{
  "abstract": "Stellar abundances are generated by complex chemical enrichment pathways yet show strong correlation structure. We test how well high-quality spectra of low-alpha disk stars can be reconstructed using low-dimensional models. By validating model performance in flux space, we quantify and locate where residual information persists. Using HARPS spectra (R = 115,000, SNR > 100) and labels derived with Korg, we train generative models (The Cannon) conditioned on stellar parameters Teff, log(g), [M/H], vsini, and vmic, and three abundance labels, [Ti/H], [Y/H], and [Nd/H], representing distinct nucleosynthetic families. Evaluating model performance on unseen test stars through flux residuals, the model reproduces the global spectra to a median residual amplitude of 0.3%. Deviations in 15 absorption features for unlabelled elements are typically < 0.7%. Residuals of ~1% correspond to abundance differences of 0.01-0.05 dex. Degrading the spectra to medium resolution (R = 28,000) decreases the median residual amplitude from 0.3% to 0.2%, redistributing the residual signal over the instrumental line profile. Our publicly available model reproduces features from 29 elements to sub-percent precision across -1.13 < [M/H] < 0.29. This demonstrates that the dominant chemical variation encoded in low-alpha disk spectra can be captured by a low-dimensional model, while weaker chemical information remains encoded in flux residuals. High-resolution, high-SNR spectra (R ~ 100,000, SNR > 100) are essential to resolve the hierarchical layers of chemical information beyond this low-dimensional structure. The model provides a benchmark for assessing the chemical information accessible to current surveys like 4MOST and GALAH 2, as well as upcoming facilities like VLT/HRMOS and GMT/G-CLEF.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.39118",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Sarah E. Aquilina"
    },
    {
      "name": "Melissa K. Ness"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sven Buder"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dctmv6pvx2nb3.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.39118",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "dctmv6pvx2nb3",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.39118",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.GA"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.SR"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.39118",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-29",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dctmv6pvx2nb3.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:36:23Z",
      "native_id": "2610.39118",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.39118"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.GA",
      "subfield": "galaxies"
    },
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.SR",
      "subfield": "stellar"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A Low-Dimensional Chemical Representation of High-Resolution Stellar Disk Spectra: Residual Abundance Signatures",
  "title_text": "A Low-Dimensional Chemical Representation of High-Resolution Stellar Disk Spectra: Residual Abundance Signatures",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T12:20:45Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dctmv6pvx2nb3",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}