We present computations of nucleosynthesis in low-mass (LM) red giant branch (RGB) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars of Population delta experiencing extended mixing. We adopt the updated ...version of the FRANEC evolutionary model, a new post-process code for non-convective mixing and the most recent revisions for solar abundances. In this framework, we discuss the effects of recent improvements in relevant reaction rates for proton captures on intermediate-mass (IM) nuclei (from carbon to aluminum). For each nucleus, we briefly discuss the new choices and their motivations. The calculations are then performed on the basis of a parameterized circulation, where the effects of the new nuclear inputs are best compared to previous works. We find that the new rates (and notably the one for the 14N(p, Delta *g)15O reaction) imply considerable modifications in the composition of post-main-sequence stars. In particular, the slight temperature changes due to the reduced efficiency of proton captures on 14N induce abundance variations at the first dredge-up (especially for 17O, whose equilibrium ratio to 16O is very sensitive to the temperature). In this new scenario, presolar oxide grains of AGB origin turn out to be produced almost exclusively by very low mass stars (M <= 1.5-1.7 M ), never becoming C-rich. The whole population of grains with 18O/16O below 0.0015 (the limit permitted by first dredge-up) is now explained. Also, there is now no forbidden area for very low values of 17O/16O (below 0.0005), contrary to previous findings. A rather shallow type of transport seems to be sufficient for the CNO changes in RGB stages. Both thermohaline diffusion and magnetic-buoyancy-induced mixing might provide a suitable physical mechanism for this. Thermohaline mixing is in any case certainly inadequate to account for the production of 26Al on the AGB. Other transport mechanisms must therefore be at play. In general, observational constraints from RGB and AGB stars, as well as from presolar grains, are well reproduced by our approach. The nitrogen isotopic ratio in mainstream SiC grains remains an exception. For the low values measured in them (i.e., for 14N/15N <=2000), we have no explanation. Actually, for the several grains with subsolar nitrogen isotopic ratios, no known stellar process acting in LM stars can provide a clue. This might be an evidence that some form of contamination from cosmic ray spallation occurs in the interstellar medium, adding fresh 15N to the grains.
Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars are considered to be among the most significant contributors to the fluorine budget in our Galaxy. While observations and theory agree at close-to-solar ...metallicity, stellar models at lower metallicities overestimate the fluorine production with respect to that of heavy elements. We present
19
F nucleosynthesis results for a set of AGB models with different masses and metallicities in which magnetic buoyancy acts as the driving process for the formation of the
13
C neutron source (the so-called
13
C pocket). We find that
19
F is mainly produced as a result of nucleosynthesis involving secondary
14
N during convective thermal pulses, with a negligible contribution from the
14
N present in the
13
C pocket region. A large
19
F production is thus prevented, resulting in lower fluorine surface abundances. As a consequence, AGB stellar models with mixing induced by magnetic buoyancy at the base of the convective envelope agree well with available fluorine spectroscopic measurements at low and close-to-solar metallicity.
•Method includes quantification, effect-directed profiling and targeted characterization/identification.•Differences and natural variances of 32 vanilla products from 9 categories and regions are ...revealed.•Biological/enzymatic assays point to bioactive zones, not detected by common detectors.•Vanillin contents of 1 µg/g ̶ 36 mg/g with mean repeatability of 1.9% across the 9 different categories.•Effect-directed profiling speeds up investigations for REACH acc. to Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006.
Food testing is of great importance to the food industry and organizations to verify the authenticity claims, to prove the quality of raw materials and products, and to ensure food safety. The market prices of vanilla differed by a factor of about 20 in the last three decades. Therefore the risk of adulteration and counterfeiting of vanilla products is high. Instead of commonly used target analyses and sum parameter assays, a complementary non-target multi-imaging effect-directed screening was developed, which provided a new perspective on the wide range of vanilla product qualities on the market. Planar chromatography was combined with effect-directed assays, and the obtained biological and biochemical profiles of 32 vanilla products from nine different categories revealed a variety of active ingredients. Depending on the region, typical vanilla product profiles and activity patterns were obtained for pods, tinctures, paste (inner part), oleoresin and powders. However, some vanilla products showed additional active compounds and a different intensity pattern. The vanilla product profiles substantially differed from those of vanilla aroma or products containing synthetic vanillin or vanilla-flavored food products. Bioactive compounds of interest were online eluted and further characterized via HPTLC−HRMS, which allowed their tentative assignment. After purchase of the standards, these were successfully confirmed by co-chromatography. Quantification of vanillin across nine different product categories revealed levels ranging from 1 µg/g to 36 mg/g with a mean repeatability of 1.9%. The synthetic ethylvanillin was not detected in the investigated samples in significant concentrations. The assessment of differences in the activity patterns pointed to highly active compounds, which were not detected at UV/Vis/FLD but first via the biological and enzymatic assays. This effect-directed profiling bridges the gap from analytical food chemistry to food toxicology, and thus, makes an important contribution to consumer safety. In the same way, it would accelerate investigations for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) according to Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006.
