Abundance Gradients and the Formation of the Milky Way

Abstract

In this paper we adopt a chemical evolution model, which is an improved version of the Chiappini, Matteucci, & Gratton model, assuming two main accretion episodes for the formation of the Galaxy, the first forming the halo and bulge in a short timescale and the second one forming the thin disk, with a timescale that is an increasing function of the Galactocentric distance (being of the order of 7 Gyrs at the solar neighborhood). The present model takes into account in more detail than previously the halo density distribution and explores the effects of a threshold density in the star formation process during both the halo and disk phases. The model also includes the most recent nucleosynthesis prescriptions concerning supernovae of all types, novae, and single stars dying as white dwarfs. In the comparison between model predictions and available data, we have focused our attention on abundance gradients as well as gas, stellar, and star formation rate distributions along the disk, since this kind of model has already proven to be quite successful in reproducing the solar neighborhood characteristics. We suggest that the mechanism for the formation of the halo leaves detectable imprints on the chemical properties of the outer regions of the disk, whereas the evolution of the halo and the inner disk are almost completely disentangled. This is due to the fact that the halo and disk densities are comparable at large Galactocentric distances and therefore the gas lost from the halo can substantially contribute to building up the outer disk. We also show that the existence of a threshold density for the star formation rate, both in the halo and disk phase, is necessary to reproduce the majority of observational data in the solar vicinity and in the whole disk. In particular, a threshold in the star formation implies the occurrence of a gap in the star formation at the halo-disk transition phase, in agreement with recent data. We conclude that a relatively short halo formation timescale (≃0.8 Gyr), in agreement with recent estimates for the age differences among Galactic globular clusters, coupled with an "inside-out" formation of the Galactic disk, where the innermost regions are assumed to have formed much faster than the outermost ones, represents, at the moment, the most likely explanation for the formation of the Milky Way. This scenario allows us to predict abundance gradients and other radial properties of the Galactic disk in very good agreement with observations. Moreover, as a consequence of the adopted "inside-out" scenario for the disk, we predict that the abundance gradients along the Galactic disk must have increased with time and that the average ratios in stars (halo plus disk) slightly decrease going from 4 to 10 kpcs from the Galactic center. We also show that the same ratios increase substantially toward the outermost disk regions and the expected scatter in the stellar ages decreases, because the outermost regions are dominated by halo stars. More observations at large Galactocentric distances are needed to test these predictions.