Metallicity in the Galactic Center:, The Arches cluster

Francisco Najarro1, Donald F. Figer2, D. John Hillier3, Rolf P. Kudritzki4


(1) Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, CSIC, Serrano 121, 29006 Madrid, Spain
(2) Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218
(3) Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, 3941 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
(4) Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822

Paper: ApJL (2004), accepted

EPrint Server: astro-ph/0407188


Abstract:

We present a quantitative spectral analysis of five very massive stars in the Arches cluster, located near the Galactic center, to determine stellar parameters, stellar wind properties and, most importantly, metallicity content. The analysis uses a new technique, presented here for the first time, and uses line-blanketed NLTE wind/atmosphere models fit to high-resolution near-infrared spectra of late-type nitrogen-rich Wolf-Rayet stars and OfI+ stars in the cluster. It relies on the fact that massive stars reach a maximum nitrogen abundance that is related to initial metallicity when they are in the WNL phase. We determine the present-day nitrogen abundance of the WNL stars in the Arches cluster to be 1.6% (mass fraction) and constrain the stellar metallicity in the cluster to be solar. This result is invariant to assumptions about the mass-luminosity relationship, the mass-loss rates, and rotation speeds. In addition, from this analysis, we find the age of the Arches cluster to be 2-2.5 Myr, assuming coeval formation.


Preprints available from the authors at najarro@damir.iem.csic.es , or the raw TeX (no figures) if you click here.

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