Ruthenium and hafnium abundances in giant and dwarf barium stars

We present abundances for Ru and Hf, compare them to abundances of other heavy elements, and discuss the problems found in determining Ru and Hf abundances with laboratory gf-values in the spectra of barium stars. We determined Ru and Hf abundances in a sample of giant and dwarf barium stars, by the spectral synthesis of two RuI (4080.574A and 4757.856A) and two HfII (4080.437A and 4093.155A) transitions. The stellar spectra were observed with FEROS/ESO, and the stellar atmospheric parameters lie in the range 4300 < Teff/K < 6500, -1.2 < [Fe/H] <= 0 and 1.4 <= log g < 4.6. The HfII 4080A and the RuI 4758A observed transitions result in a unreasonably high solar abundance, given certain known uncertainties, when fitted with laboratory gf-values. For these two transitions we determined empirical gf-values by fitting the observed line profiles of the spectra of the Sun and Arcturus. For the sample stars, this procedure resulted in a good agreement of Ru and Hf abundances given by the two available lines. The resulting Ru and Hf abundances were compared to those of Y, Nd, Sm and Eu. In the solar system Ru, Sm and Eu are dominated by the r-process and Hf, Nd and Y by the s-process, and all of these elements are enhanced in barium stars since they lie inside the s-process path. Ru abundances show large scatter when compared to other heavy elements, whereas Hf abundances show less scatter and closely follow the abundances of Sm and Nd, in good agreement with theoretical expectations. We also suggest a possible, unexpected, correlation of Ru and Sm abundances. The observed behaviour in abundances is probably due to variations in the 13C pocket efficiency in AGB stars, and, though masked by high uncertainties, hint at a more complex scenario than proposed by theory.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures and 7 tables. accepted to A&

Neon and Sulfur Abundances of Planetary Nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds

The chemical abundances of neon and sulfur for 25 planetary nebulae (PNe) in the Magellanic Clouds are presented. These abundances have been derived using mainly infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope. The implications for the chemical evolution of these elements are discussed. A comparison with similarly obtained abundances of Galactic PNe and HII regions and Magellanic Clouds HII regions is also given. The average neon abundances are 6.0x10(-5) and 2.7x10(-5) for the PNe in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds respectively. These are ~1/3 and 1/6 of the average abundances of Galactic planetary nebulae to which we compare. The average sulfur abundances for the LMC and SMC are respectively 2.7x10(-6) and 1.0x10(-6). The Ne/S ratio (23.5) is on average higher than the ratio found in Galactic PNe (16) but the range of values in both data sets is similar for most of the objects. The neon abundances found in PNe and HII regions agree with each other. It is possible that a few (3-4) of the PNe in the sample have experienced some neon enrichment, but for two of these objects the high Ne/S ratio can be explained by their very low sulfur abundances. The neon and sulfur abundances derived in this paper are also compared to previously published abundances using optical data and photo-ionization models.Comment: 13 pages, 4 tables, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Non-LTE Abundances of Magnesium, Aluminum and Sulfur in OB Stars Near the Solar Circle

Non-LTE abundances of magnesium, aluminum and sulfur are derived for a sample of 23 low-v \sin i stars belonging to six northern OB associations of the Galactic disk within 1 kpc of the Sun. The abundances are obtained from the fitting of synthetic line profiles to high resolution spectra. A comparison of our results with HII region abundances indicates good agreement for sulfur while the cepheid abundances are higher. The derived abundances of Mg show good overlap with the cepheid results. The aluminum abundances for OB stars are significantly below the cepheid values. But, the OB star results show a dependence with effective temperature and need further investigation. The high Al abundances in the cepheids could be the result of mixing. A discussion of the oxygen abundance in objects near the solar circle suggests that the current mean galactic oxygen abundance in this region is 8.6-8.7 and in agreement with the recently revised oxygen abundance in the solar photosphere. Meaningful comparisons of the absolute S, Al and Mg abundances in OB stars with the Sun must await a reinvestigation of these elements, as well as the meteoritic reference element Si, with 3D hydrodynamical model atmospheres for the Sun. No abundance gradients are found within the limited range in galactocentric distances in the present study. Such variations would be expected only if there were large metallicity gradients in the disk.Comment: 3 figures, accepted for publication in A&A, needs aa.st

Planetary nebulae in the inner Milky Way: new abundances

The study of planetary nebulae in the inner-disk and bulge gives important information on the chemical abundances of elements such as He, N, O, Ar, Ne, and on the evolution of these abundances, which is associated with the evolution of intermediate-mass stars and the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. We present accurate abundances of the elements He, N, S, O, Ar, and Ne for a sample of 54 planetary nebulae located towards the bulge of the Galaxy, for which 33 have the abundances derived for the first time. The abundances are derived based on observations in the optical domain made at the National Laboratory for Astrophysics (LNA, Brazil). The data show a good agreement with other results in the literature, in the sense that the distribution of the abundances is similar to those works.Comment: Accepted for publication in RevMexAA (29 pages, 15 figures, 7 tables, uses rmaa.cls

