yields. Variations between results can be as high as 0.8 dex. At higher [Fe/H], we found that the required number of masses depends on the element of interest and on the remnant mass prescription. With a monotonic remnant mass prescription where every model explodes as a core-collapse supernova, the mass resolution induces variations of 0.2 dex on average. But with a remnant mass prescription that includes islands of non-explodability, the mass resolution can cause variations of about 0.2 to 0.7 dex depending on the choice of the lower limit of the metallicity range. With such a remnant mass prescription, explosive or non-explosive models can be missed if not enough masses are selected, resulting in over-or under-estimations of the mass ejected by massive stars.

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Galactic chemical evolution: stellar yields and the initial mass function

Cited by 68 publications

References 146 publications

Inflow, Outflow, Yields, and Stellar Population Mixing in Chemical Evolution Models

Inflow, Outflow, Yields, and Stellar Population Mixing in Chemical Evolution Models

Mild evolution of the stellar metallicity gradients of disc galaxies

Mass and metallicity requirement in stellar models for galactic chemical evolution applications

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