The Distribution of Alpha Elements in Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies

The Milky Way ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies contain some of the oldest, most metal-poor stars in the universe. We present [Mg/Fe], [Si/Fe], [Ca/Fe], [Ti/Fe], and mean [α/Fe] abundance ratios for 61 individual red giant branch stars across eight UFDs. This is the largest sample of alpha abundances published to date in galaxies with absolute magnitudes M_V > –8, including the first measurements for Segue 1, Canes Venatici II, Ursa Major I, and Leo T. Abundances were determined via medium-resolution Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy and spectral synthesis. The sample spans the metallicity range –3.4 <[Fe/H] < –1.1. With the possible exception of Segue 1 and Ursa Major II, the individual UFDs show on average lower [α/Fe] at higher metallicities, consistent with enrichment from Type Ia supernovae. Thus, even the faintest galaxies have undergone at least a limited level of chemical self-enrichment. Together with recent photometric studies, this suggests that star formation in the UFDs was not a single burst, but instead lasted at least as much as the minimum time delay of the onset of Type Ia supernovae (~100 Myr) and less than ~2 Gyr. We further show that the combined population of UFDs has an [α/Fe] abundance pattern that is inconsistent with a flat, Galactic halo-like alpha abundance trend, and is also qualitatively different from that of the more luminous CVn I dSph, which does show a hint of a plateau at very low [Fe/H]