Deriving the metallicity, [Fe/H], in low-resolution spectra of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars is a tedious task that, owing to the large number of line blends, often leads to uncertainties on [Fe/H] exceeding 0.25dex. The CEMP stars increase in number with decreasing [Fe/H] and some of these are known to be bona fide second generation halo stars. Hence, knowing their [Fe/H] is important for tracing the formation and chemical evolution of the Galaxy. Here, we aim to improve the [Fe/H] measurements in low-resolution spectra by avoiding issues related to blends. We improve our chemical tagging in such spectra at low metallicities. We developed an empirical way of deriving [Fe/H] in CEMP (and C-normal) stars that relates the equivalent width (EW) of strong lines, which remain detectable in lower-resolution, metal-poor spectra. The best [Fe/H] tracers are found to be Cr I and Ni I, which both show strong transitions in spectral regions that are free of molecular bands (between ~5200-6800A, a region accessible to most surveys). We derive different relations for dwarfs and giants. The relations are valid in the ranges ~-3<[Fe/H]<-0.5 and 10<EW<800mA (Cr) or [Fe/H]>-3.2 and EW>5mA (Ni), depending on the element and line as well as the stellar evolutionary stage. The empirical relations are valid for both CEMP and C-normal stars and have been proven to be accurate tracers in a sample of ~400 stars (mainly giants). The metallicities are accurate to within ~0.2 depending on the sample and resolution, and the empirical relations are robust to within 0.05-0.1dex. Our relations will improve the metallicity determination in future surveys, which will encounter a large number of CEMP stars, and will greatly speed up the process of determining [Fe/H] as the EWs only need to be measured in two or three lines in relatively clean regions compared to dealing with numerous blended Fe lines. Abrigded.
Among Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) stars, some are found to be enriched in s-process elements (CEMP-s), in r-process elements (CEMP-r) or in both s- and r-process elements (CEMP-rs). The origin of the abundance differences between CEMP-s and CEMP-rs stars is presently unknown. It has been claimed that the i-process, whose site still remains to be identified, could better reproduce CEMP-rs abundances than the s-process. We analyze high-resolution spectra of 25 metal-poor stars, observed with the high-resolution HERMES spectrograph mounted on the Mercator telescope, La Palma, or with the UV…
The observed abundance diversities among the CEMP stars can shed light on the formation and evolution of elements in the early Galaxy. In this work, we present results obtained from a detailed abundance analysis of a sample of seven extrinsic carbon stars. The analysis is based on high-resolution spectra obtained with HCT/HESP (R$\sim$60,000) and SUBARU/HDS (R$\sim$50,000). We present, for the first time, the elemental abundance results for the objects BD$-$19 132, BD$-$19 290, HE~1304$-$2111, HE~1354$-$2257, and BD+19 3109. Abundances of a few elements are available in literature for HE~1157$…
We present results from a medium-resolution (R ~ 2, 000) spectroscopic follow-up campaign of 1,694 bright (V < 13.5), very metal-poor star candidates from the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE). Initial selection of the low-metallicity targets was based on the stellar parameters published in RAVE Data Releases 4 and 5. Follow-up was accomplished with the Gemini-N and Gemini-S, the ESO/NTT, the KPNO/Mayall, and the SOAR telescopes. The wavelength coverage for most of the observed spectra allows for the determination of carbon and α-element abundances, which are crucial for con- sidering the natu…
Understanding the evolution of carbon and iron in the Milky Way's halo is of importance because these two elements play crucial roles constraining star formation, Galactic assembly, and chemical evolution in the early Universe. Here, we explore the spatial distributions of carbonicity, [C/Fe], and metallicity, [Fe/H], of the halo system based on medium-resolution ($R \sim$ 1,300) spectroscopy of $\sim$58,000 stars in the Southern Hemisphere from the AAOmega Evolution of Galactic Structure (AEGIS) survey. The AEGIS carbonicity map exhibits a positive gradient with distance, as similarly found f…
