The ratio of [Eu/α] differentiates accreted/in situ Milky Way stars across metallicities, as indicated by both field stars and globular clusters

Abstract

ABSTRACT We combine stellar orbits with the abundances of the heavy, r-process element europium and the light, $\alpha$-element, silicon to separate in situ and accreted populations in the Milky Way (MW) across all metallicities. At high orbital energy, the accretion-dominated halo shows elevated values of [Eu/Si], while at lower energies, where many of the stars were born in situ, the levels of [Eu/Si] are lower. These systematically different levels of [Eu/Si] in the MW and the accreted halo imply that the scatter in [Eu/$\alpha$] within a single galaxy is smaller than previously thought. At the lowest metallicities, we find that both accreted and in situ populations trend down in [Eu/Si], consistent with enrichment via neutron star mergers. Through compiling a large data set of abundances for 54 globular clusters (GCs), we show that differences in [Eu/Si] extend to populations of in situ/accreted GCs. We interpret this consistency as evidence that in r-process elements GCs trace the star formation history of their hosts, motivating their use as sub-Gyr timers of galactic evolution. Furthermore, fitting the trends in [Eu/Si] using a simple galactic chemical evolution model, we find that differences in [Eu/Si] between accreted and in situ MW field stars cannot be explained through star formation efficiency alone. Finally, we show that the use of [Eu/Si] as a chemical tag between GCs and their host galaxies extends beyond the Local Group, to the halo of M31 – potentially offering the opportunity to do Galactic Archaeology in an external galaxy.