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Observational evidence for a broken Li Spite plateau and mass-dependent Li depletion
We present NLTE Li abundances for 88 stars in the metallicity range -3.5< [Fe/H] < -1.0. The effective temperatures are based on theinfrared flux method with improved E(B-V) values obtained mostly frominterstellar Na I D lines. The Li abundances were derived through MARCSmodels and high-quality UVES+VLT, HIRES+Keck and FIES+NOT spectra, andcomplemented with reliable equivalent widths from the literature. Theless-depleted stars with [Fe/H] < -2.5 and [Fe/H] > -2.5 fall intotwo well-defined plateaus of ALi = 2.18 (? = 0.04) andALi = 2.27 (? = 0.05), respectively. We show that thetwo plateaus are flat, unlike previous claims for a steep monotonicdecrease in Li abundances with decreasing metallicities. At allmetallicities we uncover a fine-structure in the Li abundances of Spiteplateau stars, which we trace to Li depletion that depends on bothmetallicity and mass. Models including atomic diffusion and turbulentmixing seem to reproduce the observed Li depletion assuming a primordialLi abundance ALi = 2.64, which agrees well with currentpredictions (ALi = 2.72) from standard Big Bangnucleosynthesis. Adopting the Kurucz overshooting model atmospheresincreases the Li abundance by +0.08 dex to ALi = 2.72, whichperfectly agrees with BBN+WMAP.Based in part on observations obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory,the Nordic Optical Telescope on La Palma, and on data from theHIRES/Keck archive and the European Southern Observatory ESO/ST-ECFScience Archive Facility.Table 1 is only available in electronic form athttp://www.aanda.org
| An absolutely calibrated Teff scale from the infrared flux method. Dwarfs and subgiants
Various effective temperature scales have been proposed over the years.Despite much work and the high internal precision usually achieved,systematic differences of order 100 K (or more) among various scales arestill present. We present an investigation based on the infrared fluxmethod aimed at assessing the source of such discrepancies and pin downtheir origin. We break the impasse among different scales by using alarge set of solar twins, stars which are spectroscopically andphotometrically identical to the Sun, to set the absolute zero point ofthe effective temperature scale to within few degrees. Our newlycalibrated, accurate and precise temperature scale applies to dwarfs andsubgiants, from super-solar metallicities to the most metal-poor starscurrently known. At solar metallicities our results validatespectroscopic effective temperature scales, whereas for [Fe/H]? -2.5our temperatures are roughly 100 K hotter than those determined frommodel fits to the Balmer lines and 200 K hotter than those obtained fromthe excitation equilibrium of Fe lines. Empirical bolometric correctionsand useful relations linking photometric indices to effectivetemperatures and angular diameters have been derived. Our results takefull advantage of the high accuracy reached in absolute calibration inrecent years and are further validated by interferometric angulardiameters and space based spectrophotometry over a wide range ofeffective temperatures and metallicities.Table 8 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymousftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/512/A54
| Speckle Interferometry at the Blanco and SOAR Telescopes in 2008 and 2009
The results of speckle interferometric measurements of binary andmultiple stars conducted in 2008 and 2009 at the Blanco and SOAR 4 mtelescopes in Chile are presented. A total of 1898 measurements of 1189resolved pairs or sub-systems and 394 observations of 285 un-resolvedtargets are listed. We resolved for the first time 48 new pairs, 21 ofwhich are new sub-systems in close visual multiple stars. Typicalinternal measurement precision is 0.3 mas in both coordinates, typicalcompanion detection capability is ?m ~ 4.2 at 0farcs15 separation.These data were obtained with a new electron-multiplication CCD camera;data processing is described in detail, including estimation ofmagnitude difference, observational errors, detection limits, andanalysis of artifacts. We comment on some newly discovered pairs andobjects of special interest.
| Two distinct halo populations in the solar neighborhood. Evidence from stellar abundance ratios and kinematics
Aims: Precise abundance ratios are determined for 94 dwarf starswith Teff K, -1.6 < [Fe/H] < -0.4, and distances D? 335 pc. Most of them have halo kinematics, but 16 thick-disk starsare included. Methods: Equivalent widths of atomic lines aremeasured from VLT/UVES and NOT/FIES spectra with resolutions R? 55000 and R ? 40 000, respectively. An LTE abundance analysis basedon MARCS models is applied to derive precise differential abundanceratios of Na, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, and Ni with respect to Fe. Results: The halo stars fall into two populations, clearly separated in[?/Fe], where ? refers to the average abundance of Mg, Si,Ca, and Ti. Differences in [Na/Fe] and [Ni/Fe] are also present with aremarkably clear correlation between these two abundance ratios. Conclusions: The “high-?” stars may be ancient disk orbulge stars “heated” to halo kinematics by merging satellitegalaxies or they could have formed as the first stars during thecollapse of a proto-Galactic gas cloud. The kinematics of the“low-?” stars suggest that they have been accretedfrom dwarf galaxies, and that some of them may originate from the? Cen progenitor galaxy.Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope on LaPalma, and on data from the European Southern Observatory ESO/ST-ECFScience Archive Facility.Tables 3 and 4 are also available in electronicform at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5)or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/511/L10Figures5-8 and Tables 1-4 are only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
| An Overview of the Rotational Behavior of Metal-poor Stars
This paper describes the behavior of the rotational velocity inmetal-poor stars ([Fe/H] <= -0.5 dex) in different evolutionarystages, based on vsin i values from the literature. Our sample iscomprised of stars in the field and some Galactic globular clusters,including stars on the main sequence, the red giant branch (RGB), andthe horizontal branch (HB). The metal-poor stars are, mainly, slowrotators, and their vsin i distribution along the HR diagram is quitehomogeneous. Nevertheless, a few moderate to high values of vsin i arefound in stars located on the main sequence and the HB. We show that theoverall distribution of vsin i values is basically independent ofmetallicity for the stars in our sample. In particular, thefast-rotating main sequence stars in our sample present rotation ratessimilar to their metal-rich counterparts, suggesting that some of themmay actually be fairly young, in spite of their low metallicity, or elsethat at least some of them would be better classified as blue stragglerstars. We do not find significant evidence of evolution in vsin i valuesas a function of position on the RGB; in particular, we do not confirmprevious suggestions that stars close to the RGB tip rotate faster thantheir less-evolved counterparts. While the presence of fast rotatorsamong moderately cool blue HB stars has been suggested to be due toangular momentum transport from a stellar core that has retainedsignificant angular momentum during its prior evolution, we find thatany such transport mechanisms most likely operate very fast as the stararrives on the zero-age HB (ZAHB), since we do not find a link betweenevolution off the ZAHB and vsin i values. We present an extensivetabulation of all quantities discussed in this paper, including rotationvelocities, temperatures, gravities, and metallicities [Fe/H], as wellas broadband magnitudes and colors.
