We construct binary-star population nucleosynthesis models of carbon-enhanced metal poor (CEMP) stars. We compare the CEMP to EMP (extremely metal poor) ratio of our models to the observed ratio and find it is an order of magnitude too small. Through an increase in the efficiency of third dredge-up in low-mass, low-metallicity thermally-pulsing asymptotic-giant branch (TPAGB) stars our models better match the observations.
There is an apparent dichotomy between the metal-poor ([Fe/H] <= -2) yet carbon-normal giants and their carbon-rich counterparts. The former undergo significant depletion of carbon on the red giant branch after they have undergone first dredge-up, whereas the latter do not appear to experience significant depletion. We investigate this in the context that the extra mixing occurs via the thermohaline instability that arises due to the burning of helium-3. We present the evolution of [C/Fe], [N/Fe] and carbon-12/carbon-13 for three models: a carbon-normal metal-poor star, and two stars that have…
We report on oxygen abundances determined from medium-resolution near-IR spectroscopy for a sample of 57 carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars selected from the Hamburg/ESO survey. The majority of our program stars exhibit oxygen-to-iron ratios in the range +0.5 < [O/Fe]< +2.0. The [O/Fe] values for this sample are statistically compared to available high-resolution estimates for known CEMP stars, as well as to high-resolution estimates for a set of carbon-normal metal-poor stars. Carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen abundance patterns for a sub-sample of these stars are compared to yield prediction…
The origin of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars plays a key role in characterising the formation and evolution of the first stars and the Galaxy since the extremely-poor (EMP) stars with [Fe/H] \leq -2.5 share the common features of carbon enhancement in their surface chemical compositions. The origin of these stars is not yet established due to the controversy of the origin of CEMP stars without the enhancement of s-process element abundances, i.e., so called CEMP-no stars. In this paper, we elaborate the s-process nucleosynthesis in the EMP AGB stars and explore the origin of CEMP star…
Approximately 20% of very metal-poor stars ([Fe/H] < -2.0) are strongly enhanced in carbon ([C/Fe] > +1.0). Such stars are referred to as carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars. We present a chemical abundance analysis based on high resolution spectra acquired with UVES at the VLT of three dwarf CEMP stars: SDSS J1349-0229, SDSS J0912+0216 and SDSS J1036+1212. These very metal-poor stars, with [Fe/H] < -2.5, were selected from our ongoing survey of extremely metal-poor dwarf candidates from the SDSS. Among these CEMPs, SDSS J1349-0229 has been identified as a carbon star ([C/O] > +1.0). First…
We present our latest 3D model atmospheres for carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars computed with the CO5BOLD code. The stellar parameters are representative of hot turn-off objects (Teff ~ 6250 K, log g=4.0, [Fe/H]=-3.0). The main purpose of these models is to investigate the role of 3D effects on synthetic spectra of the CH G-band (4140-4400 A), the CN BX-band (3870-3890 A), and several UV OH transitions (3122-3128 A). By comparison with the synthetic spectra from standard 1D model atmospheres (assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium, LTE), we derive 3D abundance corrections for carbon a…
Extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars are an integral piece in the puzzle that is the early Universe, and although anomolous subclasses of EMP stars such as carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars are well-studied, they make up less than half of all EMP stars with [Fe/H] $\sim -3.0$. The amount of carbon depletion occurring on the red giant branch (carbon offset) is used to determine the evolutionary status of EMP stars, and this offset will differ between CEMP and normal EMP stars. The depletion mechanism employed in stellar models (from which carbon offfsets are derived) is very important, howeve…
We revisit the observed frequencies of Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) stars as a function of the metallicity in the Galaxy, using data from the literature with available high-resolution spectroscopy. Our analysis excludes stars exhibiting clear over-abundances of neutron-capture elements, and takes into account the expected depletion of surface carbon abundance that occurs due to CN processing on the upper red-giant branch. This allows for the recovery of the initial carbon abundance of these stars, and thus for an accurate assessment of the frequencies of carbon-enhanced stars. The correct…
