We present detailed chemical abundances for the bright carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) star BD+44 493, previously reported on by Ito et al. Our measurements confirm that BD+44 493 is an extremely metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-3.8) subgiant star with excesses
of carbon and oxygen. No significant excesses are found for nitrogen and neutron-capture elements (the latter of which place it in the CEMP-no class of stars). Other elements that we measure exhibit abundance patterns that are typical for non-CEMP extremely metal-poor stars. No evidence for variations of radial velocity have been found for this star. These results strongly suggest that the carbon enhancement in BD+44 493 is unlikely to have been produced by a companion asymptotic giant-branch star and transferred to the presently observed star, nor by pollution of its natal molecular cloud by rapidly-rotating, massive, mega metal-poor ([Fe/H] < -6.0) stars. A more likely possibility is that this star formed from gas polluted by the elements produced in a faint supernova, which underwent mixing and fallback, and only ejected small amounts of elements of metals beyond the lighter elements. The Li abundance of BD+44 493 (A(Li)=log(Li/H)+12=1.0) is lower than the Spite plateau value, as found in other metal-poor subgiants. The upper limit on Be abundance (A(Be)=log(Be/H)+12<-1.8) is as low as those found for stars with similarly extremely-low metallicity, indicating that the progenitors of carbon- (and oxygen-) enhanced stars are not significant sources of Be, or that Be is depleted in metal-poor subgiants with effective temperatures of ~5400K.
Chemical compositions are determined based on high-resolution spectroscopy for 137 candidate extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and its first stellar extension, the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understa
nding and Exploration (SEGUE). High-resolution spectra with moderate signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios were obtained with the High Dispersion Spectrograph of the Subaru Telescope. Most of the sample (approximately 80%) are main-sequence turn-off stars, including dwarfs and subgiants. Four cool main-sequence stars, the most metal-deficient such stars known, are included in the remaining sample. Good agreement is found between effective temperatures estimated by the SEGUE stellar parameter pipeline, based on the SDSS/SEGUE medium-resolution spectra, and those estimated from the broadband $(V-K)_0$ and $(g-r)_0$ colors. Our abundance measurements reveal that 70 stars in our sample have [Fe/H] $ < -3$, adding a significant number of EMP stars to the currently known sample. Our analyses determine the abundances of eight elements (C, Na, Mg, Ca, Ti, Cr, Sr, and Ba) in addition to Fe. The fraction of carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars ([C/Fe]$> +0.7$) among the 25 giants in our sample is as high as 36%, while only a lower limit on the fraction (9%) is estimated for turn-off stars. This paper is the first of a series of papers based on these observational results. The following papers in this series will discuss the higher-resolution and higher-S/N observations of a subset of this sample, the metallicity distribution function, binarity, and correlations between the chemical composition and kinematics of extremely metal-poor stars.
The Li abundances of the two components of the very metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-2.5) double-lined spectroscopic binary G166-45 (BD+26 2606) are determined separately based on high resolution spectra obtained with the Subaru Telescope High Dispersion Spectrog
raph and its image slicer. From the photometric colors and the mass ratio the effective temperatures of the primary and secondary components are estimated to be 6350+/-100K and 5830+/-170K, respectively. The Li abundance of the primary (A(Li)=2.23) agrees well with the Spite plateau value, while that of the secondary is slightly lower (A(Li)=2.11). Such a discrepancy of the Li abundances between the two components is previously found in the extremely metal-poor, double-lined spectroscopic binary CS22876-032, however, the discrepancy in G166-45 is much smaller. The results agree with the trends found for Li abundance as a function of effective temperature (and of stellar mass) of main-sequence stars with -3.0<[Fe/H]<-2.0, suggesting that the depletion of Li at Teff ~ 5800K is not particularly large in this metallicity range. The significant Li depletion found in CS22876-032B is a phenomenon only found in the lowest metallicity range ([Fe/H]<-3).
We report on the design, manufacturing, and performance of the image slicer for the High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS) on the Subaru Telescope. This instrument is a Bowen-Walraven type image slicer providing five 0.3 arcsec x 1.5 arcsec images with a
resolving power of R= 110,000. The resulting resolving power and line profiles are investigated in detail, including estimates of the defocusing effect on the resolving power. The throughput in the wavelength range from 400 to 700 nm is higher than 80%, thereby improving the efficiency of the spectrograph by a factor of 1.8 for 0.7 arcsec seeing.
We report the discovery of a cool metal-poor, main-sequence star exhibiting large excesses of r-process elements. This star is one of two newly discovered cool subdwarfs (effective temperatures of 5000 K) with extremely low metallicity ([Fe/H]<-3) id
entified from follow-up high-resolution spectroscopy of metal-poor candidates from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. SDSS J2357-0052 has [Fe/H]=-3.4 and [Eu/Fe]=+1.9, and exhibits a scaled solar r-process abundance pattern of heavy neutron-capture elements. This is the first example of an extremely metal-poor, main-sequence star showing large excesses of r-process elements; all previous examples of the large r-process-enhancement phenomena have been associated with metal-poor giants. The metallicity of this object is the lowest, and the excess of Eu ([Eu/Fe]) is the highest, among the r-process-enhanced stars found so far. We consider possible scenarios to account for the detection of such a star, and discuss techniques to enable searches for similar stars in the future.
