arXiv subjects

F. LeBlanc

Publications and source records attributed to F. LeBlanc.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

Modelling of the scandium abundance evolution in AmFm stars

Scandium is a key element of the Am star phenomenon since its surface under-abundance is one of the criteria that characterise such stars. Thanks to the availability of a sufficiently complete set of theoretical atomic data for this element, reliable radiative accelerations for Sc can now be computed, which allows its behaviour under the action of atomic diffusion to be modelled. We explore the required conditions, in terms of mixing processes or mass loss, for our models to reproduce the observed surface abundances of Sc in Am stars. The models are computed with the Toulouse-Geneva evolution code, which uses the parametric single-valued parameter method for the calculation of radiative accelerations. Fingering mixing is included, using a prescription that comes from 3D hydrodynamical simulations. Other parameter-dependent turbulent mixing processes are also considered. A global mass loss is also implemented. When no mass loss is considered, the observed abundances of Sc are rather in favour of the models whose superficial layers are fully mixed down to the iron accumulation zone, although other mixing prescriptions are also able to reproduce the observations for the most massive model presented here ($2.0 M_\odot$). The models including mass loss with rates in the range of $[10^{-13};10^{-14}] M_\odot$/yr are compatible with some of the observations, while other observations suggest that the mass-loss rate could be lower. The constraints brought by the modelling of Sc are consistent with those derived using other chemical elements.

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arXiv2020

An improved parametric method for evaluating radiative accelerations in stellar interiors

The single-valued parameter (SVP) method is a parametric method that offers the possibility of computing radiative accelerations in stellar interiors much faster than other methods. It has been implemented in a few stellar evolution numerical codes for about a decade. In the present paper, we describe improvements we have recently brought in the process of preparing, from atomic/opacity databases, the SVP tables that are needed to use the method, and their extension to a larger stellar mass domain (from 1 to 10 solar mass) on the main-sequence. We discuss the validity domain of the method. We also present the website from where new tables and codes can be freely accessed and implemented in stellar evolution codes.

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arXiv2018

Impacts of radiative accelerations on solar-like oscillating main-sequence stars

Chemical element transport processes are among the crucial physical processes needed for precise stellar modelling. Atomic diffusion by gravitational settling nowadays is usually taken into account, and is essential for helioseismic studies. On the other hand, radiative accelerations are rarely accounted for, act differently on the various chemical elements, and can strongly counteract gravity in some stellar mass domains. In this study we aim at determining whether radiative accelerations impact the structure of solar-like oscillating main-sequence stars observed by asteroseismic space missions. We implemented the calculation of radiative accelerations in the CESTAM code using the Single-Valued Parameter method. We built and compared several grids of stellar models including gravitational settling, but some with and others without radiative accelerations. We found that radiative accelerations may not be neglected for stellar masses larger than 1.1~M$_{\odot}$ at solar metallicity. The difference in age due to their inclusion in models can reach 9\% for the more massive stars of our grids. We estimated that the percentage of the PLATO core program stars whose modelling would require radiative accelerations ranges between 33 and 58\% depending on the precision of the seismic data. We conclude that, in the context of Kepler, TESS, and PLATO missions, which provide (or will provide) high quality seismic data, radiative accelerations can have a significant effect when inferring the properties of solar-like oscillators properly. This is particularly important for age inferences. However, the net effect for each individual star results from the competition between atomic diffusion including radiative accelerations and other internal transport processes. This will be investigated in a forthcoming companion paper.

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arXiv2014

Spectral analysis and abundances of the post-HB star HD 76431

HD76431 is a slow rotating post-HB star that shows an underabundance of helium by 0.5 dex relative to the solar value. These observational facts suggest that atomic diffusion could be active in its atmosphere. We have used the MMT and Bok spectra to estimate the atmospheric parameters of the target star using the model atmospheres and synthetic spectra calculated with TLUSTY and SYNSPEC. The derived values of the effective temperature, surface gravity, helium abundance are consistent with those obtained by Ramspeck et al. (2001b). It appears that NLTE effect are not important for HD76431. We have used Stokes I spectra from ESPaDOnS at CFHT to perform an abundance analysis and a search for observational evidence of vertical stratification of the abundance of certain elements. The results of our abundance analysis are in good agreement with previously published data with respect to average abundances. Our numerical simulations show that carbon and nitrogen reveal signatures of vertical abundance stratification in the atmosphere of HD76431. It appears that the carbon abundance increases toward the deeper atmospheric layers. Nitrogen also shows a similar behaviour, but in deeper atmospheric layers we obtain a significant dispersion for the estimates of its abundance. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of vertical abundance stratification of metals in a post-HB star and up to now it is the hottest star to show such stratification features. We also report the detection of two SiIII and one TiIII emission lines in the spectra of HD76431 that were not detected in previous studies.

