On the manifest link between Terzan 5 and the Galactic bulge

Abstract

We address the chemical link between Terzan 5 (hereafter Ter5) and the Bulge, as probed by the observed distributions of [$\alpha$/Fe] abundance ratios with varying [Fe/H] and by suitable statistical tests to evaluate their significance. We also present a comprehensive review of the kinematic and evolutionary properties of Ter5, based on all the available observational signatures and the scenarios proposed so far in the literature for the formation and evolution of Ter5, based on these observational facts and the recent modeling of its star formation and chemical enrichment history. This analysis confirms the complex nature of this massive stellar system, with robust evidences of a bulge in-situ formation and of a subsequent evolution that cannot be simply explained by a single merging/accretion event of two globulars or a globular and a giant molecular cloud, as proposed in the literature, but it requires a more complex star formation likely accompanied by some self-enrichment.