The study of the long-dead early generations of massive stars is crucial in order to obtain a complete picture of the chemical evolution of the Universe, hence the origin of the elements. The nature of these stars can be inferred indirectly by investigating the origin of low-mass metal-poor stars observed in our Galaxy, some of which are almost as old as the Universe. The peculiar extremely iron-poor Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) stars, whose precise origin is still debated, are thought to have formed with the material ejected by only one or very few previous massive stars. The main aim of…
We present detailed chemical abundances for the bright carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) star BD+44 493, previously reported on by Ito et al. Our measurements confirm that BD+44 493 is an extremely metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-3.8) subgiant star with excesses of carbon and oxygen. No significant excesses are found for nitrogen and neutron-capture elements (the latter of which place it in the CEMP-no class of stars). Other elements that we measure exhibit abundance patterns that are typical for non-CEMP extremely metal-poor stars. No evidence for variations of radial velocity have been found for this st…
Certain carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars likely obtained their composition via pollution from some of the earliest generations of asymptotic giant branch stars and as such provide important clues to early Universe nucleosynthesis. Recently, Kinman et al. discovered that the highly carbon- and barium-enriched metal-poor star SDSS J1707+58 is in fact an RR Lyrae pulsator. This gives us an object in a definite evolutionary state where the effects of dilution of material during the Main Sequence are minimised owing to the object having passed through first dredge-up. We perform detailed stellar mo…
Carbon and oxygen are key tracers of the Galactic chemical evolution; in particular, a reported upturn in [C/O] towards decreasing [O/H] in metal-poor halo stars could be a signature of nucleosynthesis by massive Population III stars. We reanalyse carbon, oxygen, and iron abundances in thirty-nine metal-poor turn-off stars. For the first time, we take into account three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic effects together with departures from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) when determining both the stellar parameters and the elemental abundances, by deriving effective temperatures from 3D non…
Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars count for 9-25% of all the very metal-poor stars of the halo. In at least some CEMP stars the chemical enrichment is believed to be due to wind mass transfer in the past from an AGB donor star on to a low-mass companion. However, binary population synthesis models predict much lower CEMP fractions. As an alternative to the canonical Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton (BHL) wind accretion model, recent hydrodynamical simulations suggest an efficient mode of wind mass transfer, called wind Roche-lobe overflow (WRLOF), can reproduce observations of AGB winds in binary s…
We present an elemental abundance analysis for four newly discovered ultra metal-poor stars from the Hamburg/ESO survey, with $\mathrm{[Fe/H]}\leq-4$. Based on high-resolution, high signal-to-noise spectra, we derive abundances for 17 elements in the range from Li to Ba. Three of the four stars exhibit moderate to large over-abundances of carbon, but have no enhancements in their neutron-capture elements. The most metal-poor star in the sample, HE~0233$-$0343 ($\mathrm{[Fe/H]} = -4.68$), is a subgiant with a carbon enhancement of $\mathrm{[C/Fe]}= +3.5$, slightly above the carbon-enhancement p…
We present a detailed analysis of the carbon and nitrogen abundances of two dwarf carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars: SDSS J1349-0229 and SDSS J0912+0216. We also report the oxygen abundance of SDSS J1349-0229. These stars are metal-poor, with [Fe/H] < -2.5, and were selected from our ongoing survey of extremely metal-poor dwarf candidates from the Sloan Digital SkySurvey (SDSS). The carbon, nitrogen and oxygen abundances rely on molecular lines which form in the outer layers of the stellar atmosphere. It is known that convection in metal-poor stars induces very low temperatures which are…
Observations suggest that the interstellar medium (ISM) might have been highly enriched in carbon at very early times. We explore nucleosynthesis in massive carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars of $12$--$40\,\mathrm{M}_\odot$ formed from such an ISM with ${\rm [Fe]}\leq-2$. We find substantial production of elements heavier than Fe, mostly up to Sr, by the weak \textsl{s}-process in stars with initial abundances of ${\rm [CNO]}\gtrsim-1.5$. Even heavier elements, up to Ba, can be produced for ${\rm [CNO]}\gtrsim-0.5$. The efficiency of this \textsl{s}-process is sensitive to the initial enh…
Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars represent a sizeable fraction of all known metal-poor stars in the Galaxy. Their formation and composition remains a significant topic of investigation within the stellar astrophysics community. We analysed a sample of low-resolution spectra of 30 dwarf stars, obtained using the the visual and near UV FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph for the Very Large Telescope (FORS/VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrographs (GMOS) at the GEMINI telescope, to derive their metallicity and carbon abundance. We d…
We present new high-resolution chemical-abundance analyses for the well-known high proper-motion subdwarfs G64-12 and G64-37, based on very high signal-to-noise spectra (S/N ~ 700/1) with resolving power R ~ 95,000. These high-quality data enable the first reliable determination of the carbon abundances for these two stars; we classify them as carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars based on their carbonicities, which both exceed [C/Fe] = +1.0. They are sub-classified as CEMP- no Group-II stars, based on their location in the Yoon-Beers diagram of absolute carbon abundance, A(C) vs. [Fe/H], as…
We report the detection, from observations using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, of CO J $=$ 3$\to$ 2 transition lines in six carbon stars, selected as members of the Galactic Halo and having similar infrared colors. Just one Halo star had been detected in CO before this work. Infrared observations show that these stars are red (J-K $>$3), due to the presence of large dusty circumstellar envelopes. Radiative transfer models indicates that these stars are losing mass with rather large dust mass-loss rates in the range 1--3.3 $\times$$10^{-8}$M$_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$, similar to what can be obser…
We investigate the behaviour of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars between metallicities Z = 10-4 and Z = 10-8 . We determine which stars undergo an episode of flash-driven mixing, where protons are ingested into the intershell convection zone, as they enter the thermally pulsing AGB phase and which undergo third dredge-up. We find that flash-driven mixing does not occur above a metallicity of Z = 10-5 for any mass of star and that stars above 2 M do not experience this phenomenon at any metallicity. We find carbon ingestion (CI), the mixing of carbon into the tail of hydrogen burning region,…
The atmospheres and winds of C-type AGB stars are modeled with the 1D spherically symmetric radiation-hydrodynamical code DARWIN. To explore the metallicity-dependence of mass loss we calculate model grids at three different chemical abundances. Since carbon may be dredged up during the thermal pulses as AGB stars evolve, we keep the carbon abundance as a free parameter. The models in these three different grids all have a current mass of one solar mass; effective temperatures of 2600K, 2800K, 3000K, or 3200K; and stellar luminosities equal to log(L/Lsun)=3.70, 3.85, or 4.00. The models show t…
We have developed a new procedure to search for carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars from the Hamburg/ESO (HES) prism-survey plates. This method employs an extended line index for the CH G-band, which we demonstrate to have superior behavior when compared to the narrower G-band index formerly employed to estimate G-band strengths for these spectra. Although CEMP stars have been found previously among candidate metal-poor stars selected from the HES, the selection on metallicity undersamples the population of intermediate-metallicity CEMP stars (-2.5<=[Fe/H]<=-1.0); such stars are of importa…
Dwarf carbon stars make up the largest fraction of carbon stars in the Galaxy with around 1200 candidates known to date primarily from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. They either possess primordial carbon-enhancements, or are polluted by mass transfer from an evolved companion such that C/O is enhanced beyond unity. To directly test the binary hypothesis, a radial velocity monitoring survey has been carried out on 28 dwarf carbon stars, resulting in the detection of variations in 21 targets. Using Monte Carlo simulations, this detection fraction is found to be consistent with a 100% binary popul…
An increasing fraction of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars is found as their iron abundance, [Fe/H], decreases below [Fe/H] = -2.0. The CEMP-s stars have the highest absolute carbon abundances, [C/H], and are thought to owe their enrichment in carbon and the slow neutron-capture (s-process) elements to mass transfer from a former asymptotic giant-branch (AGB) binary companion. The most Fe-poor CEMP stars are normally single, exhibit somewhat lower [C/H] than CEMP-s stars, but show no s-process element enhancement (CEMP-no stars). CNO abundance determinations offer clues to their formati…
