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Coudé-feed stellar spectral library - atmospheric parameters
Context. Empirical libraries of stellar spectra play an important rolein different fields. For example, they are used as reference for theautomatic determination of atmospheric parameters, or for buildingsynthetic stellar populations to study galaxies. The CFLIB(Coudé-feed library, Indo-US) database is at present one of themost complete libraries, in terms of its coverage of the atmosphericparameters space (T{eff}, log g and [Fe/H]) and wavelengthcoverage 3460-9464 Å at a resolution of 1 Å FWHM. Althoughthe atmospheric parameters of most of the stars were determined fromdetailed analyses of high-resolution spectra, for nearly 300 of the 1273stars of the library at least one of the three parameters is missing.For the others, the measurements, compiled from the literature, areinhomogeneous. Aims: In this paper, we re-determine theatmospheric parameters, directly using the CFLIB spectra, and comparethem to the previous studies. Methods: We use the ULySS programto derive the atmospheric parameters, using the ELODIE library as areference. Results: Based on comparisons with several previousstudies we conclude that our determinations are unbiased. For the 958 F,G, and K type stars the precision on T{eff}, log g, and[Fe/H] is respectively 43 K, 0.13 dex and 0.05 dex. For the 53 M starsthey are 82 K, 0.22 dex and 0.28 dex. And for the 260 OBA type stars therelative precision on T{eff} is 5.1%, and on log g, and[Fe/H] the precision is respectively 0.19 dex and 0.16 dex. Theseparameters will be used to re-calibrate the CFLIB fluxes and to producesynthetic spectra of stellar populations.Tables 2 and 3 are only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/525/A71
| Multi-element Abundance Measurements from Medium-resolution Spectra. II. Catalog of Stars in Milky Way Dwarf Satellite Galaxies
We present a catalog of Fe, Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti abundances for 2961 starsin eight dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way (MW): Sculptor,Fornax, Leo I, Sextans, Leo II, Canes Venatici I, Ursa Minor, and Draco.For the purposes of validating our measurements, we also observed 445red giants in MW globular clusters and 21 field red giants in the MWhalo. The measurements are based on Keck/DEIMOS medium-resolutionspectroscopy (MRS) combined with spectral synthesis. We estimateuncertainties in [Fe/H] by quantifying the dispersion of [Fe/H]measurements in a sample of stars in monometallic globular clusters(GCs). We estimate uncertainties in Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti abundances bycomparing to high-resolution spectroscopic abundances of the same stars.For this purpose, a sample of 132 stars with published high-resolutionspectroscopy in GCs, the MW halo field, and dwarf galaxies has beenobserved with MRS. The standard deviations of the differences in [Fe/H]and lang[?/Fe]rang (the average of [Mg/Fe], [Si/Fe], [Ca/Fe], and[Ti/Fe]) between the two samples is 0.15 and 0.16, respectively. Thiscatalog represents the largest sample of multi-element abundances indwarf galaxies to date. The next papers in this series draw conclusionson the chemical evolution, gas dynamics, and star formation historiesfrom the catalog presented here. The wide range of dwarf galaxyluminosity reveals the dependence of dwarf galaxy chemical evolution ongalaxy stellar mass.Data herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which isoperated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute ofTechnology, the University of California, and NASA. The Observatory wasmade possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. KeckFoundation.
| The Chemical Compositions of Non-variable Red and Blue Field Horizontal Branch Stars
We present a new detailed abundance study of field red horizontal branch(RHB) and blue horizontal branch (BHB) non-variable stars. Highresolution and high signal-to-noise ratio echelle spectra of 11 RHB and12 BHB were obtained with the McDonald 2.7 m telescope, and the RHBsample was augmented by reanalysis of spectra of 25 stars from a recentsurvey. We derived stellar atmospheric parameters based on spectroscopicconstraints and computed relative abundance ratios for 24 species of 19elements. The species include Si II and Ca II, which have not beenpreviously studied in RHB and BHB (T eff < 9000 K) stars.The abundance ratios are generally consistent with those ofsimilar-metallicity field stars in different evolutionary stages. Weestimated the masses of the RHB and BHB stars by comparing their Teff-log g positions with HB model evolutionary tracks.The mass distribution suggests that our program stars possess masses of~0.5 M sun. Finally, we compared the temperaturedistributions of field RHB and BHB stars with field RR Lyraes in themetallicity range -0.8gsim [Fe/H] gsim-2.5. This yieldedeffective temperature estimates of 5900 K and 7400 K for the red andblue edges of the RR Lyrae instability strip.