| Beryllium, Oxygen, and Iron Abundances in Extremely Metal-Deficient Stars
The abundance of beryllium in the oldest, most metal-poor stars acts asa probe of early star formation and Galactic chemical evolution. We haveanalyzed high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio Keck/HIRES spectraof 24 stars with [Fe/H] from -2.3 to -3.5 in order todetermine the history of Be abundance and explore the possibility of aBe plateau. We have determined stellar parameters of our samplespectroscopically, using equivalent widths of Fe I, Ti I, and Ti IIlines. We have determined O abundances from three OH features whichoccur in the same spectral region; this region is relatively uncrowdedand has a well determined continuum in these very/extremely metal-poorstars. We have supplemented this sample with reanalyzed spectra of 25stars from previous observations so that our total sample ranges in[Fe/H] from -0.5 to -3.5. Our results indicate that therelationship between Be and [Fe/H] continues to lower metallicities witha slope of 0.92 ± 0.04. Although there is no indication of aplateau with constant Be abundance, the four lowest metallicity stars(below [Fe/H] of -3.0) do show a Be enhancement relative to Fe atthe 1σ level. A single relationship between Be and [O/H] has aslope of 1.21 ± 0.08, but there is also a good fit with twoslopes: 1.59 above [O/H] = -1.6 and 0.74 for stars with [O/H]below -1.6. This change in slope could result from a change in thedominant production mechanism for Be. In the era of the formation of themore metal-poor stars, Be would be formed by acceleration of CNO atomsin the vicinity of SN II and in later times by high-energy cosmic-raysbombarding CNO in the ambient interstellar gas. We find an excellentcorrelation between [Fe/H] and [O/H] and show that [O/Fe] is near +1.0at [Fe/H] = -3.5 declining to 0 at [Fe/H] = 0.
| The Geneva-Copenhagen survey of the solar neighbourhood. III. Improved distances, ages, and kinematics
Context: Ages, chemical compositions, velocity vectors, and Galacticorbits for stars in the solar neighbourhood are fundamental test datafor models of Galactic evolution. The Geneva-Copenhagen Survey of theSolar Neighbourhood (Nordström et al. 2004; GCS), amagnitude-complete, kinematically unbiased sample of 16 682 nearby F andG dwarfs, is the largest available sample with complete data for starswith ages spanning that of the disk. Aims: We aim to improve theaccuracy of the GCS data by implementing the recent revision of theHipparcos parallaxes. Methods: The new parallaxes yield improvedastrometric distances for 12 506 stars in the GCS. We also use theparallaxes to verify the distance calibration for uvby? photometryby Holmberg et al. (2007, A&A, 475, 519; GCS II). We add newselection criteria to exclude evolved cool stars giving unreliableresults and derive distances for 3580 stars with large parallax errorsor not observed by Hipparcos. We also check the GCS II scales of T_effand [Fe/H] and find no need for change. Results: Introducing thenew distances, we recompute MV for 16 086 stars, and U, V, W,and Galactic orbital parameters for the 13 520 stars that also haveradial-velocity measurements. We also recompute stellar ages from thePadova stellar evolution models used in GCS I-II, using the new valuesof M_V, and compare them with ages from the Yale-Yonsei andVictoria-Regina models. Finally, we compare the observed age-velocityrelation in W with three simulated disk heating scenarios to show thepotential of the data. Conclusions: With these revisions, thebasic data for the GCS stars should now be as reliable as is possiblewith existing techniques. Further improvement must await consolidationof the T_eff scale from angular diameters and fluxes, and the Gaiatrigonometric parallaxes. We discuss the conditions for improvingcomputed stellar ages from new input data, and for distinguishingdifferent disk heating scenarios from data sets of the size andprecision of the GCS.Full Table 1 is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/501/941
| Neutral oxygen spectral line formation revisited with new collisional data: large departures from LTE at low metallicity
Aims: A detailed study is presented, including estimates of the impacton elemental abundance analysis, of the non-local thermodynamicequilibrium (non-LTE) formation of the high-excitation neutral oxygen777 nm triplet in model atmospheres representative of stars withspectral types F to K. Methods: We have applied the statisticalequilibrium code MULTI to a number of plane-parallel MARCS atmosphericmodels covering late-type stars (4500 ? T_eff ? 6500 K, 2 ? logg ? 5 [cgs], and -3.5 ? [Fe/H] ? 0). The atomic model employedincludes, in particular, recent quantum-mechanical electron collisiondata. Results: We confirm that the O i triplet lines form undernon-LTE conditions in late-type stars, suffering negative abundancecorrections with respect to LTE. At solar metallicity, the non-LTEeffect, mainly attributed in previous studies to photon losses in thetriplet itself, is also driven by an additional significant contributionfrom line opacity. At low metallicity, the very pronounced departuresfrom LTE are due to overpopulation of the lower level (3s ^5S^o) of thetransition. Large line opacity stems from triplet-quintet intersystemelectron collisions, a form of coupling previously not considered orseriously underestimated. The non-LTE effects generally become severefor models (both giants and dwarfs) with higher T_eff. Interestingly, inmetal-poor turn-off stars, the negative non-LTE abundance correctionstend to rapidly become more severe towards lower metallicity. Whenneglecting H collisions, they amount to as much as |?log?_O| ~ 0.9 dex and ~1.2 dex, respectively at [Fe/H] = -3 and[Fe/H] = -3.5. Even when such collisions are included, the LTE abundanceremains a serious overestimate, correspondingly by |?log?_O| ~ 0.5 dex and ~0.9 dex at such low metallicities. Althoughthe poorly known inelastic hydrogen collisions thus remain an importantuncertainty, the large metallicity-dependent non-LTE effects seem topoint to a resulting “low” (compared to LTE) [O/Fe] inmetal-poor halo stars. Conclusions: Our results may be importantin solving the long-standing [O/Fe] debate. When applying the derivednon-LTE corrections, the LTE oxygen abundance inferred from the 777 nmpermitted triplet will be decreased substantially at low metallicity. Ifthe classical Drawin formula is employed for O+H collisions, the derived[O/Fe] trend becomes almost flat below [Fe/H] ~ -1, in better agreementwith recent literature estimates generally obtained from other oxygenabundance indicators. A value of [O/Fe] ? +0.5 may therefore beappropriate, as suggested by standard theoretical models of type IIsupernovae nucleosynthetic yields. If neglecting impacts with H atomsinstead, [O/Fe] decreases towards lower [Fe/H], which would open newquestions. Our tests using ATLAS model atmospheres show that, thoughnon-LTE corrections for metal-poor dwarfs are smaller (by ~0.2 dex whenadopting efficient H collisions) than in the MARCS case, our mainconclusions are preserved, and that the LTE approach tends to seriouslyoverestimate the O abundance at low metallicity. However, in order tofinally reach consistency between oxygen abundances from the differentavailable spectral features, it is of high priority to reduce the largeuncertainty regarding H collisions, to undertake a full investigation ofthe interplay of non-LTE and 3D effects, and to clarify the issue of thetemperature scale at low metallicity.
