Red supergiants as cosmic abundance probes
Abstract
Accurate chemical abundance information provides a powerful diagnostic of a galaxy's formation and star-forming history. However, obtaining such information is extremely challenging, and it has been shown recently that abundances derived from the spectra of HII regions are highly uncertain. Here we present a new method of extracting a galaxy's chemical abundances from the spectra of their brightest stars, the Red Supergiants. This technique operates at low spectral resolution, and so in combination with the latest instrumentation (e.g. KMOS) can measure abundances of single stars out to distances of 4Mpc. In these proceedings we present verification of our technique on RSGs in the Milky Way, LMC and SMC. We also describe how this method also works on young stellar clusters at distances of up to 40Mpc, which we will demonstrate with our pilot study of a cluster in M83.
- Publication:
-
Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana
- Pub Date:
- 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015MmSAI..86..317D
- Keywords:
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- Stars: abundances;
- Stars: atmospheres;
- Stars: supergiants;
- Galaxy: abundances;
- Cosmology: observations