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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
| 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.
| 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
| 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
| Carbon and Strontium Abundances of Metal-poor Stars
We present carbon and strontium abundances for 100 metal-poor starsmeasured from R~7000 spectra obtained with the Echellette Spectrographand Imager at the Keck Observatory. Using spectral synthesis of theG-band region, we have derived carbon abundances for stars ranging from[Fe/H]=-1.3 to [Fe/H]=-3.8. The formal errors are ~0.2 dex in [C/Fe].The strontium abundance in these stars was measured using spectralsynthesis of the resonance line at 4215 Å. Using these twoabundance measurements along with the barium abundances from ourprevious study of these stars, we show that it is possible to identifyneutron-capture-rich stars with our spectra. We find, as in otherstudies, a large scatter in [C/Fe] below [Fe/H]=-2. Of the stars with[Fe/H]<-2, 9%+/-4% can be classified as carbon-rich metal-poor stars.The Sr and Ba abundances show that three of the carbon-rich stars areneutron-capture-rich, while two have normal barium and strontium. Thisfraction of carbon enhanced stars is consistent with other studies thatinclude this metallicity range.The data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory,which is operated as a scientific partnership among the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology, the University of California, and the NationalAeronautics and Space Administration. The observatory was made possibleby the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.
| 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).
| 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.
| 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.
| Abundances of Extremely Metal-poor Star Candidates
We present chemical abundances for 110 stars identified inobjective-prism surveys as candidates for being very metal-poor. Theabundances are derived from high-S/N, intermediate-resolution spectraobtained with the Keck Observatory Echellette Spectrograph and Imager(ESI). An additional 25 stars with well-determined abundances rangingfrom [Fe/H]=-1.5 to -3.2 were observed and the results used to helpcalibrate our analysis and determine the accuracy of our abundancedeterminations. Abundances for the program stars were measured for Fe,Mg, Ca, Ti, Cr, and Ba with an accuracy of approximately 0.3 dex.Fifty-three of the stars in our sample have [Fe/H]<=-2, 22 have[Fe/H]<=-2.5, and 13 have [Fe/H]<=-2.9. Surprisingly,approximately one-third of the sample is relatively metal-rich, with[Fe/H]>-1.5. In addition to identifying a number of extremelymetal-poor stars, this study also shows that moderate-resolution spectraobtained with the Keck ESI yield relatively accurate abundances forstars as faint as V=14 with modest exposure time (~20 minutes). Thiscapability will prove useful if the so-far elusive stars at [Fe/H]<-4turn out to be mostly fainter than V=15.The data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory,which is operated as a scientific partnership among the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology, the University of California, and the NationalAeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possibleby the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.
| 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.
| Binary statistics among population II stars
Population II stars are old, metal-poor, Galactic halo stars with highproper motion. We have carried out a visual binary survey of 164 halostars in the solar neighborhood (median distance 100 pc), using infraredspeckle interferometry, adaptive optics, and wide field direct imaging.The sample is based on the lists of Population II stars of Carney et al.(1994) and Norris (1986), with reliable distances from HIPPARCOSmeasurements.At face value, we found 33 binaries, 6 triples, and 1 quadruple system.When we limit ourselves to K-band flux ratios larger than 0.1 (to avoidbackground contamination), the numbers drop to 9 binaries and 1 triple,corresponding to a binary frequency of 6 - 7 % above our angularresolution limit of about 0.1 arcsec. If we count all systems withK-band flux ratios greater than 0.01, we obtain 15 more binaries and 3more triples, corresponding to a binary frequency for projectedseparations in excess of 10 AU of around 20 %. This is to be comparedwith the frequency of spectroscopic binaries (up to a period of 3000days) of Population II stars of about 15 % (Latham et al. 2002). We alsodetermined a semi-major axis distribution for our visual Population IIbinary and triple systems, which appears to be remarkably different fromthat of Population I stars. Second epoch-observations must help confirmthe reality of our results.