| Beryllium abundances and star formation in the halo and in the thick disk
Context: Beryllium is a pure product of cosmic ray spallation. Thisimplies a relatively simple evolution in time of the beryllium abundanceand suggests its use as a time-like observable. Aims: Our goal is toderive abundances of Be in a sample of 90 stars, the largest sample ofhalo and thick disk stars analyzed to date. We study the evolution of Bein the early Galaxy and its dependence on kinematic and orbitalparameters, and investigate its use as a cosmochronometer. Abundances ofBe, Fe, and α-elements of 73 stars are employed to study theformation of the halo and the thick disk of the Galaxy. Methods:Beryllium abundances are determined from high-resolution, highsignal-to-noise UVES spectra with spectrum synthesis. Atmosphericparameters and abundances of α-elements are adopted from theliterature. Lithium abundances are used to eliminate mixed stars fromthe sample. The properties of halo and thick disk stars are investigatedin diagrams of log(Be/H) vs. [ α/H] , log(Be/H) vs. [Fe/H], and [α/Fe] vs. log(Be/H) and with orbital and kinematic parameters. Results: We present our observational results in various diagrams. (i)In a log(Be/H) vs. [Fe/H] diagram we find a marginal statisticaldetection of a real scatter, above what is expected from measurementerrors, with a larger scatter among halo stars. The detection of thescatter is further supported by the existence of pairs of stars withidentical atmospheric parameters and different Be abundances; (ii) in alog(Be/H) vs. [ α/Fe] diagram, the halo stars separate into twocomponents; one is consistent with predictions of evolutionary models,while the other has too high α and Be abundances and is chemicallyindistinguishable from thick disk stars. This suggests that the halo isnot a single uniform population where a clear age-metallicity relationcan be defined; (iii) In diagrams of R_min vs. [ α/Fe] andlog(Be/H), the thick disk stars show a possible decrease in [α/Fe] with R_min, whereas no dependence of Be with R_min is seen.This anticorrelation suggests that the star formation rate was lower inthe outer regions of the thick disk, pointing towards an inside-outformation. The lack of correlation for Be indicates that it isinsensitive to the local conditions of star formation.Based on observations made with ESO VLT, at Paranal Observatory, underprograms 076.B-0133 and 077.B-0507, and on data obtained from theESO/ST-ECF Science Archive Facility and the UVES Paranal ObservatoryProject 266.D-5655.Tables 1-3, 6 and Appendices A-C are only available in electronic format http://www.aanda.org
| Calibration of Strömgren uvby-H? photometry for late-type stars - a model atmosphere approach
Context: The use of model atmospheres for deriving stellar fundamentalparameters, such as T_eff, log g, and [Fe/H], will increase as we findand explore extreme stellar populations where empirical calibrations arenot yet available. Moreover, calibrations for upcoming large satellitemissions of new spectrophotometric indices, similar to the uvby-H?system, will be needed. Aims: We aim to test the power oftheoretical calibrations based on a new generation of MARCS models bycomparisons with observational photomteric data. Methods: Wecalculated synthetic uvby-H? colour indices from synthetic spectra.A sample of 367 field stars, as well as stars in globular clusters, isused for a direct comparison of the synthetic indices versus empiricaldata and for scrutinizing the possibilities of theoretical calibrationsfor temperature, metallicity, and gravity. Results: We show thatthe temperature sensitivity of the synthetic (b-y) colour is very closeto its empirical counterpart, whereas the temperature scale based uponH? shows a slight offset. The theoretical metallicity sensitivityof the m1 index (and for G-type stars its combination withc_1) is somewhat higher than the empirical one, based upon spectroscopicdeterminations. The gravity sensitivity of the synthetic c1index shows satisfactory behaviour when compared to obervations of Fstars. For stars cooler than the sun, a deviation is significant in thec1-(b-y) diagram. The theoretical calibrations of (b-y),(v-y), and c1 seem to work well for Pop II stars and lead toeffective temperatures for globular cluster stars supporting recentclaims that atomic diffusion occurs in stars near the turnoff point ofNGC 6397. Conclusions: Synthetic colours of stellar atmospherescan indeed be used, in many cases, to derive reliable fundamentalstellar parameters. The deviations seen when compared to observationaldata could be due to incomplete linelists but are possibly also due tothe effects of assuming plane-parallell or spherical geometry and LTE.Model colours are only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/498/527
| Beryllium abundances in metal-poor stars
We have determined beryllium (Be) abundances for 25 metal-poor starsbased on the high-resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio spectra fromthe Very Large Telescope/Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrographdata base. Our results confirm that Be abundances increase with Fe,supporting the global enrichment of Be in the Galaxy. Oxygen abundancesbased on the [OI] forbidden line imply a linear relation with a slopeclose to one for the Be versus O trend, which indicates that Be isprobably produced in a primary process. Some strong evidence is foundfor the intrinsic dispersion of Be abundances at a given metallicity.The deviation of HD 132475 and HD 126681 from the general Be versus Feand Be versus O trends favours the predictions of the superbubble model.However, the possibility that such dispersion originates from theinhomogeneous enrichment in Fe and O of the protogalactic gas cannot beexcluded.Based on observations made with the European Southern Observatorytelescopes obtained from the ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive Facility.E-mail: tan@bao.ac.cn
| Cool Subdwarf Investigations. I. New Thoughts on the Spectral Types of K and M Subdwarfs