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arXiv2014

New observations of chemically peculiar stars with ESPaDOnS

We present the first results of the estimation of gravity and effective temperature for some poorly studied chemically peculiar stars that were recently observed with the spectropolarimeter ESPaDOnS at CFHT. We have analyzed the spectra of HD71030, HD95608 and HD116235 to determine their radial velocity, Vsin(i) and the average abundance of several chemical species. We have also analyzed our results to verify for possible vertical abundance stratification of iron and chromium in these stars.

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arXiv2014

Hot horizontal branch stars in NGC 288 - effects of diffusion and stratification on their atmospheric parameters

NGC288 is a globular cluster with a well-developed blue horizontal branch covering the u-jump that indicates the onset of diffusion. It is therefore well suited to study the effects of diffusion in blue horizontal branch (HB) stars. We compare observed abundances with predictions from stellar evolution models calculated with diffusion and from stratified atmospheric models. We verify the effect of using stratified model spectra to derive atmospheric parameters. In addition, we investigate the nature of the overluminous blue HB stars around the u-jump. We defined a new photometric index sz from uvby measurements that is gravity-sensitive between 8000K and 12000K. Using medium-resolution spectra and Stroemgren photometry, we determined atmospheric parameters (T_eff, log g) and abundances for the blue HB stars. We used both homogeneous and stratified model spectra for our spectroscopic analyses. The atmospheric parameters and masses of the hot HB stars in NGC288 show a behaviour seen also in other clusters for temperatures between 9000K and 14000K. Outside this temperature range, however, they instead follow the results found for such stars in omega Cen. The abundances derived from our observations are for most elements (except He and P) within the abundance range expected from evolutionary models that include the effects of atomic diffusion and assume a surface mixed mass of 10^-7 M0. The abundances predicted by stratified model atmospheres are generally significantly more extreme than observed, except for Mg. When effective temperatures, surface gravities, and masses are determined with stratified model spectra, the hotter stars agree better with canonical evolutionary predictions. Our results show definite promise towards solving the long-standing problem of surface gravity and mass discrepancies for hot HB stars, but much work is still needed to arrive at a self-consistent solution.

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arXiv2012

The new Toulouse-Geneva Stellar Evolution Code including radiative accelerations of heavy elements

Atomic diffusion has been recognized as an important process that has to be considered in any computations of stellar models. In solar-type and cooler stars, this process is dominated by gravitational settling, which is now included in most stellar evolution codes. In hotter stars, radiative accelerations compete with gravity and become the dominant ingredient in the diffusion flux for most heavy elements. Introducing radiative accelerations into the computations of stellar models modifies the internal element distribution and may have major consequences on the stellar structure. Coupling these processes with hydrodynamical stellar motions has important consequences that need to be investigated in detail. We aim to include the computations of radiative accelerations in a stellar evolution code (here the TGEC code) using a simplified method (SVP) so that it may be coupled with sophisticated macroscopic motions. We also compare the results with those of the Montreal code in specific cases for validation and study the consequences of these coupled processes on accurate models of A- and early-type stars. We implemented radiative accelerations computations into the Toulouse-Geneva stellar evolution code following the semi-analytical prescription proposed by Alecian and LeBlanc. This allows more rapid computations than the full description used in the Montreal code. We present results for A-type stellar models computed with this updated version of TGEC and compare them with similar published models obtained with the Montreal evolution code. We discuss the consequences for the coupling with macroscopic motions, including thermohaline convection.

