73 research outputs found
Statistical equilibrium of silicon in the solar atmosphere
The statistical equilibrium of neutral and ionised silicon in the solar
photosphere is investigated. Line formation is discussed and the solar silicon
abundance determined. High-resolution solar spectra were used to determine
solar values by comparison with Si line synthesis
based on LTE and NLTE level populations. The results will be used in a
forthcoming paper for differential abundance analyses of metal-poor stars. A
detailed analysis of silicon line spectra leads to setting up realistic model
atoms, which are exposed to interactions in plane-parallel solar atmospheric
models. The resulting departure coefficients are entered into a line-by-line
analysis of the visible and near-infrared solar silicon spectrum. The
statistical equilibrium of \ion{Si}{i} turns out to depend marginally on
bound-free interaction processes, both radiative and collisional. Bound-bound
interaction processes do not play a significant role either, except for
hydrogen collisions, which have to be chosen adequately for fitting the cores
of the near-infrared lines. Except for some near-infrared lines, the NLTE
influence on the abundances is weak. Taking the deviations from LTE in silicon
into account, it is possible to calculate the ionisation equilibrium from
neutral and ionised lines. The solar abundance based on the experimental
-values of Garz corrected for the Becker et al.'s measurement is . Combined with an extended line sample with selected NIST -values, the
solar abundance is , with a nearly perfect ionisation
equilibrium of \Delta\log\epsilon_\odot(\ion{Si}{ii}/\ion{Si}{i}) = -0.01.Comment: 13pages 10 figures. A&A acceptte
The NLTE Barium Abundance in Dwarf Stars in the Metallicity Range of -1 < [Fe/H] < +0.3
We present the results of determination of the barium abundance considering
the non-LTE (NLTE) effects in 172 dwarf stars in the metallicity range of -1<
[Fe/H] <+0.3, assigned to different Galactic substructures by kinematic
criteria. We used a model of the Ba atom with 31 levels of Ba I and 101 levels
of Ba II. The atmosphere models for the investigated stars were computed using
the ATLAS9 code modified by new opacity distribution functions. The NLTE
profiles of the unblended Ba II (4554 A, 5853 A, 6496 A) were computed and then
compared to those observed. The line 6141 A was also used, but with an
allowance for its correlation with the iron line. The average barium abundances
in the thin and thick discs are 0.01 +/- 0.08 and -0.03 +/- 0.07, respectively.
The comparison to the calculations of the Galactic chemical evolution by
Serminato et al. (2009) was conducted. The trend obtained for the Ba abundance
versus [Fe/H] suggests a complex barium production process in the thin and
thick discs
Formation of MnI lines in the solar atmosphere
We present a detailed NLTE analysis of 39 MnI lines in the solar spectrum.
The influence of NLTE effects on the line formation and element abundance is
investigated. Our goal is the derivation of solar log gfe values for manganese
lines, which will later be used in differential abundance analysis of
metal-poor stars. The method of spectrum synthesis is employed, which is based
on a solar model atmosphere with initially specified element abundances. A
manganese abundance of 5.47 dex is used with the theoretical line-blanketed
model atmosphere. Statistical equilibrium calculations are carried out for the
model atom, which comprises 245 and 213 levels for MnI and MnII, respectively.
Photoionization cross-sections are assumed hydrogenic. For line synthesis van
der Waals broadening is calculated according to Anstee & O'Mara's formalism. It
is shown that hyperfine structure of the Mn lines also has strong broadening
effects, and that manganese is prone to NLTE effects in the solar atmosphere.
The nature of the NLTE effects and the validity of the LTE approach are
discussed in detail. The role of photoionization and collisional interaction is
investigated.Comment: 17 pages, 27 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Non-LTE line formation for Pr II and Pr III in A and Ap stars
Non-LTE line formation for Pr II and Pr III is considered through a range of
effective temperatures between 7250 K and 9500 K. A comprehensive model atom
for Pr II/III is based on the measured and the predicted energy levels, in
total, 6708 levels of Pr II and Pr III. We describe calculations of the Pr II
energy levels and oscillator strengths for the transitions in Pr II and Pr III.
The influence of departures from LTE on Pr abundance determinations is
evaluated. At Teff >= 8000 K departures from LTE lead to overionization of Pr
II and to systematically depleted total absorption in the line and positive
abundance corrections. At the lower temperatures, different lines of Pr II may
be either weakened or amplified depending on the line strength. The non-LTE
effects strengthen the Pr III lines and lead to negative abundance corrections.