| The Geneva-Copenhagen survey of the Solar neighbourhood. Ages, metallicities, and kinematic properties of 14 000 F and G dwarfs
We present and discuss new determinations of metallicity, rotation, age,kinematics, and Galactic orbits for a complete, magnitude-limited, andkinematically unbiased sample of 16 682 nearby F and G dwarf stars. Our63 000 new, accurate radial-velocity observations for nearly 13 500stars allow identification of most of the binary stars in the sampleand, together with published uvbyβ photometry, Hipparcosparallaxes, Tycho-2 proper motions, and a few earlier radial velocities,complete the kinematic information for 14 139 stars. These high-qualityvelocity data are supplemented by effective temperatures andmetallicities newly derived from recent and/or revised calibrations. Theremaining stars either lack Hipparcos data or have fast rotation. Amajor effort has been devoted to the determination of new isochrone agesfor all stars for which this is possible. Particular attention has beengiven to a realistic treatment of statistical biases and errorestimates, as standard techniques tend to underestimate these effectsand introduce spurious features in the age distributions. Our ages agreewell with those by Edvardsson et al. (\cite{edv93}), despite severalastrophysical and computational improvements since then. We demonstrate,however, how strong observational and theoretical biases cause thedistribution of the observed ages to be very different from that of thetrue age distribution of the sample. Among the many basic relations ofthe Galactic disk that can be reinvestigated from the data presentedhere, we revisit the metallicity distribution of the G dwarfs and theage-metallicity, age-velocity, and metallicity-velocity relations of theSolar neighbourhood. Our first results confirm the lack of metal-poor Gdwarfs relative to closed-box model predictions (the ``G dwarfproblem''), the existence of radial metallicity gradients in the disk,the small change in mean metallicity of the thin disk since itsformation and the substantial scatter in metallicity at all ages, andthe continuing kinematic heating of the thin disk with an efficiencyconsistent with that expected for a combination of spiral arms and giantmolecular clouds. Distinct features in the distribution of the Vcomponent of the space motion are extended in age and metallicity,corresponding to the effects of stochastic spiral waves rather thanclassical moving groups, and may complicate the identification ofthick-disk stars from kinematic criteria. More advanced analyses of thisrich material will require careful simulations of the selection criteriafor the sample and the distribution of observational errors.Based on observations made with the Danish 1.5-m telescope at ESO, LaSilla, Chile, and with the Swiss 1-m telescope at Observatoire deHaute-Provence, France.Complete Tables 1 and 2 are only available in electronic form at the CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/418/989
| High-Precision Near-Infrared Photometry of a Large Sample of Bright Stars Visible from the Northern Hemisphere
We present the results of 8 yr of infrared photometric monitoring of alarge sample of stars visible from Teide Observatory (Tenerife, CanaryIslands). The final archive is made up of 10,949 photometric measuresthrough a standard InSb single-channel photometer system, principally inJHK, although some stars have measures in L'. The core of this list ofstars is the standard-star list developed for the Carlos SánchezTelescope. A total of 298 stars have been observed on at least twooccasions on a system carefully linked to the zero point defined byVega. We present high-precision photometry for these stars. The medianuncertainty in magnitude for stars with a minimum of four observationsand thus reliable statistics ranges from 0.0038 mag in J to 0.0033 magin K. Many of these stars are faint enough to be observable with arraydetectors (42 are K>8) and thus to permit a linkage of the bright andfaint infrared photometric systems. We also present photometry of anadditional 25 stars for which the original measures are no longeravailable, plus photometry in L' and/or M of 36 stars from the mainlist. We calculate the mean infrared colors of main-sequence stars fromA0 V to K5 V and show that the locus of the H-K color is linearlycorrelated with J-H. The rms dispersion in the correlation between J-Hand H-K is 0.0073 mag. We use the relationship to interpolate colors forall subclasses from A0 V to K5 V. We find that K and M main-sequence andgiant stars can be separated on the color-color diagram withhigh-precision near-infrared photometry and thus that photometry canallow us to identify potential mistakes in luminosity classclassification.