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arXiv2010

Stratification of the elements in the atmospheres of blue horizontal-branch stars

Blue horizontal-branch (BHB) stars with $T_{\rm eff}$ approximately larger than 11500 K show several observational anomalies. In globular clusters, they exhibit low rotational velocities, abundance anomalies (as compared to cluster abundances), photometric jumps and gaps and spectroscopic gravities lower than predicted by canonical models. It is commonly believed that the low rotational velocities of these stars permit atomic diffusion to be efficient in their atmosphere thereby causing the observed anomalies. Recent detections of vertical stratification of iron (and some other chemical elements) in several BHB stars concur with this framework. In this paper, improved model atmospheres that include the vertical stratification of the elements are applied to BHB stars to verify if they can explain their observational anomalies. The results from theoretical model atmospheres are consistent with the photometric jumps and gaps observed for BHB stars in globular clusters. It is found that iron stratification in the theoretical models and that obtained from observations have similar tendancies. Our results also show that the spectroscopic gravities obtained while using chemically homogeneous model atmospheres to fit observations are underestimated. These results significantly strengthen the belief that atomic diffusion is responsible for these BHB-star anomalies.

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arXiv2010

Vertical stratification of iron in atmospheres of blue horizontal-branch stars

The aim of this study is to search for observational evidence of vertical iron stratification in the atmosphere of fourteen blue horizontal-branch (BHB) stars. We have found from our numerical simulations that five BHB stars: B22, B186 in the globular cluster NGC 288, WF2-820, WF2-2692 in M13 and B203 in M15 show clear signatures of the vertical stratification of iron whose abundance increases toward the lower atmosphere. Two other BHB stars (B334 in M15 and B176 in M92) also show possible iron stratification in their atmosphere. A dependence of the slope of iron stratification on the effective temperature was also discovered. It is found that the vertical stratification of iron is strongest in BHB stars with Teff around 11,500K. The slope of iron abundance decreases as Teff increases and becomes negligible for the BHB stars with Teff= 14,000K. These results support the hypothesis regarding the efficiency of atomic diffusion in the stellar atmospheres of BHB stars with Teff > 11,500K.

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arXiv2010

Abundances and search for vertical stratification in the atmospheres of four HgMn stars

Using high resolution, high-S/N archival UVES spectra, we have performed a detailed spectroscopic analysis of 4 chemically peculiar HgMn stars (HD 71066, HD 175640, HD 178065 and HD 221507). Using spectrum synthesis, mean photospheric chemical abundances are derived for 22 ions of 16 elements. We find good agreement between our derived abundances and those published previously by other authors. For the 5 elements that present a sufficient number of suitable lines, we have attempted to detect vertical chemical stratification by analyzing the dependence of derived abundance as a function of optical depth. For most elements and most stars we find no evidence of chemical stratification with typical 3σupper limits of Δ\log N_elem/N_tot~0.1-0.2 dex per unit optical depth. However, for Mn in the atmosphere of HD 178065 we find convincing evidence of stratification. Modeling of the line profiles using a two-step model for the abundance of Mn yields a local abundance varying approximately linearly by ~0.7 dex through the optical depth range log τ_5000=-3.6 to -2.8.

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arXiv2007

Vertical stratification of iron abundance in atmospheres of blue horizontal-branch stars

The observed slow rotation and abundance peculiarities of certain blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars suggests that atomic diffusion can be important in their stellar atmospheres and can lead to vertical abundance stratification of chemical species in the atmosphere. To verify this hypothesis, we have undertaken an abundance stratification analysis in the atmospheres of six BHB stars, based on recently acquired McDonald-CE spectra. Our numerical simulations show that the iron abundance is vertically stratified in the atmospheres of two stars in M15: B267 and B279. One star WF2-2541 in M13 also appears to have vertically stratified iron abundance, while for WF4-3085 the signatures of iron stratification are less convincing. In all cases the iron abundances increase towards the lower atmosphere. The other two stars in our sample, WF4-3485 and B84, do not show any significant variation of iron with atmospheric depth. Our results support the idea that atomic diffusion dominates other hydrodynamic processes in the atmospheres of BHB stars.

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arXiv2007

Scandium: A key element for understanding Am stars

{\rm Context.} Atomic diffusion is believed to cause the abundance anomalies observed in AmFm stars. However, the detailed process has still not been well-established. For instance, two possible scenarios for the diffusion theory are presently envisaged. They differ mainly by the depth from which the abundance anomalies emanate. The first scenario predicts that the abundances are modified in the superficial regions of the star, just below the hydrogen convection zone. The second scenario predicts that a much deeper extension of the mixing zone exists due to the convection caused by Fe accumulation in regions below the hydrogen convection zone. {\rm Aims.} We calculate much more accurate radiative accelerations of Sc than previously, to better understand the observed abundance anomalies of this element. We believe that it is a key element to use as a diagnostic tool for understanding AmFm stars. {\rmMethods.} The method employed to obtain these radiative accelerations is based on an interpolation from the parameters of the so-called SVP parametric method. {\rm Results.} The radiative accelerations, shown here in a typical Am stellar model, are discussed in light of the observed anomalies of Ca and Sc. Our results suggest that the deeper mixing scenario is not entirely satisfactory: the mixing zone should be deeper than what is predicted by recent models to account for observed Sc underabundances. Our results seem more compatible with the scenario where the abundances anomalies are created in the superficial regions. However, only detailed evolutionary modelling with mass loss and diffusion of all important species, including Ca and Sc, with accurate radiative accelerations, will be able to give more insight into where the source of these anomalies occur in AmFm stars.

