arXiv subjects

David L. Lambert

Publications and source records attributed to David L. Lambert.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2002

Convective Wavelength Shifts in the Spectra of Late-Type Stars

We present ultra-high resolution spectra for a set of nearby F-G-K stars on, or close to, the main sequence. The wavelength shifts of stellar lines relative to their laboratory wavelengths are measured for more than a thousand Fe I lines per star, finding a clear correlation with line depth. The observed patterns are interpreted as convective blue-shifts that become more prominent for weaker lines, which are formed in deeper atmospheric layers. A morphological sequence with spectral type or effective temperature is apparent. Two K giant stars have also been studied. The velocity span between weak and strong lines for these stars is larger than for the dwarfs and subgiants of similar spectral types. Our results show that convective wavelength shifts may seriously compromise the accuracy of absolute spectroscopic radial velocities, but that an empirical correction may be applied to measured velocities.

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arXiv2001

Spectroscopic Study of IRAS 19285+0517(PDS 100): A Rapidly Rotating Li-Rich K Giant

We report on photometry and high-resolution spectroscopy for IRAS 19285+0517. The spectral energy distribution based on visible and near-IR photometry and far-IR fluxes shows that the star is surrounded by dust at a temperature of $T_{\rm {d}}$ $\sim$ 250 K. Spectral line analysis shows that the star is a K giant with a projected rotational velocity $v sin i$ = 9 $\pm$ 2 km s$^{-1}$. We determined the atmospheric parameters: $T_{\rm {eff}}$ = 4500 K, log $g$ = 2.5, $ξ_{t}$ = 1.5 km s$^{-1}$, and [Fe/H] = 0.14 dex. The LTE abundance analysis shows that the star is Li-rich (log $ε$(Li) = 2.5$\pm$0.15), but with essentially normal C, N, and O, and metal abundances. Spectral synthesis of molecular CN lines yields the carbon isotopic ratio $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C = 9 $\pm$3, a signature of post-main sequence evolution and dredge-up on the RGB. Analysis of the Li resonance line at 6707 Åfor different ratios $^{6}$Li/$^{7}$Li shows that the Li profile can be fitted best with a predicted profile for pure $^{7}$Li. Far-IR excess, large Li abundance, and rapid rotation suggest that a planet has been swallowed or, perhaps, that an instability in the RGB outer layers triggered a sudden enrichment of Li and caused mass-loss.

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arXiv2001

Spectroscopic Signatures of Convection in the Spectrum of Procyon. Fundamental Parameters and Iron Abundance

We have observed the spectrum of Procyon A (F5IV) from 4559 to 5780 A with a S/N of ~ 1e3 and a resolving power of 2e5. We have measured the line bisectors and relative line shifts of a large number of Fe I and Fe II lines, comparing them to those found in the Sun. A three-dimensional(3D) hydrodynamical model atmosphere has been computed and is tested against observations. The model reproduces in detail most of the features observed, although we identify some room for improvement. At all levels, the comparison of the 3D time-dependent calculations with the observed spectral lines shows a much better agreement than for classical homogeneous models, making it possible to refine previous estimates of the iron abundance, the projected rotational velocity, the limb-darkening, and the systemic velocity of the Procyon binary system. The difference between the iron abundance determined with the 3D model and its 1D counterpart is <~ 0.05 dex. We find consistency between the iron abundance derived from Fe I and Fe II lines, suggesting that departures from LTE in the formation of the studied lines are relatively small. The scatter in the iron abundance determined from different lines still exceeds the expectations from the uncertainties in the atomic data, pointing out that one or more components in the modeling can be refined further.

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arXiv2001

Spectroscopic Analysis of Two Carbon Rich Post-AGB Stars

The chemical compositions of the C-rich pAGB stars IRAS 05113+1347 and IRAS 22272+5424 are determined from high-resolution optical spectra using standard LTE model atmosphere-based techniques. The stars are C, N, and $s$-process enriched suggesting efficient operation of the third-dredge up in the AGB star following a first dredge-up that increased the N abundance. Lithium is present with an abundance requiring Li manufacture. With this pair, abundance analyses are now available for 11 C-rich pAGBs. A common history is indicated and, in particular, the $s$-abundances, especially the relative abundances of light to heavy $s$-process elements, follow recent predictions for the third dredge-up in AGB stars.