| Abundances for metal-poor stars with accurate parallaxes. I. Basic data
We present element-to-element abundance ratios measured from highdispersion spectra for 150 field subdwarfs and early subgiants withaccurate Hipparcos parallaxes (errors <20%). For 50 stars new spectrawere obtained with the UVES on Kueyen (VLT UT2), the McDonald 2.7 mtelescope, and SARG at TNG. Additionally, literature equivalent widthswere taken from the works by Nissen & Schuster, Fulbright, andProchaska et al. to complement our data. The whole sample includes boththick disk and halo stars (and a few thin disk stars); most stars havemetallicities in the range -2<[Fe/H]<-0.6. We found our data, thatof Nissen & Schuster, and that of Prochaska to be of comparablequality; results from Fulbright scatter a bit more, but they are stillof very good quality and are extremely useful due to the large size ofhis sample. The results of the present analysis will be used inforthcoming papers to discuss the chemical properties of thedissipational collapse and accretion components of our Galaxy.Based in part on data collected at the European Southern Observatory,Chile, at the MacDonald Observatory, Texas, USA, and at the TelescopioNazionale Galileo, Canary Island, INAF,Italy-Spain.}\fnmsep\thanks{Table 1 is only available in electronic format the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) orvia\resizebox{8.8cm}{2.2mm}htpp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/404/187}
| Oxygen line formation in late-F through early-K disk/halo stars. Infrared O I triplet and [O I] lines
In order to investigate the formation of O I 7771-5 and [O I] 6300/6363lines, extensive non-LTE calculations for neutral atomic oxygen werecarried out for wide ranges of model atmosphere parameters, which areapplicable to early-K through late-F halo/disk stars of variousevolutionary stages.The formation of the triplet O I lines was found to be well described bythe classical two-level-atom scattering model, and the non-LTEcorrection is practically determined by the parameters of theline-transition itself without any significant relevance to the detailsof the oxygen atomic model. This simplifies the problem in the sensethat the non-LTE abundance correction is essentially determined only bythe line-strength (Wlambda ), if the atmospheric parametersof Teff, log g, and xi are given, without any explicitdependence of the metallicity; thus allowing a useful analytical formulawith tabulated numerical coefficients. On the other hand, ourcalculations lead to the robust conclusion that LTE is totally valid forthe forbidden [O I] lines.An extensive reanalysis of published equivalent-width data of O I 7771-5and [O I] 6300/6363 taken from various literature resulted in theconclusion that, while a reasonable consistency of O I and [O I]abundances was observed for disk stars (-1 <~ [Fe/H] <~ 0), theexistence of a systematic abundance discrepancy was confirmed between OI and [O I] lines in conspicuously metal-poor halo stars (-3 <~[Fe/H] <~ -1) without being removed by our non-LTE corrections, i.e.,the former being larger by ~ 0.3 dex at -3 <~ [Fe/H] <~ -2.An inspection of the parameter-dependence of this discordance indicatesthat the extent of the discrepancy tends to be comparatively lessenedfor higher Teff/log g stars, suggesting the preference ofdwarf (or subgiant) stars for studying the oxygen abundances ofmetal-poor stars.Tables 2, 5, and 7 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/402/343 and Table\ref{tab3} is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org
| Improved Astrometry and Photometry for the Luyten Catalog. II. Faint Stars and the Revised Catalog
We complete construction of a catalog containing improved astrometry andnew optical/infrared photometry for the vast majority of NLTT starslying in the overlap of regions covered by POSS I and by the secondincremental Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) release, approximately 44%of the sky. The epoch 2000 positions are typically accurate to 130 mas,the proper motions to 5.5 mas yr-1, and the V-J colors to0.25 mag. Relative proper motions of binary components are measured to 3mas yr-1. The false-identification rate is ~1% for11<~V<~18 and substantially less at brighter magnitudes. Theseimprovements permit the construction of a reduced proper-motion diagramthat, for the first time, allows one to classify NLTT stars intomain-sequence (MS) stars, subdwarfs (SDs), and white dwarfs (WDs). We inturn use this diagram to analyze the properties of both our catalog andthe NLTT catalog on which it is based. In sharp contrast to popularbelief, we find that NLTT incompleteness in the plane is almostcompletely concentrated in MS stars, and that SDs and WDs are detectedalmost uniformly over the sky δ>-33deg. Our catalogwill therefore provide a powerful tool to probe these populationsstatistically, as well as to reliably identify individual SDs and WDs.