| The PASTEL catalogue of stellar parameters
Aims: The PASTEL catalogue is an update of the [Fe/H] catalogue,published in 1997 and 2001. It is a bibliographical compilation ofstellar atmospheric parameters providing (T_eff, log g, [Fe/H])determinations obtained from the analysis of high resolution, highsignal-to-noise spectra, carried out with model atmospheres. PASTEL alsoprovides determinations of the one parameter T_eff based on variousmethods. It is aimed in the future to provide also homogenizedatmospheric parameters and elemental abundances, radial and rotationalvelocities. A web interface has been created to query the catalogue onelaborated criteria. PASTEL is also distributed through the CDS databaseand VizieR. Methods: To make it as complete as possible, the mainjournals have been surveyed, as well as the CDS database, to findrelevant publications. The catalogue is regularly updated with newdeterminations found in the literature. Results: As of Febuary2010, PASTEL includes 30151 determinations of either T_eff or (T_eff,log g, [Fe/H]) for 16 649 different stars corresponding to 865bibliographical references. Nearly 6000 stars have a determination ofthe three parameters (T_eff, log g, [Fe/H]) with a high qualityspectroscopic metallicity.The catalogue can be queried through a dedicated web interface at http://pastel.obs.u-bordeaux1.fr/.It is also available in electronic form at the Centre de DonnéesStellaires in Strasbourg (http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR?-source=B/pastel),at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) orvia http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/515/A111
| Fast Winds and Mass Loss from Metal-Poor Field Giants
Echelle spectra of the infrared He I λ10830 line were obtainedwith NIRSPEC on the Keck 2 telescope for 41 metal-deficient field giantstars including those on the red giant branch (RGB), asymptotic giantbranch (AGB), and red horizontal branch (RHB). The presence of this He Iline is ubiquitous in stars with T effgsim 4500 K andMV fainter than -1.5, and reveals the dynamics of theatmosphere. The line strength increases with effective temperature for Teffgsim 5300 K in RHB stars. In AGB and RGB stars, the linestrength increases with luminosity. Fast outflows (gsim 60 kms-1) are detected from the majority of the stars andabout 40% of the outflows have sufficient speed as to allow escape ofmaterial from the star as well as from a globular cluster. Outflowspeeds and line strengths do not depend on metallicity for our sample([Fe/H]= -0.7 to -3.0), suggesting the driving mechanism forthese winds derives from magnetic and/or hydrodynamic processes. Gasoutflows are present in every luminous giant, but are not detected inall stars of lower luminosity indicating possible variability. Mass lossrates ranging from ~3 × 10-10 to ~6 ×10-8 M sun yr-1 estimatedfrom the Sobolev approximation for line formation represent values withevolutionary significance for red giants and RHB stars. We estimate that0.2 M sun will be lost on the RGB, and the torque of thiswind can account for observations of slowly rotating RHB stars in thefield. About 0.1-0.2 M sun will be lost on the RHB itself.This first empirical determination of mass loss on the RHB maycontribute to the appearance of extended horizontal branches in globularclusters. The spectra appear to resolve the problem of missingintracluster material in globular clusters. Opportunities exist for"wind smothering" of dwarf stars by winds from the evolved population,possibly leading to surface pollution in regions of high stellardensity.Data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, whichis operated as a scientific partnership among the California Instituteof Technology, the University of California, and the NationalAeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possibleby the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.
| An Overview of the Rotational Behavior of Metal-poor Stars
This paper describes the behavior of the rotational velocity inmetal-poor stars ([Fe/H] <= -0.5 dex) in different evolutionarystages, based on vsin i values from the literature. Our sample iscomprised of stars in the field and some Galactic globular clusters,including stars on the main sequence, the red giant branch (RGB), andthe horizontal branch (HB). The metal-poor stars are, mainly, slowrotators, and their vsin i distribution along the HR diagram is quitehomogeneous. Nevertheless, a few moderate to high values of vsin i arefound in stars located on the main sequence and the HB. We show that theoverall distribution of vsin i values is basically independent ofmetallicity for the stars in our sample. In particular, thefast-rotating main sequence stars in our sample present rotation ratessimilar to their metal-rich counterparts, suggesting that some of themmay actually be fairly young, in spite of their low metallicity, or elsethat at least some of them would be better classified as blue stragglerstars. We do not find significant evidence of evolution in vsin i valuesas a function of position on the RGB; in particular, we do not confirmprevious suggestions that stars close to the RGB tip rotate faster thantheir less-evolved counterparts. While the presence of fast rotatorsamong moderately cool blue HB stars has been suggested to be due toangular momentum transport from a stellar core that has retainedsignificant angular momentum during its prior evolution, we find thatany such transport mechanisms most likely operate very fast as the stararrives on the zero-age HB (ZAHB), since we do not find a link betweenevolution off the ZAHB and vsin i values. We present an extensivetabulation of all quantities discussed in this paper, including rotationvelocities, temperatures, gravities, and metallicities [Fe/H], as wellas broadband magnitudes and colors.
| Rotation and Macroturbulence in Metal-Poor Field Red Giant and Red Horizontal Branch Stars
We report the results for rotational velocities, Vrot sin i,and macroturbulence dispersions, ζRT, for 12 metal-poorfield red giant branch (RGB) stars and 7 metal-poor field red horizontalbranch (RHB) stars. The results are based on Fourier transform analysesof absorption line profiles from high-resolution (R ≈ 120,000),high-S/N (≈215 per pixel; ≈345 per resolution element) spectraobtained with the Gecko spectrograph at the Canada-France-HawaiiTelescope (CFHT). The stars were selected from the authors' previousstudies of 20 RHB and 116 RGB stars, based primarily onlarger-than-average line-broadening values. We find thatζRT values for the metal-poor RGB stars are very similarto those for metal-rich disk giants studied earlier by Gray and hiscollaborators. Six of the RGB stars have small rotational values, lessthan 2.0 km s-1, while five show significantrotation/enhanced line broadening, over 3 km s-1. We confirmthe rapid rotation rate for RHB star HD 195636, found earlier byPreston. This star's rotation is comparable to that of the fastest knownrotating blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars, when allowance is made fordifferences in radii and moments of inertia. The other six RHB starshave somewhat lower rotation but show a trend to higher values at highertemperatures (lower radii). Comparing our results with those for BHBstars from Kinman et al., we find that the fraction of rapidly rotatingRHB stars is somewhat lower than is found among BHB stars. The number ofrapidly rotating RHB stars is also smaller than we would have expectedfrom the observed rotation of the RGB stars. We devise two empiricalmethods to translate our earlier line-broadening results intoVrot sin i for all the RGB and RHB stars they studied.Binning the RGB stars by luminosity, we find that most metal-poor fieldRGB stars show no detectable sign, on average, of rotation, which is notsurprising given the stars' large radii. However, the most luminousstars, with MV <= -1.5, do show net rotation, with meanvalues of 2-4 km s-1, depending on the algorithm employed,and also show signs of radial velocity jitter and mass loss. This"rotation" may in fact prove to be due to other line-broadening effects,such as shock waves or pulsation.Based on observations obtained at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope(CFHT) which is operated by the National Research Council of Canada, theInstitut National des Sciences de l'Univers of the Centre National de laRecherche Scientifique de France, and the University of Hawaii.