A non-LTE analysis of C I lines at 1.068-1.069 micron was carried out for selected 46 halo/disk stars covering a wide metallicity range (-3.7 <[Fe/H]< +0.3), based on the spectral data collected with IRCS+AO188 of the Subaru Telescope, in order to examine whether and how these strong neutral carbon lines of multiplet 1 can be exploited for establishing stellar carbon abundances, especially for very metal-poor stars where CH molecular lines have been commonly used. These C I lines were confirmed to be clearly visible for all stars down to [Fe/H] ~ -3.7, from which C abundances could be successf…
We report the discovery of SDSS J131326.89-001941.4, an ultra iron-poor red giant star ([Fe/H] ~ -4.3) with a very high carbon abundance ([C/Fe]~ +2.5). This object is the fifth star in this rare class, and the combination of a fairly low effective temperature (Teff ~ 5300 K), which enhances line absorption, with its brightness (g=16.9), makes it possible to measure the abundances of calcium, carbon and iron using a low-resolution spectrum from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We examine the carbon and iron abundance ratios in this star and other similar objects in the light of predicted yields f…
Historically, the weak s-process contribution to metal-poor stars is thought to be extremely small, due to the effect of the secondary-like nature of the neutron source 22Ne(a;n)25Mg in massive stars, which means that metal-poor weak s-process stars could not be found. ET0097 is the first observed carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) star in the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Because C is enriched and the elements heavier than Ba are not overabundant, ET0097 can be classified as a CEMP-no star. However, this star shows overabundances of lighter n-capture elements (i.e., Sr, Y and Zr). In this …
We present the first time abundance analysis of a very metal-poor carbon-enhanced star CD-27 14351 based on a high resolution (R ~ 48000) FEROS spectrum. Our abundance analysis performed using Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE) model atmospheres shows that the object is a cool star with stellar atmospheric parameters, effective temperature Teff = 4335 K, surface gravity log g = 0.5, microturbulence = 2.42 km/s, and, metallicity [Fe/H] = -2.6. The star exhibits high carbon and nitrogen abundances with [C/Fe] = 2.89 and [N/Fe] = 1.89. Overabundances of neutron-capture elements are evident in …
We report estimated carbon-abundance ratios, [C/Fe], for seven newly-discovered carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) RR Lyrae stars. These are well-studied RRab stars that had previously been selected as CEMP candidates based on low-resolution spectra. For this pilot study, we observed eight of these CEMP RR Lyrae candidates with the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) on the ANU 2.3m telescope. Prior to this study, only two CEMP RR Lyrae stars had been discovered: TY Gru and SDSS J1707+58. We compare our abundances to new theoretical models of the evolution of low-mass stars in binary systems. These…
CEMP-s stars are very metal-poor stars with enhanced abundances of carbon and s-process elements. They form a significant proportion of the very metal-poor stars in the Galactic halo and are mostly observed in binary systems. This suggests that the observed chemical anomalies are due to mass accretion in the past from an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star. Because CEMP-s stars have hardly evolved since their formation, the study of their observed abundances provides a way to probe our models of AGB nucleosynthesis at low metallicity. To this end we included in our binary evolution model the re…
We present a 1D LTE chemical abundance analysis of the very bright (V=9.1) Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) star BD +44 493, based on high-resolution, high signal-to-noise spectra obtained with Subaru/HDS. The star is shown to be a subgiant with an extremely low iron abundance ([Fe/H]=-3.7), while it is rich in C ([C/Fe]=+1.3) and O ([O/Fe]=+1.6). Although astronomers have been searching for extremely metal-poor stars for decades, this is the first star found with [Fe/H]<-3.5 and an apparent magnitude V<12. Based on its low abundances of neutron-capture elements (e.g., [Ba/Fe]=-0.59), BD +44 …
Carbon-enhanced metal poor stars (CEMP) form a significant proportion of the metal-poor stars, their origin is not well understood. Three very metal-poor C-rich turnoff stars were selected from the SDSS survey, observed with the ESO VLT (UVES) to precisely determine the element abundances. In turnoff stars (unlike giants) the carbon abundance has not been affected by mixing with deep layers and is therefore easier to interpret. The analysis was performed with 1D LTE static model atmospheres. When available, non-LTE corrections were applied to the classical LTE abundances. The 3D effects on the…
