NEW HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS OF HEAVY ELEMENTS IN FOUR METAL-POOR STARS
- Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States)
- Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)
- National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States)
- Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019 (United States)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, E. Lansing, MI 48824 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (United States)
Elements heavier than the iron group are found in nearly all halo stars. A substantial number of these elements, key to understanding neutron-capture nucleosynthesis mechanisms, can only be detected in the near-ultraviolet. We report the results of an observing campaign using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope to study the detailed heavy-element abundance patterns in four metal-poor stars. We derive abundances or upper limits from 27 absorption lines of 15 elements produced by neutron-capture reactions, including seven elements (germanium, cadmium, tellurium, lutetium, osmium, platinum, and gold) that can only be detected in the near-ultraviolet. We also examine 202 heavy-element absorption lines in ground-based optical spectra obtained with the Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle Spectrograph on the Magellan-Clay Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory and the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer on the Keck I Telescope on Mauna Kea. We have detected up to 34 elements heavier than zinc. The bulk of the heavy elements in these four stars are produced by r-process nucleosynthesis. These observations affirm earlier results suggesting that the tellurium found in metal-poor halo stars with moderate amounts of r-process material scales with the rare earth and third r-process peak elements. Cadmium often follows the abundances of the neighboring elements palladium and silver. We identify several sources of systematic uncertainty that must be considered when comparing these abundances with theoretical predictions. We also present new isotope shift and hyperfine structure component patterns for Lu II and Pb I lines of astrophysical interest.
- OSTI ID:
- 22092064
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, Vol. 203, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0067-0049
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
CADMIUM
ELEMENT ABUNDANCE
GERMANIUM
GOLD
HYPERFINE STRUCTURE
IRON
LUTETIUM
NEUTRON REACTIONS
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
OSMIUM
PALLADIUM
PLATINUM
R PROCESS
SILVER
SPECTRAL SHIFT
STARS
TELESCOPES
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
ZINC