Using new spectra of 88 K- and M-type subdwarfs, we consider novelmethods for assigning their spectral types and take steps towarddeveloping a comprehensive spectral sequence for subdwarf types K3.0 toM6.0. The types are assigned based on the overall morphology of spectracovering 6000-9000 Å. The types and sequence presented link thespectral types of cool subdwarfs to their main-sequence counterparts,with emphasis on the relatively opacity-free region from 8200-9000Å. When available, supporting abundance, kinematic, andtrigonometric parallax information is used to provide more completeportraits of the observed subdwarfs. We find that the CaHn (n = 1-3) andTiO5 indices often used for subdwarf spectral typing are affected incomplicated ways by combinations of the subdwarfs' temperatures,metallicities, and gravities, and we use model grids to evaluate thetrends in all three parameters. Because of the complex interplay ofthese three characteristics, it is not possible to identify a star as an"extreme" subdwarf simply based on very low metallicity, and we suggestthat the modifiers "extreme" or "ultra" only outline locations onspectroscopic indices plots, and should not be used to imply low or verylow metallicity stars. In addition, we propose that "VI" be used toidentify a star as a subdwarf, rather than the confusing "sd" prefix,which is also used for hot O and B subdwarfs that are unrelated to thecool subdwarfs discussed in this paper.
| Measuring the Balmer Jump and the Effective Gravity in FGK Stars
It is difficult to accurately measure the effective gravity (logg) inlate-type stars using broadband (e.g., UBV or SDSS) or intermediate-band(uvby) photometric systems, especially when the stars can cover a rangeof metallicities and reddenings. However, simple spectroscopicobservational and data reduction techniques can yield accurate valuesfor logg through comparison of the Balmer jumps of low-resolutionspectra with recent grids of synthetic flux spectra.
| The usage of Strömgren photometry in studies of local group dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Application to Draco: a new catalogue of Draco members and a study of the metallicity distribution function and radial gradients
Aims.In this paper we demonstrate how Strömgren uvby photometry canbe efficiently used to: 1. identify red giant branch stars that aremembers in a dwarf spheroidal galaxy; 2. derive age-independentmetallicities for the same stars and quantify the associated errors. Methods: Strömgren uvby photometry in a 11 × 22 arcmin fieldcentered on the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy was obtained using theIsaac Newton Telescope on La Palma. Members of the Draco dSph galaxywere identified using the surface gravity sensitive c1 indexwhich discriminates between red giant and dwarf stars. Thus enabling usto distinguish the (red giant branch) members of the dwarf spheroidalgalaxy from the foreground dwarf stars in our galaxy. The method isevaluated through a comparison of our membership list with membershipclassifications in the literature based on radial velocities and propermotions. The metallicity sensitive m1 index was used toderive individual and age-independent metallicities for the members ofthe Draco dSph galaxy. The derived metallicities are compared to studiesbased on high resolution spectroscopy and the agreement is found to bevery good. Results: We present metallicities for 169 members of the redgiant branch in the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy (the largest sample todate). The metallicity distribution function for the Draco dSph galaxyshows a mean [Fe/H] = -1.74 dex with a spread of 0.24 dex. Thecorrelation between metallicity and colour for the stars on the redgiant branch is consistent with a dominant old, and coeval population.There is a possible spatial population gradient over the field with themost metal-rich stars being more centrally concentrated than themetal-poor stars.Based on observations made with the Isaac Newton Telescope, operated onthe Island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the SpanishObservatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisicade Canarias. Guest User, Canadian Astronomy Data Centre, which isoperated by the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National ResearchCouncil of Canada. Full Tables 2 and 6 are only available athttp://www.aanda.org
| Oxygen abundances in nearby stars. Clues to the formation and evolution of the Galactic disk
The abundances of iron and oxygen are homogeneously determined in asample of 523 nearby (d<150 pc) FGK disk and halo stars withmetallicities in the range -1.5<[Fe/H]<0.5. Iron abundances wereobtained from an LTE analysis of a large set of Fe I and Fe II lineswith reliable atomic data. Oxygen abundances were inferred from arestricted non-LTE analysis of the 777 nm O I triplet. We adopted theinfrared flux method temperature scale and surface gravities based onHipparcos trigonometric parallaxes. Within this framework, theionization balance of iron lines is not satisfied: the mean abundancesfrom the Fe I lines are systematically lower by 0.06 dex than those fromthe Fe II lines for dwarf stars of Teff>5500 K and[Fe/H]<0.0, and giant stars of all temperatures and metallicitiescovered by our sample. The discrepancy worsens for cooler and metal-richmain-sequence stars. We use the stellar kinematics to compute theprobabilities of our sample stars to be members of the thin disk, thickdisk, or halo of the Galaxy. We find that the majority of thekinematically-selected thick-disk stars show larger [O/Fe] ratioscompared to thin-disk stars while the rest show thin-disk abundances,which suggests that the latter are thin-disk members with unusual(hotter) kinematics. A close examination of this pattern for disk starswith ambiguous probabilities shows that an intermediate population withproperties between those of the thin and thick disks does not exist, atleast in the solar neighborhood. Excluding the stars with unusualkinematics, we find that thick-disk stars show slowly decreasing [O/Fe]ratios from about 0.5 to 0.4 in the -0.8<[Fe/H]<-0.3 range. Usinga simple model for the chemical evolution of the thick disk we show thatthis trend results directly from the metallicity dependence of the TypeII supernova yields. At [Fe/H]>-0.3, we find no obvious indication ofa sudden decrease (i.e., a "knee") in the [O/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] pattern ofthick-disk stars that would connect the thick and thin disk trends at ahigh metallicity. We conclude that Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) did notcontribute significantly to the chemical enrichment of the thick disk.In the -0.8<[Fe/H]<+0.3 range, thin-disk stars show decreasing[O/Fe] ratios from about 0.4 to 0.0 that require a SN Ia contribution.The implications of these results for studies of the formation andevolution of the Galactic disk are discussed.Tables 4-6 are only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/465/271 Partially based onobservations obtained with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which is a jointproject of the University of Texas at Austin, the Pennsylvania StateUniversity, Stanford University, Ludwig-Maximilians-UniversitätMünchen, and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; and datafrom the UVES Paranal Observatory Project (ESO DDT Program ID266.D-5655).