In this paper, we want to check whether or not the carbon abundance can be affected by initial metallicity. We calculated a series of stellar evolution. We found that when $Z\leq0.02$, the carbon abundance is almost independent of metallicity if it is plotted against the initial WD mass. However, when $Z>0.02$, the carbon abundance is not only a function of the initial WD mass, but also metallicity, i.e. for a given initial WD mass, the higher the metallicity, the lower the carbon abundance. Based on some previous studies, i.e. both a high metallicity and a low carbon abundance lead to a lower…
AGB stars are responsible for producing a variety of elements, including carbon, nitrogen, and the heavy elements produced in the slow neutron-capture process ($s$-elements). There are many uncertainties involved in modelling the evolution and nucleosynthesis of AGB stars, and this is especially the case at low metallicity, where most of the stars with high enough masses to enter the AGB have evolved to become white dwarfs and can no longer be observed. The stellar population in the Galactic halo is of low mass ($\lesssim 0.85M_{\odot}$) and only a few observed stars have evolved beyond the fi…
We report on the elemental abundances of the carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) star J2217+2104 discovered by our metal-poor star survey with LAMOST and Subaru. This object is a red giant having extremely low Fe abundance ([Fe/H]=-4.0) and very large enhancement of C, N, and O with excesses of Na, Mg, Al, and Si. This star is a new example of a small group of such CEMP stars identified by previous studies. We find a very similar abundance pattern for O-Zn in this class of objects that shows enhancement of elements up to Si and normal abundance of Ca and Fe-group elements. Whereas the C/N ratio …
The carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars constitute approximately one fifth of the metal-poor ([Fe/H] ~< -2) population but their origin is not well understood. The most widely accepted formation scenario, invokes mass-transfer of carbon-rich material from a thermally-pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TPAGB) primary star to a less massive main-sequence companion which is seen today. Recent studies explore the possibility that an initial mass function biased toward intermediate-mass stars is required to reproduce the observed CEMP fraction in stars with metallicity [Fe/H] < -2.5. These models…
A substantial fraction of the lowest metallicity stars show very high enhancements in carbon. It is debated whether these enhancements reflect the stars' birth composition, or if their atmospheres were subsequently polluted, most likely by accretion from an AGB binary companion. Here we investigate and compare the binary properties of three carbon-enhanced sub-classes: The metal-poor CEMP-s stars that are additionally enhanced in barium; the higher metallicity (sg)CH- and Ba II stars also enhanced in barium; and the metal-poor CEMP-no stars, not enhanced in barium. Through comparison with simu…
We present a chemo-dynamical analysis of low-resolution ($R \sim 1300$) spectroscopy of stars from the AAOmega Evolution of Galactic Structure (AEGIS) survey, focusing on two key populations of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars within the disk system of the Milky Way: a mildly prograde population ($L_z < 1000\,$kpc$\,$km$\,$s$^{-1}$) and a strongly prograde ($L_z > 1000\,$kpc$\,$km$\,$s$^{-1}$) population. Based on their chemical and kinematic characteristics, and on comparisons with similar populations found in the recent literature, we tentatively associate the former with an ex-situ i…
The carbon-enhanced metal-poor star BD+44 493 ([Fe/H]=-3.9) has been proposed as a candidate second-generation star enriched by metals from a single Pop III star. We report the first detections of P and S and the second detection of Zn in any extremely metal-poor carbon-enhanced star, using new spectra of BD+44 493 collected by the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. We derive [P/Fe]=-0.34 +/- 0.21, [S/Fe]=+0.07 +/- 0.41, and [Zn/Fe]=-0.10 +/- 0.24. We increase by ten-fold the number of Si I lines detected in BD+44 493, yielding [Si/Fe]=+0.15 +/- 0.22. The solar [S/Fe] a…
Detailed spectroscopic studies of metal-poor halo stars have highlighted the important role of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars in understanding the early production and ejection of carbon in the Galaxy and in identifying the progenitors of the CEMP stars among the first stars formed after the Big Bang. Recent work has also classified the CEMP stars by absolute carbon abundance, A(C), into high- and low-C bands, mostly populated by binary and single stars, respectively. Our aim is to determine the frequency and orbital parameters of binary systems among the CEMP-s stars, which exhibit s…
