Astrophysical Origins of Elemental Abundances in the LMC Inner Disk Stars

Abstract The unusual elemental abundance patterns in nearby dwarf galaxies offer eminent information for us to investigate the relationship of the nearby galaxies and the Milky Way (MW). We studied the observed elemental abundance patterns of the inner disk stars of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and found that the contributions of the main s -process, SNe Ia, and main r -process for the LMC inner disk stars are greater than those for the MW stars, while the dedications of the primary process and secondary processes are lower for LMC, which implies that, compared to MW, the stellar evolution environment of LMC lacks massive stars, while having more low-to-medium-mass stars. The lower α abundances of LMC inner disk stars are due to the lower contribution from the primary process to the LMC inner disk stars, whereas the lower Fe-peak abundances can be explained by the fewer donations from the primary and secondary processes of massive stars. The LMC and Fornax stars have a similar stellar abundance pattern: lower abundances of α - and Fe-peak elements, while higher abundances of heavy neutron-capture elements, such as Ba and Eu. The contributions of the main s -process, SNe Ia, main r -process for the LMC inner disk stars are lower than those of Fornax stars, while the contributions of the primary and secondary processes for LMC are higher. Compared to Fornax, the LMC stellar evolution environment nurtures more massive stars and fewer low-to-medium-mass stars.