ABSTRACT We study the effects of neutron captures in AGB stars on "Fe-group" elements, with an emphasis on Cr, Fe, and Ni. These elements show anomalies in 54Cr, 58Fe, and 64Ni in solar system ...materials, which are commonly attributed to supernovae (SNe). However, as large fractions of the interstellar medium (ISM) were reprocessed in AGB stars, these elements were reprocessed, too. We calculate the effects of such reprocessing on Cr, Fe, and Ni through 1.5 and 3 AGB models, adopting solar and 1/3 solar metallicities. All cases produce excesses of 54Cr, 58Fe, and 64Ni, while the other isotopes are little altered; hence, the observations may be explained by AGB processing. The results are robust and not dependent on the detailed initial isotopic composition. Consequences for other "Fe group" elements are then explored. They include 50Ti excesses and some production of Ti. In many circumstellar condensates, Ti quantitatively reflects these effects of AGB neutron captures. Scatter in the data results from small variations (granularity) in the isotopic composition of the local ISM. For Si, the main effects are instead due to variations in the local ISM from different SN sources. The problem of Ca is discussed, particularly with regard to 48Ca. The measured data are usually represented assuming terrestrial values for 42Ca/44Ca. Materials processed in AGB stars or sources with variable initial 42Ca/44Ca ratios can give apparent 48Ca excesses/deficiencies, attributed to SNe. The broader issue of galactic chemical evolution is also discussed in view of the isotopic granularity in the ISM.
In a recent study based on homogeneous barium abundance measurements in open clusters (OCs), a trend of increasing Ba/Fe ratios for decreasing cluster age was reported. We present here further ...abundance determinations, relative to four other elements having important s-process contributions, with the aim of investigating whether or not the growth found for Ba/Fe is indicative of a general property, shared also by the other heavy elements formed by slow neutron captures. In particular, we derived abundances for yttrium, zirconium, lanthanum, and cerium, using equivalent width measurements and the MOOG code. Our sample includes 19 OCs of different ages, for which the spectra were obtained by the ESO Very Large Telescope using the UVES spectrometer. The growth previously suggested for Ba is confirmed for all the elements analyzed in our study. This fact implies significant changes in our views of the Galactic chemical evolution for elements beyond iron. Our results necessarily require that very low mass asymptotic giant branch stars (M1.5 M ) produce larger amounts of s-process elements (and hence activate the 13C-neutron source more effectively) than previously expected. Their role in producing neutron-rich elements in the Galactic disk has been so far underestimated, and their evolution and neutron-capture nucleosynthesis should now be reconsidered.
Context. A small number of K-type giants on the red giant branch (RGB) is known to be very rich in lithium (Li). This fact is not accounted for by standard stellar evolution theory. The exact phase ...and mechanism of Li enrichment is still a matter of debate. Aims. Our goal is to probe the abundance of Li along the RGB, from its base to the tip, to confine Li-rich phases that are supposed to occur on the RGB. Methods. For this end, we obtained medium-resolution spectra with the FLAMES spectrograph at the VLT in GIRAFFE mode for a large sample of 401 low-mass RGB stars located in the Galactic bulge. The Li abundance was measured in the stars with a detectable Li 670.8 nm line by means of spectral synthesis with COMARCS model atmospheres. A new 2MASS (J − KS) − Teff calibration from COMARCS models is presented in the Appendix. Results. Thirty-one stars with a detectable Li line were identified, three of which are Li-rich according to the usual criterion (log ϵ(Li) > 1.5). The stars are distributed all along the RGB, not concentrated in any particular phase of the red giant evolution (e.g. the luminosity bump or the red clump). The three Li-rich stars are clearly brighter than the luminosity bump and red clump, and do not show any signs of enhanced mass loss. Conclusions. We conclude that the Li enrichment mechanism cannot be restricted to a clearly defined phase of the RGB evolution of low-mass stars (M ~ 1 M⊙), contrary to earlier suggestions from disk field stars.
Recent improvements in stellar models for intermediate-mass stars and massive stars (MSs) are recalled, together with their expectations for the synthesis of radioactive nuclei of lifetimes τ 25 Myr, ...in order to re-examine the origins of now extinct radioactivities that were alive in the solar nebula. The Galactic inheritance broadly explains most of them, especially if r-process nuclei are produced by neutron star merging, according to recent models. Instead, 26Al, 41Ca, 135Cs, and possibly 60Fe require nucleosynthetic events close to the solar formation. We outline the persisting difficulties to account for these nuclei by intermediate-mass stars (2 M/M 7-8). Models of their final stages now predict the ubiquitous formation of a 13C reservoir as a neutron capture source; hence, even in the presence of 26Al production from deep mixing or hot bottom burning, the ratio 26Al/107Pd remains incompatible with measured data, with a large excess in 107Pd. This is shown for two recent approaches to deep mixing. Even a late contamination by an MS encounters problems. In fact, the inhomogeneous addition of supernova debris predicts nonmeasured excesses on stable isotopes. Revisions invoking specific low-mass supernovae and/or the sequential contamination of the presolar molecular cloud might be affected by similar problems, although our conclusions here are weakened by our schematic approach to the addition of SN ejecta. The limited parameter space that remains to be explored for solving this puzzle is discussed.