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arXiv2001

The 'Forbidden' Abundance of Oxygen in the Sun

We reexamine closely the solar photospheric line at 6300 A, which is attributed to a forbidden line of neutral oxygen, and is widely used in analyses of other late-type stars. We use a three-dimensional time-dependent hydrodynamical model solar atmosphere which has been tested successfully against observed granulation patterns and an array of absorption lines. We show that the solar line is a blend with a Ni I line, as previously suggested but oftentimes neglected. Thanks to accurate atomic data on the [O I] and Ni I lines we are able to derive an accurate oxygen abundance for the Sun: log epsilon (O) = 8.69 +/- 0.05 dex, a value at the lower end of the distribution of previously published abundances, but in good agreement with estimates for the local interstellar medium and hot stars in the solar neighborhood. We conclude by discussing the implication of the Ni I blend on oxygen abundances derived from the [O I] 6300 A line in disk and halo stars.

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arXiv2001

Infrared Space Observatory Spectra of R Coronae Borealis Stars. I. Emission Features in the Interval 3 - 25 microns

Infrared Space Observatory 3 - 25 $μ$m spectra of the R Coronae Borealis stars V854 Cen, R CrB, and RY Sgr are presented and discussed. Sharp emission features coincident in wavelengths with the well known Unidentified Emission Features are present in the spectrum of V854 Cen but not of R CrB or RY Sgr. Since V854 Cen is not particularly H-poor and has a 1000 times more H than the other stars, the emission features are probably from a carrier containing hydrogen. There is a correspondence between the features and emission from laboratory samples of hydrogenated amorphous carbon. A search for C$_{60}$ in emission or absorption proved negative. Amorphous carbon particles account for the broad emission features seen between 6 - 14 $μ$m in the spectrum of each star.

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arXiv2001

Physical Conditions in the Foreground Gas of Reflection Nebulae: NGC 2023, vdB 102, and NGC 7023

High resolution optical spectra of HD 37903 and HD 147009, which illuminate the reflection nebulae, NGC 2023 and vdB 102, were obtained for comparison with our results for HD 200775 and NGC 7023. Ground-based measurements of the molecules, CH, C$_2$, and CN, and the atoms, Na I and K I, were analyzed to extract physical conditions in the foreground cloud. Estimates of the gas density, gas temperature and flux of ultraviolet radiation were derived and were compared with the results from infrared and radio studies of the main molecular cloud. The conditions are similar to those found in studies of diffuse clouds. The foreground material is less dense than the gas in the molecular cloud behind the star(s). The gas temperature was set at 40 K, the temperature determined for the foreground gas in NGC 7023. The flux of ultraviolet radiation was found to be less intense than in the molecular material behind the star(s). The column densities of Na I and K I were reproduced reasonably well when the extinction curve for the specific line of sight was adopted. We obtained NEWSIPS data from the IUE archive for HD 37903 and HD 200775. The ultraviolet data on C I and CO allow extraction of the physical conditions by alternate methods. General agreement among the various diagnostics was found, leading to self-consistent pictures of the foreground photodissociation regions. An Appendix describes checks on the usefulness of IUE NEWSIPS data for interstellar studies. (Abridged)

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arXiv2001

Chemical Compositions of Four Metal-poor Giants

We present the chemical compositions of four K giants CS 22877-1, CS 22166-16, CS22169-35 and BS 16085 - 0050 that have [Fe/H] in the range -2.4 to -3.1. Metal-poor stars with [Fe/H] < -2.5 are known to exhibit considerable star - to - star variations of many elements. This quartet confirms this conclusion. CS 22877-1 and CS 22166-16 are carbon-rich. There is significant spread for [$α$/Fe] within our sample where [$α$/Fe] is computed from the mean of the [Mg/Fe], and [Ca/Fe] ratios. BS 16085 - 0050 is remarkably $α$ enriched with a mean [$α$/Fe] of $+$0.7 but CS 22169-35 is $α$-poor. The aluminium abundance also shows a significant variation over the sample. A parallel and unsuccessful search among high-velocity late-type stars for metal-poor stars is described.

