565 research outputs found
Nucleosynthesis of light element isotopes in evolved stars experiencing extended mixing
We present computations of nucleosynthesis in red giants and asymptotic giant
branch stars of Population I experiencing extended mixing. The assumed physical
cause for mass transport is the buoyancy of magnetized structures, according to
recent suggestions. The peculiar property of such a mechanism is to allow for
both fast and slow mixing phenomena, as required for reproducing the spread in
Li abundances displayed by red giants and as discussed in an accompanying
paper. We explore here the effects of this kind of mass transport on CNO and
intermediatemass nuclei and compare the results with the available evidence
from evolved red giants and from the isotopic composition of presolar grains of
AGB origin. It is found that a good general accord exists between predictions
and measurements; in this framework we also show which type of observational
data best constrains the various parameters. We conclude that magnetic
buoyancy, allowing for mixing at rather different speeds, can be an interesting
scenario to explore for explaining together the abundances of CNO nuclei and of
Li.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, proceeding of 'The Origin of the Elements Heavier
than Fe' September 24-28, 2008, Torino, Italy. PASA (accepted for
publication
Gemini spectroscopy of the outer disk star cluster BH176
BH176 is an old metal-rich star cluster. It is spatially and kinematically
consistent with belonging to the Monoceros Ring. It is larger in size and more
distant from the Galactic plane than typical open clusters, and it does not
belong to the Galactic bulge. Our aim is to determine the origin of this unique
object by accurately determining its distance, metallicity, and age. The best
way to reach this goal is to combine spectroscopic and photometric methods. We
present medium-resolution observations of red clump and red giant branch stars
in BH176 obtained with the Gemini South Multi-Object Spectrograph.We derive
radial velocities, metallicities, effective temperatures, and surface gravities
of the observed stars and use these parameters to distinguish member stars from
field objects. We determine the following parameters for BH176:
km/s, , age Gyr, , distance
kpc, -element abundance dex (the
mean of [Mg/Fe], and [Ca/Fe]). BH176 is a member of old Galactic open clusters
that presumably belong to the thick disk. It may have originated as a massive
star cluster after the encounter of the forming thin disk with a high-velocity
gas cloud or as a satellite dwarf galaxy.Comment: 15 pages, 7 fufures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
The environment of formation as a second parameter for globular cluster classification
We perform an evolutionary multivariate analysis of a sample of 54 Galactic globular clusters with high-quality colour-magnitude diagrams and well-determined ages. The four parameters adopted for the analysis are: metallicity, age, maximum temperature on the horizontal branch and absolute V magnitude. Our cladistic analysis breaks the sample into three novel groups. An a posteriori kinematical analysis puts groups 1 and 2 in the halo, and group 3 in the thick disc. The halo and disc clusters separately follow a luminosity-metallicity relation of much weaker slope than galaxies. This property is used to propose a new criterion for distinguishing halo and disc clusters. A comparison of the distinct properties of the two halo groups with those of Galactic halo field stars indicates that the clusters of group 1 originated in the inner halo, while those of group 2 formed in the outer halo of the Galaxy. The inner halo clusters were presumably initially the most massive one, which allowed the formation of more strongly helium-enriched second generation stars, thus explaining the presence of Cepheids and of very hot horizontal-branch stars exclusively in this group. We thus conclude that the âsecond parameter' is linked to the environment in which globular clusters form, the inner halo favouring the formation of the most massive clusters which subsequently become more strongly self-enriched than their counterparts of the galactic outer halo and dis
Polar confinement of the Sun's interior magnetic field by laminar magnetostrophic flow
The global-scale interior magnetic field needed to account for the Sun's
observed differential rotation can be effective only if confined below the
convection zone in all latitudes, including the polar caps. Axisymmetric
nonlinear MHD solutions are obtained showing that such confinement can be
brought about by a very weak downwelling flow U~10^{-5}cm/s over each pole.
Such downwelling is consistent with the helioseismic evidence. All three
components of the magnetic field decay exponentially with altitude across a
thin "magnetic confinement layer" located at the bottom of the tachocline. With
realistic parameter values, the thickness of the confinement layer ~10^{-3} of
the Sun's radius. Alongside baroclinic effects and stable thermal
stratification, the solutions take into account the stable compositional
stratification of the helium settling layer, if present as in today's Sun, and
the small diffusivity of helium through hydrogen, chi. The small value of chi
relative to magnetic diffusivity produces a double boundary-layer structure in
which a "helium sublayer" of smaller vertical scale is sandwiched between the
top of the helium settling layer and the rest of the confinement layer.
