2D-Galactic chemical evolution: The role of the spiral density wave

Mollá, M.; Wekesa, S.; Cavichia, O.; Díaz, I.; Gibson, B. K.; Rosales-Ortega, F. F.; Ascasibar, Y.; Wamalwa, D. S.; Sánchez, S. F.

Abstract

© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. We present a 2D chemical evolution code applied to a Milky Way type Galaxy, incorporating the role of spiral arms in shaping azimuthal abundance variations, and confront the predicted behaviour with recent observations taken with integral field units. To the usual radial distribution of mass, we add the surface density of the spiral wave and study its effect on star formation and elemental abundances. We compute five different models: one with azimuthal symmetry which depends only on radius, while the other four are subjected to the effect of a spiral density wave. At early times, the imprint of the spiral density wave is carried by both the stellar and star formation surface densities; conversely, the elemental abundance pattern is less affected. At later epochs, however, differences among the models are diluted, becoming almost indistinguishable given current observational uncertainties. At the present time, the largest differences appear in the star formation rate and/or in the outer disc (R ≥ 18 kpc). The predicted azimuthal oxygen abundance patterns for t ≤ 2 Gyr are in reasonable agreement with recent observations obtained with VLT/MUSE for NGC 6754.

Citation

Mollá, M., Wekesa, S., Cavichia, O., Díaz, I., Gibson, B. K., Rosales-Ortega, F. F., Ascasibar, Y., Wamalwa, D. S., & Sánchez, S. F. (2019). 2D-Galactic chemical evolution: The role of the spiral density wave. Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 490(1), 665-682. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2537

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 4, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Sep 15, 2019
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Deposit Date: Feb 1, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 12, 2021
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Print ISSN: 0035-8711
• Electronic ISSN: 1365-2966
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 490
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 665-682
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2537
• Keywords: Galaxy: abundances; Galaxies: spiral; Galaxies: star formation
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3275058