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.
We present the first results of the EMBLA survey (Extremely Metal-poor BuLge stars with AAOmega), aimed at finding metal-poor stars in the Milky Way bulge, where the oldest stars should now ...preferentially reside. EMBLA utilizes SkyMapper photometry to pre-select metal-poor candidates, which are subsequently confirmed using AAOmega spectroscopy. We describe the discovery and analysis of four bulge giants with −2.72 ≤ Fe/H ≤ −2.48, the lowest metallicity bulge stars studied with high-resolution spectroscopy to date. Using FLAMES/UVES spectra through the Gaia-ESO Survey we have derived abundances of twelve elements. Given the uncertainties, we find a chemical similarity between these bulge stars and halo stars of the same metallicity, although the abundance scatter may be larger, with some of the stars showing unusual α/Fe ratios.
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.
The Gaia-ESO Survey is a large public spectroscopic survey that aims to derive radial velocities and fundamental parameters of about 105 Milky Way stars in the field and in clusters. Observations are ...carried out with the multi-object optical spectrograph FLAMES, using simultaneously the medium-resolution (R ~ 20 000) GIRAFFE spectrograph and the high-resolution (R ~ 47 000) UVES spectrograph. In this paper we describe the methods and the software used for the data reduction, the derivation of the radial velocities, and the quality control of the FLAMES-UVES spectra. Data reduction has been performed using a workflow specifically developed for this project. This workflow runs the ESO public pipeline optimizing the data reduction for the Gaia-ESO Survey, automatically performs sky subtraction, barycentric correction and normalisation, and calculates radial velocities and a first guess of the rotational velocities. The quality control is performed using the output parameters from the ESO pipeline, by a visual inspection of the spectra and by the analysis of the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra. Using the observations of the first 18 months, specifically targets observed multiple times at different epochs, stars observed with both GIRAFFE and UVES, and observations of radial velocity standards, we estimated the precision and the accuracy of the radial velocities. The statistical error on the radial velocities is σ ~ 0.4 km s-1 and is mainly due to uncertainties in the zero point of the wavelength calibration. However, we found a systematic bias with respect to the GIRAFFE spectra (~0.9 km s-1) and to the radial velocities of the standard stars (~0.5 km s-1) retrieved from the literature. This bias will be corrected in the future data releases, when a common zero point for all the set-ups and instruments used for the survey is be established.
We reanalyze the problem of Li abundances in red giants of nearly solar metallicity. After outlining the problems affecting our knowledge of the Li content in low-mass stars (M <= 3 M ), we discuss ...deep-mixing models for the red giant branch stages suitable to account for the observed trends and for the correlated variations of the carbon isotope ratio; we find that Li destruction in these phases is limited to masses below about 2.3 M . Subsequently, we concentrate on the final stages of evolution for both O-rich and C-rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. Here, the constraints on extra-mixing phenomena previously derived from heavier nuclei (from C to Al), coupled to recent updates in stellar structure models (including both the input physics and the set of reaction rates used), are suitable to account for the observations of Li abundances below A(Li) = log (Li) 1.5 (and sometimes more). Also, their relations with other nucleosynthesis signatures of AGB phases (like the abundance of F, and the C/O and 12C/13C ratios) can be explained. This requires generally moderate efficiencies ( yr--1) for non-convective mass transport. At such rates, slow extra mixing does not remarkably modify Li abundances in early AGB phases; on the other hand, faster mixing encounters a physical limit in destroying Li, set by the mixing velocity. Beyond this limit, Li starts to be produced; therefore, its destruction on the AGB is modest. Li is then significantly produced by the third dredge up. We also show that effective circulation episodes, while not destroying Li, would easily bring the 12C/13C ratios to equilibrium, contrary to the evidence in most AGB stars, and would burn F beyond the limits shown by C(N) giants. Hence, we do not confirm the common idea that efficient extra mixing drastically reduces the Li content of C stars with respect to K-M giants. This misleading appearance is induced by biases in the data, namely: (1) the difficulty of measuring very low Li abundances in O-rich AGB stars due to the presence of TiO bands and (2) the fact that many, relatively massive (M > 3 M ) K- and M-type giants may remain Li-rich, not evolving to the C-rich stages. Efficient extra mixing on the AGB is instead typical of very low masses (M 1.5 M ). It also characterizes CJ stars, where it produces Li and reduces F and the carbon isotope ratio, as observed in these peculiar objects.
The photospheres of low-mass red giants show CNO isotopic abundances that are not satisfactorily accounted for by canonical stellar models. The same is true for the measurements of these isotopes and ...of the {sup 26}Al/{sup 27}Al ratio in presolar grains of circumstellar origin. Non-convective mixing, occurring during both red giant branch (RGB) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stages, is the explanation commonly invoked to account for the above evidence. Recently, the need for such mixing phenomena on the AGB was questioned, and chemical anomalies usually attributed to them were suggested to be formed in earlier phases. We have therefore re-calculated extra-mixing effects in low-mass stars for both the RGB and AGB stages, in order to verify the above claims. Our results contradict them; we actually confirm that slow transport below the convective envelope occurs also on the AGB. This is required primarily by the oxygen isotopic mix and the {sup 26}Al content of presolar oxide grains. Other pieces of evidence exist, in particular from the isotopic ratios of carbon stars of type N, or C(N), in the Galaxy and in the LMC, as well as of SiC grains of AGB origin. We further show that, when extra-mixing occurs in the RGB phases of Population I stars above about 1.2 M{sub sun}, this consumes {sup 3}He in the envelope, probably preventing the occurrence of thermohaline diffusion on the AGB. Therefore, we argue that other extra-mixing mechanisms should be active in those final evolutionary phases.
Slow neutron captures are responsible for the production of about 50% of elements heavier than iron, mainly occurring during the asymptotic giant branch phase of low-mass stars (1 ≲ M/M{sub ⊙} ≲ 3), ...where the main neutron source is the {sup 13}C(α, n){sup 16}O reaction. This last reaction is activated from locally produced {sup 13}C, formed by partial mixing of hydrogen into the He-rich layers. We present here the first attempt to describe a physical mechanism for the formation of the {sup 13}C reservoir, studying the mass circulation induced by magnetic buoyancy without adding new free parameters to those already involved in stellar modeling. Our approach represents the application to the stellar layers relevant for s-processing of recent exact analytical 2D and 3D models for magneto-hydrodynamic processes at the base of convective envelopes in evolved stars in order to promote downflows of envelope material for mass conservation during the occurrence of a dredge-up phenomenon. We find that the proton penetration is characterized by small concentrations, but is extended over a large fractional mass of the He-layers, thus producing {sup 13}C reservoirs of several 10{sup −3} M{sub ⊙}. The ensuing {sup 13}C-enriched zone has an almost flat profile, while only a limited production of {sup 14}N occurs. In order to verify the effects of our new findings we show how the abundances of the main s-component nuclei can be accounted for in solar proportions and how our large {sup 13}C-reservoir allows us to solve a few so far unexplained features in the abundance distribution of post-AGB objects.
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