69 research outputs found
The influence of electron collisions on non-LTE Li line formation in stellar atmospheres
The influence of the uncertainties in the rate coefficient data for
electron-impact excitation and ionization on non-LTE Li line formation in cool
stellar atmospheres is investigated. We examine the electron collision data
used in previous non-LTE calculations and compare them to recent calculations
that use convergent close-coupling (CCC) techniques and to our own calculations
using the R-matrix with pseudostates (RMPS) method. We find excellent agreement
between rate coefficients from the CCC and RMPS calculations, and reasonable
agreement between these data and the semi-empirical data used in non-LTE
calculations up to now. The results of non-LTE calculations using the old and
new data sets are compared and only small differences found: about 0.01 dex (~
2%) or less in the abundance corrections. We therefore conclude that the
influence on non-LTE calculations of uncertainties in the electron collision
data is negligible. Indeed, together with the collision data for the charge
exchange process Li(3s) + H Li^+ + H^- now available, and barring the
existence of an unknown important collisional process, the collisional data in
general is not a source of significant uncertainty in non-LTE Li line formation
calculations.Comment: 8 pages, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics; Replaced with minor
corrections following proof
High-Resolution Spectroscopic Study of Extremely Metal-Poor Star Candidates from the SkyMapper Survey
The SkyMapper Southern Sky Survey is carrying out a search for the most
metal-poor stars in the Galaxy. It identifies candidates by way of its unique
filter set that allows for estimation of stellar atmospheric parameters. The
set includes a narrow filter centered on the Ca II K 3933A line, enabling a
robust estimate of stellar metallicity. Promising candidates are then confirmed
with spectroscopy. We present the analysis of Magellan-MIKE high-resolution
spectroscopy of 122 metal-poor stars found by SkyMapper in the first two years
of commissioning observations. 41 stars have [Fe/H] <= -3.0. Nine have [Fe/H]
<= -3.5, with three at [Fe/H] ~ -4. A 1D LTE abundance analysis of the elements
Li, C, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Zn, Sr, Ba and Eu shows
these stars have [X/Fe] ratios typical of other halo stars. One star with low
[X/Fe]
[X/Fe values appears to be "Fe-enhanced," while another star has an extremely
large [Sr/Ba] ratio: >2. Only one other star is known to have a comparable
value. Seven stars are "CEMP-no" stars ([C/Fe] > 0.7, [Ba/Fe] < 0). 21 stars
exhibit mild r-process element enhancements (0.3 <=[Eu/Fe] < 1.0), while four
stars have [Eu/Fe] >= 1.0. These results demonstrate the ability to identify
extremely metal-poor stars from SkyMapper photometry, pointing to increased
sample sizes and a better characterization of the metal-poor tail of the halo
metallicity distribution function in the future.Comment: Minor corrections to text, missing data added to Tables 3 and 4;
updated to match published version. Complete tables included in sourc
High precision abundances of the old solar twin HIP 102152: Insights on Li depletion from the oldest sun
We present the first detailed chemical abundance analysis of the old 8.2 Gyr solar twin, HIP 102152. We derive differential abundances of 21 elements relative to the Sun with precisions as high as 0.004 dex (≲1%), using ultra high-resolution (R = 110,0
The K2-HERMES Survey: Age and Metallicity of the Thick Disc
Asteroseismology is a promising tool to study Galactic structure and
evolution because it can probe the ages of stars. Earlier attempts comparing
seismic data from the {\it Kepler} satellite with predictions from Galaxy
models found that the models predicted more low-mass stars compared to the
observed distribution of masses. It was unclear if the mismatch was due to
inaccuracies in the Galactic models, or the unknown aspects of the selection
function of the stars. Using new data from the K2 mission, which has a
well-defined selection function, we find that an old metal-poor thick disc, as
used in previous Galactic models, is incompatible with the asteroseismic
information. We show that spectroscopic measurements of [Fe/H] and
[/Fe] elemental abundances from the GALAH survey indicate a mean
metallicity of for the thick disc. Here is the
effective solar-scaled metallicity, which is a function of [Fe/H] and
[/Fe]. With the revised disc metallicities, for the first time, the
theoretically predicted distribution of seismic masses show excellent agreement
with the observed distribution of masses. This provides an indirect
verification of the asteroseismic mass scaling relation is good to within five
percent. Using an importance-sampling framework that takes the selection
