Chemical Abundances in Stars

Start year
2010
Organizational Unit

Grants related:

    General
    Description

    Stellar spectroscopy allows us to determine the properties and chemical compositions of stars. From this information for stars of different ages in the Milky Way, it is possible to reconstruct the chemical evolution of the Galaxy, as well as the origin of the elements heavier than boron, created mainly in stellar interiors. It is also possible to study stellar formation, and the formation of the Galaxy, from the signature of the Galactic potential on the stellar orbits, and the distributions of mass, ages, and the abundance of heavy elements.

    Obtaining high-resolution spectra, as necessary for studies of chemical compositions, requires advanced and efficient instrumentation. This is particularly true for research that calls for large stellar samples, which demands the observation of hundreds or thousands of sources simultaneously. Efficiency requires that the data processing and analysis are performed in an automated way.

    The interpretation of spectra is based on physical models of the atmospheres of the stars, from where the light that we observe escapes the stars. The main ingredients for building such models are the fluid dynamics, and the properties of the atoms, ions, and molecules, especially regarding their interactions with the radiation coming from the stellar interior.

    Once we have a plausible model, it is possible to compute in detail how the radiation propagates through the stellar atmosphere, and the emergent spectrum, which can then be iteratively compared with the observations to refine the model.

    This project covers three different research fronts:

    - Improving model atmospheres and simulations of stellar spectra.

    - Developing tools for acquisition, reduction, and analysis of spectroscopic observations, in particular for the determination of chemical abundances in stars.

    - Designing, preparing, and executing spectroscopic studies of stars aimed at understanding a) the most relevant aspects of the physics of stellar atmospheres, b) the formation and evolution of stars, c) the origin of the chemical elements, and d) the formation, structure, and evolution of the Milky Way galaxy.

    Principal investigator
    Project staff
    Collaborators
    Dr.
    I. Hubeny
    Dr.
    B. Castanheira
    Dr.
    M. Kilic
    Dr.
    S. Majewski
    Dr.
    H.G. Ludwig
    Dr.
    M. Cropper
    Dr.
    M. P. Ruffoni
    Dr.
    J. C. Pickering
    Dr.
    K. Cunha
    Dr.
    Andrew Cooper
    Dr.
    Boris Gaensicke
    1. Complete the installation and commissioning of HORuS on GTC
    2. Discover two new stars with more than 100,000 times less iron than the Sun
    3. Complete the classification of all the APOGEE spectra with K-means
    4. Publish a complete collection of model stellar spectra for stars O to M
    5. Identify the signature of chemical diffusion in the atmospheres of the stars in the cluster M67

    Related publications

    • The Shapes of Stellar Spectra
      Stellar atmospheres separate the hot and dense stellar interiors from the emptiness of space. Radiation escapes from the outermost layers of a star, carrying direct physical information. Underneath the atmosphere, the very high opacity keeps radiation thermalized and resembling a black body with the local temperature. In the atmosphere the opacity
      Allende Prieto, Carlos

      Advertised on:

      3
      2023
      Citations
      2
    • Survey Operations for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
      The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey is a spectroscopic survey of tens of millions of galaxies at 0 < z < 3.5 covering 14,000 sq. deg. of the sky. In its first 1.1 yr of survey operations, it has observed more than 14 million galaxies and 4 million stars. We describe the processes that govern DESI's observations of the 15,000
      Schlafly, Edward F. et al.

      Advertised on:

      12
      2023
      Citations
      64
    • The <SUP>12</SUP>C/<SUP>13</SUP>C isotopic ratio at the dawn of chemical evolution
      Context. The known mega metal-poor (MMP) and hyper metal-poor (HMP) stars, with [Fe/H] < −6.0 and < −5.0, respectively, likely belong to the CEMP-no class, namely, carbon-enhanced stars with little or no second peak neutron-capture elements. They are likely second-generation stars, and the few elements measurable in their atmospheres are used to
      Molaro, P. et al.

      Advertised on:

      11
      2023
      Citations
      3
    • Optical and Infrared Counterparts of the X-Ray Sources Detected in the Chandra Cygnus OB2 Legacy Survey
      The young massive OB association Cygnus OB2, in the Cygnus X complex, is the closest (~1400 pc) star-forming region to the Sun hosting thousands of young low-mass stars and up to 1000 OB stars, among which are some of the most massive stars known in our Galaxy. This region holds great importance for several fields of modern astrophysics, such as
      Guarcello, M. G. et al.