| Medium-resolution Isaac Newton Telescope library of empirical spectra - II. The stellar atmospheric parameters
We present a homogeneous set of stellar atmospheric parameters(Teff, logg, [Fe/H]) for MILES, a new spectral stellarlibrary covering the range λλ 3525-7500Å at2.3Å (FWHM) spectral resolution. The library consists of 985 starsspanning a large range in atmospheric parameters, from super-metal-rich,cool stars to hot, metal-poor stars. The spectral resolution, spectraltype coverage and number of stars represent a substantial improvementover previous libraries used in population synthesis models. Theatmospheric parameters that we present here are the result of aprevious, extensive compilation from the literature. In order toconstruct a homogeneous data set of atmospheric parameters we have takenthe sample of stars of Soubiran, Katz & Cayrel, which has very welldetermined fundamental parameters, as the standard reference system forour field stars, and have calibrated and bootstrapped the data fromother papers against it. The atmospheric parameters for our clusterstars have also been revised and updated according to recent metallicityscales, colour-temperature relations and improved set of isochrones.
| Pulkovo compilation of radial velocities for 35495 stars in a common system.
Not Available
| A catalog of rotational and radial velocities for evolved stars. IV. Metal-poor stars^
Aims.The present paper describes the first results of an observationalprogram intended to refine and extend the existing v sin i measurementsof metal-poor stars, with an emphasis on field evolved stars.Methods: .The survey was carried out with the FEROS and CORALIEspectrometers. For the v sin i measurements, obtained from spectralsynthesis, we estimate an uncertainty of about 2.0 km s-1. Results: .Precise rotational velocities v sin i are presented for alarge sample of 100 metal-poor stars, most of them evolving off themain-sequence. For the large majority of the stars composing the presentsample, rotational velocities have been measured for the first time.
| Medium-resolution Isaac Newton Telescope library of empirical spectra
A new stellar library developed for stellar population synthesismodelling is presented. The library consists of 985 stars spanning alarge range in atmospheric parameters. The spectra were obtained at the2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope and cover the range λλ3525-7500 Å at 2.3 Å (full width at half-maximum) spectralresolution. The spectral resolution, spectral-type coverage,flux-calibration accuracy and number of stars represent a substantialimprovement over previous libraries used in population-synthesis models.
| Elemental abundance survey of the Galactic thick disc
We have performed an abundance analysis for F- and G- dwarfs of theGalactic thick-disc component. A sample of 176 nearby (d<= 150pc)thick-disc candidate stars was chosen from the Hipparcos catalogue andsubjected to a high-resolution spectroscopic analysis. Using accurateradial velocities combined with the Hipparcos astrometry, kinematics (U,V and W) and Galactic orbital parameters were computed. We estimate theprobability for a star to belong to the thin disc, the thick disc or thehalo. With a probability P>= 70 per cent taken as certain membership,we assigned 95 stars to the thick disc, 13 to the thin disc, and 20 tothe halo. The remaining 48 stars in the sample cannot be assigned withreasonable certainty to one of the three components.Abundances of C, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni,Cu, Zn, Y, Ba, Ce, Nd and Eu have been obtained. The abundances for thethick-disc stars are compared with those for the thin-disc members fromReddy et al. The ratios of α-elements (O, Mg, Si, Ca and Ti) toiron for thick-disc stars show a clear enhancement compared to thin-discmembers in the range -0.3 < [Fe/H] < -1.2. There are also otherelements - Al, Sc, V, Co, and possibly Zn - which show enhanced ratiosto iron in the thick disc relative to the thin disc. The abundances ofNa, Cr, Mn, Ni and Cu (relative to Fe) are very similar for thin- andthick-disc stars. The dispersion in abundance ratios [X/Fe] at given[Fe/H] for thick-disc stars is consistent with the expected scatter dueto measurement errors, suggesting a lack of `cosmic' scatter.A few stars classified as members of the thick disc by our kinematiccriteria show thin-disc abundances. These stars, which appear older thanmost thin-disc stars, are also, on average, younger than the thick-discpopulation. They may have originated early in the thin-disc history, andbeen subsequently scattered to hotter orbits by collisions. The thickdisc may not include stars with [Fe/H] > -0.3. The observedcompositions of the thin and thick discs seem to be consistent with themodels of galaxy formation by hierarchical clustering in a Lambda colddark matter (ΛCDM) universe.
