Inhomogeneous chemical evolution of the Galactic disk: evidence for sequential stellar enrichment?

Abstract

We investigate the origin of the abundance variations observed among similarly aged F and G dwarfs in the local Galactic disk. We present arguments in support of combined infall of metal-deficient gas and sequential enrichment by successive stellar generations in the local Galactic disk ISM. We show that galactic chemical evolution models which take into account these processes simultaneously are consistent with both the observed abundance variations among similarly aged dwarfs in the solar neighbourhood and the abundances observed in the local disk ISM. For reasonable choices of parameters, these models can reproduce variations in [M/H] for individual elements M = C, O, Fe, Mg, Al, and Si as well as the scatter observed in abundance-abundance relations like [O/Fe]. For the same models, the contribution of sequential stellar enrichment to the magnitude of the observed abundance variations can be as large as 50%. We discuss the impact of sequential stellar enrichment and episodic infall of metal-deficient gas on the inhomogeneous chemical evolution of the Galactic disk.