Letters https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0975-9

Age dating of an early merger via asteroseismology of the naked-eye ν Indi William J. Chaplin 1,2,3*, Aldo M. Serenelli 4,5, Andrea Miglio1,2, Thierry Morel6, J. Ted Mackereth 1,2, Fiorenzo Vincenzo 1,2,7,8, Hans Kjeldsen2,9, Sarbani Basu10, Warrick H. Ball1,2, Amalie Stokholm 2, Kuldeep Verma 2, Jakob Rørsted Mosumgaard 2, Victor Silva Aguirre2, Anwesh Mazumdar11, Pritesh Ranadive11, H. M. Antia12, Yveline Lebreton13,14, Joel Ong 10, Thierry Appourchaux15, Timothy R. Bedding 16, Jørgen Christensen-Dalsgaard 2,3, Orlagh Creevey 17, Rafael A. García 18,19, Rasmus Handberg 2, Daniel Huber 20, Steven D. Kawaler 21, Mikkel N. Lund2, Travis S. Metcalfe22,23, Keivan G. Stassun 24,25, Michäel Bazot26,27, Paul G. Beck28,29,30, Keaton J. Bell2,23,31, Maria Bergemann 32, Derek L. Buzasi33, Othman Benomar27,34, Diego Bossini35, Lisa Bugnet 18,19, Tiago L. Campante 35,36, Zeynep Çelik Orhan 37, Enrico Corsaro 38, Lucía González-Cuesta29,30, Guy R. Davies1,2, Maria Pia Di Mauro 39, Ricky Egeland 40, Yvonne P. Elsworth1,2, Patrick Gaulme23,41, Hamed Ghasemi42, Zhao Guo 43,44, Oliver J. Hall1,2, Amir Hasanzadeh45, Saskia Hekker2,23, Rachel Howe 1,2, Jon M. Jenkins 46, Antonio Jiménez29,30, René Kiefer 47, James S. Kuszlewicz 2,23, Thomas Kallinger 48, David W. Latham49, Mia S. Lundkvist 2, Savita Mathur29,30, Josefina Montalbán1,2, Benoit Mosser 13, Andres Moya Bedón 1,2, Martin Bo Nielsen1,2,27, Sibel Örtel37, Ben M. Rendle1,2, George R. Ricker50, Thaíse S. Rodrigues51, Ian W. Roxburgh1,52, Hossein Safari 45, Mathew Schofield1,2, Sara Seager50,53,54, Barry Smalley 55, Dennis Stello2,16,56, Róbert Szabó57,58, Jamie Tayar59, Nathalie Themeßl2,23, Alexandra E. L. Thomas1,2, Roland K. Vanderspek50, Walter E. van Rossem 1,2, Mathieu Vrard35,36, Achim Weiss60, Timothy R. White2,61, Joshua N. Winn 62 and Mutlu Yıldız 37

Over the course of its history, the Milky Way has ingested of the sky3 to micro-magnitude photometric studies in its two- multiple smaller satellite galaxies1. Although these accreted nominal mission. These are visible to the naked eye, which stellar populations can be forensically identified as kine- present huge opportunities for detailed characterization, study matically distinct structures within the , it is difficult and follow-up. ν Indi (HR 8515; HD 211998; HIP 110618) is a very in general to date precisely the age at which any one merger bright (visual V = 5.3) metal-poor subgiant, occurred. Recent results have revealed a population of stars which was observed by TESS during its first month of science oper- that were accreted via the collision of a , called ations. Using nearly continuous photometric data with two-minute –Enceladus1, leading to substantial pollution of the chem- time sampling, we are able to measure a rich spectrum of solar-like ical and dynamical properties of the Milky Way. Here we iden- oscillations in the star. By combining these asteroseismic data with tify the very bright, naked-eye star ν Indi as an indicator of re-analysed chemical abundances from ground-based spectros- the age of the early in situ population of the Galaxy. We com- copy, together with and kinematics from the Gaia Data bine asteroseismic, spectroscopic, astrometric and kinematic Release 2 (DR2)4, we show this single star to be a powerful, repre- observations to show that this metal-poor, alpha-element-rich sentative tracer of old, in situ stellar populations in the Galaxy. The star was an indigenous member of the halo, and we measure results on ν Indi allow us to place fresh constraints on the age of the its age to be 11.0±0.7 (stat) ±0.8 (sys) billion . The star in situ halo and the of the Gaia–Enceladus merger. bears hallmarks consistent with having been kinematically We re-analysed archival high-resolution spectroscopic data on ν heated by the Gaia–Enceladus collision. Its age implies that Indi collected by the High Accuracy Planet Searcher the earliest the merger could have begun was 11.6 and 13.2 (HARPS) spectrograph5 on the European Southern Observatory ago, at 68% and 95% confidence, respectively. (ESO) 3.6-m telescope at La Silla, Chile, and by the Fiber-fed Computations based on hierarchical cosmological models Extended Range Optical Spectrograph (FEROS)6 on the 2.2-m ESO/ slightly reduce the above limits. MPG telescope (also at La Silla). From these high-resolution spectra The recently launched NASA Transiting Survey we measured the overall iron abundance and detailed abundances Satellite (TESS)2 has opened up the brightest stars across about 80% for 20 different elements, providing a comprehensive set of data on

