arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to N. Prantzos.
We present a brief overview of the various methods proposed to derive the s- and r-components of the proto-solar chemical composition and we discuss some recent developments in the field, including the impact of rotating massive stars, nuclear measurements, physics of low mass asymptotic giant branch stars, isotopic composition of presolar SiC grains and new derivations.
The Milky Way bulge-bar is composed of multiple populations. Using chemical and kinematical planes, we segregate six populations in a bulge-bar sample observed by the APOGEE survey: two with bar-driven orbits, two with eccentric orbits, and two with low-eccentricity orbits, each composed of low- and high-[Mg/Fe] stars. Our sample spans $-2.0\lesssim$[Fe/H]$\lesssim+0.5$ and Galactocentric distance $R_{Gal}$ $<6$ kpc. We use chemical abundances from APOGEE DR17 for the elements Mg, Si, Ca, Al, K, Mn, Co, Ni, and Fe, and from the BAWLAS catalog for Ce and Nd. We find that the low- and high-[Mg/Fe] stars with low-eccentricity orbits, which exhibit chemical and orbital characteristics similar to those of the low- and high-[$\alpha$/Fe] disks, display slightly negative and positive metallicity gradients, respectively. This result for the low-[Mg/Fe] low-eccentricity stars indicates a break in the global thin disk metallicity gradient. The high eccentricity populations with both low- and high-[Mg/Fe] show approximately flat metallicity gradients. In general, the [X/H] gradients of all elements for all populations follow Fe, except for the neutron-capture elements Ce and Nd. For all elements, the high-[Mg/Fe] bar population shows a much steeper positive [X/H] gradient than the nearly flat gradient for the low-[Mg/Fe] bar stars. The positive [X/H] gradients observed among our high-[Mg/Fe] bar stars probably reflect an age variation along the peanut structure. This interpretation agrees with the N-body simulations. Such steep positive gradients have also been reported in some high-redshift (z$\sim$4--10) galaxies.
Lithium plays a unique role in astrophysics, as it is a powerful diagnostic for the physics and evolution of low-mass stars, Galactic archaeology, and cosmology. We review the Li observations in stars at different phases of their evolution, the strengths and the limitations of the current theoretical stellar models to explain the Li abundance data, our understanding of the Li sources and of the evolution of Li through- out the Galactic history. Key takeaways from the current state of the research in the field are: 1) Stellar evolution models accounting for fundamental transport processes of chemical species and angular momentum hold the promise of providing a common stellar Li depletion explanation to the Li abundance patterns observed in all Galactic stellar populations, including the dip and the plateau(s). 2) Novae are most probably the main source of Li in the Galaxy, on observational (but not yet theoretically established) grounds. 3) Radial migration of stars in the Galactic disk holds the key to understand many aspects of the Li evolution in the Milky Way.
Based on the finding of unusual chemical abundance ratios of N-emitters, which resemble those of globular cluster (GC) stars, their compactness, high ISM densities and other properties, it has been suggested that N-emitters could indicate the formation sites of globulars. A recent statistical study of the N-emitter population has quantified the frequency $f_N$ of these rare objects and their redshift evolution (Morel et al. 2025). Using these results we here test if N-emitters trace the formation of GCs and use the observed cosmic star-formation rate density evolution to predict the cosmological evolution of the GC population with time, their age distribution, and the total present-day stellar mass density formed in globulars. The predicted age distribution of GCs strongly resembles the typical asymmetric observed distributions in the Galaxy and ellipiticals, with a peak at $\sim 11.5-12$ Gyr and a longer tail extending to younger ages. We derive a total stellar mass density formed in N-emitters down to redshift zero of $(2-7) \times 10^5$ M$_{\odot}$ Mpc$^{-3}$, which matches within a factor $\sim 2$ the observed fraction of stellar mass found in the GC population at $z=0$. These results provide additional indirect arguments supporting the hypothesis that N-emitters could represent sign-posts of a short phase of GC formation.
