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| Paper: |
Oxygen vs. Age in Halo Field Stars |
| Volume: |
92, Formation of the Galactic Halo. . . . Inside and Out |
| Page: |
192 |
| Authors: |
Laird, J. B.; Sneden, C. |
| Abstract: |
Oxygen abundances as a function of age are presented for a sample of halo field stars near the main sequence turn-off. We have measured oxygen abundances using the infrared oxygen triplet, and ages have previously been determined for these stars by Schuster & Nissen and Marquez & Schuster using Stromgren photometry and theoretical isochrones. The age spread observed among globular clusters and among the field stars indicates that the formation of the halo occurred over at least several billion years. The relatively shorter time scale for the contribution of Type Ia supernovae should have produced a significant decrease in the oxygen-to-iron (O/Fe) ratio over this time, leading to a significant variation in [O/Fe] among stars with different ages. We do not find the expected correlation of O/Fe and age. This result suggests that either the timescale for Type Ia supernovae is significantly longer than 1 Gyr or the stars of different ages formed in chemically isolated regions of the halo. |
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