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Register a new userA search for heavy-metal stars: abundance analyses of hot subdwarfs with Subaru
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The discovery of extremely zirconium- and lead-rich surfaces amongst a small subgroup of hot subdwarfs has provoked questions pertaining to chemical peculiarity in hot star atmospheres and about their evolutionary origin. With only three known in 2014, a limited search for additional `heavy-metal subdwarfs was initiated with the Subaru telescope. Five hot subdwarfs having intermediate to high surface enrichment of helium were observed at high-resolution and analyzed for surface properties and abundances. This paper reports the analyses of four of these stars. PG1559+048 and FBS 1749+373, having only intermediate helium enrichment, show strong lines of triply ionized lead. PG1559+048 also shows a strong overabundance of germanium and yttrium. With more helium-rich surfaces, Ton 414 and J17554+5012, do not show evidence of heavy-metal enrichment. This limited survey suggests that extreme enrichment of `heavy metals by selective radiative levitation in hot subdwarf atmospheres is suppressed if the star is too helium-rich.
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The connection between helium-rich hot subdwarfs of spectral types O and B (He-sdB) has been relatively unexplored since the latter were found in significant numbers in the 1980s. In order to explore this connection further, we have analysed the surface composition of six He-sdB stars, including LB 1766, LB 3229, SB 21 (= Ton-S 137 = BPS 29503-0009), BPS 22940-0009, BPS 29496-0010, and BPS 22956-0094. Opacity-sampled line-blanketed model atmospheres have been used to derive atmospheric properties and elemental abundances. All the stars are moderately metal-poor compared with the Sun ([Fe/H] ~ -0.5). Four stars are nitrogen-rich, two of these are carbon-rich, and at least four appear to be neon-rich. The data are insufficient to rule out binarity in any of the sample. The surface composition and locus of the N-rich He-sdBs are currently best explained by the merger of two helium white dwarfs, or possibly by the merger of a helium white dwarf with a post-sdB white dwarf. C-rich He-sdBs require further investigation.
Hot subdwarfs represent a group of low-mass helium-burning stars formed through binary-star interactions and include some of the most chemically-peculiar stars in the Galaxy. Stellar evolution theory suggests that they should have helium-rich atmospheres but, because radiation causes hydrogen to diffuse upwards, a majority are extremely helium poor. Questions posed include: when does the atmosphere become chemically stratified and at what rate? The existence of several helium-rich subdwarfs suggests further questions; are there distinct subgroups of hot subdwarf, or do hot subdwarfs change their surface composition in the course of evolution? Recent analyses have revealed remarkable surface chemistries amongst the helium-rich subgroup. In this paper, we analyse high-resolution spectra of nine intermediate helium-rich hot subdwarfs. We report the discovery that two stars, HE 2359-2844 and HE 1256-2738, show an atmospheric abundance of lead which is nearly ten thousand times that seen in the Sun. This is measured from optical Pb IV absorption lines never previously seen in any star. The lead abundance is ten to 100 times that measured in normal hot subdwarf atmospheres from ultraviolet spectroscopy. HE 2359-2844 also shows zirconium and yttrium abundances similar to those in the zirconium star LS IV-14 116. The new discoveries are interpreted in terms of heavily stratified atmospheres and the general picture of a surface chemistry in transition from a new-born helium-rich subdwarf to a normal helium-poor subdwarf.
Employing a new machine learning method, named hierarchical extreme learning machine (HELM) algorithm, we identified 56 hot subdwarf stars in the first data release (DR1) of the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) survey. The atmospheric parameters of the stars are obtained by fitting the profiles of hydrogen (H) Balmer lines and helium (He) lines with synthetic spectra calculated from non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (NLTE) model atmospheres. Five He-rich hot subdwarf stars were found in our sample with their log(nHe/nH) > -1 , while 51 stars are He-poor sdB, sdO and sdOB stars. We also confirmed the two He sequences of hot subdwarf stars found by Edelmann et al. (2003) in Teff - log(nHe/nH) diagram. The HELM algorithm works directly on the observed spectroscopy and is able to filter out spectral properties without supplementary photometric data. The results presented in this study demonstrate that the HELM algorithm is a reliable method to search for hot subdwarf stars after a suitable training is performed, and it is also suitable to search for other objects which have obvious features in their spectra or images.
Abundances of 21 elements in two 3He stars HD 185330 and 3 Cen A have been analysed relative to the well studied sharp-lined B3 V star iota Her. Six elements (P, Ti, Mn, Fe, Ni, and Br) are over-abundant in these two peculiar stars, while six elements (C, O, Mg, Al, S, and Cl) are under-abundant. Absorption lines of the two rarely observed heavy elements Br II and Kr II are detected in both stars and these elements are both over-abundant. The centroid wavelengths of the Ca II infrared triplet lines in these stars are red-shifted relative to those lines in iota Her and the presence of heavy isotopes of Ca (mass number 44 - 46) in these two stars are confirmed. In spite of these similarities, there are several remarkable differences in the abundance pattern between these two stars. N is under-abundant in HD 185330, as in many Hg-Mn stars, while it is significantly over-abundant in 3 Cen A. P and Ga are both over-abundant in 3 Cen A, while only P is over-abundant and no trace of absorption line of Ga II can be found in HD 185330. Large over-abundances of Kr and Xe are found in both stars, while the abundance ratios Kr / Xe are significantly different between them (-1.4 dex in HD 185330 and +1.2 dex in 3 Cen A). Some physical explanations are needed to account for these qualitative differences.
In the last decade or so, there have been numerous searches for hot subdwarfs in close binaries. There has been little to no attention paid to wide binaries however. The advantages of understanding these systems can be many. The stars can be assumed to be coeval, which means they have common properties. The distance and metallicity, for example, are both unknown for the subdwarf component, but may be determinable for the secondary, allowing other properties of the subdwarf to be estimated. With this in mind, we have started a search for common proper motion pairs containing a hot subdwarf component. We have uncovered several promising candidate systems, which are presented here.
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