JWST observations have revealed rare galaxies with UV spectra exhibiting intense lines of nitrogen, indicative of super-solar N/O abundances at low metallicity. To better understand these enigmatic objects and provide new constraints on proposed scenarios, we have undertaken a systematic search for galaxies with UV emission lines of nitrogen. Using public JWST NIRSpec data, we have identified 45 N-emitters with robust NIII] or NIV] detections, including 4 previously known objects. We find N-emitters from redshift $z\sim 3-11$ among a broad diversity of galaxies, in terms of morphology, UV magnitude, stellar mass, SFR, metallicity, and rest-optical line strengths. The UV nitrogen lines show typical equivalent widths between $\sim 5-50$ \AA. Carbon lines are generally fainter than the N lines. Using strong line calibrations established at high-redshift, we find metallicities $12+log(O/H)\sim 7.15-8.5$, including thus also high metallicities. The H$\beta$ equivalent width of N-emitters varies strongly, and sources with low EWs show clear signs of a Balmer break, indicative of composite stellar populations combining both young (< 10 Myr) stars responsible of the UV emission lines and an older population contributing to the rest-optical spectrum. Supersolar N/O ratios are found in all N-emitters. C/O abundances are comparable to those of galaxies at the same metallicity, and all N-emitters show high N/C ratios or lower limits ($\log(N/C) > 0.5$), independently of metallicity. The observed abundance ratios are compatible with ejecta from H-burning and do not show signs of Carbon enhancements, even at higher metallicities. Finally, we find that the fraction of N-emitters increases with redshift, and we quantify this evolution. Our study increases the sample of known N-emitters by a factor $\sim 3$, reveals a diversity of properties among N-emitters, and provides new constraints on their nature.
This study probes the chemical abundances of the neutron-capture elements cerium and neodymium in the inner Milky Way from an analysis of a sample of $\sim$2000 stars in the Galactic Bulge/bar spatially contained within $|X_{Gal}|<$5 kpc, $|Y_{Gal}|<$3.5 kpc, and $|Z_{Gal}|<$1 kpc, and spanning metallicities between $-$2.0$\lesssim$[Fe/H]$\lesssim$+0.5. We classify the sample stars into low- or high-[Mg/Fe] populations and find that, in general, values of [Ce/Fe] and [Nd/Fe] increase as the metallicity decreases for the low- and high-[Mg/Fe] populations. Ce abundances show a more complex variation across the metallicity range of our Bulge-bar sample when compared to Nd, with the r-process dominating the production of neutron-capture elements in the high-[Mg/Fe] population ([Ce/Nd]$<$0.0). We find a spatial chemical dependence of Ce and Nd abundances for our sample of Bulge-bar stars, with low- and high-[Mg/Fe] populations displaying a distinct abundance distribution. In the region close to the center of the MW, the low-[Mg/Fe] population is dominated by stars with low [Ce/Fe], [Ce/Mg], [Nd/Mg], [Nd/Fe], and [Ce/Nd] ratios. The low [Ce/Nd] ratio indicates a significant contribution in this central region from r-process yields for the low-[Mg/Fe] population. The chemical pattern of the most metal-poor stars in our sample suggests an early chemical enrichment of the Bulge dominated by yields from core-collapse supernovae and r-process astrophysical sites, such as magneto-rotational supernovae.