Solutions are obtained using both semi-analytical and purely numerical,
finite-difference techniques. The confinement-layer flows are magnetostrophic
to excellent approximation. More precisely, the principal force balances are
between Lorentz, Coriolis, pressure-gradient and buoyancy forces, with relative
accelerations and viscous forces negligible. This is despite the kinematic
viscosity being somewhat greater than chi. We discuss how the confinement
layers at each pole might fit into a global dynamical picture of the solar
tachocline. That picture, in turn, suggests a new insight into the early Sun
and into the longstanding enigma of solar lithium depletion.Comment: Accepted by JFM. 36 pages, 10 figure
Mixing along the Red Giant Branch in Metal-poor Field Stars
We have determined Li, C, N, O, Na, and Fe abundances, and 12C/13C isotopic
ratios for a sample of 62 field metal-poor stars (plus 43 taken from the
literature). This large sample was used to show that small mass lower-RGB stars
(i.e., fainter than the RGB bump) have abundances of light elements in
agreement with theoretical predictions from classical evolutionary models. A
second, distinct mixing episode occurs just after the RGB bump, reaching
regions of incomplete CNO burning. No O-Na anticorrelation, as observed in
globular cluster stars, is found in field stars. This means that the mixing
episode is not deep enough to reach regions where ON-burning occurs.Comment: 6 pages, 3 encapsulated figures, LateX, uses crckapb.sty; invited
talk, in "The Chemical Evolution of the Milky Way: Stars vs Clusters, Vulcano
(Italy), 20-24 September 1999, F. Matteucci and F. Giovannelli eds, Kluwer,
in pres
Three Li-rich K giants: IRAS 12327-6523, IRAS 13539-4153, and IRAS 17596-3952
We report on spectroscopic analyses of three K giants previously suggested to
be Li-rich: IRAS 12327-6523, IRAS 13539-4153, and IRAS 17596-3952.
High-resolution optical spectra and the LTE model atmospheres are used to
derive the stellar parameters: (, log , [Fe/H]), elemental
abundances, and the isotopic ratio C/C. IRAS 13539-4153 shows an
extremely high Li abundance of (Li) 4.2, a value ten
times more than the present Li abundance in the local interstellar medium. This
is the third highest Li abundance yet reported for a K giant. IRAS 12327-6523
shows a Li abundances of (Li) 1.4. IRAS 17596-3952 is a
rapidly rotating ( 35 km s) K giant with
(Li) 2.2. Infrared photometry which shows the presence
of an IR excess suggesting mass-loss. A comparison is made between these three
stars and previously recognized Li-rich giants.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, accepted for A
Models of Metal Poor Stars with Gravitational Settling and Radiative Accelerations: I. Evolution and Abundance Anomalies
Evolutionary models have been calculated for Pop II stars of 0.5 to
1.0 from the pre-main-sequence to the lower part of the giant branch.