| Vertical distribution of Galactic disk stars. IV. AMR and AVR from clump giants
We present the parameters of 891 stars, mostly clump giants, includingatmospheric parameters, distances, absolute magnitudes, spatialvelocities, galactic orbits and ages. One part of this sample consistsof local giants, within 100 pc, with atmospheric parameters eitherestimated from our spectroscopic observations at high resolution andhigh signal-to-noise ratio, or retrieved from the literature. The otherpart of the sample includes 523 distant stars, spanning distances up to1 kpc in the direction of the North Galactic Pole, for which we haveestimated atmospheric parameters from high resolution but lowsignal-to-noise Echelle spectra. This new sample is kinematicallyunbiased, with well-defined boundaries in magnitude and colours. Werevisit the basic properties of the Galactic thin disk as traced byclump giants. We find the metallicity distribution to be different fromthat of dwarfs, with fewer metal-rich stars. We find evidence for avertical metallicity gradient of -0.31 dex kpc-1 and for atransition at ~4-5 Gyr in both the metallicity and velocities. Theage-metallicity relation (AMR), which exhibits a very low dispersion,increases smoothly from 10 to 4 Gyr, with a steeper increase for youngerstars. The age-velocity relation (AVR) is characterized by thesaturation of the V and W dispersions at 5 Gyr, and continuous heatingin U.
| Halo Star Streams in the Solar Neighborhood
We have assembled a sample of halo stars in the solar neighborhood tolook for halo substructure in velocity and angular momentum space. Oursample (231 stars) includes red giants, RR Lyrae variable stars, and redhorizontal branch stars within 2.5 kpc of the Sun with [Fe/H] less than-1.0. It was chosen to include stars with accurate distances, spacevelocities, and metallicities, as well as well-quantified errors. Withour data set, we confirm the existence of the streams found by Helmi andcoworkers, which we refer to as the H99 streams. These streams have adouble-peaked velocity distribution in the z-direction (out of theGalactic plane). We use the results of modeling of the H99 streams byHelmi and collaborators to test how one might use vz velocityinformation and radial velocity information to detect kinematicsubstructure in the halo. We find that detecting the H99 streams withradial velocities alone would require a large sample (e.g.,approximately 150 stars within 2 kpc of the Sun and within 20° ofthe Galactic poles). In addition, we use the velocity distribution ofthe H99 streams to estimate their age. From our model of the progenitorof the H99 streams, we determine that it was accreted between 6 and 9Gyr ago. The H99 streams have [α/Fe] abundances similar to otherhalo stars in the solar neighborhood, suggesting that the gas thatformed these stars were enriched mostly by Type II supernovae. We havealso discovered in angular momentum space two other possiblesubstructures, which we refer to as the retrograde and progradeoutliers. The retrograde outliers are likely to be halo substructure,but the prograde outliers are most likely part of the smooth halo. Theretrograde outliers have significant structure in the vφdirection and show a range of [α/Fe], with two having low[α/Fe] for their [Fe/H]. The fraction of substructure stars in oursample is between 5% and 7%. The methods presented in this paper can beused to exploit the kinematic information present in future largedatabases like RAVE, SDSS-II/SEGUE, and Gaia.
| Population Synthesis in the Blue. IV. Accurate Model Predictions for Lick Indices and UBV Colors in Single Stellar Populations
We present a new set of model predictions for 16 Lick absorption lineindices from Hδ through Fe5335 and UBV colors for single stellarpopulations with ages ranging between 1 and 15 Gyr, [Fe/H] ranging from-1.3 to +0.3, and variable abundance ratios. The models are based onaccurate stellar parameters for the Jones library stars and a new set offitting functions describing the behavior of line indices as a functionof effective temperature, surface gravity, and iron abundance. Theabundances of several key elements in the library stars have beenobtained from the literature in order to characterize the abundancepattern of the stellar library, thus allowing us to produce modelpredictions for any set of abundance ratios desired. We develop a methodto estimate mean ages and abundances of iron, carbon, nitrogen,magnesium, and calcium that explores the sensitivity of the variousindices modeled to those parameters. The models are compared to high-S/Ndata for Galactic clusters spanning the range of ages, metallicities,and abundance patterns of interest. Essentially all line indices arematched when the known cluster parameters are adopted as input.Comparing the models to high-quality data for galaxies in the nearbyuniverse, we reproduce previous results regarding the enhancement oflight elements and the spread in the mean luminosity-weighted ages ofearly-type galaxies. When the results from the analysis of blue and redindices are contrasted, we find good consistency in the [Fe/H] that isinferred from different Fe indices. Applying our method to estimate meanages and abundances from stacked SDSS spectra of early-type galaxiesbrighter than L*, we find mean luminosity-weighed ages of theorder of ~8 Gyr and iron abundances slightly below solar. Abundanceratios, [X/Fe], tend to be higher than solar and are positivelycorrelated with galaxy luminosity. Of all elements, nitrogen is the morestrongly correlated with galaxy luminosity, which seems to indicatesecondary nitrogen enrichment. If that interpretation is correct, thisresult may impose a lower limit of 50-200 Myr to the timescale of starformation in early-type galaxies. Unlike clusters, galaxies show asystematic effect whereby higher order, bluer, Balmer lines yieldyounger ages than Hβ. This age discrepancy is stronger for lowerluminosity galaxies. We examine four possible scenarios to explain thistrend. Contamination of the bluer indices by a metal-poor stellarpopulation with a blue horizontal branch cannot account for the data.Blue stragglers and abundance-ratio effects cannot be ruled out, as theycan potentially satisfy the data, even though this can only be achievedby resorting to extreme conditions, such as extremely high [O/Fe] orspecific blue-straggler frequencies. The most likely explanation is thepresence of small amounts of a young/intermediate-age stellar populationcomponent. We simulate this effect by producing two-component models andshow that they provide a reasonably good match to the data when the massfraction of the young component is typically a few percent. Ifconfirmed, this result implies star formation has been extended inearly-type galaxies, and more so in less massive galaxies, which seemsto lend support to the ``downsizing'' scenario. Moreover, it impliesthat stellar population synthesis models are capable of constraining notonly the mean ages of stellar populations in galaxies, but also theirage spread.
