Catherine R. Kennedy

METAL-POOR STARS OBSERVED WITH THE MAGELLAN TELESCOPE. II. DISCOVERY OF FOUR STARS WITH [Fe/H] ⩽ –3.5*

We report on the discovery of seven low-metallicity stars selected from the Hamburg/ESO Survey, six of which are extremely metal-poor ([Fe/H] � 3.0), with four having [Fe/H] � 3.5. Chemical abundances or upper limits are derived for these stars based on high-resolution (R � 35,000) Magellan/MIKE spectroscopy, and are in general agreement with those of other very and extremely metal-poor stars reported in the literature. Accurate metallicities and abundance patterns for stars in this metallicity range are of particular importance for studies of the shape of the metallicity distribution function of the Milky Way’s halo system, in particular for probing the nature of its low-metallicity tail. In addition, taking into account suggested evolutionary mixing effects, we find that six of the program stars (with [Fe/H] � 3.35) possess atmospheres that were likely originally enriched in carbon, relative to iron, during their main-sequence phases. These stars do not exhibit over-abundances of their s-process elements, and hence may be additional examples of the so-called CEMP-no class of objects. Subject headings: Galaxy: halo—techniques: spectroscopy—stars: abundances—stars: atmospheres— stars: Population II

(O/Fe) ESTIMATES FOR CARBON-ENHANCED METAL-POOR STARS FROM NEAR-IR SPECTROSCOPY

We report on oxygen abundances determined from medium-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy for a sample of 57 carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars selected from the Hamburg/ESO Survey. The majority of our program stars exhibit oxygen-to-iron ratios in the range +0.5< [O/Fe]<+2.0. The [O/Fe] values for this sample are statistically compared to available high-resolution estimates for known CEMP stars as well as to high-resolution estimates for a set of carbon-normal metal-poor stars. Carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen abundance patterns for a sub-sample of these stars are compared to yield predictions for very metal-poor asymptotic giant branch (AGB) abundances in the recent literature. We find that the majority of our sample exhibit patterns that are consistent with previously studied CEMP stars having s-process-element enhancements and thus have very likely been polluted by carbon- and oxygen-enhanced material transferred from a metal-poor AGB companion.

A SEARCH FOR UNRECOGNIZED CARBON-ENHANCED METAL-POOR STARS IN THE GALAXY

We have developed a new procedure to search for carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars from the Hamburg/ESO (HES) prism-survey plates. This method employs an extended line index for the CH G band, which we demonstrate to have superior performance when compared to the narrower G-band index formerly employed to estimate G-band strengths for these spectra. Although CEMP stars have been found previously among candidate metal-poor stars selected from the HES, the selection on metallicity undersamples the population of intermediate-metallicity CEMP stars (?2.5 ? [Fe/H] ? ?1.0); such stars are of importance for constraining the onset of the s-process in metal-deficient asymptotic giant branch stars (thought to be associated with the origin of carbon for roughly 80% of CEMP stars). The new candidates also include substantial numbers of warmer carbon-enhanced stars, which were missed in previous HES searches for carbon stars due to selection criteria that emphasized cooler stars. A first subsample, biased toward brighter stars (B< 15.5), has been extracted from the scanned HES plates. After visual inspection (to eliminate spectra compromised by plate defects, overlapping spectra, etc., and to carry out rough spectral classifications), a list of 669 previously unidentified candidate CEMP stars was compiled. Follow-up spectroscopy for a pilot sample of 132 candidates was obtained with the Goodman spectrograph on the SOAR 4.1 m telescope. Our results show that most of the observed stars lie in the targeted metallicity range, and possess prominent carbon absorption features at 4300 ?. The success rate for the identification of new CEMP stars is 43% (13 out of 30) for [Fe/H] < ?2.0. For stars with [Fe/H] < ?2.5, the ratio increases to 80% (four out of five objects), including one star with [Fe/H] < ?3.0.

