Over the last decades, modelling of the inhomogeneous vertical abundance distributions of various chemical elements in magnetic peculiar A-type has largely relied on simple step-function approximations. In contrast, the recently introduced regularised vertical inverse problem (VIP) is not based on parametrised stratification profiles and has been claimed to yield unique solutions without a priori assumptions as to the profile shapes. It is the question of uniqueness of empirical stratifications which is at the centre of this article. An error analysis establishes confidence intervals about the abundance profiles and it is shown that many different step-functions of sometimes widely different amplitudes give fits to the observed spectra which equal the VIP fits in quality. Theoretical arguments are advanced in favour of abundance profiles that depend on magnetic latitude, even in moderately strong magnetic fields. Including cloud, cap and ring models in the discussion, it is shown that uniqueness of solutions cannot be achieved without phase resolved high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and high spectral resolution (R) spectropolarimetry in all 4 Stokes parameters.
Context. The details of the C/O core structure in white dwarf stars has mostly remained inaccessible to the technique of asteroseismology, despite several attempts carried out in the past. Aims. We re-assess the potential of asteroseismology for probing the chemical stratification in white dwarf cores, in light of new highly efficient tools recently developed for that purpose. Methods. Using the forward modeling approach and a new parameterization for the core chemical stratification in ZZ Ceti stars, we test several situations typical of the usually limited constraints available, such as smal…
Turbulent transport of chemical elements in radiative zones of stars is considered in current stellar evolution codes thanks to phenomenologically derived diffusion coefficients. Recent local numerical simulations (Prat & Lignières 2013, A&A, 551, L3) suggest that the coefficient for radial turbulent diffusion due to radial differential rotation satisfies $D_{\rm t}\simeq0.058κ/Ri$, in qualitative agreement with Zahn's model. However, this model does not apply when differential rotation is strong with respect to stable thermal stratification or when chemical stratification has a significant dy…
DA-type white dwarfs account for 80% of all white dwarfs and represent, for most of them, the ultimate outcome of the typical evolution of low-to-intermediate mass stars. Their internal chemical stratification is strongly marked by passed, often uncertain, stellar evolution processes that occurred during the helium (core and shell) burning phases, i.e., from the horizontal branch through AGB and post-AGB stages. Pulsating white dwarfs, in particular the "cool" DA-type ZZ Ceti variables, offer an outstanding opportunity to dig into these stars by fully exploiting their asteroseismic potential. …
A portion of the upper main-sequence stars, called chemically peculiar (CP) stars, show significant abundance anomalies mainly due to atomic diffusion of chemical elements within the stellar atmospheres of these stars. Slowly rotating CP stars may have hydrodynamically stable atmospheres where the competition between the gravitational and radiative forces leads to atomic diffusion that can be responsible for the abundance peculiarities observed in CP stars. Recently, project VeSElkA (Vertical Stratification of Element Abundances) was initiated with the aim to detect and study the vertical stra…
A new research project on spectral analysis that aims to characterize the vertical stratification of element abundances in stellar atmospheres of chemically peculiar (CP) stars is discussed in detail. Some results on detection of vertical abundance stratification in several slowly rotating main sequence CP stars are presented and considered as an indicator of the effectiveness of the atomic diffusion mechanism responsible for the observed peculiarities of chemical abundances. This study is carried out in the frame of Project VeSElkA (Vertical Stratification of Elements Abundance) for which 34 …
Edelmann (2003) identified two chemically peculiar hot subdwarfs, PG 0909+276 and UVO 0512-08, as having very high overabundances of iron-group elements. We obtained high-resolution ultraviolet spectroscopy in order to measure abundances of species not observable in the optical, and to seek evidence for chemical stratification in the photosphere. Abundances were measured in three wavelength regions; the optical 3900Å-6900Å range was re-analysed to confirm consistency with Edelmann. Ultraviolet spectra were obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on the Hubble Space Telesc…
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.