function into account, we fit a population synthesis model of the Galaxy to the
observed seismic and spectroscopic data. Assuming the asteroseismic scaling
relations are correct, we estimate the mean age of the thick disc to be about
10 Gyr, in agreement with the traditional idea of an old -enhanced
thick disc.Comment: 21 pages, submitted to MNRA
Coping strategies, stress, physical activity and sleep in patients with unexplained chest pain
BACKGROUND: The number of patients suffering from unexplained chest pain (UCP) is increasing. Intervention programmes are needed to reduce the chest pain and suffering experienced by these patients and effective preventive strategies are also required to reduce the incidence of these symptoms. The aim of this study was to describe general coping strategies in patients with UCP and examine the relationships between coping strategies, negative life events, sleep problems, physical activity, stress and chest pain intensity. METHOD: The sample consisted of 179 patients younger than 70 years of age, who were evaluated for chest pain at the emergency department daytime Monday through Friday and judged by a physician to have no organic cause for their chest pain. The study had a cross-sectional design. RESULTS: Emotive coping was related to chest pain intensity (r = 0.17, p = 0.02). Women used emotive coping to a greater extent than did men (p = 0.05). In the multivariate analysis was shown that physical activity decreased emotive coping (OR 0.13, p < 0.0001) while sex, age, sleep, mental strain at work and negative life events increased emotive coping. Twenty-seven percent of the patients had sleep problems 8 to14 nights per month or more. Permanent stress at work during the last year was reported by 18% of the patients and stress at home by 7%. Thirty-five percent of the patients were worried often or almost all the time about being rushed at work and 23% were worried about being unable to keep up with their workload. Concerning total life events, 20% reported that a close relative had had a serious illness and 27% had reasons to be worried about a close relative. CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that patients with more intense UCP more often apply emotive coping in dealing with their pain. Given that emotive coping was also found to be related to disturbed sleep, negative life events, mental strain at work and physical activity, it may be of value to help these patients to both verbalise their emotions and to become cognizant of the influence of such factors on their pain experience
The GALAH survey: A new constraint on cosmological lithium and Galactic lithium evolution from warm dwarf stars
Lithium depletion and enrichment in the cosmos is not yet well understood. To help tighten
constraints on stellar and Galactic evolution models, we present the largest high-resolution
analysis of Li abundances A(Li) to date, with results for over 100 000 GALAH (Galactic Archeology with HERMES) field stars spanning effective temperatures 5900 K Teff 7000 K and
metallicities −3 [Fe/H] +0.5. We separated these stars into two groups, on the warm
and cool sides of the so-called Li dip, a localized region of the Kiel diagram wherein lithium
is severely depleted. We discovered that stars in these two groups show similar trends in the
A(Li)–[Fe/H] plane, but with a roughly constant offset in A(Li) of 0.4 dex, the warm group
having higher Li abundances. At [Fe/H] −0.5, a significant increase in Li abundance with
increasing metallicity is evident in both groups, signalling the onset of significant Galactic
production. At lower metallicity, stars in the cool group sit on the Spite plateau, showing a
reduced lithium of around 0.4 dex relative to the primordial value predicted from big bang
nucleosynthesis (BBN). However, stars in the warm group between [Fe/H] = −1.0 and −0.5
form an elevated plateau that is largely consistent with the BBN prediction. This may indicate
that these stars in fact preserve the primordial Li produced in the early Universe.XDG, KL, AMA, and SB acknowledge funds from the Alexander
von Humboldt Foundation in the framework of the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award endowed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. KL also acknowledges funds from the Swedish
Research Council (VR 2015-004153) and Marie Skłodowska
Curie Actions (cofund project INCA 600398), and AMA also
acknowledges support from the Swedish Research Council (VR
2016-03765), and the project grant ‘The New Milky Way’ (KAW
2013.0052) from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. TZ
acknowledges financial support of the Slovenian Research Agency
(research core funding no. P1-0188). SLM and JDS acknowledge
the support of the Australian Research Council through Discovery
Project grant DP180101791. Parts of this research were conducted
by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for