"Counterpart" method for abundance determinations in HII regions

We suggest a new way of the determining abundances and electron temperatures in HII regions from strong emission lines. Our approach is based on the standard assumption that HII regions with similar intensities of strong emission lines have similar physical properties and abundances. A "counterpart" for a studied HII region may be chosen among HII regions with well-measured abundances (reference HII regions) by comparison of carefully chosen combinations of strong line intensities. Then the abundances in the investigated HII region can be assumed to be the same as that in its counterpart. In other words, we suggest to determine the abundances in HII regions "by precedent". To get more reliable abundances for the considered HII region, a number of reference HII regions is selected and then the abundances in the target HII region is estimated through extra-/interpolation. We will refer to this method of abundance determination as the counterpart method or, for brevity, the C method. We define a sample of reference HII regions and verify the validity of the C method. We find that this method produces reliable abundances. Finally, the C method is used to obtain the radial abundance distributions in the extended discs of the spiral galaxies M83, NGC4625 and NGC 628.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in the MNRA

Chemical sensitivity to the ratio of the cosmic-ray ionization rates of He and H2 in dense clouds

Aim: To determine whether or not gas-phase chemical models with homogeneous and time-independent physical conditions explain the many observed molecular abundances in astrophysical sources, it is crucial to estimate the uncertainties in the calculated abundances and compare them with the observed abundances and their uncertainties. Non linear amplification of the error and bifurcation may limit the applicability of chemical models. Here we study such effects on dense cloud chemistry. Method: Using a previously studied approach to uncertainties based on the representation of rate coefficient errors as log normal distributions, we attempted to apply our approach using as input a variety of different elemental abundances from those studied previously. In this approach, all rate coefficients are varied randomly within their log normal (Gaussian) distribution, and the time-dependent chemistry calculated anew many times so as to obtain good statistics for the uncertainties in the calculated abundances. Results: Starting with so-called ``high-metal'' elemental abundances, we found bimodal rather than Gaussian like distributions for the abundances of many species and traced these strange distributions to an extreme sensitivity of the system to changes in the ratio of the cosmic ray ionization rate zeta\_He for He and that for molecular hydrogen zeta\_H2. The sensitivity can be so extreme as to cause a region of bistability, which was subsequently found to be more extensive for another choice of elemental abundances. To the best of our knowledge, the bistable solutions found in this way are the same as found previously by other authors, but it is best to think of the ratio zeta\_He/zeta\_H2 as a control parameter perpendicular to the ''standard'' control parameter zeta/n\_H.Comment: Accepted for publicatio

Abundances from solar-flare gamma-ray line spectroscopy

Elemental abundances of the ambient gas at the site of gamma ray line production inthe solar atmosphere are deduced using gamma ray line observations from a solar flare. The resultant abundances are different from local galactic abundances which are thought to be similar to photospheric abundances

Cu I resonance lines in turn-off stars of NGC 6752 and NGC 6397. Effects of granulation from CO5BOLD models

Context. Copper is an element whose interesting evolution with metallicity is not fully understood. Observations of copper abundances rely on a very limited number of lines, the strongest are the Cu I lines of Mult. 1 at 324.7 nm and 327.3 nm which can be measured even at extremely low metallicities. Aims. We investigate the quality of these lines as abundance indicators. Method. We measure these lines in two turn-off (TO) stars in the Globular Cluster NGC 6752 and two TO stars in the Globular Cluster NGC 6397 and derive abundances with 3D hydrodynamical model atmospheres computed with the CO5BOLD code. These abundances are compared to the Cu abundances measured in giant stars of the same clusters, using the lines of Mult. 2 at 510.5 nm and 578.2 nm. Results. The abundances derived from the lines of Mult. 1 in TO stars differ from the abundances of giants of the same clusters. This is true both using CO5BOLD models and using traditional 1D model atmospheres. The LTE 3D corrections for TO stars are large, while they are small for giant stars. Conclusions. The Cu I resonance lines of Mult. 1 are not reliable abundance indicators. It is likely that departures from LTE should be taken into account to properly describe these lines, although it is not clear if these alone can account for the observations. An investigation of these departures is indeed encouraged for both dwarfs and giants. Our recommendation to those interested in the study of the evolution of copper abundances is to rely on the measurements in giants, based on the lines of Mult. 2. We caution, however, that NLTE studies may imply a revision in all the Cu abundances, both in dwarfs and giants.Comment: to be published on A\&