Transport of angular momentum and chemical elements by the MRI dynamo in stellar radiative zones
Toulouse Univ.(图卢兹大学);Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie(天体物理学与行星学研究所在);CNRS(法国国家科学研究中心);CNES(法国国家空间研究中心);Département d’Astrophysique/AIM CEA/IRFU(天体物理系/AIM cea/IRFU);Univ. Paris-Saclay(巴黎萨克雷大学);Univ. de Paris Cité(巴黎西岱大学);Institut de Mécanique des Fluides de Toulouse(图卢兹流体力学研究所)
We present results for the estimation of gravity, effective temperature, and radial velocity of poorly studied chemically peculiar stars recently observed with the spectropolarimeter Echelle SpectroPolarimetric Device for Observations of Stars at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in the frame of the Vertical Stratification of Element Abundances project. The effective temperature and surface gravity values are determined for the very first time for four of the stars from our sample (HD23878, HD83373, HD95608, and HD164584). Grids of stellar atmosphere models with the corresponding fluxes have …
Project VeSElkA (Vertical Stratification of Element Abundances) has been initiated with the aim to detect and study the vertical stratification of element abundances in the atmosphere of chemically peculiar stars. Abundance stratification occurs in hydrodynamically stable stellar atmospheres due to the migration of the elements caused by atomic diffusion. Two HgMn stars, HD53929 and HD63975 were selected from the VeSElkA sample and analysed with the aim to detect some abundance peculiarities employing the ZEEMAN2 code. We present the results of abundance analysis of HD53929 and HD63975 observe…
We present a prescription for parametrizing the chemical profile in the core of white dwarfs in the light of the recent discovery that pulsation modes may sometimes be deeply confined in some cool pulsating white dwarfs. Such modes may be used as unique probes of the complicated chemical stratification that results from several processes that occurred in previous evolutionary phases of intermediate-mass stars. This effort is part of our ongoing quest for more credible and realistic seismic models of white dwarfs using static, parametrized equilibrium structures. Inspired from successful techni…
The chemical composition of planets is inherited from that of the protoplanetary disk at the time of planet formation. Increasing observational evidence suggests that planet formation occurs in less than 1 Myr. This motivates the need for spatially resolved spectral observations of Class I disks, as carried out by the ALMA chemical survey of Disk-Outflow sources in Taurus (ALMA-DOT). In the context of ALMA-DOT, we observe the edge-on disk around the Class I source IRAS 04302+2247 (the butterfly star) in the 1.3mm continuum and five molecular lines. We report the first tentative detection of me…
Chemo-dynamical stratification of the Galactic disc using \emph{Gaia}-ESO open clusters
Universidad Andrés Bello(安德烈斯贝略大学);Universidad Bernardo O’Higgins(贝尔纳多奥希金斯大学);Vatican Observatory(梵蒂冈天文台);Universidade de São Paulo(圣保罗大学);Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental (CONICET–UNC)(理论与实验天体物理研究所(CONICET-科尔多瓦国立大学));Observatorio Astronómico, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba(科尔多瓦国立大学天文台)
We aim to directly trace the vertical location of the emitting surface of multiple molecular tracers in protoplanetary disks. Our sample of disks includes Elias 2-27, WaOph 6 and the sources targeted by the MAPS ALMA Large Program. The set of molecules studied include CO isotopologues in various transitions, HCN, CN, H2CO, HCO+, C2H and c-C3H2. The vertical emitting region is determined directly from the channel maps, implementing accurate masking of the channel emission to recover the vertical location of the emission surface even at large radial distances from the star and for low-SNR lines.…
The new spectropolarimetric spectra of HD157087 obtained recently with ESPaDOnS at CFHT are analysed to verify the nature of this object. The fundamental stellar parameters $T_{\rm eff}$ = 8882 K, $\log{g}$=3.57 have been obtained for HD157087 from the analysis of nine Balmer line profiles in two available spectra. Comparison of the results of our abundance analysis with the previously published data shows a variability of average abundance with time for some chemical species, while the abundance of other elements remains almost the same. The abundance analysis also reveals evidence of a signi…
Context. Stars experience rapid contraction or expansion at different phases of their evolution. Modelling the angular momentum and chemical elements transport occurring during these phases remains an unsolved problem. Aims. We study a stellar radiative zone undergoing radial contraction and investigate the induced differential rotation and meridional circulation. Methods. We consider a rotating spherical layer crossed by an imposed radial velocity field that mimics the contraction and solve numerically the axisymmetric hydrodynamical equations in both the Boussinesq and anelastic approximatio…