We have derived the stellar atmospheric parameters, the effective temperature T$_{eff}$, the microturbulent velocity $ζ$, the surface gravity log g, and the metallicity [Fe/H] for HE 0017+0055, HE 2144-1832, HE 2339-0837, HD 145777, and CD-27 14351 from local thermodynamic equilibrium analyses using model atmospheres. Elemental abundances of C, N, $α$-elements, iron-peak elements, and several neutron-capture elements are estimated using the equivalent width measurement technique as well as spectrum synthesis calculations in some cases. In the context of the double enhancement observed in four …
We present the abundance analyses of 7 Carbon enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars to understand the origin of carbon in them. We used high-resolution optical spectra to derive abundances of various elements. We also used low-resolution Near-Infrared (NIR) spectra to derive the abundance of O and 12C/13C from the CO molecular band and compared their values with those derived from high-resolution optical spectra. We identified a good agreement between the values. Thus, in cool CEMP stars, the NIR observations complement the high-resolution optical observations to derive the oxygen abundance and the…
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 most metal-deficient stars hold important clues about the early build-up and chemical evolution of the Milky Way, and carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars are of special interest. However, little is known about CEMP stars in the Galactic bulge. In this paper, we use the large spectroscopic sample of metal-poor stars from the Pristine Inner Galaxy Survey (PIGS) to identify CEMP stars ([C/Fe] > +0.7) in the bulge region and to derive a CEMP fraction. We identify 96 new CEMP stars in the inner Galaxy, of which 62 are very metal-poor ([Fe/H] < -2.0); this is more than a ten-fold increase co…
We present results from an observing campaign to identify low-metallicity stars in the Best & Brightest Survey. From medium-resolution (R ~ 1, 200 - 2, 000) spectroscopy of 857 candidates, we estimate the stellar atmospheric parameters (Teff, log g, and [Fe/H]), as well as carbon and alpha-element abundances. We find that 69% of the observed stars have [Fe/H] <= -1.0, 39% have [Fe/H] <= -2.0, and 2% have [Fe/H] <= -3.0. There are also 133 carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars in this sample, with 97 CEMP Group I and 36 CEMP Group II stars identified in the A(C) versus [Fe/H] diagram. A subse…
CEMP-s恒星是寿命较长的低质量恒星，铁含量非常低，碳和s元素过量。它们独特的化学模式通常被解释为来自AGB恒星伴星的污染。最近的观测表明，大多数CEMP-s恒星都处于双星系统中，这为AGB伴星的假设提供了支持。然而，一些CEMP-s恒星似乎是单身的。我们检查了四个明显的单CEMP-s恒星，并讨论了它们是由上一代大质量恒星（称为“源”星）的喷出物形成的可能性。为了研究这种情况下，我们计算了低金属丰度大质量恒星模型，旋转和不旋转，包括完整的s-过程核合成。我们发现，非旋转源星不能解释观测到的四个CEMP-s恒星的丰度。四颗CEMP-s星中有三颗可以用一颗$25$ $M_{\odot}$源星来解释，它的$25$ $v_{\rm ini} \sim 500$ km s $^{-1}$（自旋星）。第四颗CEMP-s恒星具有高Pb丰度，无法用我们计算的任何模型来解释。由于自旋星和AGB预测的[O/Fe]和[ls/hs]的范围不同，这些比值可能是进一步测试这两种情况的有趣方法。
A probable carbon enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) star, Pisces II 10694, was discovered recently in the ultra-faint (UFD) galaxy Pisces II. This galaxy is supposed to be very old, suspected to include dark matter, and likely formed the bulk of its stars before the reionisation of the Universe. New abundances have been obtained from observations of Pisces II 10694 at the Kueyen ESO VLT telescope, using the high-efficiency spectrograph: X-Shooter. We found that Pisces II 10694 is a CEMP-no star with [Fe/H]=-2.60 dex. Careful measurements of the CH and C2 bands confirm the enhancement of the C abundan…
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…
Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars span a wide range of stellar populations, from bona fide second-generation stars to later forming stars that provide excellent probes of, e.g., binary mass transfer. Here we analyse 11 metal-poor stars of which 10 are CEMP stars. Based on high signal-to-noise (SNR) X-Shooter spectra, we derive abundances of 20 elements (C, N, O, Na, Mg, Ca, Sc, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Sr, Y, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Eu). From the high SNR spectra, we trace the chemical contribution of the rare earth elements (REE) from various production sites, finding a preference for metal-poor…