Non-LTE corrections grow with effective temperature for the Pr II lines, and,
in contrast, they decline for the Pr III lines. The Pr II/III model atom is
applied to determine the Pr abundance in the atmosphere of the roAp star HD
24712 from the lines of two ionization stages. In the chemically uniform
atmosphere with [Pr/H] = 3, the departures from LTE may explain only small part
(0.3 dex) of the difference between the LTE abundances derived from the Pr II
and Pr III lines (2 dex). We find that the lines of both ionization stages are
described for the vertical distribution of the praseodymium where the Pr
enriched layer with [Pr/H] > 4 exists in the outer atmosphere at log tau_5000 <
-4. The departures from LTE for Pr II/III are strong in the stratified
atmosphere and have the opposite sign for the Pr II and Pr III lines. Using the
revised partition function of Pr II and experimental transition probabilities,
we determine the solar non-LTE abundance of Pr as log (Pr/H) = -11.15\pm0.08.Comment: 17 pages, 4 tables, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Chandra grating spectroscopy of three hot white dwarfs
High-resolution soft X-ray spectroscopic observations of single hot white
dwarfs are scarce. With the Chandra Low-Energy Transmission Grating, we have
observed two white dwarfs, one is of spectral type DA (LB 1919) and the other
is a non-DA of spectral type PG1159 (PG 1520+525). The spectra of both stars
are analyzed, together with an archival Chandra spectrum of another DA white
dwarf (GD 246). The soft X-ray spectra of the two DA white dwarfs are
investigated in order to study the effect of gravitational settling and
radiative levitation of metals in their photospheres. LB 1919 is of interest
because it has a significantly lower metallicity than DAs with otherwise
similar atmospheric parameters. GD 246 is the only white dwarf known that shows
identifiable individual iron lines in the soft X-ray range. For the PG1159
star, a precise effective temperature determination is performed in order to
confine the position of the blue edge of the GW Vir instability region in the
HRD. (abridged)Comment: A&A, in pres
Spectra of supernovae in the nebular phase
When supernovae enter the nebular phase after a few months, they reveal
spectral fingerprints of their deep interiors, glowing by radioactivity
produced in the explosion. We are given a unique opportunity to see what an
exploded star looks like inside. The line profiles and luminosities encode
information about physical conditions, explosive and hydrostatic
nucleosynthesis, and ejecta morphology, which link to the progenitor properties
and the explosion mechanism. Here, the fundamental properties of spectral
formation of supernovae in the nebular phase are reviewed. The formalism
between ejecta morphology and line profile shapes is derived, including effects
of scattering and absorption. Line luminosity expressions are derived in
various physical limits, with examples of applications from the literature. The
physical processes at work in the supernova ejecta, including gamma-ray
deposition, non-thermal electron degradation, ionization and excitation, and
radiative transfer are described and linked to the computation and application
of advanced spectral models. Some of the results derived so far from
nebular-phase supernova analysis are discussed.Comment: Book chapter for 'Handbook of Supernovae,' edited by Alsabti and
Murdin, Springer. 51 pages, 14 figure
Kinetic equilibrium of iron in the atmospheres of cool stars III. The ionization equilibrium of selected reference stars
Non-LTE line formation calculations of Fe I are performed for a small number
of reference stars to investigate and quantify the efficiency of neutral
hydrogen collisions. Using the atomic model that was described in previous
publications, the final discrimination with respect to hydrogen collisions is
based on the condition that the surface gravities as determined by the Fe I/Fe
II ionization equilibria are in agreement with their astrometric counterparts
obtained from HIPPARCOS parallaxes. Depending on the choice of the hydrogen
collision scaling factor S_H, we find deviations from LTE in Fe I ranging from
0.00 (S_H = infinity) to 0.46 dex (S_H = 0 for HD140283) in the logarithmic
abundances while Fe II follows LTE.
With the exception of Procyon, for which a mild temperature correction is
needed to fulfil the ionization balance, excellent consistency is obtained for
the metal-poor reference stars if Balmer profile temperatures are combined with
S_H = 3. The correct choice of collisional damping parameters ("van-der-Waals"
constants) is found to be generally more important for these little evolved
metal-poor stars than considering departures from LTE. For the Sun the
calibrated value for S_H leads to average Fe I non-LTE corrections of 0.02 dex
and a mean abundance from Fe I lines of log epsilon(Fe) = 7.49 \pm 0.08.
We confront the deduced stellar parameters with comparable spectroscopic
analyses by other authors which also rely on the iron ionization equilibrium as
a gravity indicator. On the basis of the HIPPARCOS astrometry our results are
shown to be an order of magnitude more precise than published data sets, both
in terms of offset and star-to-star scatter.Comment: 13 pages, 7 tables, 5 figures, accepted by A&
The neon content of nearby B-type stars and its implications for the solar model problem
The recent downward revision of the solar photospheric abundances now leads
to severe inconsistencies between the theoretical predictions for the internal
structure of the Sun and the results of helioseismology. There have been claims
that the solar neon abundance may be underestimated and that an increase in
this poorly-known quantity could alleviate (or even completely solve) this
problem. Early-type stars in the solar neighbourhood are well-suited to testing
this hypothesis because they are the only stellar objects whose absolute neon
abundance can be derived from the direct analysis of photospheric lines. Here
we present a fully homogeneous NLTE abundance study of the optical Ne I and Ne
II lines in a sample of 18 nearby, early B-type stars, which suggests log
epsilon(Ne)=7.97+/-0.07 dex (on the scale in which log epsilon[H]=12) for the
present-day neon abundance of the local ISM. Chemical evolution models of the
Galaxy only predict a very small enrichment of the nearby interstellar gas in
neon over the past 4.6 Gyr, implying that our estimate should be representative
of the Sun at birth. Although higher by about 35% than the new recommended
solar abundance, such a value appears insufficient by itself to restore the
past agreement between the solar models and the helioseismological constraints.Comment: Accepted by A&A. 14 pages, contains colour figure
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