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Is the galactic disk well mixed?

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Abstract

A consideration of the mixing processes for heavy elements in the interstellar medium suggests that the Galaxy is well-mixed locally. Inhomogeneities would be insufficient to explain the observed abundance spread of old disk stars, or to allow the theory of metal enhanced star formation to account for the paucity of metal poor dwarfs in the solar neighbourhood. Differential abundance effects during the formation of stars or clusters, or the existence of a radial abundance gradient may have to be invoked to explain the observations.

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Edmunds, M.G. Is the galactic disk well mixed?. Astrophys Space Sci 32, 483–491 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00643158

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00643158

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