Rosseland opacities and radiative accelerations were calculated taking into
account the concentration variations of 28 chemical species, including all
species contributing to Rosseland opacities in the OPAL tables. The effects of
radiative accelerations, thermal diffusion and gravitational settling are
included. While models were calculated both for Z=0.00017 and 0.0017, we
concentrate on models with Z=0.00017 in this paper. These are the first Pop II
models calculated taking radiative acceleration into account. It is shown that,
at least in a 0.8 star, it is a better approximation not to let Fe
diffuse than to calculate its gravitational settling without including the
effects of . In the absence of any turbulence outside of
convection zones, the effects of atomic diffusion are large mainly for stars
more massive than 0.7. Overabundances are expected in some stars with
\teff \ge 6000K. Most chemical species heavier than CNO are affected. At 12
Gyr, overabundance factors may reach 10 in some cases (e.g. for Al or Ni) while
others are limited to 3 (e.g. for Fe). The calculated surface abundances are
compared to recent observations of abundances in globular clusters as well as
to observations of Li in halo stars. It is shown that, as in the case of Pop I
stars, additional turbulence appears to be present.Comment: 40 pages, 17 color figures, to appear in The Astrophysical Journal,
April 2002 (paper with original high resolution figures can be found at
http://www.cerca.umontreal.ca/~richer/Fichiersps/popII_1.ps
C/C ratio in planetary nebulae from the IUE archives
We investigated the abundance ratio of C/C in planetary nebulae
by examining emission lines arising from \ion{C}{3} 2s2p ^3P_{2,1,0} \to 2s^2
^1S_0. Spectra were retrieved from the International Ultraviolet Explorer
archives, and multiple spectra of the same object were coadded to achieve
improved signal-to-noise. The C hyperfine structure line at 1909.6 \AA
was detected in NGC 2440. The C/C ratio was found to be
1.2. In all other objects, we provide an upper limit for the flux
of the 1910 \AA line. For 23 of these sources, a lower limit for the
C/C ratio was established. The impact on our current
understanding of stellar evolution is discussed.
The resulting high signal-to-noise \ion{C}{3} spectrum helps constrain the
atomic physics of the line formation process. Some objects have the measured
1907/1909 flux ratio outside the low-electron density theoretical limit for
C. A mixture of C with C helps to close the gap somewhat.
Nevertheless, some observed 1907/1909 flux ratios still appear too high to
conform to the presently predicted limits. It is shown that this limit, as well
as the 1910/1909 flux ratio, are predominantly influenced by using the standard
partitioning among the collision strengths for the multiplet --
according to the statistical weights. A detailed calculation for the fine
structure collision strengths between these individual levels would be
valuable.Comment: ApJ accepted: 19 pages, 3 Figures, 2 Table
Intrinsic iron spread and a new metallicity scale for Globular Clusters
We have collected spectra of about 2000 red giant branch (RGB) stars in 19
Galactic globular clusters (GC) using FLAMES@VLT (about 100 star with GIRAFFE
and about 10 with UVES, respectively, in each GC). These observations provide
an unprecedented, precise, and homogeneous data-set of Fe abundances in GCs. We
use it to study the cosmic scatter of iron and find that, as far as Fe is
concerned, most GCs can still be considered mono-metallic, since the upper
limit to the scatter in iron is less than 0.05 dex, meaning that the degree of
homogeneity is better than 12%. The scatter in Fe we find seems to have a
dependence on luminosity, possibly due to the well-known inadequacies of
stellar atmospheres for upper-RGB stars and/or to intrinsic variability. It
also seems to be correlated with cluster properties, like the mass, indicating
a larger scatter in more massive GCs which is likely a (small) true intrinsic
scatter. The 19 GCs, covering the metallicity range of the bulk of Galactic
GCs, define an accurate and updated metallicity scale. We provide
transformation equations for a few existing scales. We also provide new values
of [Fe/H], on our scale, for all GCs in the Harris' catalogue.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication on Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Stellar Hydrodynamics in Radiative Regions
We present an analysis of the response of a radiative region to waves
generated by a convective region of the star; this wave treatment of the
classical problem of ``overshooting'' gives extra mixing relative to the
treatment traditionally used in stellar evolutionary codes. The interface
between convectively stable and unstable regions is dynamic and nonspherical,
so that the nonturbulent material is driven into motion, even in the absence of
``penetrative overshoot.'' These motions may be described by the theory of
nonspherical stellar pulsations, and are related to motion measured by
helioseismology. Multi-dimensional numerical simulations of convective flow
show puzzling features which we explain by this simplified physical model.
Gravity waves generated at the interface are dissipated, resulting in slow
circulation and mixing seen outside the formal convection zone. The approach
may be extended to deal with rotation and composition gradients. Tests of this
description in the stellar evolution code TYCHO produce carbon stars on the
asymptotic giant branch (AGB), an isochrone age for the Hyades and three young
clusters with lithium depletion ages from brown dwarfs, and lithium and
beryllium depletion consistent with observations of the Hyades and Pleiades,
all without tuning parameters. The insight into the different contributions of
rotational and hydrodynamic mixing processes could have important implications
for realistic simulation of supernovae and other questions in stellar
evolution.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, accepted to the Astrophysical Journa
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