[Abridged] Using the JWST/NIRSpec observations from CEERS we found an extreme N-emitter, CEERS-1019 at z=8.6782 showing intense NIV and NIII emission. From the observed rest-UV and optical lines we conclude that it is compatible with photoionization from stars and we determine accurate abundances for C, N, O, and Ne, relative to H, finding a highly supersolar ratio log(N/O) = -0.18+/-0.11, and normal log(C/O) = -0.75+/-0.11 and log(Ne/O) = -0.63+/-0.07, for its low metallicity, 12+log(O/H)= 7.70+/-0.18. We also analyze other N-emitters from the literature. All show strongly enhanced N/O ratios and two of them normal C/O. Massive star ejecta from WR stars are needed to explain the galaxies with enhanced C/O (Lynx arc and Mrk 996). On the other hand, supermassive stars (>1000 Msun, SMS) in the ``conveyer-belt model'' put forward to explain globular clusters (GCs), predict a high N/O and small changes in C/O, compatible with CEERS-1019, the Sunburst cluster, SMACS2031, and GN-z11. Based on the chemical abundances, possible enrichment scenarios, compactness, and high ISM density, we suggest that CEERS-1019, SMACS2031, and the Sunburst cluster could contain proto-GCs. Finally, we propose that some N-emitters enriched by SMS could also have formed intermediate-mass black holes, and we suggest that this might be the case for GN-z11. Our observations and analysis reinforce the suggested link between some N-emitters and proto-GC formation, which is supported both by empirical evidence and quantitative models. Furthermore, the observations provide possible evidence for the presence of supermassive stars in the early Universe (z>8) and at z~2-3. Our analysis also suggests that the origin and nature of the N-emitters is diverse, including also objects like GN-z11 which possibly host an AGN.
Unusually high N/O abundance ratios were recently reported for a very compact, intensively star-forming object GN-z11 at $z=10.6$ from JWST/NIRSpec observations. We present an empirical comparison with the C, N, and O abundance ratios in Galactic globular clusters (GCs) over a large metallicity range. We show that hot hydrogen-burning nucleosynthesis within supermassive stars (SMS) formed through runaway collisions can consistently explain the observed abundances ratio in GN-z11 and in GCs. This suggests that a proto-globular cluster hosting a SMS could be at the origin of the strong N-enrichment in GN-z11. Our model predicts the behavior of N/O, C/O, and Ne/O ratios as a function of metallicity, which can be tested if high-$z$ objects similar to GN-z11 are detected with JWST in the future. Further studies and statistics will help differentiate the proto-GC scenario from the Wolf-Rayet scenario that we quantify with a population synthesis model, and shed more light on this peculiar object.
Recent spectroscopic explorations of large Galactic stellar samples stars have revealed the existence of red giants with [$\alpha$/Fe] ratios that are anomalously high, given their relatively young ages. We revisit the GALAH DR3 survey to look for both dwarfs and giants with extreme [$\alpha$/Fe] ratios, that is, the upper 1% in the [$\alpha$/Fe]-[Fe/H] plane over the range in [Fe/H] between -1.1 and +0.4 dex. We refer to these outliers as "ex$\alpha$fe" stars. We used the GALAH DR3 data and their value-added catalog to trace the properties (abundances, masses, ages, and kinematics) of the ex$\alpha$fe stars. We investigated the effects of secular evolution and the magnitude limitations of GALAH to understand the mass and metallicity distributions of the sample stars. We also discuss the corresponding biases in previous studies of stars with high [$\alpha$/Fe] in other surveys. We find both dwarf and giant ex$\alpha$fe stars younger than 3 Gyr, which we refer to as "y-ex$\alpha$fe" stars. Dwarf y-ex$\alpha$fe stars exhibit lithium abundances similar to those of young [$\alpha$/Fe]-normal dwarfs at the same age and [Fe/H]. In particular, the youngest and most massive stars of both populations exhibit the highest Li abundances, A(Li)~3.5 dex (i.e., a factor of 2 above the protosolar value), while cooler/older stars exhibit the same Li depletion patterns increasing with both decreasing mass and increasing age. In addition, the [Fe/H] and mass distributions of both the dwarf and giant y-ex$\alpha$fe stars do not differ from those of their [$\alpha$/Fe]-normal counterparts found in the thin disk and they share the same kinematic properties. We conclude that y-ex$\alpha$fe dwarfs and giants are indeed young, their mass distribution shows no peculiarity, and they differ from young [$\alpha$/Fe]-normal stars by their extreme [$\alpha$/Fe] content only. However, their origin remains unclear.