| Medium-resolution Isaac Newton Telescope library of empirical spectra - II. The stellar atmospheric parameters
We present a homogeneous set of stellar atmospheric parameters(Teff, logg, [Fe/H]) for MILES, a new spectral stellarlibrary covering the range λλ 3525-7500Å at2.3Å (FWHM) spectral resolution. The library consists of 985 starsspanning a large range in atmospheric parameters, from super-metal-rich,cool stars to hot, metal-poor stars. The spectral resolution, spectraltype coverage and number of stars represent a substantial improvementover previous libraries used in population synthesis models. Theatmospheric parameters that we present here are the result of aprevious, extensive compilation from the literature. In order toconstruct a homogeneous data set of atmospheric parameters we have takenthe sample of stars of Soubiran, Katz & Cayrel, which has very welldetermined fundamental parameters, as the standard reference system forour field stars, and have calibrated and bootstrapped the data fromother papers against it. The atmospheric parameters for our clusterstars have also been revised and updated according to recent metallicityscales, colour-temperature relations and improved set of isochrones.
| Pulkovo compilation of radial velocities for 35495 stars in a common system.
Not Available
| Medium-resolution Isaac Newton Telescope library of empirical spectra
A new stellar library developed for stellar population synthesismodelling is presented. The library consists of 985 stars spanning alarge range in atmospheric parameters. The spectra were obtained at the2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope and cover the range λλ3525-7500 Å at 2.3 Å (full width at half-maximum) spectralresolution. The spectral resolution, spectral-type coverage,flux-calibration accuracy and number of stars represent a substantialimprovement over previous libraries used in population-synthesis models.
| Atmospheres, Chemical Compositions, and Evolutionary Histories of Very Metal-Poor Red Horizontal-Branch Stars in the Galactic Field and in NGC 7078 (M15)
We have conducted spectrum analyses of 24 field metal-poor([Fe/H]<-2) red horizontal-branch (RHB) stars identified in the HKobjective-prism survey and 6 such stars in the globular cluster M15,based on high-quality spectra (R~40,000, S/N~100) obtained with theMagellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle spectrograph at the Clay 6.5 mtelescope at Las Campanas Observatory. The atmospheric parameters of theRHB stars provide interesting bridges between turnoff stars of similartemperature and red giant branch (RGB) stars of similar gravity, andthey permit investigations of abundance trends [X/Fe] versus [Fe/H] in arelatively unexplored region of the temperature-gravity plane. We findthat the Teff, logg, vt, and [Fe/H] valuesdetermined from our spectra are consistent with expectations fromliterature spectroscopic studies of other evolved metal-poor stellarclasses. We show that the RHB stars have abundance distributions thatare consistent with typical halo stars of similar metallicities. Thephotometric and spectroscopic gravities of the M15 stars differ byamounts that grow with declining temperature. We use a regressionderived from these differences to calculate photometric gravities forthe field RHB stars. Then we use the locations of the field RHB starsamong the evolutionary tracks of Cassisi et al. in the logg versuslogTeff plane to estimate their masses and lifetimes as RHBstars. We use these lifetimes to estimate the size of the metal-poor HBpopulation from which they arise. Then, using counts of HB and RGB starsin metal-poor globular clusters, we conclude that the number ofmetal-poor RGB stars at high latitudes (|b|>30deg)brighter than V=15 exceeds those identified in extant objective-prismsurveys by more than an order of magnitude. Finally, we deduce theeffective temperature of the fundamental red edge of the metal-poor RRLyrae instability strip, logTeff(FRE)=3.80+/-0.01, from theinterface between the temperature distributions of metal-poor field RHBstars and the RR Lyrae stars of similar [Fe/H] in five metal-poorglobular clusters.This publication makes use of data products from the Two Micron All SkySurvey, which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts andthe Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute ofTechnology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administrationand the National Science Foundation. This paper includes data gatheredwith the 6.5 m Magellan telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory,Chile.
| Galactic model parameters for field giants separated from field dwarfs by their 2MASS and V apparent magnitudes
We present a method which separates field dwarfs and field giants bytheir 2MASS and V apparent magnitudes. This method is based onspectroscopically selected standards and is hence reliable. We appliedit to stars in two fields, SA 54 and SA 82, and we estimated a full setof Galactic model parameters for giants including their total localspace density. Our results are in agreement with the ones given in therecent literature.
