Spectroscopy of 333 NGC 6819 stars and Gaia astrometry are used to map Li evolution from the giant branch tip to 0.5 mag below the Li dip. Isochrone comparison with [Fe/H] = -0.04, based upon neural network spectroscopic analysis, produces an age of 2.25 (2.4) Gyr for E(B-V) = 0.16 (0.14) and (m-M) = 12.40 (12.29). Despite originating outside the Li dip, only 10% of single subgiants/giants have measurable Li. Above the Li dip, the limiting A(Li) for single stars is 3.2 +/- 0.1 but the lower range is comparable to that found within the dip. The F-dwarf Li dip profile agrees with the Hyades/Praesepe, evolved forward. The Li level among stars populating the plateau fainter than the Li dip is A(Li) = 2.83 +/- 0.16; the dispersion is larger than expected from spectroscopic error alone. Comparison of Li and V_ROT distributions among turnoff stars in NGC 7789, NGC 2506, NGC 3680, and NGC 6819 indicates that rotational spindown from the main sequence is critical in defining the boundaries of the Li dip. For higher mass dwarfs, spindown is likewise correlated with Li depletion, creating a second dip, but at higher mass and on a longer time scale. The Li distribution among evolved stars of NGC 6819 is more representative of the older M67, where subgiant and giant stars emerge from within the Li dip, than the younger NGC 7789, where a broad range in V_ROT among the turnoff stars likely produces a range in mass among the giants.
Lithium in Wide Binaries: Effective Temperature Governs Depletion while Rotation Plays a Minor Role
School of Sciences, HangZhou Dianzi University(杭州电子科技大学理学院);Zhejiang Branch of National Astronomical Data Center(国家天文台浙江分中心);National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院国家天文台);University of Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院大学)
The surface content of lithium (Li) and beryllium (Be) provide insights into the mixing and circulation mechanisms in stellar interiors. The old open cluster, M 67, has been well-studied for Li abundances in both main-sequence and evolved stars. The Be abundances give us a probe to a deeper level in stars. We have taken high-resolution spectra with Keck I with HIRES to determine Be abundances along the subgiant branch of M 67, where there are dramatic depletions of Li. These subgiants range in mass from 1.26 to 1.32 M$_{\odot}$ and have evolved from main-sequence stars that would have occupied…
The period derivative bound for SGR 0418+5729 (Rea et al. 2010) establishes the magnetic dipole moment to be distinctly lower than the magnetar range, placing the source beyond the regime of isolated pulsar activity in the P - dP/dt diagram and giving a characteristic age > 2 \times 10^{7} years, much older than the 10^5 year age range of SGRs and AXPs. So the spindown must be produced by a mechanism other than dipole radiation in vacuum. A fallback disk will spin down a neutron star with surface dipole magnetic field in the 10^{12} G range and initial rotation period P_0 ~ 100 ms to the 9.1 s…
Asteroseismological determinations of stellar ages have shown that old main-sequence dwarfs do not obey gyrochronology. Their rotation is slow compared to young stars but faster than gyrochronology predicts. This can be explained by the presence of a maximum rotation period beyond which the large-scale dynamo switches off and stops providing global magnetic fields necessary for stellar spindown. Assuming this explanation, the excess of stellar dynamo parameters over their marginal values can be estimated for given spectral type and rotation rate. The estimation gives the dynamo number for the …
Emergence of a lithium dip in ~35 Myr "Snake" Open Clusters
School of Science, Hangzhou Dianzi University(杭州电子科技大学理学院);Zhejiang Branch of National Astronomical Data Center(国家天文台浙江分中心);National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院国家天文台);University of Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院大学)
We present analytic calculations of the electromagnetic torques acting on a magnetic neutron star rotating in vacuum, including near-zone torques associated with the inertia of dipole and quadrupole magnetic fields. We incorporate these torques into the rotational dynamics of a rigid-body neutron star, and show that the effects of the inertial torque can be understood as a modification of the moment of inertia tensor of the star. We apply our rotational dynamics equation to the Crab pulsar, including intrinsic distortions of the star and various electromagnetic torques, to investigate the poss…
To alleviate the discrepancy between the prediction of the primordial lithium abundance in the universe and the abundances observed in Pop II dwarfs and subgiant stars, it has been suggested that the stars observable today have undergone photospheric depletion of Li. To constrain the nature of such depletion, we conduct a homogeneous analysis of a very large sample of stars in the metal-poor globular cluster NGC6397, covering well all evolutionary phases from below the main sequence turn-off to high up the red giant branch. Non-LTE Li abundances or abundance upper limits are obtained for all s…
