Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus: Lithium evolution from early red-giant-branch and main-sequence stars

¹ Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Piazzale Europa, 1, Trieste, Italy
² INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via Giambattista Tiepolo, 11, Trieste, Italy
³ Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Sand 1, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
⁴ INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, 75120 Uppsala, Sweden

^★ Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: 1 April 2026
Accepted: 20 May 2026

Abstract

The combination of data from the Gaia satellite and large ground-based spectroscopic surveys recently led to a milestone understanding of our Galaxy’s formation history, marked by the identification of stellar remnants of the accreted Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE) dwarf galaxy. Lithium (Li) remains one of the most difficult elements to explain because of its complex behaviour over evolutionary timescales: both the Spite plateau observed in metal-poor main-sequence (MS) stars and the recently discovered Li plateau of early red-giant-branch (eRGB) stars in the Milky Way challenge current galactic chemical evolution models. In this article, we investigate the viability of these Li-plateau features in the GSE galaxy, using public data from current big surveys: GALAH, Gaia-ESO, and the collective SAGA database. We present a chemical evolution model of Li for GSE and find agreement with the observed data. We find the signature of Li plateau at low metallicities in both eRGB and MS stars. At higher metallicities, we see candidates of Li-enriched stars that have their main contribution from nova explosions. These results reinforce the universality of the Spite plateau, and indicate that the eRGB Li plateau might also be a universal feature across different galactic systems. A hint of a low nova Li yield in GSE is suggested by our eRGB sample from GALAH. However, the lack of stars at high metallicities, possibly caused by the merger event, prevents a precise study of nova contributions, and we expect that upcoming data will enable a more comprehensive analysis.