| Estimation of Carbon Abundances in Metal-Poor Stars. I. Application to the Strong G-Band Stars of Beers, Preston, and Shectman
We develop and test a method for the estimation of metallicities([Fe/H]) and carbon abundance ratios ([C/Fe]) for carbon-enhancedmetal-poor (CEMP) stars based on the application of artificial neuralnetworks, regressions, and synthesis models to medium-resolution (1-2Å) spectra and J-K colors. We calibrate this method by comparisonwith metallicities and carbon abundance determinations for 118 starswith available high-resolution analyses reported in the recentliterature. The neural network and regression approaches make use of apreviously defined set of line-strength indices quantifying the strengthof the Ca II K line and the CH G band, in conjunction with J-K colorsfrom the Two Micron All Sky Survey Point Source Catalog. The use ofnear-IR colors, as opposed to broadband B-V colors, is required becauseof the potentially large affect of strong molecular carbon bands onbluer color indices. We also explore the practicality of obtainingestimates of carbon abundances for metal-poor stars from the spectralinformation alone, i.e., without the additional information provided byphotometry, as many future samples of CEMP stars may lack such data. Wefind that although photometric information is required for theestimation of [Fe/H], it provides little improvement in our derivedestimates of [C/Fe], and hence, estimates of carbon-to-iron ratios basedsolely on line indices appear sufficiently accurate for most purposes.Although we find that the spectral synthesis approach yields the mostaccurate estimates of [C/Fe], in particular for the stars with thestrongest molecular bands, it is only marginally better than is obtainedfrom the line index approaches. Using these methods we are able toreproduce the previously measured [Fe/H] and [C/Fe] determinations withan accuracy of ~0.25 dex for stars in the metallicity interval-5.5<=[Fe/H]<=-1.0 and with 0.2<=(J-K)0<=0.8. Athigher metallicity, the Ca II K line begins to saturate, especially forthe cool stars in our program, and hence, this approach is not useful insome cases. As a first application, we estimate the abundances of [Fe/H]and [C/Fe] for the 56 stars identified as possibly carbon-rich, relativeto stars of similar metal abundance, in the sample of ``strong G-band''stars discussed by Beers, Preston, and Shectman.
| A New Definition for the Ca4227 Feature: Is Calcium Really Underabundant in Early-Type Galaxies?
We have investigated the abundance of calcium in early-type galaxies bymeasuring the strength of the Ca I λ4227 absorption line in theirintegrated spectra. The database used is the large sample of early-typegalaxy integrated spectra in Caldwell and coworkers. We have measured Caabundances from the Ca I λ4227 feature both by using the LickCa4227 index and by defining a new index, Ca4227r, thatavoids the CN4216 molecular band in the continuum on the blueward sideof the line. With the new index definition we measure Ca abundances thatare systematically ~0.3 dex higher than with the Lick Ca4227 index. Theresult is that with the new index definition we obtain higher [Ca/Fe]abundances in early-type galaxies, which are more consistent with theirwell-known [Mg/Fe] overabundances. Hence, we suggest that Ca might beslightly enhanced, relative to Fe, in early-type galaxies.
| Stellar Chemical Signatures and Hierarchical Galaxy Formation
To compare the chemistries of stars in the Milky Way dwarf spheroidal(dSph) satellite galaxies with stars in the Galaxy, we have compiled alarge sample of Galactic stellar abundances from the literature. Whenkinematic information is available, we have assigned the stars tostandard Galactic components through Bayesian classification based onGaussian velocity ellipsoids. As found in previous studies, the[α/Fe] ratios of most stars in the dSph galaxies are generallylower than similar metallicity Galactic stars in this extended sample.Our kinematically selected stars confirm this for the Galactic halo,thin-disk, and thick-disk components. There is marginal overlap in thelow [α/Fe] ratios between dSph stars and Galactic halo stars onextreme retrograde orbits (V<-420 km s-1), but this is notsupported by other element ratios. Other element ratios compared in thispaper include r- and s-process abundances, where we find a significantoffset in the [Y/Fe] ratios, which results in a large overabundance in[Ba/Y] in most dSph stars compared with Galactic stars. Thus, thechemical signatures of most of the dSph stars are distinct from thestars in each of the kinematic components of the Galaxy. This resultrules out continuous merging of low-mass galaxies similar to these dSphsatellites during the formation of the Galaxy. However, we do not ruleout very early merging of low-mass dwarf galaxies, since up to one-halfof the most metal-poor stars ([Fe/H]<=-1.8) have chemistries that arein fair agreement with Galactic halo stars. We also do not rule outmerging with higher mass galaxies, although we note that the LMC and theremnants of the Sgr dwarf galaxy are also chemically distinct from themajority of the Galactic halo stars. Formation of the Galaxy's thickdisk by heating of an old thin disk during a merger is also not ruledout; however, the Galaxy's thick disk itself cannot be comprised of theremnants from a low-mass (dSph) dwarf galaxy, nor of a high-mass dwarfgalaxy like the LMC or Sgr, because of differences in chemistry.The new and independent environments offered by the dSph galaxies alsoallow us to examine fundamental assumptions related to thenucleosynthesis of the elements. The metal-poor stars ([Fe/H]<=-1.8)in the dSph galaxies appear to have lower [Ca/Fe] and [Ti/Fe] than[Mg/Fe] ratios, unlike similar metallicity stars in the Galaxy.Predictions from the α-process (α-rich freeze-out) would beconsistent with this result if there have been a lack of hypernovae indSph galaxies. The α-process could also be responsible for thevery low Y abundances in the metal-poor stars in dSph's; since [La/Eu](and possibly [Ba/Eu]) are consistent with pure r-process results, thelow [Y/Eu] suggests a separate r-process site for this light(first-peak) r-process element. We also discuss SNe II rates and yieldsas other alternatives, however. In stars with higher metallicities([Fe/H]>=-1.8), contributions from the s-process are expected; [(Y,La, and Ba)/Eu] all rise as expected, and yet [Ba/Y] is still muchhigher in the dSph stars than similar metallicity Galactic stars. Thisresult is consistent with s-process contributions from lower metallicityAGB stars in dSph galaxies, and is in good agreement with the slowerchemical evolution expected in the low-mass dSph galaxies relative tothe Galaxy, such that the build-up of metals occurs over much longertimescales. Future investigations of nucleosynthetic constraints (aswell as galaxy formation and evolution) will require an examination ofmany stars within individual dwarf galaxies.Finally, the Na-Ni trend reported in 1997 by Nissen & Schuster isconfirmed in Galactic halo stars, but we discuss this in terms of thegeneral nucleosynthesis of neutron-rich elements. We do not confirm thatthe Na-Ni trend is related to the accretion of dSph galaxies in theGalactic halo.