All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), through
project no. CE170100013. YST is grateful to be supported by
the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant HST-HF2-51425 awarded by
the Space Telescope Science Institute. SWC acknowledges federal
funding from the Australian Research Council through the Future
Fellowship grant entitled ‘Where are the Convective Boundaries in
Stars?’ (FT160100046). GT acknowledges support by the project
grant ‘The New Milky Way’ from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg
Foundation and by the grant 2016-03412 from the Swedish Research
Council
The GALAH survey: Milky Way disc metallicity and alpha-abundance trends in combined APOGEE-GALAH catalogues
GALAH and APOGEE are two high resolution multi object spectroscopic surveys
that provide fundamental stellar parameters and multiple elemental abundance
estimates for 400,000 stars in the Milky Way. They are complimentary in
both sky coverage and wavelength regime. Thus combining the two surveys will
provide us a large sample to investigate the disc metallicity and alpha
abundance trends. We use the Cannon data-driven approach selecting training
sets from among 20,000 stars in common for the two surveys to predict the
GALAH scaled stellar parameters from APOGEE spectra as well as APOGEE scaled
stellar parameters from GALAH spectra. We provide two combined catalogues with
GALAH scaled and APOGEE scaled stellar parameters each having 500,000
stars after quality cuts. With 470,000 stars that are common in both
these catalogues, we compare the GALAH scaled and APOGEE scaled metallicity
distribution functions (MDF), radial and vertical metallicity gradients as well
as the variation of [/Fe] vs [Fe/H] trends along and away from the
Galactic mid plane. We find mean metallicities of APOGEE scaled sample to be
higher compared to that for the GALAH scaled sample. We find similar
[/Fe] vs [Fe/H] trends using both samples consistent with previous
observational as well as simulation based studies. Radial and vertical
metallicity gradients derived using the two survey scaled samples are
consistent except in the inner and outer Galactocentric radius bins. Our
gradient estimates in the solar neighborhood are also consistent with previous
studies and are backed by larger sample size compared to previous works.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figures, submitted to MNRA
The GALAH survey: Co-orbiting stars and chemical tagging
We present a study using the second data release of the GALAH survey of
stellar parameters and elemental abundances of 15 pairs of stars identified by
Oh et al 2017. They identified these pairs as potentially co-moving pairs using
proper motions and parallaxes from Gaia DR1. We find that 11 very wide (>1.7
pc) pairs of stars do in fact have similar Galactic orbits, while a further
four claimed co-moving pairs are not truly co-orbiting. Eight of the 11
co-orbiting pairs have reliable stellar parameters and abundances, and we find
that three of those are quite similar in their abundance patterns, while five
have significant [Fe/H] differences. For the latter, this indicates that they
could be co-orbiting because of the general dynamical coldness of the thin
disc, or perhaps resonances induced by the Galaxy, rather than a shared
formation site. Stars such as these, wide binaries, debris of past star
formation episodes, and coincidental co-orbiters, are crucial for exploring the
limits of chemical tagging in the Milky Way.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, submitted to MNRAS. Updated for Gaia DR2 value
The GALAH survey: Co-orbiting stars and chemical tagging
We present a study using the second data release of the GALAH survey of
stellar parameters and elemental abundances of 15 pairs of stars identified by
Oh et al 2017. They identified these pairs as potentially co-moving pairs using
proper motions and parallaxes from Gaia DR1. We find that 11 very wide (>1.7
pc) pairs of stars do in fact have similar Galactic orbits, while a further
four claimed co-moving pairs are not truly co-orbiting. Eight of the 11
co-orbiting pairs have reliable stellar parameters and abundances, and we find
that three of those are quite similar in their abundance patterns, while five
have significant [Fe/H] differences. For the latter, this indicates that they
could be co-orbiting because of the general dynamical coldness of the thin
disc, or perhaps resonances induced by the Galaxy, rather than a shared
formation site. Stars such as these, wide binaries, debris of past star
formation episodes, and coincidental co-orbiters, are crucial for exploring the
limits of chemical tagging in the Milky Way.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, submitted to MNRAS. Updated for Gaia DR2 value
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