We revisit large spectroscopic data sets for field stars from the literature to derive the upper Li envelope in the high metallicity regime in our Galaxy. We take advantage of Gaia EDR3 data and state-of-the-art stellar models to precisely determine the position of the sample dwarf stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. The highest Li abundances are found in field metal-rich warm dwarfs from the GALAH survey, located on the hot side of the Li-dip. Their mean Li value agrees with what was recently derived for warm dwarfs in metal-rich clusters, pointing towards a continuous increase of Li up to super-solar metallicity. However, if only cool dwarfs are considered in GALAH, as done in the other literature surveys, it is found that the upper Li envelope decreases at super-solar metallicities, blurring the actual Li evolution picture. We confirm the suggestion that field and open cluster surveys that found opposite Li behaviour in the high metallicity regime do not sample the same types of stars: The first ones, with the exception of GALAH, miss warm dwarfs that can potentially preserve their original Li content. Although we can discard the bending of the Li upper envelope at high metallicity derived from the analysis of cool star samples, we still need to evaluate the effects of atomic diffusion on warm, metal-rich early-F and late-A type dwarfs before deriving the actual Li abundance at high metallicity.
The evolution of galaxies depends on their interaction with the surrounding environment. Ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) have been found in large numbers in clusters. We detected a few star-forming blobs in the VESTIGE survey, located at $\sim$5 kpc from a UDG, namely NGVS 3543, in association with an HI gas cloud AGC 226178, suggesting a recent interaction between this low-surface-brightness system and the surrounding cluster environment. We use a complete set of multi-frequency data including deep optical, UV, and narrow-band H${\alpha}$ imaging and HI data to understand the formation process that gave birth to this peculiar system. For this purpose, we measured (i) the multi-wavelength radial surface brightness profiles of NGVS 3543 and compared them to the predictions of spectro-photometric models of galaxy evolution in rich clusters; and (ii) the aperture photometry of the blue regions in the vicinity of NGVS 3543 in order to determine their age and stellar mass. Comparisons of the observations with evolutionary models indicate that NGVS 3543 has undergone a ram-pressure stripping (RPS) that peaked $\sim$100 Myr ago, transforming a blue gas-rich UDG into a red gas-poor UDG. Star formation has taken place in the ram pressure stripped gas, the mass of which is $\sim$10$^8$ M$_{\odot}$, forming star complexes with a typical age of $\sim$20 Myr and a stellar mass of $\sim$10$^4$ M$_{\odot}$. These results suggest that we are observing for the first time the ongoing transformation of a gas-rich UDG into a red and quiescent UDG under the effect of a ram pressure stripping event. The same process could explain the lack of star-forming UDGs in rich environments observed in several nearby clusters.
A Rb deficiency by a factor two with respect to the Sun has been found in M dwarfs of solar metallicity. This deficiency is difficult to understand from both the observational and nucleosynthesis point of views. To test the reliability of this Rb deficiency, we study the Rb and Zr abundances in a sample of KM-type giant stars in a similar metallicity range extracted from the AMBRE Project. We derive Rb and Zr abundances in 54 giant stars with metallicity close to solar by spectral synthesis in LTE and NLTE. The impact of the Zeeman broadening in the RbI line is also studied. The LTE analysis results in a Rb deficiency in giant stars smaller than that obtained in M dwarfs, but the NLTE [Rb/Fe] ratios are very close to solar in the full metallicity range. This contrasts with the figure found in M dwarfs. We investigate the effect of gravitational settling and magnetic activity as possible causes of the Rb deficiency found in M dwarfs. While, the former phenomenon has a negligible impact on the surface Rb abundance, the existence of an average magnetic field with intensity typical of that observed in M dwarfs may result in systematic Rb abundance underestimations if the Zeeman broadening is not considered in the spectral synthesis. The new [Rb,Zr/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] relationships can be explained when the Rb production by rotating massive stars and low-and-intermediate mass stars are considered, without the need of any deviation from the standard s-process nucleosynthesis in AGB stars as previously suggested.