      Advertised on:

      11
      2023
      Citations
      7
    • The Pristine survey - XXII. A serendipitous discovery of an extremely Li-rich very metal-poor giant and a new method of <SUP>6</SUP>Li/<SUP>7</SUP>Li isotope measurement
      We report the serendipitous discovery of a very metal-poor (VMP) Li-rich giant star (T eff = 4690 ± 80 K, log g = 1.34 ± 0.13, [Fe/H] = -2.43 ± 0.07). We analyse the Li I 6103 and 6707 Å lines accounting for departures from local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) and correcting for 3D effects using literature data, which yields a lithium abundance
      Sitnova, T. M. et al.

      Advertised on:

      12
      2023
      Citations
      2
    • GTC Follow-up Observations of Very Metal-poor Star Candidates from DESI
      The observations from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will significantly increase the numbers of known extremely metal-poor stars by a factor of ~10, improving the sample statistics to study the early chemical evolution of the Milky Way and the nature of the first stars. In this paper we report follow-up observations with high
      Allende Prieto, Carlos et al.

      Advertised on:

      11
      2023
      Citations
      3
    • A Tale of Two Disks: Mapping the Milky Way with the Final Data Release of APOGEE
      We present new maps of the Milky Way disk showing the distribution of metallicity ([Fe/H]), α-element abundances ([Mg/Fe]), and stellar age, using a sample of 66,496 red giant stars from the final data release (DR17) of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment survey. We measure radial and vertical gradients, quantify the
      Imig, Julie et al.

      Advertised on:

      9
      2023
      Citations
      19
    • The Gaia-ESO Survey: Homogenisation of stellar parameters and elemental abundances
      The Gaia-ESO Survey is a public spectroscopic survey that targeted ≳10 5 stars covering all major components of the Milky Way from the end of 2011 to 2018, delivering its final public release in May 2022. Unlike other spectroscopic surveys, Gaia-ESO is the only survey that observed stars across all spectral types with dedicated, specialised
      Hourihane, A. et al.

      Advertised on:

      8
      2023
      Citations
      12
    • Decoding the compositions of four bright r-process-enhanced stars
      There has been a concerted effort in recent years to identify the astrophysical sites of the r-process that can operate early in the galaxy. The discovery of many r-process-enhanced (RPE) stars (especially by the R-process Alliance collaboration) has significantly accelerated this effort. However, only limited data exist on the detailed elemental
      Saraf, Pallavi et al.

      Advertised on:

      10
      2023
      Citations
      7
    • iNNterpol: High-precision interpolation of stellar atmospheres with a deep neural network using a 1D convolutional auto encoder for feature extraction
      Context. Given the widespread availability of grids of models for stellar atmospheres, it is necessary to recover intermediate atmospheric models by means of accurate techniques that go beyond simple linear interpolation and capture the intricacies of the data. Aims: Our goal is to establish a reliable, precise, lightweight, and fast method for
      Westendorp Plaza, C. et al.

      Advertised on:

      7
      2023
      Citations
      2
    • Opacity for realistic 3D MHD simulations of cool stellar atmospheres
      Context. Realistic three-dimensional time-dependent simulations of stellar near-surface convection employ the opacity binning method for the efficient and accurate computation of the radiative energy exchange. The method provides several orders of magnitude of speedup, but its implementation includes a number of free parameters. Aims: Our aim is to
      Perdomo García, A. et al.

      Advertised on:

      7
      2023
      Citations
      4
    • Stellar Characterization and Radius Inflation of Hyades M-dwarf Stars from the APOGEE Survey
      We present a spectroscopic analysis of a sample of 48 M-dwarf stars (0.2 M ⊙ < M < 0.6 M ⊙) from the Hyades open cluster using high-resolution H-band spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey/Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey. Our methodology adopts spectrum synthesis with LTE MARCS model atmospheres, along with
      Wanderley, Fábio et al.

