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Register a new userThe RAVE Survey: Rich in Very Metal-Poor Stars
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Very metal-poor stars are of obvious importance for many problems in chemical evolution, star formation, and galaxy evolution. Finding complete samples of such stars which are also bright enough to allow high-precision individual analyses is of considerable interest. We demonstrate here that stars with iron abundances [Fe/H] < -2 dex, and down to below -4 dex, can be efficiently identified within the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) survey of bright stars, without requiring additional confirmatory observations. We determine a calibration of the equivalent width of the Calcium triplet lines measured from the RAVE spectra onto true [Fe/H], using high spectral resolution data for a subset of the stars. These RAVE iron abundances are accurate enough to obviate the need for confirmatory higher-resolution spectroscopy. Our initial study has identified 631 stars with [Fe/H] <= -2, from a RAVE database containing approximately 200,000 stars. This RAVE-based sample is complete for stars with [Fe/H] < -2.5, allowing statistical sample analysis. We identify three stars with [Fe/H] <= -4. Of these, one was already known to be `ultra metal-poor, one is a known carbon-enhanced metal-poor star, but we obtain [Fe/H]= -4.0, rather than the published [Fe/H]=-3.3, and derive [C/Fe] = +0.9, and [N/Fe] = +3.2, and the third is at the limit of our S/N. RAVE observations are on-going and should prove to be a rich source of bright, easily studied, very metal-poor stars.
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We present a novel analysis of the metal-poor star sample in the complete Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) Data Release 5 catalog with the goal of identifying and characterizing all very metal-poor stars observed by the survey. Using a three-stage method, we first identified the candidate stars using only their spectra as input information. We employed an algorithm called t-SNE to construct a low-dimensional projection of the spectrum space and isolate the region containing metal-poor stars. Following this step, we measured the equivalent widths of the near-infrared CaII triplet lines with a method based on flexible Gaussian processes to model the correlated noise present in the spectra. In the last step, we constructed a calibration relation that converts the measured equivalent widths and the color information coming from the 2MASS and WISE surveys into metallicity and temperature estimates. We identified 877 stars with at least a 50% probability of being very metal-poor $(rm [Fe/H] < -2,rm dex)$, out of which 43 are likely extremely metal-poor $(rm [Fe/H] < -3,rm dex )$. The comparison of the derived values to a small subsample of stars with literature metallicity values shows that our method works reliably and correctly estimates the uncertainties, which typically have values $sigma_{rm [Fe/H]} approx 0.2,mathrm{dex}$. In addition, when compared to the metallicity results derived using the RAVE DR5 pipeline, it is evident that we achieve better accuracy than the pipeline and therefore more reliably evaluate the very metal-poor subsample. Based on the repeated observations of the same stars, our method gives very consistent results. The method used in this work can also easily be extended to other large-scale data sets, including to the data from the Gaia mission and the upcoming 4MOST survey.
Despite its importance for understanding the nature of early stellar generations and for constraining Galactic bulge formation models, at present little is known about the metal-poor stellar content of the central Milky Way. This is a consequence of the great distances involved and intervening dust obscuration, which challenge optical studies. However, the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), a wide-area, multifiber, high-resolution spectroscopic survey within Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III), is exploring the chemistry of all Galactic stellar populations at infrared wavelengths, with particular emphasis on the disk and the bulge. An automated spectral analysis of data on 2,403 giant stars in twelve fields in the bulge obtained during APOGEE commissioning yielded five stars with low metallicity([Fe/H]$le-1.7$), including two that are very metal-poor [Fe/H]$sim-2.1$ by bulge standards. Luminosity-based distance estimates place the five stars within the outer bulge, where other 1,246 of the analyzed stars may reside. A manual reanalysis of the spectra verifies the low metallicities, and finds these stars to be enhanced in the $alpha$-elements O, Mg, and Si without significant $alpha$-pattern differences with other local halo or metal-weak thick-disk stars of similar metallicity, or even with other more metal-rich bulge stars. While neither the kinematics nor chemistry of these stars can yet definitively determine which, if any, are truly bulge members, rather than denizens of other populations co-located with the bulge, the newly-identified stars reveal that the chemistry of metal-poor stars in the central Galaxy resembles that of metal-weak thick-disk stars at similar metallicity.