In this study, abundances of the neutron-capture elements Rb, Sr, and Zr are derived, for the first time, in a sample of nearby M dwarfs. We focus on stars in the metallicity range -0.5<[Fe/H]<+0.3, an interval poorly explored for Rb abundances in previous analyses. To do this we use high-resolution, high-signal-to-noise-ratio, optical and near-infrared spectra of 57 M dwarfs observed with CARMENES. The resulting [Sr/Fe] and [Zr/Fe] ratios for most M dwarfs are almost constant at about the solar value, and are identical to those found in GK dwarfs of the same metallicity. However, for Rb we find systematic underabundances ([Rb/Fe]<0.0) by a factor two on average. Furthermore, a tendency is found for Rb-but not for other heavy elements (Sr, Zr) -to increase with increasing metallicity such that [Rb/Fe]>0.0 is attained at metallicities higher than solar. These are surprising results, never seen for any other heavy element, and are difficult to understand within the formulation of the s- and r-processes, both contributing sources to the Galactic Rb abundance. We discuss the reliability of these findings for Rb in terms of non-LTE effects, stellar activity, or an anomalous Rb abundance in the Solar System, but no explanation is found. We then interpret the full observed [Rb/Fe] versus [Fe/H] trend within the framework of theoretical predictions from state-of-the-art chemical evolution models for heavy elements, but a simple interpretation is not found either. In particular, the possible secondary behaviour of the [Rb/Fe] ratio at super-solar metallicities would require a much larger production of Rb than currently predicted in AGB stars through the s-process without overproducing Sr and Zr.
Unevolved metal poor stars are the witness of the early evolution of the Galaxy. The determination of their detailed chemical composition is an important tool to understand the chemical history of our Galaxy. The study of their chemical composition can also be used to constrain the nucleosynthesis of the first generation of supernovae that enriched the interstellar medium. The aim is to observe a sample of extremely metal poor stars (EMP stars) candidates selected from SDSS DR12 release and determine their chemical composition. We obtained high resolution spectra of a sample of five stars using HDS on Subaru telescope and used standard 1D models to compute the abundances. The stars we analysed have a metallicity [Fe/H] between -3.50 dex and -4.25 dex . We confirm that the five metal poor candidates selected from low resolution spectra are very metal poor. We present, the discovery of a new ultra metal-poor star (UMP star) with a metallicity of [Fe/H]= -4.25 dex (SDSS~J1050032.34$-$241009.7). We measured in this star an upper limit of lithium ( log(Li/H) <= 2.0. We found that the 4 most metal poor stars of our sample have a lower lithium abundance than the Spite plateau lithium value. We obtain upper limits for carbon in the sample of stars. None of them belong to the high carbon band. We measured abundances of Mg and Ca in most of the stars and found three new alpha-poor stars.
The decomposition of the Solar system abundances of heavy isotopes into their s- and r- components plays a key role in our understanding of the corresponding nuclear processes and the physics and evolution of their astrophysical sites. We present a new method for determining the s- and r- components of the Solar system abundances, fully consistent with our current understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis and galactic chemical evolution. The method is based on a study of the evolution of the solar neighborhood with a state-of-the-art 1-zone model, using recent yields of low and intermediate mass stars as well as of massive rotating stars. We compare our results with previous studies and we provide tables with the isotopic and elemental contributions of the s- and r-processes to the Solar system composition.