The first massive stars triggered the onset of chemical evolution by releasing the first metals (elements heavier than helium) in the Universe. The nature of these stars and how the early chemical enrichment took place is still largely unknown. Rotational-induced mixing in the stellar interior can impact the nucleosynthesis during the stellar life of massive stars and lead to stellar ejecta having various chemical compositions. We present low and zero-metallicity 20, 25 and 40 $M_{\odot}$ stellar models with various initial rotation rates and assumptions for the nuclear reactions rates. With i…
Carbon enhanced metal poor (CEMP) stars with low abundances of neutron capture elements (CEMP-no stars) are ubiquitous among metal poor stars in the Milky Way. Recent observations have uncovered their two subgroups that differ in the carbon to magnesium ([C/Mg]) abundance ratio. Here we demonstrate that similar abundance patterns are also present in Milky Way-like galaxies in the EAGLE cosmological hydrodynamical simulation, where these patterns originate from the fact that stars may form from gas enriched predominantly by asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars or by type-II supernovae. This occu…
CEMP-no stars, a subclass of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars, are one of the most significant stellar populations in Galactic Archaeology, because they dominate the low end of the metallicity distribution function, providing information on the early star-formation and chemical-evolution history of the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies. Here we present an analysis of medium-resolution ($R \sim 1,800$) optical spectroscopy for a CEMP giant, SDSS J132755.56+333521.7, observed with the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), one of the brightest ($g \sim 20.5$) members of the classical dwarf s…
Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars are a unique resource for Galactic archaeology because they probe the properties of the First Stars, early chemical evolution and binary interactions at very low metallicity. Comparing the fractions and properties of CEMP stars in different Galactic environments can provide us with unique insights into the formation and evolution of the Milky Way halo and its building blocks. In this work, we investigate whether directly comparing fractions of CEMP stars from different literature samples of very metal-poor ([Fe/H] < -2.0) stars is valid. We compiled publ…
Carbon Abundances in Metal-Poor Stars Reveal Distinct Galaxy and Star Formation Pathways in the Early Universe
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research（麻省理工学院卡弗里天体物理与空间研究所）；Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia（弗吉尼亚大学天文学系）；The NSF-Simons AI Institute for Cosmic Origins（NSF-西蒙斯宇宙起源人工智能研究所）
Lead (Pb) is predominantly produced by the slow neutron-capture process (s process) in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. In contrast to significantly enhanced Pb abundances predicted by low-mass, low-metallicity AGB-models, observations of Magellanic post-AGB stars show incompatibly low Pb abundances. Observations of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars whose s-process enrichments are accompanied by heavy elements traditionally associated with the rapid neutron-capture process (r process) have raised the need for a neutron-capture process operating at neutron densities intermediate to th…
We have performed detailed high-resolution spectroscopic analysis on seven metal-poor stars (BD+75 348, BD+09 3019, HD238020, HE0319-0215, HE0507-1653, HE0930-0018, HE1023-1504) and derived their atmospheric parameters T$_{eff}$, log$g$, [Fe/H], and mictroturbulent velocity ($ξ$). The metallicity range is found to be -2.57$<$[Fe/H]$<$-0.42. The elemental abundances of 17 light elements and 12 heavy elements are estimated. We have classified BD+75 348 and BD+09 3019 as strong Ba stars, HD238020 as a mild Ba star, and the remaining four objects as CEMP-s stars. We have estimated the masses of th…
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…
Probing the first generations of massive stars through fluorine in CEMP-no stars
Institut d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique, Université Libre de Bruxelle（布鲁塞尔自由大学天文学与天体物理研究所）；BLU-ULB, Brussels Laboratory of the Universe（宇宙布鲁塞尔实验室）；Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva（日内瓦大学天文学系）
