Comprehensive abundance studies of four open clusters
Bala Sudhakara Reddy Arumalla1, Sunetra Giridhar1 and David L. Lambert2
1Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore
2W. J. McDonald Observatory. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA
E-mail: sudha@iiap.res.in

Abstract. Galactic open clusters are excellent tools to study the chemical evolution of Galaxy. They provide a sample of stars homogeneous in age and chemical composition and their distances are well determined. We have analyzed high resolution spectra (40,000) of red giant members for each cluster to derive abundances for a whole range of elements including light as well as heavy elements. We have measured equivalent widths for large number of lines for each species and have used model atmosphere grid developed by Kurucz and Castelli and 2009 version of spectrum synthesis code. For each cluster 4-5 red giants are analyzed. The membership to the cluster has been confirmed through their radial velocities and proper motions. The spread in temperatures and gravities being very small nearly the same stellar lines were employed thereby reducing the random errors. The errors of average abundance for the cluster were generally in 0.02 to 0.07 dex range. Our present sample covers galactocentric distance range of 8.8 to 10.98 kpc. Most of these clusters are located in anti-center direction. NGC 752 exhibits near-solar [Fe/H] of -0.05, NGC 2360 - 0.11, NGC 1817 - 0.15 and NGC 2506 - 0.32. The cluster to cluster variations are encountered for alpha elements, Fe-peak elements and for s and r-process elements. The present sample is quite modest and would be extended for a larger set of clusters. For each cluster the observed chemical abundance patterns, when sufficiently different in one or more elements, offer the possibility to reconstruct now dispersed stellar aggregates of the protogalactic disk and so improve our basic understanding of the disk formation process.