No Arabic abstract
Recent radiative lifetime measurements accurate to +/- 5% using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) on 43 even-parity and 15 odd-parity levels of Ce II have been combined with new branching fractions measured using a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) to determine transition probabilities for 921 lines of Ce II. This improved laboratory data set has been used to determine a new solar photospheric Ce abundance, log epsilon = 1.61 +/- 0.01 (sigma = 0.06 from 45 lines), a value in excellent agreement with the recommended meteoritic abundance, log epsilon = 1.61 +/- 0.02. Revised Ce abundances have also been derived for the r-process-rich metal-poor giant stars BD+17 3248, CS 22892-052, CS 31082-001, HD 115444 and HD 221170. Between 26 and 40 lines were used for determining the Ce abundance in these five stars, yielding a small statistical uncertainty of 0.01 dex similar to the Solar result. The relative abundances in the metal-poor stars of Ce and Eu, a nearly pure r-process element in the Sun, matches r-process only model predictions for Solar System material. This consistent match with small scatter over a wide range of stellar metallicities lends support to these predictions of elemental fractions. A companion paper includes an interpretation of these new precision abundance results for Ce as well as new abundance results and interpretations for Pr, Dy and Tm.
Recent radiative lifetime measurements accurate to +/- 5% (Stockett et al. 2007, J. Phys. B 40, 4529) using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) on 8 even-parity and 62 odd-parity levels of Er II have been combined with new branching fractions measured using a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) to determine transition probabilities for 418 lines of Er II. This work moves Er II onto the growing list of rare earth spectra with extensive and accurate modern transition probability measurements using LIF plus FTS data. This improved laboratory data set has been used to determine a new solar photospheric Er abundance, log epsilon = 0.96 +/- 0.03 (sigma = 0.06 from 8 lines), a value in excellent agreement with the recommended meteoric abundance, log epsilon = 0.95 +/- 0.03. Revised Er abundances have also been derived for the r-process-rich metal-poor giant stars CS 22892-052, BD+17 3248, HD 221170, HD 115444, and CS 31082-001. For these five stars the average Er/Eu abundance ratio, <log epsilon (Er/Eu)> = 0.42, is in very good agreement with the solar-system r-process ratio. This study has further strengthened the finding that r-process nucleosynthesis in the early Galaxy which enriched these metal-poor stars yielded a very similar pattern to the r-process which enriched later stars including the Sun.
We have derived new abundances of the rare-earth elements Pr, Dy, Tm, Yb, and Lu for the solar photosphere and for five very metal-poor, neutron-capture r-process-rich giant stars. The photospheric values for all five elements are in good agreement with meteoritic abundances. For the low metallicity sample, these abundances have been combined with new Ce abundances from a companion paper, and reconsideration of a few other elements in individual stars, to produce internally-consistent Ba, rare-earth, and Hf (56<= Z <= 72) element distributions. These have been used in a critical comparison between stellar and solar r-process abundance mixes.
We report new branching fraction measurements for 199 UV and optical transitions of Hf II. These transitions range in wavelength (wavenumber) from 2068- 6584 A (48322-15183 cm-1) and originate in 17 odd-parity upper levels ranging in energy from 38578-53227 cm-1. The branching fractions are combined with radiative lifetimes reported in an earlier study to produce a set of transition probabilities and log(gf) values with accuracy ranging from 5-25%. Comparison is made to transition probabilities from the literature where such data exist. We use these new transition probabilities to derive improved Hf abundances in two metal-poor stars. HD 196944 is enhanced in s-process elements, and we derive log epsilon (Hf) = -0.72 +/- 0.03 (sigma = 0.09) from 12 Hf II lines. HD 222925 is enhanced in r-process elements, and we derive log epsilon (Hf) = 0.32 +/- 0.03 (sigma = 0.11) from 20 Hf II lines. These measurements greatly expand the number of potentially useful Hf II lines for analysis in UV and optical spectra.
Abundance observations indicate the presence of rapid-neutron capture (i.e., r-process) elements in old Galactic halo and globular cluster stars. Recent observations of the r-process-enriched star BD +17 3248 include new abundance determinations for the neutron-capture elements Cd I (Z=48), Lu II (Z = 71) and Os II (Z = 76), the first detections of these elements in metal-poor r-process-enriched halo stars. Combining these and previous observations, we have now detected 32 n-capture elements in BD +17 3248. This is the most of any metal-poor halo star to date. For the most r-process-rich (i.e. [Eu/Fe] ~= 1) halo stars, such as CS 22892-052 and BD +17 3248, abundance comparisons show that the heaviest stable n-capture elements (i.e., Ba and above, Z >= 56) are consistent with a scaled solar system r-process abundance distribution. The lighter n-capture element abundances in these stars, however, do not conform to the solar pattern. These comparisons, as well as recent observations of heavy elements in metal-poor globular clusters, suggest the possibility of multiple synthesis mechanisms for the n-capture elements. The heavy element abundance patterns in most metal-poor halo stars do not resemble that of CS 22892-052, but the presence of heavy elements such as Ba in nearly all metal-poor stars without s-process enrichment indicates that r-process enrichment in the early Galaxy is common.
Using near-ultraviolet spectra obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope, we detect neutral tellurium in three metal-poor stars enriched by products of r-process nucleosynthesis, BD+17 3248, HD 108317, and HD 128279. Tellurium (Te, Z=52) is found at the second r-process peak (A=130) associated with the N=82 neutron shell closure, and it has not been detected previously in Galactic halo stars. The derived tellurium abundances match the scaled solar system r-process distribution within the uncertainties, confirming the predicted second peak r-process residuals. These results suggest that tellurium is predominantly produced in the main component of the r-process, along with the rare earth elements.