# Ages And Metallicities For Stars In The Galactic Bulge

## 1 Introduction

The structure and stellar content of the bulge of the Milky Way are often used as proxies in the study of other galactic bulges and of elliptical galaxies. However, out to a radius of about $`2^{}`$ along the minor axis, and considerably farther along the major axis, the visual extinction is great enough that optical observations are difficult to impossible along most lines of sight. A two degree radius corresponds to 5 to 10” for galaxies in Virgo. Thus, if we are to use the stellar content of the inner bulge as a starting point for delineating the global characteristics of the inner regions of nearby spiral bulges and spheroidal galaxies, we must turn to near-infrared observations. The brief review, then, will concentrate on summarizing a some of the recent studies in the near-IR of the inner bulge of the Milky Way. Further, it will specifically address two of the most important characteristics of the stars: their ages and metallicities.

## 2 Within A Few Arc Minutes Of The Galactic Center

Krabbe et al. (1995) have identified more than 20 luminous blue supergiants and Wolf-Rayet stars in a region not more than a parsec in radius around the center of the Galaxy. The inferred masses of some of these stars approaches 100 M$``$. From this they conclude that between 3 and 7 Myr ago there was a burst of star formation in the central region. They also identified a small population of cool luminous AGB stars from which one can conclude that there was significant star formation activity a few 100 Myr ago as well.

Blum et al. (1996a) carried out a K-band survey of the central 2 arc minutes of the Galaxy. They focused on the significant numbers of luminous ($`K_0<6`$) cool stars. These stars are considerably more luminous than would be expected from a typical old stellar population such as is found in Baade’s Window, for example. Most of these stars were found by Blum and others to be M stars. With K-band spectra, Blum et al. (1996b) were able to distinguish between M supergiants and AGB stars. Such a distinction is of importance because of the implications for the times of star formation. As first demonstrated quantitatively by Baldwin et al. (1973), M-type supergiants can be easily distinguished from ordinary giants of the same temperature (or color) via the strengths of the H<sub>2</sub>O and CO absorption bands in K- band spectra.

Blum et al. (1996b) found only 3 out of 19 stars to be supergiants, one of which is the well known IRS 7. The remainder are AGB stars. From the spectra and the multi-color photometry they concluded that there have been multiple epochs of star formation in the central few parsecs of the Galaxy. The most recent epoch, less than 10 Myr ago, corresponds with that found by Krabbe et al. (1995). Other epochs of star formation identified by Blum et al. occurred about 30 Myr, between 100 and 200 Myr, and more than about 400 Myr in the past. The majority of stars are associated with the oldest epoch of star formation.

Abundances for the red luminous stars in the region around the Galactic Center are being determined by Ramirez et al. (1998) from a full spectral synthesis analysis of high resolution K band spectra. It will be interesting to compare abundances values for the inner bulge with their results. Based on direct measurements of iron lines in 10 stars they derive a mean \[Fe/H\] of 0.0 with a dispersion comparable to their uncertainties, about 0.2 dex. This is only a few tenths of a dex greater than the mean \[Fe/H\] determined for Baade’s Window K giants (Sadler et al. 1996; McWilliam & Rich 1994). This small increase in the mean value of \[Fe/H\] compared with Baade’s Window is consistent with the \[Fe/H\] gradient in the bulge found by Tiede et al. (1995) and Frogel et al. (1999). The lack of a dispersion in \[Fe/H\] contrasts with a dispersion that of more than an order of magnitude for the K giants in Baade’s Window (Sadler et al. 1996; McWilliam & Rich 1994). It is, however, consistent with the lack of dispersion found for the M giants in Baade’s Window (Frogel & Whitford 1987; Terndrup et al. 1991). The fact that \[Fe/H\] is near solar at the Galactic Center with a star formation rate per unit mass that is considerably in excess of the solar neighborhood value suggests that the rate of chemical enrichment has been quite different at the two locations.

## 3 The Inner Galactic Bulge

The inner $`3^{}`$ of the Galactic bulge, interior to Baade’s Window, will be referred to as the inner Galactic bulge. With the 2.5 meter duPont Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory I have obtained JHK images of 11 fields within the inner bulge, three of which are within $`1^{}`$ of the Galactic Center. The two questions to address are: What is the abundance of the stars in this region and is there any evidence for a detectable population of intermediate age or young stars? My collaborators and I are taking two approaches to the abundance question. The first is based on the fact that the giant branch of a metal rich globular cluster in a K, JK color magnitude diagram is linear over 5 magnitudes and has a slope proportional to its optically determined \[Fe/H\] (Kuchinski et al. 1995). Results from work will be summarized here. The second approach, which will give a better answer to the abundance question, is based on the analysis of K-band spectra of about one dozen M stars in each of 11 fields. This is a work in progress.

### 3.1 Abundances In The Inner Galactic Bulge

The best fixed reference point in any measurement of abundances within the inner bulge is the determination by McWilliam & Rich (1994) of a mean abundance of \[Fe/H\] = 0.2 for a sample of K giants in Baade’s Window based on high resolution spectroscopy. Sadler et al.’s (1996) spectroscopy of several hundred K giants in Baade’s Window yielded a similar result. Both of these analyses measured a spread in \[Fe/H\] in Baade’s Window of between one and two orders of magnitude. The estimate of \[Fe/H\] for the Baade’s Window giants based on the near-IR slope method (Tiede et al. 1995) differed from previous near-IR determinations in that they found an \[Fe/H\] close to the value based on the optical spectra of K giants.