| The Indo-US Library of Coudé Feed Stellar Spectra
We have obtained spectra for 1273 stars using the 0.9 m coudéfeed telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. This telescope feedsthe coudé spectrograph of the 2.1 m telescope. The spectra havebeen obtained with the no. 5 camera of the coudé spectrograph anda Loral 3K×1K CCD. Two gratings have been used to provide spectralcoverage from 3460 to 9464 Å, at a resolution of ~1 Å FWHMand at an original dispersion of 0.44 Å pixel-1. For885 stars we have complete spectra over the entire 3460 to 9464 Åwavelength region (neglecting small gaps of less than 50 Å), andpartial spectral coverage for the remaining stars. The 1273 stars havebeen selected to provide broad coverage of the atmospheric parametersTeff, logg, and [Fe/H], as well as spectral type. The goal ofthe project is to provide a comprehensive library of stellar spectra foruse in the automated classification of stellar and galaxy spectra and ingalaxy population synthesis. In this paper we discuss thecharacteristics of the spectral library, viz., details of theobservations, data reduction procedures, and selection of stars. We alsopresent a few illustrations of the quality and information available inthe spectra. The first version of the complete spectral library is nowpublicly available from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory(NOAO) via ftp and http.
| Empirically Constrained Color-Temperature Relations. II. uvby
A new grid of theoretical color indices for the Strömgren uvbyphotometric system has been derived from MARCS model atmospheres and SSGsynthetic spectra for cool dwarf and giant stars having-3.0<=[Fe/H]<=+0.5 and 3000<=Teff<=8000 K. Atwarmer temperatures (i.e., 8000-2.0. To overcome thisproblem, the theoretical indices at intermediate and high metallicitieshave been corrected using a set of color calibrations based on fieldstars having well-determined distances from Hipparcos, accurateTeff estimates from the infrared flux method, andspectroscopic [Fe/H] values. In contrast with Paper I, star clustersplayed only a minor role in this analysis in that they provided asupplementary constraint on the color corrections for cool dwarf starswith Teff<=5500 K. They were mainly used to test thecolor-Teff relations and, encouragingly, isochrones thatemploy the transformations derived in this study are able to reproducethe observed CMDs (involving u-v, v-b, and b-y colors) for a number ofopen and globular clusters (including M67, the Hyades, and 47 Tuc)rather well. Moreover, our interpretations of such data are verysimilar, if not identical, with those given in Paper I from aconsideration of BV(RI)C observations for the sameclusters-which provides a compelling argument in support of thecolor-Teff relations that are reported in both studies. Inthe present investigation, we have also analyzed the observedStrömgren photometry for the classic Population II subdwarfs,compared our ``final'' (b-y)-Teff relationship with thosederived empirically in a number of recent studies and examined in somedetail the dependence of the m1 index on [Fe/H].Based, in part, on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope,operated jointly on the island of La Palma by Denmark, Finland, Iceland,Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de losMuchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.Based, in part, on observations obtained with the Danish 1.54 mtelescope at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile.
| Rotation Velocities of Red and Blue Field Horizontal-Branch Stars
We present measurements of the projected stellar rotation velocities(vsini) of a sample of 45 candidate field horizontal-branch (HB) starsspanning a wide range of effective temperatures, from red HB stars withTeff~=5000K to blue HB stars with Teff of 17,000K.Among the cooler blue HB stars (Teff=7500-11500 K), weconfirm prior studies showing that, although a majority of stars rotateat vsini<15kms-1, there exists a subset of ``fastrotators'' with vsini as high as 30-35 km s-1. All but one ofthe red HB stars in our sample have vsini<10kms-1, and noanalogous rotation bimodality is evident. We also identify anarrow-lined hot star (Teff~=16,000K) with enhancedphotospheric metal abundances and helium depletion, similar to theabundance patterns found among hot BHB stars in globular clusters, andfour other stars that may also belong in this category. We discussdetails of the spectral line fitting procedure that we use to deducevsini and explore how measurements of field HB star rotation may shedlight on the issue of HB star rotation in globular clusters.