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arXiv2001

Abundance analyses of cool extreme helium stars

Extreme helium stars (EHe) with effective temperatures from 8000K to 13000K are among the coolest EHe stars and overlap the hotter R CrB stars in effective temperature. The cool EHes may represent an evolutionary link between the hot EHes and the R CrBs. Abundance analyses of four cool EHes are presented. To test for an evolutionary connection, the chemical compositions of cool EHes are compared with those of hot EHes and R CrBs. Relative to Fe, the N abundance of these stars is intermediate between those of hot EHes and R CrBs. For the R CrBs, the metallicity M derived from the mean of Si and S appears to be more consistent with the kinematics than that derived from Fe. When metallicity M derived from Si and S replaces Fe, the observed N abundances of EHes and R CrBs fall at or below the upper limit corresponding to thorough conversion of initial C and O to N. There is an apparent difference between the composition of R CrBs and EHes; the former having systematically higher [N/M] ratios. The material present in the atmospheres of many R CrBs is heavily CN- and ON-cycled. Most of the EHes have only CN-cycled material in their atmospheres. There is an indication that the CN- and ON-cycled N in EHes was partially converted to Ne by $α$-captures. If EHes are to evolve to R CrBs, fresh C in EHes has to be converted to N. If Ne is found to be normal in R CrBs, the proposal that EHes evolve to R CrBs fails. The idea that R CrBs evolve to EHes is ruled out; the N abundance in R CrBs has to be reduced to the level of EHes, as the C/He which is observed to be uniform across EHes, has to be maintained. Hence, the inferred [N/M], C/He, [Ne/M], and the H-abundances of these two groups indicate that the EHes and the R CrBs may not be on the same evolutionary path.

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arXiv2000

Evidence for Newly Synthesized Lithium in Interstellar Space

As a part of a study on the variation in the 7Li/6Li ratio, high signal to noise, high resolution spectroscopy of Li I (6708 Angstroms) and K I (4044 Angstroms) were obtained toward zeta and o Per. The lithium isotope shift is approximately the same as its fine structure splitting (0.158 Angstroms), resulting in a blend of the 7Li and 6Li lines. Use of the K I line as a velocity template allowed a straightforward determination of the lithium isotopic ratio. Our high resolution observations show remarkably disparate isotope ratios: 7Li/6Li = 1 0.6 +/- 2.9 toward zeta Per and 3.6 +/- 0.6 and 1.7 +/- 0.3 toward o Per. While the results toward zeta Per are consistent with the meteoritic value, the ratio toward o Per's clouds suggest recent Galactic cosmic ray spallation. This is the first clear and unambiguous evidence for an interstellar 7Li/6Li ratio that differs dramatically from the Solar System value. The low ratio indicates a higher cosmic ray flux toward o Per than toward zeta Per. A higher flux of cosmic rays toward o Per was suggested earlier in a study of OH and HD chemistry (Federman, Weber, & Lambert 1996, ApJ 463, 181). The total lithium abundances and the K/Li ratio are useful in placing the 7Li/6Li ratio into context. We obtained total lithium abundances of (12.2 +/- 2.2) x 10^(-10) toward zeta Per and (9.8 +/- 3.5) x 10^(-10) toward o Per. The columns of K I and Li I yielded K/Li ratios that revealed no discernable trend. Since a Li isotope ratio ~2 toward o Per suggests newly processed lithium, the comparable total Li abundances and K/Li ratios are unexpected.