High resolution spectropolarimetric observations of the strongly magnetic, super-slowly rotating rapidly oscillating Ap star HD166473 are used to investigate the implications of the presence of a variable strong magnetic field on the vertical and surface horizontal distribution of various chemical elements. The analysis of the calculated LSD Stokes $I$ and $V$ profiles confirms the previously reported detection of non-uniform horizontal surface distribution of several chemical elements. To test the vertical abundance stratification of iron peak and rare earth elements, magnetic field measureme…
We present the results of a self-consistent spectroscopic analysis of the atmosphere of Ap-star HD 108662 based on high resolution spectrum and low resolution spectrophotometric observations. Magnetic field effects, such as Zeeman broadening and polarized line formation, were taking into account in the analysis of spectral line profiles. We derived abundances of 24 chemical elements as well as the stratification of Fe -- an element which is the main contributor to the line absorption in the visible wavelengths. Another abundant chemical element -- Chromium -- was found to be distributed homoge…
We present deep spectroscopic (3600 - 24700 A) X-shooter observations of the bright Herbig-Haro object HH1, one of the best laboratories to study the chemical and physical modifications caused by protostellar shocks on the natal cloud. We observe atomic fine structure lines, HI, and He, recombination lines and H_2, ro-vibrational lines (more than 500 detections in total). Line emission was analyzed by means of Non Local Thermal Equilibiurm codes to derive the electron temperature and density, and, for the first time, we are able to accurately probe different physical regimes behind a dissociat…
A new semi-automatic approach is employed to carry out the abundance analysis of high-resolution spectra of HD41076 and HD148330 obtained recently with the spectropolarimetre ESPaDOnS at the CFHT. This approach allows to prepare in a semi-automatic mode the input data for the modified ZEEMAN2 code and to analyse several hundreds of line profiles in sequence during a single run. It also provides more information on abundance distribution for each chemical element at the deeper atmospheric layers. Our analysis of the Balmer profiles observed in the spectra of HD41076 and HD148330 has resulted in…
Intermediate-mass, chemically peculiar stars with strong magnetic fields give us an excellent opportunity to study the topology of their surface magnetic fields and the interplay between magnetic geometries and abundance inhomogeneities in their atmospheres. We reconstruct detailed maps of the surface magnetic field and abundance distributions for the magnetic Ap star HD 125248. We performed the analysis based on phase-resolved, four Stokes parameter spectropolarimetric observations obtained with the HARPSpol instrument. These data were interpreted with the magnetic Doppler imaging technique. …
Recently published empirical abundance maps, obtained through (Zeeman) Doppler mapping (ZDM), do not currently agree with the abundance structures predicted by means of numerical models of atomic diffusion in magnetic atmospheres of ApBp stars. In a first step towards the resolution of these discrepancies, we present a state of the art grid of equilibrium abundance stratifications in the atmosphere of a magnetic Ap star with T_eff = 10000 K and log g = 4.0. A description of the behaviour of 16 chemical elements including predictions concerning the over- and/or under-abundances over the stellar…
The interdependence of microscopic (atomic) and macroscopic (hydrodynamic) processes inside stars and their consequences for stellar structure and evolution were recognized by Jean-Paul Zahn several decades ago. He was a pioneer in that respect, discussing the importance of the macroscopic motions related to stellar rotation, in competition with the chemical stratification induced by gravitational settling and radiative accelerations. This has been much developed in recent years, in connection with the improvement of observational data, including asteroseismology. Morover, it has been recently…
We present a model-fit pipeline to determine the stellar parameters of M-type dwarfs, which is an improvement upon our previous work described in Hejazi et al. 2020. We apply this pipeline to analyze the low-resolution (R~2000) spectra of 3745 M dwarfs/subdwarfs, collected at the MDM Observatory, Lick Observatory, Kitt Peak National Observatory, and Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory. We examine the variation of the inferred parameter values in the HR diagram constructed from their Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) parallaxes and optical magnitudes. We also study the distribution of our sta…
Large numbers of low-to-medium resolution spectra of M-type dwarf stars from both the local Galactic disk and halo are available from various surveys. In order to fully exploit these data, we develop a template-fit method using a set of empirically assembled M dwarf/subdwarf classification templates, based on the measurements of the TiO and CaH molecular bands, to classify M dwarfs/subdwarfs by spectral type and metallicity class. We further present a pipeline to automatically determine the effective temperature, metallicity ([M/H]), alpha-element to iron abundance ratio ([alpha/Fe]), and surf…