Open clusters provide clues to understand the evolution of Li7 at the surface of low-mass stars and its possible correlation with stellar rotation, which is a challenge for both stellar hydrodynamics and Galactic chemical evolution. We aim to quantify the efficiency of the transport processes for both angular momentum and chemicals that are required to explain simultaneously the observed behaviour of surface Li7 and rotation as well as the internal rotation profiles inferred from helio- and asteroseismology in F- and G-type main sequence stars. We apply the model for the transport of angular m…
Dramatic deficiencies of Li in the mid-F dwarf stars of the Hyades cluster were discovered by Boesgaard & Tripicco. Boesgaard & King discovered corresponding, but smaller, deficiencies in Be in the same narrow temperature region in the Hyades. With the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope we investigate B abundances in the Hyades F stars to look for a potential B dip using the B I resonance line at 2496.8 A. The light elements, Li, Be, and B, are destroyed inside stars at increasingly hotter temperatures: 2.5, 3.5, and 5x10^6 K respectively. Consequently, these el…
We find that hot jupiter host stars within the T$_\mathrm{eff}$ range 5900-6300K show lower Li abundances, by 0.14 dex, than stars without detected planets. This offset has a significance at the level 7$σ$, pointing to a stronger effect of planet formation on Li abundances when the planets are more massive and migrate close to the star. However, we also find that the average v \textit{sin}i of (a fraction of) stars with hot jupiters is higher on average than for single stars in the same T$_\mathrm{eff}$ region, suggesting that rotationally-induced mixing (and not the presence of planets) might…
The maintenance of large-scale differential rotation in stellar convective regions by rotationally influenced convective stresses also drives large-scale meridional flows by angular--momentum conservation. This process is an example of ``gyroscopic pumping'', and has recently been studied in detail in the solar context. An important question concerns the extent to which these gyroscopically pumped meridional flows penetrate into nearby stably stratified (radiative) regions, since they could potentially be an important source of non-local mixing. Here we present an extensive study of the gyrosc…
[abridged] Previous analyses of lithium abundances in main sequence and red giant stars have revealed the action of mixing mechanisms other than convection in stellar interiors. Beryllium abundances in stars with lithium abundance determinations can offer valuable complementary information on the nature of these mechanisms. Our aim is to derive beryllium abundances along the whole evolutionary sequence of an open cluster, IC 4651. These Be abundances are used together with previously determined Li abundances, in the same sample stars, to investigate the mixing mechanisms in a range of stellar …
HYDRA spectra of 287 stars in the field of NGC 2506 from the turnoff through the giant branch are analyzed. With previous data, 22 are identified as probable binaries; 90 more are classified as potential non-members. Spectroscopic analyses of ~60 red giants and slowly rotating turnoff stars using line equivalent widths and a neural network approach lead to [Fe/H] = -0.27 +/- 0.07 (s.d.) and [Fe/H] = -0.27 +/- 0.06 (s.d.), respectively. Li abundances are derived for 145 probable single-star members, 44 being upper limits. Among turnoff stars outside the Li-dip, A(Li) = 3.04 +/- 0.16 (s.d.), wit…
Collision-induced absorption (CIA) from molecular hydrogen is a dominant opacity source in the atmosphere of cool white dwarfs. It results in a significant flux depletion in the near-IR and IR parts of their spectra. Because of the extreme conditions of helium-rich atmospheres (where the density can be as high as a few g/cm$^3$), this opacity source is expected to undergo strong pressure distortion and the currently used opacities have not been validated at such extreme conditions. To check the distortion of the CIA opacity we applied state-of-the-art ab initio methods of computational quantum…
The surface abundances of the light elements lithium (Li) and beryllium (Be) reveal information about the physical processes taking place in stellar interiors. The investigation of the amount of these two elements in stars in open clusters shows the effect of age on those mechanisms. We have obtained spectra of both Li and Be in main-sequence stars in NGC 752 at high spectral resolution and high signal-to-noise ratios with HIRES on the Keck I telescope. In order to make meaningful comparisons with other clusters, we have determined the stellar parameters on a common scale. We have found abunda…