Chemical Cartography with APOGEE: Multi-element Abundance Ratios

We map the trends of elemental abundance ratios across the Galactic disk, spanning R = 3-15 kpc and midplane distance vertical bar Z vertical bar = 0-2 kpc, for 15 elements in a sample of 20,485 stars measured by the SDSS/APOGEE survey (O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, K, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni). Adopting Mg rather than Fe as our reference element, and separating stars into two populations based on [Fe/Mg], we find that the median trends of [X/Mg] versus [Mg/H] in each population are nearly independent of location in the Galaxy. The full multi-element cartography can be summarized by combining these nearly universal median sequences with our measured metallicity distribution functions and the relative proportions of the low-[Fe/Mg] (high-alpha) and high-[Fe/Mg] (low-alpha) populations, which depend strongly on R and vertical bar Z vertical bar. We interpret the median sequences with a semi-empirical "two-process" model that describes both the ratio of core collapse and Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) contributions to each element and the metallicity dependence of the supernova yields. These observationally inferred trends can provide strong tests of supernova nucleosynthesis calculations. Our results lead to a relatively simple picture of abundance ratio variations in the Milky Way, in which the trends at any location can be described as the sum of two components with relative contributions that change systematically and smoothly across the Galaxy. Deviations from this picture and future extensions to other elements can provide further insights into the physics of stellar nucleosynthesis and unusual events in the Galaxy's history.NSF [AST-1211853, AST-1109178]; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) [AYA-2017-88254-P]; Crafoord Foundation; Stiftelsen Olle Engkvist Byggmastare; Ruth och Nils-Erik Stenbacks stiftelse; Premium Postdoctoral Research Program of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Hungarian NKFI grant of the Hungarian National Research, Development, and Innovation Office [K-119517]; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science; Center for High-Performance Computing at the University of Utah; Brazilian Participation Group; Carnegie Institution for Science; Carnegie Mellon University; Chilean Participation Group; French Participation Group; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias; Johns Hopkins University; Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU)/University of Tokyo; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Leibniz Institut fur Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP); Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomie (MPIA Heidelberg); Max-Planck-Institut fur Astrophysik (MPA Garching); Max-Planck-Institut fur Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE); National Astronomical Observatories of China; New Mexico State University; New York University; University of Notre Dame; Observatorio Nacional/MCTI; The Ohio State University; Pennsylvania State University; Shanghai Astronomical Observatory; UK Participation Group; Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico; University of Arizona; University of Colorado Boulder; University of Oxford; University of Portsmouth; University of Utah; University of Virginia; University of Washington; University of Wisconsin; Vanderbilt University; Yale UniversityThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu