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Water Ice in the Kuiper Belt
We examine a large collection of low-resolution near-infrared spectra ofKuiper Belt objects (KBOs) and centaurs in an attempt to understand thepresence of water ice in the Kuiper Belt. We find that water ice on thesurface of these objects occurs in three separate manners: (1) Haumeafamily members uniquely show surfaces of nearly pure water ice,presumably a consequence of the fragmentation of the icy mantle of alarger differentiated proto-Haumea; (2) large objects with absolutemagnitudes of H < 3 (and a limited number to H = 4.5) have surfacecoverings of water ice—perhaps mixed with ammonia—thatappears to be related to possibly ancient cryovolcanism on these largeobjects; and (3) smaller KBOs and centaurs which are neither Haumeafamily members nor cold-classical KBOs appear to divide into twofamilies (which we refer to as "neutral" and "red"), each of which is amixture of a common nearly neutral component and either a slightly redor very red component that also includes water ice. A model suggestingthat the difference between neutral and red objects due to formation inan early compact solar system either inside or outside, respectively, ofthe ~20 AU methanol evaporation line is supported by the observationthat methanol is only detected on the reddest objects, which are thosewhich would be expected to have the most of the methanol containingmixture.
| Two distinct halo populations in the solar neighborhood. III. Evidence from stellar ages and orbital parameters
Context. In Papers I and II of this series, we have found clearindications of the existence of two distinct populations of stars in thesolar neighborhood belonging to the metal-rich end of the halometallicity distribution function. Based on high-resolution, high S/Nspectra, it is possible to distinguish between "high-alpha" and"low-alpha" components using the [?/Fe] versus [Fe/H] diagram. Aims: Precise relative ages and orbital parameters are determined for67 halo and 16 thick-disk stars having metallicities in the range -1.4< [Fe/H] < -0.4 to better understand the context of the two halopopulations in the formation and evolution of the Galaxy. Methods: Ages are derived by comparing the positions of stars in the logTeff-log g diagram with isochrones from the Y2models interpolated to the exact [Fe/H] and [?/Fe] values of eachstar. The stellar parameters have been adopted from the precedingspectroscopic analyses, but possible systematic errors inTeff and log g are considered and corrected. With spacevelocities from Paper I as initial conditions, orbital integrations havebeen carried out using a detailed, observationally constrainedMilky Way model including a bar and spiral arms. Results: The "high-alpha" halo stars have ages 2-3 Gyr larger thanthe "low-alpha" ones, with some probability that the thick-disk starshave ages intermediate between these two halo components. The orbitalparameters show very distinct differences between the "high-alpha" and"low-alpha" halo stars. The "low-alpha" ones have rmax's to30-40 kpc, zmax's to ?18 kpc, and emax'sclumped at values greater than 0.85, while the "high-alpha" ones,rmax's to about 16 kpc, zmax's to 6-8 kpc, andemax values more or less uniformly distributed over 0.4-1.0. Conclusions: A dual in situ-plus-accretion formation scenariobest explains the existence and characteristics of these two metal-richhalo populations, but one remaining defect is that this model is notconsistent regarding the rmax's obtained for the in situ"high-alpha" component; the predicted values are too small. It appearsthat ? Cen may have contributed in asignificant way to the existence of the "low-alpha" component; recentmodels, including dynamical friction and tidal stripping, have producedresults consistent with the present mass and orbital characteristics of? Cen, while at the same time includingextremes in the orbital parameters as great as those of the "low-alpha"component.Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope on LaPalma, and on data from the European Southern Observatory ESO/ST-ECFScience Archive Facility (programmes 65.L-0507, 67.D-0086, 67.D-0439,68.D-0094, 68.B-0475, 69.D-0679, 70.D-0474, 71.B-0529, 72.B-0585,76.B-0133 and 77.B-0507).Tables 1 and 4 are available in electronic format http://www.aanda.org.
| SX Phoenicis period-luminosity relations and the blue straggler connection
This study is aimed at investigating the period-luminosity relation ofSX Phoenicis (SX Phe) pulsators in Galactic globular clusters (GGCs) andLocal Group dwarf galaxies. We verify isochrone-fitting distances of 46GGCs by fitting their main sequences to a carefully chosen set ofnearby, unevolved subdwarfs. We find that the difference between clusterdistances obtained via isochrone fitting by Dotter et al. and thoseresulting from our subdwarf fits has a mean of 0.094 mag and a standarddeviation of 0.098 mag. The cluster distances from Dotter et al. areused to calibrate an SX Phe period--luminosity relation based on radialdouble mode pulsators. The resulting empirical period-luminosityrelation, which is insensitive to the inclusion of colour and/ormetallicity terms, generally agrees well with previous empiricalrelations as well as theoretical predictions based on single-starpulsational and evolutionary models. However, there is a subset of'subluminous' variables identified most notably in Fornax, Carina, NGC2419 and Omega Centauri. We explore the possibility that, at least inGGCs, they represent blue stragglers which have enhanced helium contentthat was either inherited from second-generation progenitors or gainedas a result of the blue straggler formation process.
| Beryllium and Alpha-element Abundances in a Large Sample of Metal-poor Stars
The light elements, Li, Be, and B, provide tracers for many aspects ofastronomy including stellar structure, Galactic evolution, andcosmology. We have made observations of Be in 117 metal-poor starsranging in metallicity from [Fe/H] = -0.5 to -3.5 with KeckI/HIRES. Our spectra are high resolution (~42,000) and high signal tonoise (the median is 106 per pixel). We have determined the stellarparameters spectroscopically from lines of Fe I, Fe II, Ti I, and Ti II.The abundances of Be and O were derived by spectrum synthesistechniques, while abundances of Fe, Ti, and Mg were found from manyspectral line measurements. There is a linear relationship between[Fe/H] and A(Be) with a slope of +0.88 ± 0.03 over three ordersof magnitude in [Fe/H]. We find that Be is enhanced relative to Fe;[Be/Fe] is +0.40 near [Fe/H] ~-3.3 and drops to 0.0 near [Fe/H]~-1.7. For the relationship between A(Be) and [O/H], we find agradual change in slope from 0.69 ± 0.13 for the Be-poor/O-poorstars to 1.13 ± 0.10 for the Be-rich/O-rich stars. Inasmuch asthe relationship between [Fe/H] and [O/H] seems robustly linear (slope =+0.75 ± 0.03), we conclude that the slope change in Be versus Ois due to the Be abundance. Much of the Be would have been formed in thevicinity of Type II supernova (SN II) in the early history of the Galaxyand by Galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) spallation in the later eras. AlthoughBe is a by-product of CNO, we have used Ti and Mg abundances asalpha-element surrogates for O in part because O abundances are rathersensitive to both stellar temperature and surface gravity. We find thatA(Be) tracks [Ti/H] very well with a slope of 1.00 ± 0.04. Italso tracks [Mg/H] very well with a slope of 0.88 ± 0.03. We havekinematic information on 114 stars in our sample and they divide equallyinto dissipative and accretive stars. Almost the full range of [Fe/H]and [O/H] is covered in each group. There are distinct differences inthe relationships of A(Be) and [Fe/H] and of A(Be) and [O/H] for thedissipative and the accretive stars. It is likely that the formation ofBe in the accretive stars was primarily in the vicinity of SN II, whilethe Be in the dissipative stars was primarily formed by GCR spallation.We find that Be is not as good a cosmochronometer as Fe. We have found aspread in A(Be) that is valid at the 4? level between [O/H] =-0.5 and -1.0, which corresponds to -0.9 and-1.6 in [Fe/H].
| A Possible Signature of Non-uniform Be-? Relationships for the Galaxy
Most of the previous studies on beryllium abundances in metal-poor starshave taken different Galactic populations as a whole when investigatingthe production and evolution of Be. In this Letter, we report on thedetection of systematic differences in [?/H]-A(Be) relationshipsbetween the low- and high-? stars which were identified byprevious works. We remind that one should be more careful ininvestigating the Galactic evolution of Be with a sample comprisingdifferent Galactic populations, because such a mixed sample may lead toinaccurate Be-Fe/Be-O relationships.Based in part on data obtained from the ESO/ST-ECF Science ArchiveFacility.
| Element abundances in the stars of the MILES spectral library: the Mg/Fe ratio
We have obtained [Mg/Fe] measurements for 76.3 per cent of the stars inthe Mid-resolution Isaac Newton Telescope Library of Empirical Spectra(MILES) spectral library used for understanding stellar atmospheres andstellar populations in galaxies and star clusters. These abundanceratios were obtained through (1) a compilation of values from theliterature using abundances from high-resolution (HR) spectroscopicstudies and (2) a robust spectroscopic analysis using the MILESmid-resolution (MR) optical spectra. All the [Mg/Fe] values werecarefully calibrated to a single uniform scale, by using an extensivecontrol sample with results from HR spectra. The small averageuncertainties in the calibrated [Mg/Fe] values [respectively 0.09 and0.12 dex with methods (1) and (2)] and the good coverage of the starswith [Mg/Fe] over stellar atmospheric parameter space of the librarywill permit the building of new simple stellar populations (SSPs) withempirical ?-enhancements. These will be available for a range of[Mg/Fe], including both sub-solar and super-solar values, and forseveral metallicities and ages. These models will open up new prospectsfor testing and applications of evolutionary stellar populationsynthesis.
| Two distinct halo populations in the solar neighborhood. II. Evidence from stellar abundances of Mn, Cu, Zn, Y, and Ba
Context. Current models of galaxy formation predict that the Galactichalo was assembled hierarchically. By measuring abundance ratios instars it may be possible to identify substructures in the halo resultingfrom this process. Aims: A previous study of 94 dwarf stars with-1.6 < [Fe/H] < -0.4 in the solar neighborhood has revealed theexistence of two distinct halo populations with a systematic differencein [?/Fe] at a given metallicity. In continuation of that work,abundances of Mn, Cu, Zn, Y, and Ba are determined for the same sampleof stars. Methods: Equivalent widths of atomic lines are measuredfrom high resolution VLT/UVES and NOT/FIES spectra and used to deriveabundance ratios from an LTE analysis based on MARCS model atmospheres.The analysis is made relative to two thick-disk stars, HD22879 and HD 76932, such that very precisedifferential values are obtained. Results: Systematic differencesbetween the "high-?" and "low-?" halo populations are foundfor [Cu/Fe], [Zn/Fe], and [Ba/Y], whereas there is no significantdifference in the case of [Mn/Fe]. At a given metallicity, [Cu/Fe] showsa large scatter that is closely correlated with a corresponding scatterin [Na/Fe] and [Ni/Fe]. Conclusions: The metallicity trends of[Cu/Fe], [Zn/Fe], and [Ba/Y] can be explained from existingnucleosynthesis calculations if the high-? stars formed in regionswith such a high star formation rate that only massive stars and type IIsupernovae contributed to the chemical enrichment. The low-?stars, on the other hand, most likely originate from systems with aslower chemical evolution, characterized by additional enrichment fromtype Ia supernovae and low-mass AGB stars.Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope on LaPalma, and on data from the European Southern Observatory ESO/ST-ECFScience Archive Facility (programs 65.L-0507, 67.D-0086, 67.D-0439,68.D-0094, 68.B-0475, 69.D-0679, 70.D-0474, 71.B-0529, 72.B-0585,76.B-0133 and 77.B-0507).Tables 1, 2, and excerpt of Table 3 areavailable in electronic form at http://www.aanda.orgTables 1, 2, andfull Table 3 are also available at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/530/A15
| Bayesian inference of stellar parameters and interstellar extinction using parallaxes and multiband photometry
Astrometric surveys provide the opportunity to measure the absolutemagnitudes of large numbers of stars, but only if the individualline-of-sight extinctions are known. Unfortunately, extinction is highlydegenerate with stellar effective temperature when estimated frombroad-band optical/infrared photometry. To address this problem, Iintroduce a Bayesian method for estimating the intrinsic parameters of astar and its line-of-sight extinction. It uses both photometry andparallaxes in a self-consistent manner in order to provide anon-parametric posterior probability distribution over the parameters.The method makes explicit use of domain knowledge by employing theHertzsprung-Russell Diagram (HRD) to constrain solutions and to ensurethat they respect stellar physics. I first demonstrate this method byusing it to estimate effective temperature and extinction from BVJHKdata for a set of artificially reddened Hipparcos stars, for whichaccurate effective temperatures have been estimated from high-resolutionspectroscopy. Using just the four colours, we see the expected strongdegeneracy (positive correlation) between the temperature andextinction. Introducing the parallax, apparent magnitude and the HRDreduces this degeneracy and improves both the precision (reduces theerror bars) and the accuracy of the parameter estimates, the latter byabout 35 per cent. The resulting accuracy is about 200 K in temperatureand 0.2 mag in extinction. I then apply the method to estimate theseparameters and absolute magnitudes for some 47 000 F, G, K Hipparcosstars which have been cross-matched with Two-Micron All-Sky Survey(2MASS). The method can easily be extended to incorporate the estimationof other parameters, in particular metallicity and surface gravity,making it particularly suitable for the analysis of the 109stars from Gaia.
| Chromospheric Activity and Jitter Measurements for 2630 Stars on the California Planet Search
We present time series measurements of chromospheric activity for morethan 2600 main-sequence and subgiant stars on the California PlanetSearch (CPS) program with spectral types ranging from about F5V to M4Vfor main-sequence stars and from G0IV to about K5IV for subgiants. Thelarge data set of more than 44,000 spectra allows us to identify anempirical baseline floor for chromospheric activity as a function ofcolor and height above the main sequence. We define ?S as anexcess in emission in the Ca II H and K lines above the baselineactivity floor and define radial velocity jitter as a function of?S and B - V for main-sequence and subgiant stars. Although thejitter for any individual star can always exceed the baseline level, wefind that K dwarfs have the lowest level of jitter. The lack ofcorrelation between observed jitter and chromospheric activity in Kdwarfs suggests that the observed jitter is dominated by instrumental oranalysis errors and not astrophysical noise sources. Thus, given thelong-term precision for the CPS program, radial velocities are notcorrelated with astrophysical noise for chromospherically quiet K dwarfstars, making these stars particularly well suited for the highestprecision Doppler surveys. Chromospherically quiet F and G dwarfs andsubgiants exhibit higher baseline levels of astrophysical jitter than Kdwarfs. Despite the fact that the rms in Doppler velocities iscorrelated with the mean chromospheric activity, it is rare to seeone-to-one correlations between the individual time series activity andDoppler measurements, diminishing the prospects for correctingactivity-induced velocity variations in F and G dwarfs.Based on observations obtained at the Keck Observatory and LickObservatory, which are operated by the University of California.