My near-IR survey of inner bulge fields has yielded color- magnitude diagrams that, except for the fields with the highest extinction, reach as faint as the horizontal branch. Thus, with data for the entire red giant branch above the level of the HB we can apply the technique developed by Kuchinski et al. (1995) to determine \[Fe/H\] from the slope of the RGB above the HB. Although the calibration of this technique is based on observations of globular clusters, the applicability of this method to stars in the bulge was demonstrated by Tiede et al. (1995) in their analysis of stars in Baade’s Window. This method is reddening independent since it depends only on a slope measurement. Based on 7 fields on or close to the minor axis of the bulge at galactic latitudes between $`+0.1^{}`$ and $`2.8^{}`$ we derive a dependence of $``$\[Fe/H\]$``$ on latitude for $`b`$ between $`0.8^{}`$ and $`2.8^{}`$ of $`0.085\pm 0.033`$ dex/degree. When combined with the data from Tiede et al. we find for $`0.8^{}b10.3^{}`$ the slope in $``$\[Fe/H\]$``$ is $`0.064\pm 0.012`$ dex/degree. An extrapolation to the Galactic Center predicts \[Fe/H\] $`=+0.034\pm 0.053`$ dex, in close agreement with Ramrez et al. (1998). Also in agreement with Ramrez et al., we find no evidence for a dispersion in \[Fe/H\]. Details of this work are in Frogel et al. (1999).

Analysis of the K-band spectra of the brightest M giants in each of the fields surveyed is nearing completion; the results appear to be consistent with those based on the RGB slope method, namely, an \[Fe/H\] for Baade’s Window M giants close to the McWilliam & Rich value but with little or no gradient as one goes into the central region. Also, the spectroscopic data show little or no dispersion in \[Fe/H\] within each field.

In summary, several independent lines of evidence point to an \[Fe/H\] for stars within a few parsecs of the Galactic Center of close to solar. The gradient in \[Fe/H\] between Baade’s Window and the Center is small – not more than a few tenths of a dex. Exterior to Baade’s Window there is a further small decline in mean \[Fe/H\] (e.g. Terndrup et al. 1991, Frogel et al. 1990; Minniti et al. 1995). It remains to be seen whether this gradient arises from a change in the mean \[Fe/H\] of a single population or a change in the relative mix of two populations, one relatively metal rich and identifiable with the bulge, the other relatively metal poor and more closely associated with the halo. Support for the latter interpretation is found in the survey of TiO band strengths in M giants in outer bulge fields by Terndrup et al. (1990). For which they found a bimodal distribution. McWilliam & Rich (1994) proposed an explanation based on selective elemental enhancements as to why earlier abundance estimates of bulge M giants seemed to consistently yield \[Fe/H\] values in excess of solar. It remains to be understood why no dispersion is observed in measurements of the M giant abundances. It also remains to be determined if the indirect methods used for measuring \[Fe/H\] are really measuring iron rather than being sensitive to, for example, element enhancements.

### 3.2 Stellar Ages In The Inner Galactic Bulge

If a stellar population has an age significantly younger than 10 Gyr then stars at the top of the AGB will be several magnitudes brighter than they would in an older population. After correction for extinction we found that our fields closer than $`1.0^{}`$ to the Galactic Center have significant numbers of bright, red stars implying the presence of a younger component to the stellar population, probably with an age of a few Gyr. This is consistent with Blumet al.’s work on the inner few arc minutes of the bulge. Beyond $`1.0^{}`$ from the center there is no evidence for such luminous stars. Details of this work are in Frogel et al. (1999)

A second test applied to see if there is evidence for a young population in the Galactic bulge was a comparison of the luminosities and periods of bulge long period variables (LPVs) with those found in globular clusters (Frogel & Whitelock 1998). For LPVs of the same age, those with greater \[Fe/H\] will have longer periods. LPVs with longer periods also have higher mean luminosities. In the past claims have been made for the presence of a significant intermediate age population of stars in the bulge based on the finding of some LPVs with periods in excess of 500-600 days. It is necessary, however, to have a well defined sample of stars if one is going to draw conclusions based on the rare occurrence of one type of star. The M giants in Baade’s Window are just such a well defined sample (e.g. Frogel & Whitford 1987). Frogel & Whitelock (1998) demonstrated that with the exception of a few of the LPVs in Baade’s Window with the longest periods, the distribution in bolometric magnitudes of the LPVs from the bulge and from globular clusters overlap completely. Furthermore, because of the dependence of period and luminosity on \[Fe/H\] and the fact that there has been no reliable survey for LPVs in globulars with \[Fe/H\] $`>0.25`$, the brightest Baade’s Window LPVs could have the same age as the somewhat fainter ones but come from the higher \[Fe/H\] population.

Finally, observations with the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) at 12$`\mu `$m were used to estimate the integrated flux at this wavelength from the Galactic bulge as a function of galactic latitude along the minor axis (Frogel 1998). These fluxes were then compared with predictions for the 12 m bulge surface brightness based on observations of complete samples of optically identified M giants in minor axis bulge fields (Frogel & Whitford 1987; Frogel et al. 1990). No evidence was found for any significant component of 12$`\mu `$m emission in the bulge other than that expected from the optically identified M star sample plus normal, lower luminosity stars. Since these stars are themselves fully attributable to an old population, the conclusion from this study was, again, no detectable population of stars younger than those in Baade’s Window, i.e. of an age comparable to that of globular clusters.