      Advertised on:

      7
      2023
      Citations
      6
    • sMILES SSPs: a library of semi-empirical MILES stellar population models with variable [α/Fe] abundances
      We present a new library of semi-empirical stellar population models that are based on the empirical MILES and semi-empirical sMILES stellar libraries. The models span a large range of age and metallicity, in addition to an [α/Fe] coverage from -0.2 to +0.6 dex, at MILES resolution (FWHM = $2.5\,$ Å) and wavelength coverage ($3540.5-7409.6\,$ Å)
      Knowles, Adam T. et al.

      Advertised on:

      8
      2023
      Citations
      8
    • The Pristine Inner Galaxy Survey (PIGS) VII: a discovery of the first inner Galaxy CEMP-r/s star
      Well-studied very metal-poor (VMP, [Fe/H] <-2) stars in the inner Galaxy are few in number, and they are of special interest because they are expected to be among the oldest stars in the Milky Way. We present high-resolution spectroscopic follow-up of the carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) star Pristine_184237.56-260624.5 (hereafter Pr184237)
      Mashonkina, L. et al.

      Advertised on:

      8
      2023
      Citations
      6
    • Overview of the DESI Milky Way Survey
      We describe the Milky Way Survey (MWS) that will be undertaken with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) on the Mayall 4 m telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. Over the next 5 yr DESI MWS will observe approximately seven million stars at Galactic latitudes |b| > 20°, with an inclusive target selection scheme focused on the
      Cooper, Andrew P. et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2023
      Citations
      89
    • DAHe white dwarfs from the DESI Survey
      A new class of white dwarfs, dubbed DAHe, that present Zeeman-split Balmer lines in emission has recently emerged. However, the physical origin of these emission lines remains unclear. We present here a sample of 21 newly identified DAHe systems and determine magnetic field strengths and (for a subset) periods that span the ranges of ≃6.5-147 MG
      Manser, Christopher J. et al.

      Advertised on:

      6
      2023
      Citations
      14
    • The Spectroscopic Data Processing Pipeline for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
      We describe the spectroscopic data processing pipeline of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which is conducting a redshift survey of about 40 million galaxies and quasars using a purpose-built instrument on the 4 m Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The main goal of DESI is to measure with unprecedented precision the
      Guy, J. et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2023
      Citations
      96
    • DESI Observations of the Andromeda Galaxy: Revealing the Immigration History of Our Nearest Neighbor
      We present Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) observations of the inner halo of M31, which reveal the kinematics of a recent merger-a galactic immigration event-in exquisite detail. Of the 11,416 sources studied in 3.75 hr of on-sky exposure time, 7438 are M31 sources with well-measured radial velocities. The observations reveal intricate
      Dey, Arjun et al.

      Advertised on:

      2
      2023
      Citations
      36
    • The Pristine survey - XX. GTC follow-up observations of extremely metal-poor stars identified from Pristine and LAMOST
      Ultra-metal-poor stars ($\rm {[Fe/H]} \lt -4.0$) are very rare, and finding them is a challenging task. Both narrow-band photometry and low-resolution spectroscopy have been useful tools for identifying candidates, and in this work, we combine both approaches. We cross-matched metallicity-sensitive photometry from the Pristine survey with the low
      Arentsen, Anke et al.

      Advertised on:

      3
      2023
      Citations
      3
    • The pristine nature of SMSS 1605−1443 revealed by ESPRESSO
      Context. SMSS J160540.18−144323.1 is the carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) star with the lowest iron abundance ever measured, [Fe/H] = −6.2, which was first reported with the SkyMapper telescope. The carbon abundance is A(C)≈6.1 in the low-C band, as the majority of the stars in this metallicity range. Yet, constraining the isotopic ratio of key
      Aguado, D. S. et al.

      Advertised on:

      1
      2023
      Citations
      10

    Related talks

    No related talks were found.

    Related conferences

    No related conferences were found.
    Related projects
    Optical bench
    HORuS - High Optical Resolution Spectrograph
    High-resolution spectrograph for the 10-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) based on components from UES, a spectrograph which was in use at the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) between 1992 and 2001.
    Carlos
    Allende Prieto
    Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC)
    SEVERO OCHOA 2016 - 2019
    The IAC is an internationalized Spanish research centre aiming to achieve major advances in the understanding of the laws that govern the origin and evolution of the various forms of matter/energy in the Universe. Outstanding results are expected in key areas of research such as Solar physics, Sun-Earth connections, Exoplanetary systems, Solar
    Rafael
    Rebolo López