arXiv subjects

Ann Merchant Boesgaard

Publications and source records attributed to Ann Merchant Boesgaard.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2008

Beryllium Abundances in Stars of One-Solar-Mass

We have determined Be abundances in 50 F and G dwarfs in the mass range of 0.9 $\leq$ M$_\odot$ $\leq$ 1.1 as determined by Lambert & Reddy. The effective temperatures are 5600 to 6400 K and metallicities from $-$0.65 to +0.11. The spectra were taken primarily with Keck I + HIRES. The Be abundances were found via spectral synthesis of Be II lines near 3130 Å. The Be abundances were investigated as a function of age, temperature, metallicity and Li abundance in this narrow mass range. Even though our stars are similar in mass, they show a range in Be abundances of a factor of $>$40. We find that [Be/Fe] has no dependence on temperature, but does show a spread of a factor of 6 at a given temperature. The reality of the spread is shown by two identical stars which differ from each other by a factor of two only in their abundances of Li and Be. Our thin-disk-star sample fits the trend between Be abundance and [Fe/H] found for halo and thick disk stars, extending it to about 4 orders of magnitude in the two logarithmic quantities. Both Fe and Be appear to increase similarly over time in the Galaxy. One-third of our sample may be classified as subgiants; these more-evolved stars have lower Be abundances than the dwarfs. They have undergone Be depletion by slow mixing on the main sequence and Be dilution during their trip toward the red giant base. There are both Li and Be detections in 60 field stars in the "Li-plateau" of 5900 - 6300 K now and the abundances of the two light elements are correlated with a slope of 0.34 $\pm$0.05, with greater Li depletion than Be depletion.

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arXiv2007

Beryllium in Ultra-Lithium-Deficient Halo Stars - The Blue Straggler Connection

There are nine metal-deficient stars that have Li abundances well below the Li plateau that is defined by over 100 unevolved stars with temperatures above 5800 K and values of [Fe/H] $<$ $-$1.0. Abundances of Be have been determined for most of these ultra-Li-deficient stars in order to investigate the cause of the Li deficiencies. High-resolution and high signal-to-noise spectra have been obtained in the Be II spectral region near 3130 Åfor six ultra-Li-deficient stars with the Keck I telescope and its new uv-sensitive CCD on the upgraded HIRES. The spectrum synthesis technique has been used to determine Be abundances. All six stars are found to have Be deficiencies also. Two have measurable - but reduced - Be and four have only upper limits on Be. These results are consistent with the idea that these Li- and Be-deficient stars are analogous to blue stragglers. The stars have undergone mass transfer events (or mergers) which destroy or dilute both Li and Be. The findings cannot be matched by the models that predict that the deficiencies are due to extra-mixing in a subset of halo stars that were initially rapid rotators, with the possible exception of one star, G 139-8. Because the ultra-Li-deficient stars are also Be-deficient, they appear to be genuine outliers in population of halo stars used to determine the value of primordial Li; they no longer have the Li in their atmospheres that was produced in the Big Bang.

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arXiv2005

Beryllium in Disk and Halo Stars -- Evidence for a Beryllium Dispersion in Old Stars

The study of Be in stars of differing metal content can elucidate the formation mechanisms and the Galactic chemical evolution of Be. We have obtained high-resolution, high signal-to-noise spectra of the resonance lines of Be II in eight stars with the high-dispersion spectrograph (HDS) on the Subaru 8.2 m telescope on Mauna Kea. Abundances of Be have been determined through spectrum synthesis. The stars with [Fe/H] values > -1.1 conform to the published general trend of Be vs Fe. We have confirmed the high Be abundance in HD 94028 and have found a similarly high Be abundance in another star, HD 132475, at the same metallicity: [Fe/H] = -1.5. These two stars are 0.5 - 0.6 dex higher in Be than the Be-Fe trend. While that general trend contains the evidence for a Galaxy-wide enrichment in Be and Fe, the higher Be abundances in those two stars indicates local Be enrichments. Possible enrichment mechanisms include hypernovae and multiple supernova explosions contained in a superbubble. The star G 64-37 has [Fe/] = -3.2; we have determined its Be abundance to look for evidence of a Be plateau. It's Be abundance appears to extend the Be-Fe trend to lower Fe abundances without any evidence for a plateau as had been indicated by a high Be abundance in another very metal-poor star, G 64-12. Although these two stars have similar Be abundances within the errors, it could be that their different Be values may be indicating that a Be dispersion exists even at the lowest metallicities.