Recent discoveries of carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars like SMSS J031300.36-670839.3 provide increasing observational insights into the formation conditions of the first second-generation stars in the Universe, reflecting the chemical conditions after the first supernova explosion. Here, we present the first cosmological simulations with a detailed chemical network including primordial species as well as C, C$^+$, O, O$^+$, Si, Si$^+$, and Si$^{2+}$ following the formation of carbon-enhanced metal poor stars. The presence of background UV flux delays the collapse from $z=21$ to $z=15$ and cool…
HE0144-4657: A Carbon-Enhanced Ultra Metal-Poor Star ([Fe/H] ~ -4.1) from the Helmi Stream Disrupted Dwarf Galaxy
NSF NOIRLab（美国国家光学红外天文科学实验室）；Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago（芝加哥大学卡弗里宇宙物理学研究所）；Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Chicago（芝加哥大学天文与天体物理系）；Randolph School（兰道夫学校）；Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Landessternwarte（海德堡大学天文中心，州立天文台）
Mixing and fallback models in faint supernova models are supposed to reproduce the abundance patterns of observed carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars in the Galactic halo. A fine tuning of the model parameters for individual stars is required to reproduce the observed ratios of carbon to iron. We focus on extremely metal-poor stars formed out of the ejecta from the mixing and fallback models using a chemical evolution model. Our chemical evolution models take into account the contribution of individual stars to chemical enrichment in host halos together with their evolution in the context …
The detailed composition of most metal-poor halo stars has been found to be very uniform. However, a fraction of 20-70% (increasing with decreasing metallicity) exhibit dramatic enhancements in their abundances of carbon - the so-called carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars. A key question for Galactic chemical evolution models is whether this non-standard composition reflects that of the stellar natal clouds, or is due to local, post-birth mass transfer of chemically processed material from a binary companion; CEMP stars should then all be members of binary systems. Our aim is to determine …
We show that the low ratios of $α$ elements (Mg, Si, and Ca) to Fe recently found for a small fraction of extremely metal-poor stars can be naturally explained with the nucleosynthesis yields of core-collapse supernovae, i.e., $13-25M_\odot$ supernovae, or hypernovae. For the case without carbon enhancement, the ejected iron mass is normal, consistent with observed light curves and spectra of nearby supernovae. On the other hand, the carbon enhancement requires much smaller iron production, and the low [$α$/Fe] of carbon enhanced metal-poor stars can also be reproduced with $13-25M_\odot$ fain…
We present a comparison of the frequencies of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) giant and main-sequence turnoff stars, selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration, with predictions from asymptotic giant-branch (AGB) mass-transfer models. We consider two initial mass functions (IMFs)-a Salpeter IMF, and a mass function with a characteristic mass of 10 solar mass. These comparisons indicate good agreement between the observed CEMP frequencies for stars with [Fe/H] > -1.5 and a Salpeter IMF, but not with an IMF having a higher char…
We analyze resolved stellar near-infrared photometry of 21 HST fields in M31 to constrain the impact of metallicity on the formation of carbon stars. Observations of nearby galaxies show that the carbon stars are increasingly rare at higher metallicity. Models indicate that carbon star formation efficiency drops due to the decrease in dredge-up efficiency in metal-rich thermally-pulsing Asymptotic Giant Branch (TP-AGB) stars, coupled to a higher initial abundance of oxygen. However, while models predict a metallicity ceiling above which carbon stars cannot form, previous observations have not …
Star formation models predict that the metal-poor initial mass function (IMF) can be substantially different from that observed in the metal-rich Milky Way. This changeover occurs because metal-poor gas clouds cool inefficiently due to their lower abundance of metals and dust. However, predictions for the metal-poor IMF to date rely on assuming Solar-scaled abundances, that is, [X/O] = 0 at all [O/H]. There is now growing evidence that elements such as C and O that dominate metal line cooling in the ISM do not follow Solar scaling at low metallicities. In this work, we extend models that predi…
We investigate the nature of carbon-enhanced metal poor (CEMP) stars in Milky Way (MW) analogues selected from the EAGLE cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. The stellar evolution model in EAGLE includes the physics of enrichment by asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, winds from massive stars, and type I and type II supernovae (SNe). In the simulation, star formation in young MW progenitors is bursty due to efficient stellar feedback, which causes poor metal mixing leading to the formation of CEMP stars with extreme abundance patterns. In this scenario, two classes of CEMP stars emerge: th…