| Beryllium in Disk and Halo Stars: Evidence for a Beryllium Dispersion in Old Stars
The study of Be in stars of differing metal content can elucidate theformation mechanisms and the Galactic chemical evolution of the lightelement, Be. We have obtained high-resolution, high signal-to-noiseratio (S/N) spectra of the resonance lines of Be II in eight stars withthe High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS) on the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope onMauna Kea. Abundances of Be have been determined through spectrumsynthesis. The stars with [Fe/H] values greater than -1.1 conform to thepublished general trend of Be versus Fe. We have confirmed the high Beabundance in HD 94028 and have found a similarly high Be abundance inanother star, HD 132475, at the same metallicity: [Fe/H]=-1.5. These twostars are 0.5-0.6 dex higher in Be than the Be-Fe trend. While thatgeneral trend contains the evidence for a Galaxy-wide enrichment in Beand Fe, the higher than predicted Be abundances in those two stars showsthat there are also local Be enrichments. Possible enrichment mechanismsinclude hypernovae and multiple supernova explosions contained in asuperbubble. One of our stars, G64-37, has a very low metallicity of[Fe/H]=-3.2 we have determined its Be abundance to look for evidence ofa Be plateau. Its Be abundance appears to extend the Be-Fe trend tolower Fe abundances without any evidence for a plateau, as had beenindicated by a high Be abundance in another very metal-poor star,G64-12. Although these two stars have similar Be abundances within theerrors, it could be that their different Be values indicate a Bedispersion even at the lowest metallicities.Based on observations obtained with the Subaru Telescope.
| Galactic model parameters for field giants separated from field dwarfs by their 2MASS and V apparent magnitudes
We present a method which separates field dwarfs and field giants bytheir 2MASS and V apparent magnitudes. This method is based onspectroscopically selected standards and is hence reliable. We appliedit to stars in two fields, SA 54 and SA 82, and we estimated a full setof Galactic model parameters for giants including their total localspace density. Our results are in agreement with the ones given in therecent literature.
| Automated classification and stellar parameterization
Different approaches for automated spectral classification arecritically reviewed. We describe in detail ANN based methods which arevery efficient in quick handling of the large volumes of data generatedby different surveys. We summarize the application of ANN in varioussurveys covering UV, visual and IR spectral regions and the accuraciesobtained. We also present the preliminary results obtained with mediumresolution spectra (R 1000) for a modest sample of stars using the2.3 m Vainu Bappu Telescope at Kavalur observatory, India. Our samplecontains uniform distribution of stars in temperature range 4500 to 8000K, log g range of 1.5 to 5.0 and [Fe/H] range of 0 to -3. We haveexplored the application of artificial neural network forparameterization of these stars. We have used a set of stars with welldetermined atmospheric parameters for training the networks fortemperature, gravity and metallicity estimations. We could get anaccuracy of 200 K in temperature, 0.4 in log g and 0.3 dex in [Fe/H] inour preliminary efforts.
| The lithium content of the Galactic Halo stars
Thanks to the accurate determination of the baryon density of theuniverse by the recent cosmic microwave background experiments, updatedpredictions of the standard model of Big Bang nucleosynthesis now yieldthe initial abundance of the primordial light elements withunprecedented precision. In the case of ^7Li, the CMB+SBBN value issignificantly higher than the generally reported abundances for Pop IIstars along the so-called Spite plateau. In view of the crucialimportance of this disagreement, which has cosmological, galactic andstellar implications, we decided to tackle the most critical issues ofthe problem by revisiting a large sample of literature Li data in halostars that we assembled following some strict selection criteria on thequality of the original analyses. In the first part of the paper wefocus on the systematic uncertainties affecting the determination of theLi abundances, one of our main goal being to look for the "highestobservational accuracy achievable" for one of the largest sets of Liabundances ever assembled. We explore in great detail the temperaturescale issue with a special emphasis on reddening. We derive four sets ofeffective temperatures by applying the same colour {T}_eff calibrationbut making four different assumptions about reddening and determine theLTE lithium values for each of them. We compute the NLTE corrections andapply them to the LTE lithium abundances. We then focus on our "best"(i.e. most consistent) set of temperatures in order to discuss theinferred mean Li value and dispersion in several {T}_eff and metallicityintervals. The resulting mean Li values along the plateau for [Fe/H]≤ 1.5 are A(Li)_NLTE = 2.214±0.093 and 2.224±0.075when the lowest effective temperature considered is taken equal to 5700K and 6000 K respectively. This is a factor of 2.48 to 2.81 (dependingon the adopted SBBN model and on the effective temperature range chosento delimit the plateau) lower than the CMB+SBBN determination. We findno evidence of intrinsic dispersion. Assuming the correctness of theCMB+SBBN prediction, we are then left with the conclusion that the Liabundance along the plateau is not the pristine one, but that halo starshave undergone surface depletion during their evolution. In the secondpart of the paper we further dissect our sample in search of newconstraints on Li depletion in halo stars. By means of the Hipparcosparallaxes, we derive the evolutionary status of each of our samplestars, and re-discuss our derived Li abundances. A very surprisingresult emerges for the first time from this examination. Namely, themean Li value as well as the dispersion appear to be lower (althoughfully compatible within the errors) for the dwarfs than for the turnoffand subgiant stars. For our most homogeneous dwarfs-only sample with[Fe/H] ≤ 1.5, the mean Li abundances are A(L)_NLTE = 2.177±0.071 and 2.215±0.074 when the lowest effective temperatureconsidered is taken equal to 5700 K and 6000 K respectively. This is afactor of 2.52 to 3.06 (depending on the selected range in {T}_eff forthe plateau and on the SBBN predictions we compare to) lower than theCMB+SBBN primordial value. Instead, for the post-main sequence stars thecorresponding values are 2.260±0.1 and 2.235±0.077, whichcorrespond to a depletion factor of 2.28 to 2.52. These results,together with the finding that all the stars with Li abnormalities(strong deficiency or high content) lie on or originate from the hotside of the plateau, lead us to suggest that the most massive of thehalo stars have had a slightly different Li history than their lessmassive contemporaries. In turn, this puts strong new constraints on thepossible depletion mechanisms and reinforces Li as a stellartomographer.