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arXiv2005

New Keck Observations of Lithium in Very Metal-poor Stars

Lithium abundances have been determined in more than 100 metal-poor halo stars both in the field and in clusters. From these data we find trends of Li with both temperature and metallicity and a real dispersion in Li abundances in the Spite Li plateau. We attribute this dispersion primarily to Li depletion (presumably due to extra mixing induced by stellar rotation) and to Galactic chemical evolution. We derive a primordial Li of 2.44 $\pm$0.18 for A(Li)$_p$ = log N(Li/H) + 12.00. This agrees with the Li abundances predicted by the $WMAP$ results. For stars cooler than the Li plateau we have evidence that Li depletion sets in at hotter temperatures for the higher metallicity stars than for the low-metal stars. This is the opposite sense of predictions from stellar models. The smooth transition of the Li content from the Li plateau stars to the cool stars adds weight to the inference of Li depletion in the plateau stars.

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arXiv2005

Beryllium in the Ultra-Lithium-Deficient,Metal-Poor Halo Dwarf, G186-26

The vast majority of low-metal halo dwarfs show a similar amount of Li; this has been attributed to the Li that was produced in the Big Bang. However, there are nine known halo stars with T $>$ 5900 K and [Fe/H] $<$ $-$1.0 that are ultra-Li-deficient. We have looked for Be in the very low metallicity star, G 186-26 at [Fe/H] = $-$2.71, which is one of the ultra-Li-deficient stars. This star is also ultra-Be deficient. Relative to Be in the Li-normal stars at [Fe/H] = $-$2.7, G 182-26 is down in Be by more than 0.8 dex. Of two potential causes for the Li-deficiency -- mass-transfer in a pre-blue straggler or extra rotationally-induced mixing in a star that was initially a very rapid rotator -- the absence of Be favors the blue-straggler hypothesis, but the rotation model cannot be ruled-out completely.

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arXiv2005

Lithium and Lithium Depletion in Halo Stars on Extreme Orbits

We have determined Li abundances in 55 metal-poor (3.6 < [Fe/H] < -0.7) stars with extreme orbital kinematics. We find the Li abundance in the Li-plateau stars and examine its decrease in low-temperature, low-mass stars. The Li observations are primarily from the Keck I telescope with HIRES (spectral resolution of ~48,000 and median signal-to-noise per pixel of 140). Abundances or upper limits were determined for Li for all the stars with typical errors of 0.06 dex. Our 14 stars on the Li plateau give A(Li) = log N(Li)/N(H) + 12.00 of 2.215 +-0.110, consistent with earlier results. We find a dependence of the Li abundance on metallicity as measured by [Fe/H] and the Fe-peak elements [Cr/H] and [Ni/H], with a slope of ~0.18. We also find dependences of A(Li) with the alpha elements, Mg, Ca, and Ti. For the n-capture element, Ba, the relation between A(Li) and [Ba/H] has a shallower slope of 0.13; over a range of 2.6 dex in [Ba/H], the Li abundance spans only a factor of two. We examined the possible trends of A(Li) with the characteristics of the orbits of our halo stars, but find no relationship with kinematic or dynamic properties. The stars cooler than the Li plateau are separated into three metallicity subsets. The decrease in A(Li) sets in at hotter temperatures at high metallicities than at low metallicities; this is in the opposite sense of the predictions for Li depletion from standard and non-standard models.

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arXiv2005

Chemical Composition in the Globular Cluster M71 from Keck/HIRES Spectra of Turn-Off Stars

We have made observations with the Keck I telescope and HIRES at a resolution of $\sim$45,000 of five nearly identical stars at the turn-off of the metal-rich globular cluster M 71. Our mean Fe abundance, [Fe/H]=-0.80 +-0.02, is in excellent agreement with previous cluster determinations from both giants and near-turnoff stars. There is no clear evidence for any star-to-star abundance differences or correlations in our sample. Abundance ratios of the Fe-peak elements (Cr, Ni) are similar to Fe. The turn-off stars in M71 have remarkably consistent enhancements of 0.2 - 0.3 dex in [Si/Fe], [Ca/Fe] and [Ti/Fe] -- like the red giants. Our [Mg/Fe] ratio is somewhat lower than that suggested by other studies. We compare our mean abundances for the five M 71 stars with field stars of similar [Fe/H] -- 8 with halo kinematics and 17 with disk kinematics. The abundances of the alpha-fusion products (Mg, Si, Ca, Ti) agree with both samples, but seem a closer match to the disk stars. The Mg abundance in M71 is at the lower edge of the disk and halo samples. The neutron-capture elements, Y and Ba, are enhanced relative to solar in the M71 turn-off stars. Our ratio [Ba/Fe] is similar to that of the halo field stars but a factor of two above that for the disk field stars. The important [Ba/Y] ratio is significantly lower than M71 giant values. The Na content of the M71 turn-off stars is remarkably similar to that in the disk field stars, but more than a factor of two higher than the halo field star sample. We find [Na/Fe] = +0.14 $\pm$0.04 with a spread less than half of that found in the red giants in M71. Excluding Mg, the lack of intracluster $α$-element variations (turn-off vs giants) suggests the polluting material arose in a more traditional $s$-process environment such as AGB stars.