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arXiv2007

Search for vertical stratification of metals in atmospheres of blue horizontal-branch stars

The observed abundance peculiarities of many chemical species relative to the expected cluster metallicity in blue horizontal-branch (BHB) stars presumably appear as a result of atomic diffusion in the photosphere. The slow rotation (typically $v\sin{i}<$ 10 km s$^{-1}$) of BHB stars with effective temperatures $T_{\rm eff}>$ 11,500 K supports this idea since the diffusion mechanism is only effective in a stable stellar atmosphere. In this work we search for observational evidence of vertical chemical stratification in the atmospheres of six hot BHB stars: B84, B267 and B279 in M15 and WF2-2541, WF4-3085 and WF4-3485 in M13. We undertake an abundance stratification analysis of the stellar atmospheres of the aforementioned stars, based on acquired Keck HIRES spectra. We have found from our numerical simulations that three stars (B267, B279 and WF2-2541) show clear signatures of the vertical stratification of iron whose abundance increases toward the lower atmosphere, while the other two stars (B84 and WF4-3485) do not. For WF4-3085 the iron stratification results are inconclusive. B267 also shows a signature of titanium stratification. Our estimates for radial velocity, $v\sin{i}$ and overall iron, titanium and phosphorus abundances agree with previously published data for these stars after taking the measurement errors into account. The results support the hypothesis regarding the efficiency of atomic diffusion in the stellar atmospheres of BHB stars with $T_{\rm eff}>$ 11,500 K.

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arXiv2007

Vertical abundance stratification in the blue horizontal branch star HD135485

It is commonly believed that the observed overabundances of many chemical species relative to the expected cluster metallicity in blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars appear as a result of atomic diffusion in the photosphere. The slow rotation of BHB stars (with T_eff > 11,500K), typically v sin{i} < 10 km/s, is consistent with this idea. In this work we search for observational evidence of vertical chemical stratification in the atmosphere of HD135485. If this evidence exists, it will demonstrate the importance of atomic diffusion processes in the atmospheres of BHB stars. We undertake an extensive abundance stratification analysis of the atmosphere of HD135485, based on recently acquired high resolution and S/N CFHT ESPaDOnS spectra and a McDonald-CE spectrum. Our numerical simulations show that nitrogen and sulfur reveal signatures of vertical abundance stratification in the stellar atmosphere. It appears that the abundances of these elements increase toward the upper atmosphere. This fact cannot be explained by the influence of microturbulent velocity, because oxygen, carbon, neon, argon, titanium and chromium do not show similar behavior and their abundances remain constant throughout the atmosphere. It seems that the iron abundance may increase marginally toward the lower atmosphere. This is the first demonstration of vertical abundance stratification of metals in a BHB star.

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arXiv2006

Abundances and chemical stratification in the atmosphere of the HgMn star HD 175640

We present the results of a study of the photospheric abundances of the HgMn star HD 175640, conducted using archival ESO-UVES spectra. A large number of unblended (titanium, chromium, manganese and iron) lines were studied to search for the presence of chemical stratification in the atmosphere of this star. The selected lines are located in the visible region of the spectrum, longward of the Balmer jump, in orders with S/N $\geq$ 300. We derived the abundance of each element by calculating independently the abundance associated each line. We then characterized the depth of formation of each line, and examined the dependence of abundance on optical depth. Titanium, chromium, manganese and iron show no variation of their abundance with optical depth. These four elements do not appear to be strongly stratified in the atmosphere of HD 175640. This indicates that if stratification occurs, it must be in atmospheric layers which are not diagnosed by the spectral lines studied, or that it is too weak to detect using these data. We also report evidence that HD 175640 is an SB1, and furthermore report anomalous shifts of some strong Fe {\sc II} lines, the origin of which is unclear.

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