The Pristine Inner Galaxy Survey (PIGS)
Résumé
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.
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