The first chemical abundance analysis of K giants in the inner Galactic
  disc
  The elemental abundance structure of the Galactic disc has been extensively
studied in the solar neighbourhood using long-lived stars such as F and G
dwarfs or K and M giants. These are stars whose atmospheres preserve the
chemical composition of their natal gas clouds, and are hence excellent tracers
of the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. As far as we are aware, there are no
such studies of the inner Galactic disc, which hampers our ability to constrain
and trace the origin and evolution of the Milky Way. Therefore, we aim in this
study to establish the elemental abundance trend(s) of the disc(s) in the inner
regions of the Galaxy. Based on equivalent width measurements in
high-resolution spectra obtained with the MIKE spectrograph on the Magellan II
telescope on Las Campanas in Chile, we determine elemental abundances for 44
K-type red giant stars in the inner Galactic disc, located at Galactocentric
distances of 4-7\,kpc. The analysis method is identical to the one recently
used on red giant stars in the Galactic bulge and in the nearby thin and thick
discs, enabling us to perform a truly differential comparison of the different
stellar populations. We present the first detailed elemental abundance study of
a significant number of red giant stars in the inner Galactic disc. We find
that these inner disc stars show the same type of chemical and kinematical
dichotomy as the thin and thick discs show in the solar neighbourhood. The
abundance trends of the inner disc agree very well with those of the nearby
thick disc, and also to those of the Bulge. The chemical similarities between
the Bulge and the Galactic thick disc stellar populations indicate that they
have similar chemical histories, and any model trying to understand the
formation and evolution of either of the two should preferably incorporate both
of them.
