Lithium in Blanco1: Implications for Stellar Mixing

We obtain lithium abundances for G and K stars in Blanco 1, an open cluster with an age similar to, or slightly younger than, the Pleiades. We critically examine previous spectroscopic abundance analyses of Blanco 1 and conclude that while there were flaws in earlier work, it is likely that Blanco 1 is close in overall metallicity to the older Hyades cluster and more metal-rich than the Pleiades. However, we find Blanco 1 has Li abundances and rotation rates similar to the Pleiades, contradicting predictions from standard stellar evolution models, in which convective pre-main sequence (PMS) Li depletion should increase rapidly with metallicity. If the high metallicity of Blanco 1 is subsequently confirmed, our observations imply (1) that a currently unknown mechanism severely inhibits PMS Li depletion, (2) that additional non-standard mixing modes, such as those driven by rotation and angular momentum loss, are then responsible for main sequence Li depletion between the ages of Blanco 1 and the Hyades, and (3) that in clusters younger than the Hyades, metallicity plays only a minor role in determining the amount of Li depletion among G and K stars. These conclusions suggest that Li abundance remains a useful age indicator among young (less than 700 Myr) stars even when metallicities are unknown. If non-standard mixing is effective in Population I stars, the primordial Li abundance could be significantly larger than present day Population II Li abundances, due to prior Li depletion.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figs. To appear in ApJ Vol. 511 (Jan 20 1999

Convection, Thermal Bifurcation, and the Colors of A stars

Broad-band ultraviolet photometry from the TD-1 satellite and low dispersion spectra from the short wavelength camera of IUE have been used to investigate a long-standing proposal of Bohm-Vitense that the normal main sequence A- and early-F stars may divide into two different temperature sequences: (1) a high temperature branch (and plateau) comprised of slowly rotating convective stars, and (2) a low temperature branch populated by rapidly rotating radiative stars. We find no evidence from either dataset to support such a claim, or to confirm the existence of an "A-star gap" in the B-V color range 0.22 <= B-V <= 0.28 due to the sudden onset of convection. We do observe, nonetheless, a large scatter in the 1800--2000 A colors of the A-F stars, which amounts to ~0.65 mags at a given B-V color index. The scatter is not caused by interstellar or circumstellar reddening. A convincing case can also be made against binarity and intrinsic variability due to pulsations of delta Sct origin. We find no correlation with established chromospheric and coronal proxies of convection, and thus no demonstrable link to the possible onset of convection among the A-F stars. The scatter is not instrumental. Approximately 0.4 mags of the scatter is shown to arise from individual differences in surface gravity as well as a moderate spread (factor of ~3) in heavy metal abundance and UV line blanketing. A dispersion of ~0.25 mags remains, which has no clear and obvious explanation. The most likely cause, we believe, is a residual imprecision in our correction for the spread in metal abundances. However, the existing data do not rule out possible contributions from intrinsic stellar variability or from differential UV line blanketing effects owing to a dispersion in microturbulent velocity.Comment: 40 pages, 14 figures, 1 table, AAS LaTex, to appear in The Astrophysical Journa

A Study of the B-V Colour Temperature Relation

We attempt to construct a B-V colour temperature relation for stars in the least model dependent way employing the best modern data. The fit we obtained with the form Teff = Teff((B-V)0,[Fe/H],log g) is well constrained and a number of tests show the consistency of the procedures for the fit. Our relation covers from F0 to K5 stars with metallicity [Fe/H] = -1.5 to +0.3 for both dwarfs and giants. The residual of the fit is 66 K, which is consistent with what are expected from the quality of the present data. Metallicity and surface gravity effects are well separated from the colour dependence. Dwarfs and giants match well in a single family of fit, differing only in log g. The fit also detects the Galactic extinction correction for nearby stars with the amount E(B-V) = 0.26 +/-0.03 mag/kpc. Taking the newly obtained relation as a reference we examine a number of B-V colour temperature relations and atmosphere models available in the literature. We show the presence of a systematic error in the colour temperature relation from synthetic calculations of model atmospheres; the systematic error across K0 to K5 dwarfs is 0.04-0.05 mag in B-V, which means 0.25-0.3 mag in Mv for the K star range. We also argue for the error in the temperature scale used in currently popular stellar population synthesis models; synthetic colours from these models are somewhat too blue for aged elliptical galaxies. We derive the colour index of the sun (B-V)sun = 0.627 +/-0.018, and discuss that redder colours (e.g., 0.66-0.67) often quoted in the literature are incompatible with the colour-temperature relation.Comment: AASLaTeX (aaspp4.sty),36 pages (13 figures included), submitted to Astronomical Journal, replaced (typo in author name