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arXiv2004

Light Elements in Main Sequence Stars: Li, Be, B, C, O

The abundances of the {\it rare} light elements, Li, Be, and B, provide clues about stellar structure and evolution, about Galactic evolution and about their nucleosynthesis, including production during the Big Bang. The abundances of the {\it abundant} light elements, C and O, reveal information about the chemical history of the Galaxy and the mass spectrum of early generations of stars.

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arXiv2004

Boron Depletion in F and G Dwarf Stars and the Beryllium-Boron Correlation

Boron provides a special probe below the stellar surface as it survives to greater depths than do Li and Be. To search for B depletions we have observed B in 13 F and G dwarfs with large Be depletions; for comparison we also obtained spectra of five stars which are undepleted in Li and Be. We have used HST with STIS to obtain spectra of the B I resonance line at 2497 Å. The spectral resolution is 30,000 or 114,000 and the median signal-to-noise ratio is 70 per pixel. New Be and Li spectra have been obtained at Keck I with HIRES of four of the five standard stars at $\sim$48,000 resolution. Abundances have been determined by the spectrum synthesis method with MOOG. A comparison between the standard stars and those with severe Be depletions shows a distinct difference in the B abundances between the two groups of 0.22 dex. We have discovered a correlation between the Be and B abundances. The slope between A(Be) and A(B)$_{NLTE}$ is 0.22 $\pm$0.05 (where A(element) = log N(element)/N(H) + 12.00) which, as expected, is shallower than the slope between A(Li) and A(Be) of 0.38. We have normalized the light element abundances to account for the observation that the initial abundances are somewhat lower in lower metallicity stars by employing recently published empirical relations between Be and [Fe/H] and between B and [Fe/H] (Boesgaard et al). The correlation between the normalized A(Be) and A(B)$_{NLTE}$ has a slope of 0.18 $\pm$0.06. The star with the largest Be depletion, HR 107 a main sequence Ba star, also has the largest B depletion with the B abundance lower by a factor of 3.5 relative to the standard stars.

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arXiv2001

Beryllium in the Hyades F and G Dwarfs from Keck/HIRES Spectra

Beryllium is not destroyed as easily as Li, so the abundances of Li and Be together can tell us more about the internal physical processes in stars than either element can alone. We have obtained high-resolution (45,000) and high signal-to-noise (typically 90 per pixel) spectra of the Be II resonance lines in 34 Hyades F and G dwarfs with the Keck I telescope and HIRES. The Be abundances have been derived with the spectrum synthesis method. We find that Be is depleted in the Li gap in the F stars reaching down to values of A(Be) = 0.60, or a factor of nearly seven below the meteoritic Be abundance. There is little or no depletion of Be in stars cooler than 6000 K, in spite of the large depletions (0.5 - 2.5 dex) in Li. The mean value of A(Be) for the ten coolest stars is 1.33 +/- 0.06, not far from the meteoritic value of 1.42. The pattern in the Be abundances - a Be dip in the F stars and undepleted Be in the cool stars - is well matched by the predictions of slow mixing due to stellar rotation (e.g. Deliyannis and Pinsonneault). The depletions of Li and Be probably occur simultaneously. The Li and Be abundances are correlated for stars in the temperature range of 5850 - 6680 K, similar to results from earlier work on Li and Be in F and G field stars. The Hyades G dwarfs have more Be than the sun; their initial Be may have been larger or they may not be old enough to have depleted Be. For those Hyades stars which appear to have little or no depletion of Li or Be, the Li/Be ratio is found to be 75 +/- 30. (abridged)

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