| The Ubiquity of the Rapid Neutron-capture Process
To better characterize the abundance patterns produced by the r-process,we have derived new abundances or upper limits for the heavy elementszinc (Zn, Z= 30), yttrium (Y, Z= 39), lanthanum (La, Z= 57), europium(Eu, Z= 63), and lead (Pb, Z= 82). Our sample of 161 metal-poor starsincludes new measurements from 88 high-resolution and highsignal-to-noise spectra obtained with the Tull Spectrograph on the 2.7 mSmith Telescope at the McDonald Observatory, and other abundances areadopted from the literature. We use models of the s-process inasymptotic giant branch stars to characterize the high Pb/Eu ratiosproduced in the s-process at low metallicity, and our new observationsthen allow us to identify a sample of stars with no detectable s-processmaterial. In these stars, we find no significant increase in the Pb/Euratios with increasing metallicity. This suggests that s-processmaterial was not widely dispersed until the overall Galactic metallicitygrew considerably, perhaps even as high as [Fe/H] =-1.4, in contrastwith earlier studies that suggested a much lower mean metallicity. Weidentify a dispersion of at least 0.5 dex in [La/Eu] in metal-poor starswith [Eu/Fe] <+0.6 attributable to the r-process, suggesting thatthere is no unique "pure" r-process elemental ratio among pairs of rareearth elements. We confirm earlier detections of an anti-correlationbetween Y/Eu and Eu/Fe bookended by stars strongly enriched in ther-process (e.g., CS 22892-052) and those with deficiencies of the heavyelements (e.g., HD 122563). We can reproduce the range of Y/Eu ratiosusing simulations of high-entropy neutrino winds of core-collapsesupernovae that include charged-particle and neutron-capture componentsof r-process nucleosynthesis. The heavy element abundance patterns inmost metal-poor stars do not resemble that of CS 22892-052, but thepresence of heavy elements such as Ba in nearly all metal-poor starswithout s-process enrichment suggests that the r-process is a commonphenomenon.This paper includes data taken at The McDonald Observatory of TheUniversity of Texas at Austin.
| Towards a new full-sky list of radial velocity standard stars
Aims: The calibration of the Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS)onboard the ESA Gaia satellite (to be launched in 2012) requires a listof standard stars with a radial velocity (RV) known with an accuracy ofat least 300 m s-1. The IAU commission 30 lists of RVstandard stars are too bright and not dense enough. Methods: Wedescribe the selection criteria due to the RVS constraints for buildingan adequate full-sky list of at least 1000 RV standards from cataloguesalready published in the literature. Results: A preliminary listof 1420 candidate standard stars is built and its properties are shown.An important re-observation programme has been set up in order to insurewithin it the selection of objects with a good stability until the endof the Gaia mission (around 2018). Conclusions: The present listof candidate standards is available at CDS and usable for many otherprojects.Complete Table 2 is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/524/A10
| The ability of intermediate-band Strömgren photometry to correctly identify dwarf, subgiant, and giant stars and provide stellar metallicities and surface gravities
Context. Several large scale photometric and spectroscopic surveys arebeing undertaken to provide a more detailed picture of the Milky Way.Given the necessity of generalisation in the determination of, e.g.,stellar parameters when tens and hundred of thousands of stars areconsidered it remains important to provide independent, detailed studiesto verify the methods used in the surveys. Aims: Our first aim isto critically evaluate available calibrations for deriving [M/H] fromStrömgren photometry. Secondly, we develop the standard sequencesfor dwarf stars to reflect their inherent metallicity dependence.Finally, we test how well metallicities derived from ugriz photometryreproduce metallicities derived from the well-tested system ofStrömgren photometry. Methods: We evaluate availablemetallicity calibrations based on Strömgren uvby photometry fordwarf stars using a catalogue of stars with both uvby photometry andspectroscopically determined iron abundances ([Fe/H]). The catalogue wascreated for this project. Using this catalogue, we also evaluateavailable calibrations that determine log g. A larger catalogue, inwhich metallicity is determined directly from uvby photometry, is usedto trace metallicity-dependent standard sequences for dwarf stars. Wealso perform comparisons, for both dwarf and giant stars, ofmetallicities derived from ugriz photometry with metallicities derivedfrom Strömgren photometry. Results: We provide a homogenisedcatalogue of 451 dwarf stars with 0.3 < (b-y)0 < 1.0.All stars in the catalogue have uvby photometry and [Fe/H] determinedfrom spectra with high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratios (S/N).Using this catalogue, we test how well various photometric metallicitycalibrations reproduce the spectroscopically determined [Fe/H]. Usingthe