| Spectroscopic Binaries, Velocity Jitter, and Rotation in Field Metal-poor Red Giant and Red Horizontal-Branch Stars
We summarize 2007 radial velocity measurements of 91 metal-poor fieldred giants. Excluding binary systems with orbital solutions, ourcoverage averages 13.7 yr per star, with a maximum of 18.0 yr. We reportfour significant findings. (1) Sixteen stars are found to bespectroscopic binaries, and we present orbital solutions for 14 of them.The spectroscopic binary frequency of the metal-poor red giants, with[Fe/H]<=-1.4, for periods less than 6000 days, is 16%+/-4%, which isnot significantly different from that of comparable-metallicity fielddwarfs, 17%+/-2%. The two CH stars in our program, BD -1°2582 and HD135148, are both spectroscopic binaries. (2) Velocity jitter is presentamong about 40% of the giants with MV<=-1.4. The twobest-observed cases, HD 3008 and BD +22°2411, showpseudoperiodicities of 172 and 186 days, longer than any knownlong-period variable in metal-poor globular clusters. Photometricvariability seen in HD 3008 and three other stars showing velocityjitter hints that starspots are the cause. However, the phasing of thevelocity data with the photometry data from Hipparcos is not consistentwith a simple starspot model for HD 3008. We argue against orbitalmotion effects and radial pulsation, so rotational modulation remainsthe best explanation. The implied rotational velocities for HD 3008 andBD +22°2411, both with MV<=-1.4 and R~50Rsolar, exceed 12 km s-1. (3) Including HD 3008and BD +22°2411, we have found signs of significant excess linebroadening in eight of the 17 red giants with MV<=-1.4,which we interpret as rotation. In three cases, BD +30°2034, CD-37°14010, and HD 218732, the rotation is probably induced by tidallocking between axial rotation and the observed orbital motion with astellar companion. But this cannot explain the other five stars in oursample that display signs of significant rotation. This high frequencyof elevated rotational velocities does not appear to be caused bystellar mass transfer or mergers: there are too few main-sequencebinaries with short enough periods. We also note that the lack of anynoticeable increase in mean rotation at the magnitude level of the redgiant branch luminosity function ``bump'' argues against the rapidrotation's being caused by the transport of internal angular momentum tothe surface. Capture of a planetary-mass companion as a red giantexpands in radius could explain the high rotational velocities. (4) Wealso find significant rotation in at least six of the roughly 15 (40%)red horizontal-branch stars in our survey. It is likely that theenhanced rotation seen among a significant fraction of both blue and redhorizontal-branch stars arose when these stars were luminous red giants.Rapid rotation alone therefore appears insufficient cause to populatethe blue side of the horizontal branch. While the largest projectedrotational velocities seen among field blue and red horizontal-branchstars are consistent with their different sizes, neither are consistentwith the large values we find for the largest red giants. This suggeststhat some form of angular momentum loss (and possibly mass loss) hasbeen at work. Also puzzling is the apparent absence of rotation seen infield RR Lyrae variables. Angular momentum transfer and conservation inevolved metal-poor field stars thus pose many interesting questions forthe evolution of low-mass stars.
| The r-Process in the Early Galaxy
We report Sr, Pd, and Ag abundances for a sample of metal-poor fieldgiants and analyze a larger sample of Y, Zr, and Ba abundances. The[Y/Zr] and [Pd/Ag] abundance ratios are similar to those measured forthe r-process-rich stars CS 22892-052 and CS 31082-001. The [Pd/Ag]ratio is larger than predicted from the solar system r-processabundances. The constant [Y/Zr] and [Sr/Y] values in the field starsplace strong limits on the contributions of the weak s-process and themain s-process to the light neutron-capture elements. Stars in theglobular cluster M15 possess lower [Y/Zr] values than the field stars.There is a large dispersion in [Y/Ba]. Because the r-process isresponsible for the production of the heavy elements in the earlyGalaxy, these dispersions require varying light-to-heavy ratios inr-process yields.
| Abundances of 30 Elements in 23 Metal-Poor Stars
We report the abundances of 30 elements in 23 metal-poor([Fe/H]<-1.7) giants. These are based on 7774 equivalent widths andspectral synthesis of 229 additional lines. Hyperfine splitting is takeninto account when appropriate. Our choice of model atmospheres has themost influence on the accuracy of our abundances. We consider the effectof different model atmospheres on our results. In addition to the randomerrors in Teff, logg, and microturbulent velocity, there areseveral sources of systematic error. These include using Teffdetermined from Fe I lines rather than colors, ignoring non-LTE effectson the Fe I/Fe II ionization balance, using models with solar[α/Fe] ratios, and using Kurucz models with overshooting. Ofthese, only the use of models with solar [α/Fe] ratios had anegligible effect. However, while the absolute abundances can change bygreater than 0.10 dex, the relative abundances, especially betweenclosely allied atoms such as the rare earth group, often show only small(less than 0.03 dex) changes. We found that some strong lines of Fe I,Mn I, and Cr I consistently gave lower abundances by ~0.2 dex, a numberlarger than the quoted errors in the gf-values. After considering amodel with depth-dependent microturbulent velocity and a model withhotter temperatures in the upper layers, we conclude that the latter dida better job of resolving the problem and agreeing with observationalevidence for the structure of stars. The error analysis includes theeffects of correlation of Teff, logg, and ξ errors, whichis crucial for certain element ratios, such as [Mg/Fe]. The abundancespresented here are being analyzed and discussed in a separate series ofpapers.
| Catalogue of [Fe/H] determinations for FGK stars: 2001 edition
The catalogue presented here is a compilation of published atmosphericparameters (Teff, log g, [Fe/H]) obtained from highresolution, high signal-to-noise spectroscopic observations. This newedition has changed compared to the five previous versions. It is nowrestricted to intermediate and low mass stars (F, G and K stars). Itcontains 6354 determinations of (Teff, log g, [Fe/H]) for3356 stars, including 909 stars in 79 stellar systems. The literature iscomplete between January 1980 and December 2000 and includes 378references. The catalogue is made up of two tables, one for field starsand one for stars in galactic associations, open and globular clustersand external galaxies. The catalogue is distributed through the CDSdatabase. Access to the catalogue with cross-identification to othersets of data is also possible with VizieR (Ochsenbein et al.\cite{och00}). The catalogue (Tables 1 and 2) is only available inelectronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/373/159 and VizieRhttp://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/.
| Th Ages for Metal-poor Stars
With a sample of 22 metal-poor stars, we demonstrate that theheavy-element abundance pattern (Z>=56) is the same as the r-processcontributions to the solar nebula. This bolsters the results of previousstudies that there is a universal r-process production pattern. We usethe abundance of thorium in five metal-poor stars, along with anestimate of the initial Th abundance based on the abundances of stabler-process elements, to measure their ages. We have four field red giantswith errors of 4.2 Gyr in their ages and one M92 giant with an error of5.6 Gyr, based on considering the sources of observational error only.We obtain an average age of 11.4 Gyr, which depends critically on theassumption of an initial Th/Eu production ratio of 0.496. If theuniverse is 15 Gyr old, then the (Th/Eu)0 should be 0.590, inagreement with some theoretical models of the r-process.