The chemical evolution of neutron capture elements in the Milky Way disc is still a matter of debate. We aim to understand the chemical evolution of r-process elements in Milky Way disc. We focus on three pure r-process elements Eu, Gd, and Dy. Using high-resolution FEROS, HARPS, and UVES spectra from the ESO archive, we perform a homogeneous analysis on 6500 FGK Milky Way stars, thanks to the automatic optimization pipeline GAUGUIN. We present abundances of Ba (5057 stars), Eu (6268 stars), Gd (5431 stars), and Dy (5479 stars). We chemically characterize the thin and the thick discs, and a metal-rich alpha-rich population. We find that the [Eu/Fe] ratio follows a continuous sequence from the thin disc to the thick disc as a function of the metallicity. In thick disc stars, the [Eu/Ba] ratio is found to be constant, while the [Gd/Ba] and [Dy/Ba] ratios decrease as a function of the metallicity. These observations clearly indicate a different nucleosynthesis history in the thick disc between Eu and Gd-Dy. We also find that the alpha-rich metal-rich stars are also enriched in r-process elements (like thick disc stars), but their [Ba/Fe] is very different from thick disc stars. Finally, we find that the [r/\alpha] ratio tends to decrease with metallicity, indicating that supernovae of different properties probably contribute differently to the synthesis of r-process elements and \alpha-elements. We provide average abundance trends for [Ba/Fe] and [Eu/Fe] with rather small dispersions, and for the first time for [Gd/Fe] and [Dy/Fe]. This data may help to constrain chemical evolution models of Milky Way r- and s-process elements and the yields of massive stars. Including yields of neutron-star or black hole mergers is now crucial if we want to quantitatively compare observations to Galactic chemical evolution models.
The Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE) is a blind narrow-band Halpha+[NII] imaging survey carried out with MegaCam at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The survey covers the whole Virgo cluster region from its core to one virial radius (104 deg^2). The sensitivity of the survey is of f(Halpha) ~ 4 x 10^-17 erg sec-1 cm^-2 (5 sigma detection limit) for point sources and Sigma (Halpha) ~ 2 x 10^-18 erg sec^-1 cm^-2 arcsec^-2 (1 sigma detection limit at 3 arcsec resolution) for extended sources, making VESTIGE the deepest and largest blind narrow-band survey of a nearby cluster. This paper presents the survey in all its technical aspects, including the survey design, the observing strategy, the achieved sensitivity in both the narrow-band Halpha+[NII] and in the broad-band r filter used for the stellar continuum subtraction, the data reduction, calibration, and products, as well as its status after the first observing semester. We briefly describe the Halpha properties of galaxies located in a 4x1 deg^2 strip in the core of the cluster north of M87, where several extended tails of ionised gas are detected. This paper also lists the main scientific motivations of VESTIGE, which include the study of the effects of the environment on galaxy evolution, the fate of the stripped gas in cluster objects, the star formation process in nearby galaxies of different type and stellar mass, the determination of the Halpha luminosity function and of the Halpha scaling relations down to ~ 10^6 Mo stellar mass objects, and the reconstruction of the dynamical structure of the Virgo cluster. This unique set of data will also be used to study the HII luminosity function in hundreds of galaxies, the diffuse Halpha+[NII] emission of the Milky Way at high Galactic latitude, and the properties of emission line galaxies at high redshift.
We present a comprehensive study of the abundance evolution of the elements from H to U in the Milky Way halo and local disk. We use a consistent chemical evolution model, metallicity dependent isotopic yields from low and intermediate mass stars and yields from massive stars which include, for the first time, the combined effect of metallicity, mass loss and rotation for a large grid of stellar masses and for all stages of stellar evolution. The yields of massive stars are weighted by a metallicity dependent function of the rotational velocities, constrained by observations as to obtain a primary-like $^{14}$N behavior at low metallicity and to avoid overproduction of s-elements at intermediate metallicities. We show that the solar system isotopic composition can be reproduced to better than a factor of two for isotopes up to the Fe-peak, and at the 10\% level for most pure s-isotopes, both light ones (resulting from the weak s-process in rotating massive stars) and the heavy ones (resulting from the main s-process in low and intermediate mass stars). We conclude that the light element primary process (LEPP), invoked to explain the apparent abundance deficiency of the s-elements with A< 100, is not necessary. We also reproduce the evolution of the heavy to light s-elements abundance ratio ([hs/ls]) - recently observed in unevolved thin disk stars - as a result of the contribution of rotating massive stars at sub-solar metallicities. We find that those stars produce primary F and dominate its solar abundance and we confirm their role in the observed primary behavior of N. In contrast, we show that their action is insufficient to explain the small observed values of C12/C13 in halo red giants, which is rather due to internal processes in those stars.