| A Survey of Proper-Motion Stars. XVI. Orbital Solutions for 171 Single-lined Spectroscopic Binaries
We report 25,563 radial velocity measurements for 1359 single-linedstars in the Carney-Latham sample of 1464 stars selected for high propermotion. For 171 of these, we present spectroscopic orbital solutions. Wefind no obvious difference between the binary characteristics in thehalo and the disk populations. The observed frequency is the same, andthe period distributions are consistent with the hypothesis that the twosets of binaries were drawn from the same parent population. Thissuggests that metallicity in general, and radiative opacities inparticular, have little influence over the fragmentation process thatleads to short-period binaries. All the binaries with periods shorterthan 10 days have nearly circular orbits, while the binaries withperiods longer than 20 days exhibit a wide range of eccentricities and amedian value of 0.37. For the metal-poor high-velocity halo binaries inour sample, the transition from circular to eccentric orbits appears tooccur at about 20 days, supporting the conclusion that tidalcircularization on the main sequence is important for the oldestbinaries in the Galaxy. Some of the results presented here usedobservations made with the Multiple Mirror Telescope, a joint facilityof the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Arizona.
| Revised Coordinates and Proper Motions of the Stars in the Luyten Half-Second Catalog
We present refined coordinates and proper-motion data for the highproper-motion (HPM) stars in the Luyten Half-Second (LHS) catalog. Thepositional uncertainty in the original Luyten catalog is typicallygreater than 10" and is often greater than 30". We have used the digitalscans of the POSS I and POSS II plates to derive more accurate positionsand proper motions of the objects. Out of the 4470 candidates in the LHScatalog, 4323 objects were manually reidentified in the POSS I and POSSII scans. A small fraction of the stars were not found because of thelack of finder charts and digitized POSS II scans. The uncertainties inthe revised positions are typically ~2" but can be as high as ~8" in afew cases, which is a large improvement over the original data.Cross-correlation with the Tycho-2 and Hipparcos catalogs yielded 819candidates (with mR<~12). For these brighter sources, theposition and proper-motion data were replaced with the more accurateTycho-2/Hipparcos data. In total, we have revised proper-motionmeasurements and coordinates for 4040 stars and revised coordinates for4330 stars. The electronic version of the paper5 contains the updated information on all 4470stars in the LHS catalog.
| Binary Star Orbits. II. Preliminary First Orbits for 117 Systems
Orbital elements are presented for 117 binary systems with no previousorbit calculation. For nearly all of these systems, these elements mustbe regarded as preliminary, but the ephemerides presented here should berelatively accurate over the next several decades. Further, the analysisof these systems should highlight the need for their continuedobservation by dedicated programs to improve the veracity of theseelements.
| Abundances and Kinematics of Field Stars. II. Kinematics and Abundance Relationships
As an investigation of the origin of ``α-poor'' halo stars, weanalyze kinematic and abundance data for 73 intermediate-metallicitystars (-1>[Fe/H]>=-2) selected from Paper I of this series. We findevidence for a connection between the kinematics and the enhancement ofcertain element-to-iron ([X/Fe]) ratios in these stars. Statisticallysignificant correlations were found between [X/Fe] and galacticrest-frame velocities (vRF) for Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, and Ni,with marginally significant correlations existing for Ti and Y as well.We also find that the [X/Fe] ratios for these elements all correlatewith a similar level of significance with [Na/Fe]. Finally, we comparethe abundances of these halo stars against those of stars in nearbydwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies. We find significant differencesbetween the abundance ratios in the dSph stars and halo stars of similarmetallicity. From this result, it is unlikely that the halo stars in thesolar neighborhood, including even the ``α-poor'' stars, were oncemembers of disrupted dSph galaxies similar to those studied to date.