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arXiv2000

High-resolution spectroscopy of V854 Cen in decline - Absorption and emission lines of C_2 molecules

High-resolution optical spectra of the R Coronae Borealis (RBC) star V854 Centauri in the early stages of a decline show, in addition to the features reported for other RCBs in decline, narrow absorption lines from the C_2 Phillips system. The low rotational temperature, T_rot = 1150K, of the C_2 ground electronic state suggests the cold gas is associated with the developing shroud of carbon dust. These absorption lines were not seen at a fainter magnitude on the rise from minimum light nor at maximum light. This is the first detection of cold gas around a RCB star.

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arXiv2000

The Near-Ultraviolet Continuum of Late-Type Stars

Analyses of the near-ultraviolet continuum of late-type stars have led to controversial results regarding the performance of state-of-the-art model atmospheres. The release of the homogeneous IUE final archive and the availability of the high-accuracy Hipparcos parallaxes provide an opportunity to revisit this issue, as accurate stellar distances make it possible to compare observed absolute fluxes with the predictions of model atmospheres. The near-UV continuum is highly sensitive to Teff and [Fe/H], and once the gravity is constrained from the parallax, these parameters may be derived from the analysis of low-dispersion "long-wavelength" (2000-3000 A) IUE spectra for stars previously studied by Alonso et al. (1996; A&AS 117, 227) using the Infrared Flux Method (IRFM). A second comparison is carried out against the stars spectroscopically investigated by Gratton et al. (1996; A&A 314, 191). It is shown that there is a good agreement between Teffs obtained from the IRFM and from the near-UV continuum, and a remarkable correspondence between observed and synthetic fluxes for stars with 4000 <= Teff <= 6000 K of any metallicity and gravity. These facts suggest that model atmospheres provide an adequate description of the near-UV continuum forming region and that the opacities involved are essentially understood. For cooler stars, the results of the IRFM are no longer reliable, as shown by Alonso et al., but the discrepancy noticed for stars hotter than 6000 K may reflect problems in the model atmospheres and/or the opacities at these higher temperatures.

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arXiv1999

(Teff,log g,[Fe/H]) Classification of Low-Resolution Stellar Spectra using Artificial Neural Networks

New generation large-aperture telescopes, multi-object spectrographs, and large format detectors are making it possible to acquire very large samples of stellar spectra rapidly. In this context, traditional star-by-star spectroscopic analysis are no longer practical. New tools are required that are capable of extracting quickly and with reasonable accuracy important basic stellar parameters coded in the spectra. Recent analyses of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) applied to the classification of astronomical spectra have demonstrated the ability of this concept to derive estimates of temperature and luminosity. We have adapted the back-propagation ANN technique developed by von Hippel et al. (1994) to predict effective temperatures, gravities and overall metallicities from spectra with resolving power ~ 2000 and low signal-to-noise ratio. We show that ANN techniques are very effective in executing a three-parameter (Teff,log g,[Fe/H]) stellar classification. The preliminary results show that the technique is even capable of identifying outliers from the training sample.

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arXiv1999

The Isotopic Abundances of Magnesium in Stars

Isotopic abundance ratios 24^Mg:25^Mg:26^Mg are derived for 20 stars from high- resolution spectra of the MgH A-X 0-0 band at 5140AA. With the exception of the weak g-band giant HR 1299, the stars are dwarfs that sample the metallicity range -1.8 < [Fe/H] <0.0. The abundance of 25^Mg amd 26^Mg relative to the dominant isotope 24^Mg decreases with decreasing [Fe/H] in fair accord with predictions from a recent model of galactic chemical evolution in which the Mg isotopes are synthesised by massive stars. Several stars appear especially enriched in the heavier Mg isotopes suggesting contamination by material from the envelopes of intermediate-mass AGB stars.