| Sulphur abundance in Galactic stars
We investigate sulphur abundance in 74 Galactic stars by using highresolution spectra obtained at ESO VLT and NTT telescopes. For the firsttime the abundances are derived, where possible, from three opticalmultiplets: Mult. 1, 6, and 8. By combining our own measurements withdata in the literature we assemble a sample of 253 stars in themetallicity range -3.2 [Fe/H] +0.5. Two important features,which could hardly be detected in smaller samples, are obvious from thislarge sample: 1) a sizeable scatter in [S/Fe] ratios around [Fe/H]-1; 2) at low metallicities we observe stars with [S/Fe] 0.4, aswell as stars with higher [S/Fe] ratios. The latter do not seem to bekinematically different from the former ones. Whether the latter findingstems from a distinct population of metal-poor stars or simply from anincreased scatter in sulphur abundances remains an open question.
| Chemical abundances in 43 metal-poor stars
We have derived abundances of O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Fe,Ni, and Ba for 43 metal-poor field stars in the solar neighbourhood,most of them subgiants or turn-off-point stars with iron abundances[Fe/H] ranging from -0.4 to -3.0. About half of this sample has not beenspectroscopically analysed in detail before. Effective temperatures wereestimated from uvby photometry, and surface gravities primarily fromHipparcos parallaxes. The analysis is differential relative to the Sun,and was carried out with plane-parallel MARCS models. Various sources oferror are discussed and found to contribute a total error of about0.1-0.2 dex for most elements, while relative abundances, such as[Ca/Fe], are most probably more accurate. For the oxygen abundances,determined in an NLTE analysis of the 7774 Å triplet lines, theerrors may be somewhat larger. We made a detailed comparison withsimilar studies and traced the reasons for the, in most cases,relatively small differences. Among the results we find that [O/Fe]possibly increases beyond [Fe/H] = -1.0, though considerably less sothan in results obtained by others from abundances based on OH lines. Wedid not trace any tendency toward strong overionization of iron, andfind the excesses, relative to Fe and the Sun, of the α elementsMg, Si, and Ca to be smaller than those of O. We discuss someindications that also the abundances of different α elementsrelative to Fe vary and the possibility that some of the scatter aroundthe trends in abundances relative to iron may be real. This may supportthe idea that the formation of Halo stars occurred in smaller systemswith different star formation rates. We verify the finding by Gratton etal. (2003b, A&A, 406, 131) that stars that do not participate in therotation of the galactic disk show a lower mean and larger spread in [α/Fe] than stars participating in the general rotation. The latterstars also seem to show some correlation between [ α/Fe] androtation speed. We trace some stars with peculiar abundances, amongthese two Ba stars, HD 17072 and HD196944, the second already known to be rich in s elements.Finally we advocate that a spectroscopic study of a larger sample ofhalo stars with well-defined selection criteria is very important, inorder to add to the very considerable efforts that various groups havealready made.
| A Survey of Proper-Motion Stars. XVII. A Deficiency of Binary Stars on Retrograde Galactic Orbits and the Possibility that ω Centauri is Related to the Effect
We compare the frequency of field binary stars as a function of Galacticvelocity vectors and find a deficiency of such stars on stronglyretrograde orbits. Metal-poor stars moving on prograde Galactic orbitshave a binary frequency of 28%+/-3%, whereas the retrograde stars'binary frequency is only 10%+/-2% for V<=-300 km s-1. Nosuch binary deficiencies are seen for the U or W velocities, nor for[Fe/H]. Some mechanism exists that either disrupts binary systems orpreferentially adds single stars moving primarily on retrograde orbits.Theoretical analyses and critical evaluations of our observational dataappear to rule out preferential disruption of preexisting binary starsdue to such causes as tidal interactions with massive gravitationalperturbers, including giant molecular clouds, black holes, or theGalactic center.Dynamically evolved stellar ensembles, such as globular clusters,provide a possible source of single stars. Three lines of evidence ruleout this explanation. First, there is no mechanism to significantlyenhance dissolution of clusters moving on retrograde orbits. Second, astudy of globular clusters moving on prograde and retrograde orbits andwith perigalacticon distances such that they are unlikely to be affectedstrongly by central tidal effects shows that clusters moving on progradeGalactic orbits may be more evolved dynamically than clusters moving onretrograde orbits. Finally, we have undertaken a comprehensive searchfor star streams that might be discernible. Monte Carlo modelingsuggests that our sample may include one moving group, but it containsonly five stars. Although the Galactic orbit of this group passes nearthe Galactic center, it is not moving on a retrograde Galactic orbit andfalls short by a factor of at least 20 in supplying the necessary numberof single stars.There is one intriguing possibility to explain our results. A dissolveddwarf galaxy may have too large a velocity spread to be easily detectedin our sample using our technique. However, dwarf galaxies appear tooften show element-to-iron versus [Fe/H] abundance patterns that are notsimilar to the bulk of the stellar field and cluster halo stars. Weexplore the s-process elements Y and Ba. Eight stars in our sample havesuch elemental abundances already measured and also lie in the criticaldomain with -1.6<=[Fe/H]<=-1.0 and V<=-300 km s-1.The admittedly small samples appears to show a bimodal distribution in[Y/Fe], [Ba/Fe], and [α/Fe], where ``α'' represents anaverage abundance of Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti. This behavior is reminiscent ofthe difference in the abundances found between the globular clusterω Centauri and other globular clusters. It is also intriguing thatthe stars most similar to ω Cen in their chemical abundances showa relatively coherent set of kinematic properties, with a modestvelocity dispersion. The stars less like ω Cen define adynamically hot population. The binary frequency of the stars in ωCen does not appear to be enhanced, but detailed modeling of the radialvelocity data remains to be done.