| GAIA and Population II Visual Binaries
The results of a kinematical population classification of 497 Hipparcosorbital binaries are discussed. Less than 10% of the stars from thesample belong to the thick disk. Only seven stars have halo kinematics.There are no direct dynamical mass determinations for extreme halostars. Some suggestions, concerning Population II visual binaries forwhich ground-based astrometric observations in combination with GAIAdata will be useful in the future for the better determination of orbitsfor long period Population II binaries, are offered.
| Three-dimensional Spectral Classification of Low-Metallicity Stars Using Artificial Neural Networks
We explore the application of artificial neural networks (ANNs) for theestimation of atmospheric parameters (Teff, logg, and [Fe/H])for Galactic F- and G-type stars. The ANNs are fed withmedium-resolution (Δλ~1-2 Å) non-flux-calibratedspectroscopic observations. From a sample of 279 stars with previoushigh-resolution determinations of metallicity and a set of (external)estimates of temperature and surface gravity, our ANNs are able topredict Teff with an accuracy ofσ(Teff)=135-150 K over the range4250<=Teff<=6500 K, logg with an accuracy ofσ(logg)=0.25-0.30 dex over the range 1.0<=logg<=5.0 dex, and[Fe/H] with an accuracy σ([Fe/H])=0.15-0.20 dex over the range-4.0<=[Fe/H]<=0.3. Such accuracies are competitive with theresults obtained by fine analysis of high-resolution spectra. It isnoteworthy that the ANNs are able to obtain these results withoutconsideration of photometric information for these stars. We have alsoexplored the impact of the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) on the behaviorof ANNs and conclude that, when analyzed with ANNs trained on spectra ofcommensurate S/N, it is possible to extract physical parameter estimatesof similar accuracy with stellar spectra having S/N as low as 13. Takentogether, these results indicate that the ANN approach should be ofprimary importance for use in present and future large-scalespectroscopic surveys.
| Catalogue of [Fe/H] determinations for FGK stars: 2001 edition
The catalogue presented here is a compilation of published atmosphericparameters (Teff, log g, [Fe/H]) obtained from highresolution, high signal-to-noise spectroscopic observations. This newedition has changed compared to the five previous versions. It is nowrestricted to intermediate and low mass stars (F, G and K stars). Itcontains 6354 determinations of (Teff, log g, [Fe/H]) for3356 stars, including 909 stars in 79 stellar systems. The literature iscomplete between January 1980 and December 2000 and includes 378references. The catalogue is made up of two tables, one for field starsand one for stars in galactic associations, open and globular clustersand external galaxies. The catalogue is distributed through the CDSdatabase. Access to the catalogue with cross-identification to othersets of data is also possible with VizieR (Ochsenbein et al.\cite{och00}). The catalogue (Tables 1 and 2) is only available inelectronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/373/159 and VizieRhttp://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/.
| Abundances and Kinematics of Field Halo and Disk Stars. I. Observational Data and Abundance Analysis
We describe observations and abundance analysis of a high-resolution,high signal-to-noise ratio survey of 168 stars, most of which aremetal-poor dwarfs. We follow a self-consistent LTE analysis technique todetermine the stellar parameters and abundances, and we estimate theeffects of random and systematic uncertainties on the resultingabundances. Element-to-iron ratios are derived for key α-, odd-Z,Fe-peak, and r- and s-process elements. Effects of non-LTE on theanalysis of Fe I lines are shown to be very small on average.Spectroscopically determined surface gravities are derived that arequite close to those obtained from Hipparcos parallaxes.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Schlange |
| Right ascension: | 17h58m38.45s |
| Declination: | -13°05'49.7" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 9.628 |
| Proper motion RA: | -460.4 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -729.9 |
| B-T magnitude: | 10.323 |
| V-T magnitude: | 9.686 |
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