We have derived Fe abundances of 16 solar-type Pleiades dwarfs by means of an equivalent width analysis of Fe I and Fe II lines in high-resolution spectra obtained with the Hobby - Eberly Telescope and High Resolution Spectrograph. Abundances derived
from Fe II lines are larger than those derived from Fe I lines (herein referred to as over-ionization) for stars with Teff < 5400 K, and the discrepancy (deltaFe = [Fe II/H] - [Fe I/H]) increases dramatically with decreasing Teff, reaching over 0.8 dex for the coolest stars of our sample. The Pleiades joins the open clusters M 34, the Hyades, IC 2602, and IC 2391, and the Ursa Major moving group, demonstrating ostensible over-ionization trends. The Pleiades deltaFe abundances are correlated with Ca II infrared triplet and Halpha chromospheric emission indicators and relative differences therein. Oxygen abundances of our Pleiades sample derived from the high-excitation O I triplet have been previously shown to increase with decreasing Teff, and a comparison with the deltaFe abundances suggests that the over-excitation (larger abundances derived from high excitation lines relative to low excitation lines) and over-ionization effects that have been observed in cool open cluster and disk field main sequence (MS) dwarfs share a common origin. Star-to-star Fe I abundances have low internal scatter, but the abundances of stars with Teff < 5400 K are systematically higher compared to the warmer stars. The cool star [Fe I/H] abundances cannot be connected directly to over-excitation effects, but similarities with the deltaFe and O I triplet trends suggest the abundances are dubious. Using the [Fe I/H] abundances of five stars with Teff > 5400 K, we derive a mean Pleiades cluster metallicity of [Fe/H] = +0.01 +/- 0.02.
We utilize high-resolution (R~60,000), high S/N (~100) spectroscopy of 17 cool Pleiades dwarfs to examine the confounding star-to-star scatter in the 6707 Li I line strengths in this young cluster. Our Pleiads, selected for their small projected rota
tional velocity and modest chromospheric emission, evince substantial scatter in the linestrengths of 6707 Li I feature that is absent in the 7699 K I resonance line. The Li I scatter is not correlated with that in the high-excitation 7774 O I feature, and the magnitude of the former is greater than the latter despite the larger temperature sensitivity of the O I feature. These results suggest that systematic errors in linestrength measurements due to blending, color (or color-based T_eff) errors, or line formation effects related to an overlying chromosphere are not the principal source of Li I scatter in our stars. There do exist analytic spot models that can produce the observed Li scatter without introducing scatter in the K I line strengths or the color-magnitude diagram. However, these models predict factor of >3 differences in abundances derived from the subordinate 6104 and resonance 6707 Li I features; we find no difference in the abundances determined from these two features. These analytic spot models also predict CN line strengths significantly larger than we observe in our spectra. The simplest explanation of the Li, K, CN, and photometric data is that there must be a real abundance component to the Pleiades Li dispersion. We suggest that this real abundance component is the manifestation of relic differences in erstwhile pre-main-sequence Li burning caused by effects of surface activity on stellar structure. We discuss observational predictions of these effects.
The fluorine abundance of the Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) star HE 1305+0132 has been derived by analysis of the molecular HF (1-0) R9 line at 2.3357 microns in a high-resolution (R = 50,000) spectrum obtained with the Phoenix spectrometer and G
emini-South telescope. Our abundance analysis makes use of a CNO-enhanced ATLAS12 model atmosphere characterized by a metallicity and CNO enhancements determined utilizing medium-resolution (R = 3,000) optical and near-IR spectra. The effective iron abundance is found to be [Fe/H] = -2.5, making HE 1305+0132 the most Fe-deficient star, by more than an order of magnitude, for which the abundance of fluorine has been measured. Using spectral synthesis, we derive a super-solar fluorine abundance of A(19F) = 4.96 +/- 0.21, corresponding to a relative abundance of [F/Fe] = 2.90. A single line of the Phillips C_2 system is identified in our Phoenix spectrum, and along with multiple lines of the first-overtone vibration-rotation CO (3-1) band head, C and O abundances of A(12C) = 8.57 +/- 0.11 and A(16O) = 7.04 +/- 0.14 are derived. We consider the striking fluorine overabundance in the framework of the nucleosynthetic processes thought to be responsible for the C-enhancement of CEMP stars and conclude that the atmosphere of HE 1305+0132 was polluted via mass transfer by a primary companion during its asymptotic giant branch phase. This is the first study of fluorine in a CEMP star, and it demonstrates that this rare nuclide can be a key diagnostic of nucleosynthetic processes in the early Galaxy.