We present a review of nucleosynthesis in AGB stars outlining the
development of theoretical models and their relationship to observations. We
focus on the new high resolution codes with improved ...opacities, which recently
succeeded in accounting for the third dredge-up. This opens the possibility of
understanding low luminosity C stars (enriched in
s
-elements) as the
normal outcome of AGB evolution, characterized by production of
12
C
and neutron-rich nuclei in the He intershell and by mass loss from strong
stellar winds. Neutron captures in AGB stars are driven by two reactions:
13
C(α,n)
16
O, which provides the bulk of the neutron
flux at low neutron densities (
N
n
≤ 10
7
n/cm
3
), and
22
Ne(α,n)
25
Mg, which is
mildly activated at higher temperatures and mainly affects the production of
s
-nuclei depending on reaction branchings. The first reaction is now
known to occur in the radiative interpulse phase, immediately below the region
previously homogenized by third dredge-up. The second reaction occurs during
the convective thermal pulses. The resulting nucleosynthesis phenomena are
rather complex and rule out any analytical approximation (exponential
distribution of neutron fluences). Nucleosynthesis in AGB stars, modeled at
different metallicities, account for several observational constraints, coming
from a wide spectrum of sources: evolved red giants rich in
s
-elements,
unevolved stars at different metallicities, presolar grains recovered from
meteorites, and the abundances of
s
-process isotopes in the solar
system. In particular, a good reproduction of the solar system main component
is obtained as a result of Galactic chemical evolution that mixes the outputs
of AGB stars of different stellar generations, born with different
metallicities and producing different patterns of
s
-process nuclei. The
main solar
s
-process pattern is thus not considered to be the result of
a standard archetypal
s
-process occurring in all stars. Concerning the
13
C neutron source, its synthesis requires penetration of small
amounts of protons below the convective envelope, where they are captured by
the abundant
12
C forming a
13
C-rich
pocket
. This
penetration cannot be modeled in current evolutionary codes, but is treated as
a free parameter. Future hydrodynamical studies of time dependent mixing will
be required to attack this problem. Evidence of other insufficiencies in the
current mixing algorithms is common throughout the evolution of low and
intermediate mass stars, as is shown by the inadequacy of stellar models in
reproducing the observations of CNO isotopes in red giants and in circumstellar
dust grains. These observations require some circulation of matter between the
bottom of convective envelopes and regions close to the H-burning shell (cool
bottom processing). AGB stars are also discussed in the light of their possible
contribution to the inventory of short-lived radioactivities that were found to
be alive in the early solar system. We show that the pollution of the
protosolar nebula by a close-by AGB star may account for concordant abundances
of
26
Al,
41
Ca,
60
Fe, and
107
Pd. The
AGB star must have undergone a very small neutron exposure, and be of small
initial mass
(
).
There is a shortage of
26
Al in such models, that however remains
within the large uncertainties of crucial reaction rates. The net
26
Al production problem requires further investigation.
We present a new determination of the solar fluorine abundance together with abundance measurements of fluorine in two Galactic open clusters. We analyzed a sunspot spectrum, observed by L. Wallace ...and W. Livingston with the Fourier Transform Spectrometer at the McMath/Pierce Solar Telescope situated on Kitt Peak, and spectra of four giants in the old cluster M67 (~4.5 Gyr) and three giants in the young cluster NGC 6404 (~0.5 Gyr), obtained with the CRIRES spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope. Fluorine was measured through the synthesis of the available HF lines. We adopted the recent set of experimental molecular parameters of HF delivered by the HITRAN database, and found a new solar fluorine abundance of A(F) = 4.40 + or - 0.25, in good agreement with the M67 average fluorine abundance of A(F) = 4.49 + or - 0.20. The new solar abundance is in a very good agreement with the meteoritic value. The modern spectrosynthesis tools used and the agreement with the meteoritic value and with the results in open cluster M67, known to be a solar analogue, make our solar determination very robust. At the same time, the fluorine measurement in the above-mentioned open clusters is the first step toward understanding its evolution during the last ~10 Gyr in the Galactic disk. In order to develop this project, a larger sample of open clusters is required, in order to allow us to trace the evolution of fluorine as a function of time and, in turn, to better understand its origin.
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