| The Rise of the s-Process in the Galaxy
From newly obtained high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio spectrathe abundances of the elements La and Eu have been determined over thestellar metallicity range -3<[Fe/H]<+0.3 in 159 giant and dwarfstars. Lanthanum is predominantly made by the s-process in the solarsystem, while Eu owes most of its solar system abundance to ther-process. The changing ratio of these elements in stars over a widemetallicity range traces the changing contributions of these twoprocesses to the Galactic abundance mix. Large s-process abundances canbe the result of mass transfer from very evolved stars, so to identifythese cases we also report carbon abundances in our metal-poor stars.Results indicate that the s-process may be active as early as[Fe/H]=-2.6, although we also find that some stars as metal-rich as[Fe/H]=-1 show no strong indication of s-process enrichment. There is asignificant spread in the level of s-process enrichment even at solarmetallicity.
| Heavy elements and chemical enrichment in globular clusters
High resolution (R 40 000) and high S/N spectra have been acquiredwith UVES on the VLT-Kueyen (Paranal Observatory, ESO Chile) for severalmain sequence turnoff stars (V 17 mag) and subgiants at the baseof the Red Giant Branch (V 16 mag) in three globular clusters (NGC6397, NGC 6752 and 47 Tuc/NGC 104) at different metallicities(respectively [Fe/H] ≃ -2.0; -1.5; -0.7). Spectra for a sample of25 field halo subdwarves have also been taken with equal resolution, buthigher S/N. These data have been used to determine the abundances ofseveral neutron-capture elements in these three clusters: strontium,yttrium, barium and europium. This is the first abundance determinationof these heavy elements for such unevolved stars in these three globularclusters. These values, together with the [Ba/Eu] and [Sr/Ba] abundanceratios, have been used to test the self-enrichment scenario. Acomparison is done with field halo stars and other well known Galacticglobular clusters in which heavy elements have already been measured inthe past, at least in bright giants (V 11-12 mag). Our resultsshow clearly that globular clusters have been uniformly enriched by r-and s-process syntheses, and that most of them seem to follow exactlythe same abundance patterns as field halo stars, which discards the``classical'' self-enrichment scenario for the origin of metallicitiesand heavy elements in globular clusters.Based on data collected at the European Southern Observatory with theVLT-UT2, Paranal, Chile (ESO-LP 165.L-0263).
| Stellar Chemical Signatures and Hierarchical Galaxy Formation
To compare the chemistries of stars in the Milky Way dwarf spheroidal(dSph) satellite galaxies with stars in the Galaxy, we have compiled alarge sample of Galactic stellar abundances from the literature. Whenkinematic information is available, we have assigned the stars tostandard Galactic components through Bayesian classification based onGaussian velocity ellipsoids. As found in previous studies, the[α/Fe] ratios of most stars in the dSph galaxies are generallylower than similar metallicity Galactic stars in this extended sample.Our kinematically selected stars confirm this for the Galactic halo,thin-disk, and thick-disk components. There is marginal overlap in thelow [α/Fe] ratios between dSph stars and Galactic halo stars onextreme retrograde orbits (V<-420 km s-1), but this is notsupported by other element ratios. Other element ratios compared in thispaper include r- and s-process abundances, where we find a significantoffset in the [Y/Fe] ratios, which results in a large overabundance in[Ba/Y] in most dSph stars compared with Galactic stars. Thus, thechemical signatures of most of the dSph stars are distinct from thestars in each of the kinematic components of the Galaxy. This resultrules out continuous merging of low-mass galaxies similar to these dSphsatellites during the formation of the Galaxy. However, we do not ruleout very early merging of low-mass dwarf galaxies, since up to one-halfof the most metal-poor stars ([Fe/H]<=-1.8) have chemistries that arein fair agreement with Galactic halo stars. We also do not rule outmerging with higher mass galaxies, although we note that the LMC and theremnants of the Sgr dwarf galaxy are also chemically distinct from themajority of the Galactic halo stars. Formation of the Galaxy's thickdisk by heating of an old thin disk during a merger is also not ruledout; however, the Galaxy's thick disk itself cannot be comprised of theremnants from a low-mass (dSph) dwarf galaxy, nor of a high-mass dwarfgalaxy like the LMC or Sgr, because of differences in chemistry.The new and independent environments offered by the dSph galaxies alsoallow us to examine fundamental assumptions related to thenucleosynthesis of the elements. The metal-poor stars ([Fe/H]<=-1.8)in the dSph galaxies appear to have lower [Ca/Fe] and [Ti/Fe] than[Mg/Fe] ratios, unlike similar metallicity stars in the Galaxy.Predictions from the α-process (α-rich freeze-out) would beconsistent with this result if there have been a lack of hypernovae indSph galaxies. The α-process could also be responsible for thevery low Y abundances in the metal-poor stars in dSph's; since [La/Eu](and possibly [Ba/Eu]) are consistent with pure r-process results, thelow [Y/Eu] suggests a separate r-process site for this light(first-peak) r-process element. We also discuss SNe II rates and yieldsas other alternatives, however. In stars with higher metallicities([Fe/H]>=-1.8), contributions from the s-process are expected; [(Y,La, and Ba)/Eu] all rise as expected, and yet [Ba/Y] is still muchhigher in the dSph stars than similar metallicity Galactic stars. Thisresult is consistent with s-process contributions from lower metallicityAGB stars in dSph galaxies, and is in good agreement with the slowerchemical evolution expected in the low-mass dSph galaxies relative tothe Galaxy, such that the build-up of metals occurs over much longertimescales. Future investigations of nucleosynthetic constraints (aswell as galaxy formation and evolution) will require an examination ofmany stars within individual dwarf galaxies.Finally, the Na-Ni trend reported in 1997 by Nissen & Schuster isconfirmed in Galactic halo stars, but we discuss this in terms of thegeneral nucleosynthesis of neutron-rich elements. We do not confirm thatthe Na-Ni trend is related to the accretion of dSph galaxies in theGalactic halo.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Libra |
| Right ascension: | 14h59m49.76s |
| Declination: | -22°00'45.8" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 8.57 |
| Distance: | 92.166 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | -559.6 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -498.1 |
| B-T magnitude: | 9.184 |
| V-T magnitude: | 8.621 |
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INHABITED SKY