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arXiv1999

Fundamental Parameters of Nearby Stars from the Comparison with Evolutionary Calculations: Masses, Radii and Effective temperatures

The Hipparcos mission has made it possible to constrain the positions of nearby field stars in the colour-magnitude diagram with very high accuracy. These positions can be compared with the predictions of stellar evolutionary calculations to provide information on the basic parameters of the stars: masses, radii, effective temperatures, ages, and chemical composition. The degeneracy between mass, age, and metallicity is not so large as to prevent a reliable estimate of masses, radii and effective temperatures, at least for stars of solar metallicity. The evolutionary models of Bertelli et al. (1994) predict those parameters finely, and furthermore, the applied transformation from the theoretical (log g-Teff) to the observational (Mv-B-V) plane is precise enough to derive radii with an uncertainty of ~ 6%, masses within ~ 8%, and Teffs within ~ 2% for a certain range of the stellar parameters. This is demonstrated by means of comparison with the measurements in eclipsing binaries and the InfraRed Flux Method. The application of the interpolation procedure in the theoretical isochrones to the stars within 100 pc from the Sun observed with Hipparcos provides estimates for 17,219 stars

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arXiv1999

Abundance Analyses of Field RV Stars, V: DS Aquarii, UY Arae, TW Camelopardis, BT Librae, U Moncerotis, TT Ophiuchi, and RV Tauri

Abundance analyses are presented and discussed for eight RV Tauri variables. The RV B star UY Ara shows the abundance anomalies seen in other RV B stars, namely elements that condense into grains at high temperature are underabundant but elements of low condensation temperature are much less underabundant. This pattern is ascribed to a separation of dust from gas with accretion of gas but not dust by the atmosphere. Abundances for two RV C stars with earlier results for other RV C stars show that these intrinsically metal-poor stars do not show effects of dust-gas separation. Analyses of five RV A stars show that these cooler stars are very largely unaffected by dust-gas separation. It is proposed that the deeper convective envelope of cooler stars dilutes anomalies resulting from dust-gas separation - the dusty wind off the RV Tauri variable or a dusty circumbinary disk - are reviewed and observational tests are suggested.

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arXiv1999

The Chemical Compositions of the SRd Variable Stars-- II. WY Andromedae, VW Eridani, and UW Librae

Chemical compositions are derived from high-resolution spectra for three stars classed as SRd variables in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars. These stars are shown to be metal-poor supergiants: WY And with [Fe/H] = -1.0, VW Eri with [Fe/H] = -1.8, and UW Lib with [Fe/H] = -1.2. Their compositions are identical to within the measurement errors with the compositions of subdwarfs, subgiants, and less evolved giants of the same FeH. The stars are at the tip of the first giant branch or in the early stages of evolution along the asymptotic giant branch (AGB). There is no convincing evidence that these SRd variables are experiencing thermal pulsing and the third dredge-up on the AGB. The SRds appear to be the cool limit of the sequence of RV Tauri variables.

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arXiv1999

Model Photospheres for Late-Type Stars from the Inversion of High-Resolution Spectroscopic Observations. Groombridge 1830 and Epsilon Eridani

An inversion technique to recover LTE one-dimensional model photospheres for late-type stars, which was previously applied to the Sun (Allende Prieto et al. 1998), is now employed to reconstruct, semi-empirically, the photospheres of cooler dwarfs: the metal-poor Gmb1830 and the active star of solar-metallicity Eps Eri. The model atmospheres we find reproduce satisfactorily all the considered weak-to-moderate neutral lines of metals, satisfying in detail the excitation equilibrium of iron, the wings of strong lines, and the slope of the optical continuum. The retrieved models show a slightly steeper temperature gradient than flux-constant model atmospheres in the layers where log tau <= -0.5. We argue that these differences should reflect missing ingredients in the flux-constant models and point to granular-like inhomogeneities as the best candidate. The iron ionization equilibrium is well satisfied by the model for Gmb1830, but not for Eps Eri, for which a discrepancy of 0.2 dex between the logarithmic iron abundance derived from neutral and singly ionized lines may signal departures from LTE. The chemical abundances of calcium, titanium, chromium, and iron derived with the empirical models from neutral lines do not differ much from previous analyses based on flux-constant atmospheric structures.

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