| Neutron-Capture Elements in the Early Galaxy: Insights from a Large Sample of Metal-poor Giants
New abundances for neutron-capture (n-capture) elements in a largesample of metal-poor giants from the Bond survey are presented. Thespectra were acquired with the KPNO 4 m echelle and coudé feedspectrographs, and have been analyzed using LTE fine-analysis techniqueswith both line analysis and spectral synthesis. Abundances of eightn-capture elements (Sr, Y, Zr, Ba, La, Nd, Eu, and Dy) in 43 stars havebeen derived from blue (λλ4070-4710, R~20,000, S/Nratio~100-200) echelle spectra and red (λλ6100-6180,R~22,000, S/N ratio~100-200) coudé spectra, and the abundance ofBa only has been derived from the red spectra for an additional 27stars. Overall, the abundances show clear evidence for a largestar-to-star dispersion in the heavy element-to-iron ratios. Thiscondition must have arisen from individual nucleosynthetic events inrapidly evolving halo progenitors that injected newly manufacturedn-capture elements into an inhomogeneous early Galactic halointerstellar medium. The new data also confirm that at metallicities[Fe/H]<~-2.4, the abundance pattern of the heavy (Z>=56) n-captureelements in most giants is well-matched to a scaled solar systemr-process nucleosynthesis pattern. The onset of the main r-process canbe seen at [Fe/H]~-2.9 this onset is consistent with the suggestion thatlow mass Type II supernovae are responsible for the r-process.Contributions from the s-process can first be seen in some stars withmetallicities as low as [Fe/H]~-2.75 and are present in most stars withmetallicities [Fe/H]>-2.3. The appearance of s-process contributionsas metallicity increases presumably reflects the longer stellarevolutionary timescale of the (low-mass) s-process nucleosynthesissites. The lighter n-capture elements (Sr-Y-Zr) are enhanced relative tothe heavier r-process element abundances. Their production cannot beattributed solely to any combination of the solar system r- and mains-processes, but requires a mixture of material from the r-process andfrom an additional n-capture process that can operate at early Galactictime. This additional process could be the weak s-process in massive(~25 Msolar) stars, or perhaps a second r-process site, i.e.,different from the site that produces the heavier (Z>=56) n-captureelements.
| Kinematics of Metal-poor Stars in the Galaxy. II. Proper Motions for a Large Nonkinematically Selected Sample
We present a revised catalog of 2106 Galactic stars, selected withoutkinematic bias and with available radial velocities, distance estimates,and metal abundances in the range -4.0<=[Fe/H]<=0.0. This updateof the 1995 Beers & Sommer-Larsen catalog includes newly derivedhomogeneous photometric distance estimates, revised radial velocitiesfor a number of stars with recently obtained high-resolution spectra,and refined metallicities for stars originally identified in the HKobjective-prism survey (which account for nearly half of the catalog)based on a recent recalibration. A subset of 1258 stars in this cataloghave available proper motions based on measurements obtained with theHipparcos astrometry satellite or taken from the updated AstrographicCatalogue (second epoch positions from either the Hubble Space TelescopeGuide Star Catalog or the Tycho Catalogue), the Yale/San Juan SouthernProper Motion Catalog 2.0, and the Lick Northern Proper Motion Catalog.Our present catalog includes 388 RR Lyrae variables (182 of which arenewly added), 38 variables of other types, and 1680 nonvariables, withdistances in the range 0.1 to 40 kpc.
| The effective temperature scale of giant stars (F0-K5). I. The effective temperature determination by means of the IRFM
We have applied the InfraRed Flux Method (IRFM) to a sample ofapproximately 500 giant stars in order to derive their effectivetemperatures with an internal mean accuracy of about 1.5% and a maximumuncertainty in the zero point of the order of 0.9%. For the applicationof the IRFM, we have used a homogeneous grid of theoretical modelatmosphere flux distributions developed by \cite[Kurucz (1993)]{K93}.The atmospheric parameters of the stars roughly cover the ranges: 3500 K<= T_eff <= 8000 K; -3.0 <= [Fe/H] <= +0.5; 0.5 <= log(g) <= 3.5. The monochromatic infrared fluxes at the continuum arebased on recent photometry with errors that satisfy the accuracyrequirements of the work. We have derived the bolometric correction ofgiant stars by using a new calibration which takes the effect ofmetallicity into account. Direct spectroscopic determinations ofmetallicity have been adopted where available, although estimates basedon photometric calibrations have been considered for some stars lackingspectroscopic ones. The adopted infrared absolute flux calibration,based on direct optical measurements of stellar angular diameters, putsthe effective temperatures determined in this work in the same scale asthose obtained by direct methods. We have derived up to fourtemperatures, TJ, TH, TK and T_{L'},for each star using the monochromatic fluxes at different infraredwavelengths in the photometric bands J, H, K and L'. They show goodconsistency over 4000 K, and there is no appreciable trend withwavelength, metallicity and/or temperature. We provide a detaileddescription of the steps followed for the application of the IRFM, aswell as the sources of error and their effect on final temperatures. Wealso provide a comparison of the results with previous work.
| High resolution spectroscopy of selected faint stars
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Hercules |
| Right ascension: | 16h33m35.58s |
| Declination: | +09°06'16.3" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 9.275 |
| Proper motion RA: | -29.9 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -104.1 |
| B-T magnitude: | 9.972 |
| V-T magnitude: | 9.333 |
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