THE CHEMICAL EVOLUTION OF PHOSPHORUS
- Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 1085 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)
- Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, D-14482 Potsdam (Germany)
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Sezione di Astronomia, Università di Trieste, Via G. B. Tiepolo 11, I-34100 Trieste (Italy)
Phosphorus is one of the few remaining light elements for which little is known about its nucleosynthetic origin and chemical evolution, given the lack of optical absorption lines in the spectra of long-lived FGK-type stars. We have identified a P I doublet in the near-ultraviolet (2135/2136 Å) that is measurable in stars of low metallicity. Using archival Hubble Space Telescope-Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph spectra, we have measured P abundances in 13 stars spanning –3.3 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ -0.2, and obtained an upper limit for a star with [Fe/H] ∼ -3.8. Combined with the only other sample of P abundances in solar-type stars in the literature, which spans a range of –1 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ +0.2, we compare the stellar data to chemical evolution models. Our results support previous indications that massive-star P yields may need to be increased by a factor of a few to match stellar data at all metallicities. Our results also show that hypernovae were important contributors to the P production in the early universe. As P is one of the key building blocks of life, we also discuss the chemical evolution of the important elements to life, C-N-O-P-S, together.
- OSTI ID:
- 22364888
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 796, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Phosphorus Abundances in FGK Stars
Detection of neutral phosphorus in the near-ultraviolet spectra of late-type stars