Modelling the nucleosynthetic properties of carbon-enhanced metal-poor RR Lyrae stars

Certain carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars likely obtained their composition via pollution from some of the earliest generations of asymptotic giant branch stars and as such provide important clues to early Universe nucleosynthesis. Recently, Kinman et al. discovered that the highly carbon- and barium-enriched metal-poor star SDSS J1707+58 is in fact an RR Lyrae pulsator. This gives us an object in a definite evolutionary state where the effects of dilution of material during the Main Sequence are minimised owing to the object having passed through first dredge-up. We perform detailed stellar modelling of putative progenitor systems in which we accreted material from asymptotic giant branch stars in the mass range 1-2 solar masses. We investigate how the surface abundances are affected by the inclusion of mechanisms like thermohaline mixing and gravitational settling. While we are able to find a reasonable fit to the carbon and sodium abundances of SDSS J1707+58, suggesting accretion of around 0.1 solar masses from a 2 solar mass companion, the strontium and barium abundances remain problematic and this object may have experienced something other than a standard

Seven New Carbon-enhanced Metal-poor RR Lyrae Stars

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CNO Abundances in Metal-Poor Stars

process. We have more success in fitting the abundances of the mildly carbon-enriched, metal-poor RR Lyrae pulsator TY Gru (CS 22881-071), which we suggest received 0.1 solar masses of material from a companion of around 1 solar mass.

A Search for Unrecognized Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor Stars

We report estimated carbon-abundance ratios, [C/Fe], for seven newly discovered carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) RR Lyrae stars. These are well-studied RRab stars that had previously been selected as CEMP candidates based on low-resolution spectra. For this pilot study, we observed eight of these CEMP RR Lyrae candidates with the Wide Field Spectrograph on the ANU 2.3 m telescope. Prior to this study, only two CEMP RR Lyrae stars had been discovered: TY Gru and SDSS J1707+58. We compare our abundances to new theoretical models of the evolution of low-mass stars in binary systems. These simulations evolve the secondary stars, post accretion from an asymptotic giant-branch (AGB) donor, all the way to the RR Lyrae stage. The abundances of CEMP RR Lyrae stars can be used as direct probes of the nature of the donor star, such as its mass, and the amount of material accreted onto the secondary. We find that the majority of the sample of CEMP RR Lyrae stars is consistent with AGB donor masses of around 1.5-2.0 M ☉ and accretion masses of a few hundredths of a solar mass. Future high-resolution studies of these newly discovered CEMP RR Lyrae stars will help disentangle the effects of the proposed mixing processes that occur in such objects.

Refined Estimates of Carbon Abundances for Carbon‐Enhanced Metal‐Poor Stars

Carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen produced in the early universe come from a variety of possible astrophysical sites. Among these are early supernovae, winds of massive, rapidly-rotating, mega metal-poor stars, and intermediate mass AGB stars. Large-scale surveys such as the HK Survey of Beers and colleagues and the Hamburg/ESO Survey of Christlieb and colleagues have allowed for the identification of numerous metal-poor stars in the Galactic halo. Follow-up observations of these metal-poor stars is necessary to determine CNO abundances. Techniques have been developed such that [C/Fe], [N/Fe], and [O/Fe] can be estimated with considerable accuracy using medium-resolution observations alone. We present estimates of these species for a number of metal-poor stars based on analysis of near-UV, optical, and near-IR spectra. The data come from several different instruments on southern-hemisphere telescopes, including the Goodman HTS and OSIRIS on SOAR, GMOS-S on Gemini, and XSHOOTER on VLT. In this way, we present some of the first metal-poor stars with a full complement of CNO abundances based solely on the analysis of medium-resolution spectra.

CARBON-ENHANCED METAL-POOR STARS IN THE INNER AND OUTER HALO COMPONENTS OF THE MILKY WAY

We have developed a new procedure to search for Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) stars from the Hamburg/ESO (HES) prism-survey plates. This method uses an extended line index for the CH G-band, which we demonstrate to have superior behavior when compared to the narrower G-band index formerly employed for these spectra. A first subsample, biased towards brighter stars (B

METAL-POOR STARS OBSERVED WITH THE MAGELLAN TELESCOPE. I. CONSTRAINTS ON PROGENITOR MASS AND METALLICITY OF AGB STARS UNDERGOING s-PROCESS NUCLEOSYNTHESIS*

We present results from a refined set of procedures for estimation of the metallicities ([Fe/H]) and carbon abundance ratios ([C/Fe]) based on a much larger sample of calibration objects (on the order of 500 stars) then were available to Rossi et al. (2005), due to a dramatic increase in the number of stars with measurements obtained from high‐resolution analyses in the past few years. We compare results obtained from a new calibration of the KP and GP indices with that obtained from a custom set of spectral synthesis based on MOOG. In cases where the GP index approaches saturation, it is clear that only spectral synthesis achieve reliable results.