The Pristine Inner Galaxy Survey (PIGS) IX. The largest detailed chemical analysis of very metal-poor stars in the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2405.00096
• Publication Date: 2024-09-01
• Authors: Federico Sestito; Sara Vitali; Paula Jofre; Kim A. Venn; David S. Aguado; Claudia Aguilera-...; Anke Ardern-Arentsen; Danielle de Brito...; Raymond Carlberg; Camilla J. L. Eld...; Felipe Gran; Vanessa Hill; Pascale Jablonka; Georges Kordopatis; Nicolas F. Martin; Tadafumi Matsuno; Samuel Rusterucci; Else Starkenburg; Akshara Viswanathan
• Keywords: Galaxies: abundances; Galaxies: dwarf; Stars: abundances; FOS: Physical sciences; Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies; 01 natural sciences; Galaxies: individual: Sagittarius dwarf galaxy; Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics; Stars: Population II; Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA); 0103 physical sciences; Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)

The most metal-poor stars provide valuable insights into the early chemical enrichment history of a system, carrying the chemical imprints of the first generations of supernovae. The most metal-poor region of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy remains inadequately observed and characterised. To date, only ∼4 stars with [Fe/H] < −2.0 have been chemically analysed with high-resolution spectroscopy. In this study, we present the most extensive chemical abundance analysis of 12 low-metallicity stars with metallicities down to [Fe/H] = −3.26 and located in the main body of Sagittarius. These targets, selected from the Pristine Inner Galaxy Survey, were observed using the MIKE high-resolution spectrograph at the Magellan-Clay telescope, which allowed us to measure up to 17 chemical species. The chemical composition of these stars reflects the imprint of a variety of type II supernovae (SNe II). A combination of low- to intermediate-mass high-energy SNe and hypernovae (∼10 − 70 M⊙) is required to account for the abundance patterns of the lighter elements up to the Fe-peak. The trend of the heavy elements suggests the involvement of compact binary merger events and fast-rotating (up to ∼300 km s−1) intermediate-mass to massive metal-poor stars (∼25 − 120 M⊙) that are the sources of rapid and slow processes, respectively. Additionally, asymptotic giant branch stars contribute to a wide dispersion of [Ba/Mg] and [Ba/Eu]. The absence of an α−knee in our data indicates that type Ia supernovae did not contribute in the very metal-poor region ([Fe/H] ≤ −2.0). However, they might have started to pollute the interstellar medium at [Fe/H] > −2.0, given the relatively low [Co/Fe] in this metallicity region.