We report the discovery of eight lithium-rich field giants found in a high resolution spectroscopic sample of over 700 metal-poor stars ([Fe/H]<-0.5) selected from the RAVE survey. The majority of the Li-rich giants in our sample are very metal-poor ([Fe/H]<-1.9), and have a Li abundance (in the form of 7Li), A(Li)=log(n(Li)/n(H))+12, between 2.30 and 3.63, well above the typical upper red giant branch limit, A(Li)<0.5, while two stars, with A(Li)~1.7-1.8, show similar lithium abundances to normal giants at the same gravity. We further included two metal-poor, Li-rich globular cluster giants in our sample, namely the previously discovered M3-IV101 and newly discovered (in this work) M68-A96. This comprises the largest sample of metal-poor Li-rich giants to date. We performed a detailed abundance analysis of all stars, finding that the majority our sample stars have elemental abundances similar to that of Li-normal halo giants. Although the evolutionary phase of each Li-rich giant cannot be definitively determined, the Li-rich phase is likely connected to extra mixing at the red giant branch bump or early asymptotic giant branch that triggers cool bottom processing in which the bottom of the outer convective envelope is connected to the H-burning shell in the star. The surface of a star becomes Li-enhanced as 7Be (which burns to 7Li) is transported to the stellar surface via the Cameron-Fowler mechanism. We discuss and discriminate among several models for the extra mixing that can cause Li-production, given the detailed abundances of the Li-rich giants in our sample.
Unevolved metal poor stars are the witness of the early evolution of the Galaxy. The determination of their detailed chemical composition is an important tool to understand the chemical history of our Galaxy. The study of their chemical composition can also be used to constrain the nucleosynthesis of the first generation of supernovae that enriched the interstellar medium. The aim is to observe a sample of extremely metal poor stars (EMP stars) candidates selected from SDSS DR12 release and determine their chemical composition. We obtained high resolution spectra of a sample of five stars using HDS on Subaru telescope and used standard 1D models to compute the abundances. The stars we analysed have a metallicity [Fe/H] between -3.50 dex and -4.25 dex . We confirm that the five metal poor candidates selected from low resolution spectra are very metal poor. We present, the discovery of a new ultra metal-poor star (UMP star) with a metallicity of [Fe/H]= -4.25 dex (SDSS~J1050032.34$-$241009.7). We measured in this star an upper limit of lithium ( log(Li/H) <= 2.0. We found that the 4 most metal poor stars of our sample have a lower lithium abundance than the Spite plateau lithium value. We obtain upper limits for carbon in the sample of stars. None of them belong to the high carbon band. We measured abundances of Mg and Ca in most of the stars and found three new alpha-poor stars.
A sample of mostly old metal-rich dwarf and turn-off stars with high eccentricity and low maximum height above the Galactic plane has been identified. From their kinematics, it was suggested that the inner disk is their most probable birthplace. Their chemical imprints may therefore reveal important information about the formation and evolution of the still poorly understood inner disk. To probe the formation history of these stellar populations, a detailed analysis of a sample of very metal-rich stars is carried out. We derive the metallicities, abundances of alpha elements, ages, and Galactic orbits. The analysis of 71 metal-rich stars is based on optical high-resolution echelle spectra obtained with the FEROS spectrograph at the ESO 1.52-m Telescope at La Silla, Chile. The metallicities and abundances of C, O, Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti were derived based on LTE detailed analysis, employing the MARCS model atmospheres. We confirm the high metallicity of these stars reaching up to [Fe I/H]~0.58, and the sample of metal-rich dwarfs can be kinematically subclassified in samples of thick disk, thin disk, and intermediate stellar populations. All sample stars show solar alpha-Fe ratios, and most of them are old and still quite metal rich. The orbits suggest that the thin disk, thick disk and intermediate populations were formed at Galactocentric distances of ~8 kpc, ~6 kpc, and ~7 kpc, respectively. The mean maximum height of the thick disk subsample of Z_max~380 pc, is lower than for typical thick disk stars. A comparison of alpha-element abundances of the sample stars with bulge stars shows that the oxygen is compatible with a bulge or inner thick disk origin. Our results suggest that models of radial mixing and dynamical effects of the bar and bar/spiral arms might explain the presence of these old metal-rich dwarf stars in the solar neighbourhood.
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