Speaker
María Benito Castaño
Description
In this talk, we will assess what can drive a chemical bimodality in the [α/Fe]-[Fe/H] plane of disc stars in a simulated Milky Way-mass galaxy which has had no major mergers and negligible radial migration. We will first identify disc components via Gaussian Mixture Modeling and then interpret them based on chemical evolutionary tracks, gas flows across the disc and their interaction with the hot galactic corona, and the galaxy’s star formation and merger history. Finally, we will demonstrate that a temporary decrease in the star formation rate, followed by the dilution of the corona and an increase in star formation—both induced by minor mergers—are key to generating distinct chemical sequences.