The Dual Origin of Stellar Halos II: Chemical Abundances as Tracers of
  Formation History
  Fully cosmological, high resolution N-Body + SPH simulations are used to
investigate the chemical abundance trends of stars in simulated stellar halos
as a function of their origin. These simulations employ a physically motivated
supernova feedback recipe, as well as metal enrichment, metal cooling and metal
diffusion. As presented in an earlier paper, the simulated galaxies in this
study are surrounded by stellar halos whose inner regions contain both stars
accreted from satellite galaxies and stars formed in situ in the central
regions of the main galaxies and later displaced by mergers into their inner
halos. The abundance patterns ([Fe/H] and [O/Fe]) of halo stars located within
10 kpc of a solar-like observer are analyzed. We find that for galaxies which
have not experienced a recent major merger, in situ stars at the high [Fe/H]
end of the metallicity distribution function are more [alpha/Fe]-rich than
accreted stars at similar [Fe/H]. This dichotomy in the [O/Fe] of halo stars at
a given [Fe/H] results from the different potential wells within which in situ
and accreted halo stars form. These results qualitatively match recent
observations of local Milky Way halo stars. It may thus be possible for
observers to uncover the relative contribution of different physical processes
to the formation of stellar halos by observing such trends in the halo
populations of the Milky Way, and other local L* galaxies.