A full list of affiliations appears at the end of the paper.

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1.00 3.5 All APOGEE DR14 [Mg/Fe] > 0.25 0.75 3.0 [Mg/Fe] < 0.25 300 0.50 log(Number of stars) 2.5 0.25 200 2.0 0.00

[Mg/Fe] 1.5 100 −0.25 1.0 −0.50 ) 0 ν Indi (this work) –1 −0.75 0.5 Helmi et al.1 (km s

0.0 ϕ –100

−1.00 υ −3.0 −2.5 −2.0 −1.5 −1.0 −0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0

[Fe/H] –200

Fig. 1 | [Mg/Fe] versus [Fe/H] abundances of a large sample of Milky –300 Way stars, from the APOGEE DR-14 spectroscopic survey data release8. Results for ν Indi are marked by the blue star-shaped symbol. Points in red 300 show the sample of stars identified as being part of the accreted population from Gaia–Enceladus1. 200

100 )

the chemistry of the star (see Methods for table of abundances and –1 further details). ν Indi exhibits enhanced levels of alpha-process ele- 0 (km s ments in its spectrum, that is, elements heavier than carbon produced z by nuclear reactions involving helium. The logarithmic abundance υ –100 relative to iron is [α∕Fe]0=+ .4. Among Galactic disk stars, elevated [α∕Fe] levels are associated with old stellar populations. ν Indi shows an overabundance of titanium of [Ti∕=Fe]0+.27±.007, which puts –200 it in the regime where a previous study7 found ages exceeding about 9.5 billion years (Gyr) for alpha-enhanced stars in the local solar –300 neighbourhood, where ν Indi resides. –200 0 200 –1 Figure 1 shows [Mg/Fe] abundances of Milky Way stars, includ- υR (km s ) ing ν Indi, from the Apache Point Observatory Galaxy Evolution 8 Experiment (APOGEE) DR-14 spectroscopic survey release (see Fig. 2 | Velocities of stars from APOGEE-DR14 having [Fe/H] values Methods for further details). ν Indi’s abundances place it at the within uncertainties of the [Fe/H] value of ν Indi. The points in blue show upper edge of the distribution identified with the accreted Gaia– results for 637 stars with [Mg/Fe]> + 0.25, while those in red are for 918 1 Enceladus population (points in red at lower [Mg/Fe]); but more stars with [Mg/Fe] < + 0.25. Results for the full APOGEE-DR14 sample in line with the in situ halo population at higher [Mg/Fe]. Were it are plotted in grey. Tangential velocity (upper panel) and vertical velocity to have been accreted, it is unlikely the star could be a member of (lower panel) are plotted, in Galacto-centric cylindrical coordinates and as a different accreted population, because its high [Mg/Fe] would a function of radial velocity. The dashed cross-hair marks the location of ν suggest the progenitor dwarf galaxy would have had to have been Indi in these planes. at l