Improved Color-Temperature Relations and Bolometric Corrections for Cool Stars

We present new grids of colors and bolometric corrections for F-K stars having 4000 K < Teff < 6500 K, 0.0 < log g < 4.5 and -3.0 < [Fe/H] < 0.0. A companion paper extends these calculations into the M giant regime. Colors are tabulated for Johnson U-V and B-V; Cousins V-R and V-I; Johnson-Glass V-K, J-K and H-K; and CIT/CTIO V-K, J-K, H-K and CO. We have developed these color-temperature (CT) relations by convolving synthetic spectra with photometric filter-transmission-profiles. The synthetic spectra have been computed with the SSG spectral synthesis code using MARCS stellar atmosphere models as input. Both of these codes have been improved substantially, especially at low temperatures, through the incorporation of new opacity data. The resulting synthetic colors have been put onto the observational systems by applying color calibrations derived from models and photometry of field stars which have Teffs determined by the infrared-flux method. The color calibrations have zero points and slopes which change most of the original synthetic colors by less than 0.02 mag and 5%, respectively. The adopted Teff scale (Bell & Gustafsson 1989) is confirmed by the extraordinary agreement between the predicted and observed angular diameters of the field stars. We have also derived empirical CT relations from the field-star photometry. Except for the coolest dwarfs (Teff < 5000 K), our calibrated, solar-metallicity model colors are found to match these and other empirical relations quite well. Our calibrated, 4 Gyr, solar-metallicity isochrone also provides a good match to color-magnitude diagrams of M67. We regard this as evidence that our calibrated colors can be applied to many astrophysical problems, including modelling the integrated light of galaxies. (abridged)Comment: To appear in the March 2000 issue of the Astronomical Journal. 72 pages including 16 embedded postscript figures (one page each) and 6 embedded postscript tables (18 pages total

Empirically Constrained Color-Temperature Relations. II. uvby

(Abriged) A new grid of theoretical color indices for the Stromgren uvby photometric system has been derived from MARCS model atmospheres and SSG synthetic spectra for cool dwarf and giant stars. At warmer temperatures this grid has been supplemented with the synthetic uvby colors from recent Kurucz atmospheric models without overshooting. Our transformations appear to reproduce the observed colors of extremely metal-poor turnoff and giant stars (i.e., [Fe/H]<-2). Due to a number of assumptions made in the synthetic color calculations, however, our color-temperature relations for cool stars fail to provide a suitable match to the uvby photometry of both cluster and field stars having [Fe/H]>-2. To overcome this problem, the theoretical indices at intermediate and high metallicities have been corrected using a set of color calibrations based on field stars having accurate IRFM temperature estimates and spectroscopic [Fe/H] values. Encouragingly, isochrones that employ the transformations derived in this study are able to reproduce the observed CMDs (involving u-v, v-b, and b-y colors) for a number of open and globular clusters (including M92, M67, the Hyades, and 47Tuc) rather well. Moreover, our interpretations of such data are very similar, if not identical, with those given by VandenBerg & Clem (2003, AJ, 126, 778) from a consideration of BV(RI)c observations for the same clusters. In the present investigation, we have also analyzed the observed Stromgren photometry for the classic Population II subdwarfs, compared our "final" (b-y)-Teff relationship with those derived empirically in a number of recent studies, and examined in some detail the dependence of the m1 index on [Fe/H].Comment: 70 pages, 26 figures. Accepted for publication in AJ (Feb 2004). Postscript version with high resolution figures and complete Table 3 available at http://astrowww.phys.uvic.ca/~jclem/uvb

