Abundances of lithium, sodium, and potassium in Vega

Abstract

Vega's photospheric abundances of Li, Na, and K were determined by using considerably weak lines measured on the very high-S/N spectrum, while the non-LTE correction and the gravity-darkening correction were adequately taken into account. It was confirmed that these alkali elements are mildly underabundant ([Li/H] ~ -0.6, [Na/H] ~ -0.3, and [K/H] ~ -0.2) compared to the solar system values, as generally seen also in other metals. Since the tendency of Li being more deficient than Na and K is qualitatively similar to what is seen in typical interstellar cloud, the process of interstellar gas accretion may be related with the abundance anomaly of Vega, as suspected in the case of lambda Boo stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS; 8 pages, 9 figure