# A Search for Chemical Signatures of Galactic Mergers

## 1 Overview

A number of very high-velocity metal-poor field stars have been discovered that have very unusual ratios of alpha-elements to iron. The stars discovered to date all have large apogalacticon distances, and so the unusual abundance ratios may suggest a chemical “signature” of previous merger or accretion events. That is, these stars may have originated within a satellite galaxy or galaxies that experienced a different nucleosynthetic chemical evolution history than the Milky Way and which were later accreted by it.

We have observed a sample of over two dozen high-velocity metal-poor field stars using high resolution echelle spectrographs at the KPNO, CTIO, and McDonald Observatories. The stars were selected from Ryan & Norris (1991), Carney et al (1994), as well as unpublished studies yielding private catalogs of metal-poor stars. So far, we have analysed the more metal-poor stars and, for those stars in common with previous studies, we obtain results that agree well with those in the literature. Included in our study are a re-analysis of BD+80 245, a star previously known to have low $`\alpha `$-element ratios (Carney et al 1997) and G4-36, a new low-$`\alpha `$ star discovered by James (1998).

## 2 BD+80 245: re-analysis of the “discovery” star

Carney et al (1997) reported the discovery of an $`\alpha `$-element poor star as a result of their search for low-metallicity disk stars. We have since aquired new spectra of the star, with a resolution of 60,000 and a SNR of $``$200. We have independently re-derived the abundances, using a different linelist, and largely confirm the previous analysis, as well as expand the abundance list to include additional key elements.

## 3 G4-36: a star of low Na, Mg, Ca, but high Ni

Among our observations, we included a star of unusual abundances discovered by James (1998). In addition to confirming the unusually low Na, Mg, Ca and Ba abundances determined by James (PhD Thesis in preparation, Univ. of Texas), we find significantly enhanced Ni. This is contrary to the results of Nissen & Schuster who found that the abundances of Ni to be strongly correlated with Na in their low-$`\alpha `$ stars.

## 4 Na vs. Ni

As previously found by Nissen & Schuster (1997), for most of the stars, there appears to be a good correlation between Na and Ni abundances with respect to iron. As seen in figure 2, this correlation is also found in the Stephens (1999) data. However, a few exceptions stand out: the low globular cluster abundances found by Brown et al (1997) for Rup 106 and Pal 12; the unusual star BD+80 245 found by Carney et al (1997); as well as BD+24 1676, a star which seems to show mild enhancements in Mg, Ca, and Ti with respect to its iron abundance. Including G4-36, yet another star of interesting abundance ratios, these “unusual” stars seem to fit together, and correspond to a Ni/Na correlation as well, albeit a very different one from the rest of the stars. Whether this is a real correlation, or simply a coincidence imposed by the small number of stars analysed so far, will be determined as the remainder of our two-dozen high velocity star sample is analysed. However, if the secondary correlation exists, a Ni/Na discriminant such as this could be extremely useful as a proxy indicator to target stars of other unusual abundance ratios, thus alerting us to their different nucleosynthetic histories.

## 5 Possible Correlations with Kinematics

The abundances of $`\alpha `$\- and iron-peak elements as a function of the iron abundance do show abundance trends but, these trends are for the halo stars only. Most of the disk star abundances are constant across the almost 3 dex range in metallicity. While no abundance trends are observed as a function of eccentricity, there does appear to be a larger scatter in the abundances with increasing eccentricity. This is consistent with the relationship of the $`\alpha `$\- and iron-peak elemental abundances with the iron abundance: stars defined as members of the disk population have less scatter in the derived abundances. A quantitative estimate of the scatter as a function of the kinematics will be derived once the abundance determinations have been made for our complete sample (for instance, our initial analyses suggest that the scatter in the abundances of $`\alpha `$\- and iron-peak elements as a function of the predicted perigalactocentric distances are larger for stars that get closer to the centre of the galaxy). Upon completion of the abundance analyses for the entire sample, we will also investigate whether the unusual \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] ratios have been found in a large enough sample of stars to identify the kinematics of the progenitor galaxy or galaxies.

## Acknowledgements

We are indebted to Renee James notifying us of the unusual nature of G4-36 prior to publication as well as supplying comparison abundance information. Ken Freeman has our appreciation for a helpful discussion and thoughtful suggestions regarding the analysis of the abundance trends and Sofia Feltzing for her sharp eyes in spotting a misplaced point on our poster display. We also thank Daryl Wilmarth for his excellent technical help at the KPNO 4-m telescope as well as the subsequent assistance he provided in using the new and improved Thorium-Argon Spectral Atlas (http://www.noao.edu/kpno/tharatlas/).

## References

> Brown, Wallerstein, & Vanture 1997, AJ 114, 180
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> Carney et al 1994, AJ 107, 2240
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> Carney et al 1997, AJ 114, 363
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> Gratton & Sneden 1988, A&A 204, 193
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> James 1998, BAAS 30, 1321
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> James 1999, PhD Thesis in preparation, Univ. of Texas
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> Magain 1989, A&A 209, 211
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> Nissen & Schuster 1997, A&A 326, 751
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> Ryan & Norris 1991, AJ 101, 1835
> 
> Stephens 1999, AJ 117, 1771