Rotation and activity in the solar-metallicity open cluster NGC2516

We report new measures of radial velocities and rotation rates (v sin i) for 51 F and early-G stars in the open cluster NGC2516, and combine these with previously published data. From high signal-to-noise spectra of two stars, we show that NGC2516 has a relative iron abundance with respect to the Pleiades of delta([Fe/H])= +0.04 +/- 0.07 at the canonical reddening of E(B - V) = 0.12, in contrast to previous photometric studies that placed the cluster 0.2 to 0.4 dex below solar. We construct a color-magnitude diagram based on radial velocity members, and explore the sensitivity of photometric determinations of the metallicity and distance to assumed values of the reddening. For a metal abundance near solar, the Hipparcos distance to NGC2516 is probably underestimated. Finally, we show that the distribution of rotation rates and X-ray emission does not differ greatly from that of the Pleiades, when allowance is made for the somewhat older age of NGC2516.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 35 pages including 7 figure

High-Resolution Spectroscopy of Some Very Active Southern Stars

We have obtained high-resolution echelle spectra of 18 solar-type stars that an earlier survey showed to have very high levels of Ca II H and K emission. Most of these stars belong to close binary systems, but 5 remain as probable single stars or well-separated binaries that are younger than the Pleiades on the basis of their lithium abundances and H-alpha emission. Three of these probable single stars also lie more than 1 magnitude above the main sequence in a color-magnitude diagram, and appear to have ages of 10 to 15 Myr. Two of them, HD 202917 and HD 222259, also appear to have a kinematical association with the pre-main sequence multiple system HD 98800.Comment: 25 figures, 3 table

Astrobiologically Interesting Stars within 10 parsecs of the Sun

The existence of life based on carbon chemistry and water oceans relies upon planetary properties, chiefly climate stability, and stellar properties, such as mass, age, metallicity and Galactic orbits. The latter can be well constrained with present knowledge. We present a detailed, up-to-date compilation of the atmospheric parameters, chemical composition, multiplicity and degree of chromospheric activity for the astrobiologically interesting solar-type stars within 10 parsecs of the Sun. We determine their state of evolution, masses, ages and space velocities, and produce an optimized list of candidates that merit serious scientific consideration by the future space-based interferometry probes aimed at directly detecting Earth-sized extrasolar planets and seeking spectroscopic infrared biomarkers as evidence of photosynthetic life. The initially selected stars number 33 solar-type within the population of 182 stars (excluding late M-dwarfs) closer than 10 pc. A comprehensive and detailed data compilation for these objects is still essentially lacking: a considerable amount of recent data has so far gone unexplored in this context. We present 13 objects as the nearest "biostars", after eliminating multiple stars, young, chromospherically active, hard X-ray emitting stars, and low metallicity objects. Three of these "biostars", HD 1581, 109358 and 115617, closely reproduce most of the solar properties and are considered as premier targets. We show that approximately 7% of the nearby stars are optimally interesting targets for exobiology.Comment: 36 pages, recommended for publication in Astrobiolog

Abundances and Evolution of Lithium in the Galactic Halo and Disk

Original article can be found at: --http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/--Copyright The American Astronomical SocietyWe have measured the Li abundance of 18 stars with [2[[Fe/H][[1 and 6000[Teff[6400 K, a parameter range that was poorly represented in previous studies. We examine the Galactic chemical evolution (GCE) of this element, combining these data with previous samples of turnoff stars over the full range of halo metallicities. We find that A(Li) increases from a level of D2.10 at [Fe/H]\[3.5 to D2.40 at [Fe/H]\[1.0, where A(Li)\log We compare the observations with 10 (n(Li)/n(H))]12.00. several GCE calculations, including existing one-zone models and a new model developed in the framework of inhomogeneous evolution of the Galactic halo. We show that Li evolved at a constant rate relative to iron throughout the halo and old disk epochs but that during the formation of young disk stars, the production of Li relative to iron increased significantly. These observations can be understood in the context of models in which postprimordial Li evolution during the halo and old disk epochs is dominated by Galactic cosmic-ray fusion and spallation reactions, with some contribution from the lprocess in supernovae. The onset of more efficient Li production (relative to iron) in the young disk coincides with the appearance of Li from novae and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. The major challenge facing the models is to reconcile the mild evolution of Li during the halo and old disk phases with the more efficient production (relative to iron) at [Fe/H][[0.5. We speculate that cool-bottom processing (production) of Li in low-mass stars may provide an important late-appearing source of Li, without attendant Fe production, that might explain the Li production in the young disk.Peer reviewe