preferred metallicity calibration for dwarf stars, we derive newstandard sequences in the c1,0 versus (b-y)0 planeand in the c1,0 versus (v-y)0 plane for dwarfstars with 0.40 < (b-y)0 < 0.95 and 1.10 <(v-y)0 < 2.38. Conclusions: We recommend thecalibrations of Ramírez & Meléndez (2005) in derivingmetallicities from Strömgren photometry and find that intermediateband photometry, such as Strömgren photometry, more accurately thanbroad band photometry reproduces spectroscopically determined [Fe/H].Strömgren photometry is also better at differentiating betweendwarf and giant stars. We conclude that additional investigations of thedifferences between metallicities derived from ugriz photometry andintermediate-band photometry, such as Strömgren photometry, arerequired.Appendix A is only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org, Appendix B isavailable in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org and at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/521/A40
| The PASTEL catalogue of stellar parameters
Aims: The PASTEL catalogue is an update of the [Fe/H] catalogue,published in 1997 and 2001. It is a bibliographical compilation ofstellar atmospheric parameters providing (T_eff, log g, [Fe/H])determinations obtained from the analysis of high resolution, highsignal-to-noise spectra, carried out with model atmospheres. PASTEL alsoprovides determinations of the one parameter T_eff based on variousmethods. It is aimed in the future to provide also homogenizedatmospheric parameters and elemental abundances, radial and rotationalvelocities. A web interface has been created to query the catalogue onelaborated criteria. PASTEL is also distributed through the CDS databaseand VizieR. Methods: To make it as complete as possible, the mainjournals have been surveyed, as well as the CDS database, to findrelevant publications. The catalogue is regularly updated with newdeterminations found in the literature. Results: As of Febuary2010, PASTEL includes 30151 determinations of either T_eff or (T_eff,log g, [Fe/H]) for 16 649 different stars corresponding to 865bibliographical references. Nearly 6000 stars have a determination ofthe three parameters (T_eff, log g, [Fe/H]) with a high qualityspectroscopic metallicity.The catalogue can be queried through a dedicated web interface at http://pastel.obs.u-bordeaux1.fr/.It is also available in electronic form at the Centre de DonnéesStellaires in Strasbourg (http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR?-source=B/pastel),at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) orvia http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/515/A111
| An absolutely calibrated Teff scale from the infrared flux method. Dwarfs and subgiants
Various effective temperature scales have been proposed over the years.Despite much work and the high internal precision usually achieved,systematic differences of order 100 K (or more) among various scales arestill present. We present an investigation based on the infrared fluxmethod aimed at assessing the source of such discrepancies and pin downtheir origin. We break the impasse among different scales by using alarge set of solar twins, stars which are spectroscopically andphotometrically identical to the Sun, to set the absolute zero point ofthe effective temperature scale to within few degrees. Our newlycalibrated, accurate and precise temperature scale applies to dwarfs andsubgiants, from super-solar metallicities to the most metal-poor starscurrently known. At solar metallicities our results validatespectroscopic effective temperature scales, whereas for [Fe/H]? -2.5our temperatures are roughly 100 K hotter than those determined frommodel fits to the Balmer lines and 200 K hotter than those obtained fromthe excitation equilibrium of Fe lines. Empirical bolometric correctionsand useful relations linking photometric indices to effectivetemperatures and angular diameters have been derived. Our results takefull advantage of the high accuracy reached in absolute calibration inrecent years and are further validated by interferometric angulardiameters and space based spectrophotometry over a wide range ofeffective temperatures and metallicities.Table 8 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymousftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/512/A54
| Two distinct halo populations in the solar neighborhood. Evidence from stellar abundance ratios and kinematics
Aims: Precise abundance ratios are determined for 94 dwarf starswith Teff K, -1.6 < [Fe/H] < -0.4, and distances D? 335 pc. Most of them have halo kinematics, but 16 thick-disk starsare included. Methods: Equivalent widths of atomic lines aremeasured from VLT/UVES and NOT/FIES spectra with resolutions R? 55000 and R ? 40 000, respectively. An LTE abundance analysis basedon MARCS models is applied to derive precise differential abundanceratios of Na, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, and Ni with respect to Fe. Results: The halo stars fall into two populations, clearly separated in[?/Fe], where ? refers to the average abundance of Mg, Si,Ca, and Ti. Differences in [Na/Fe] and [Ni/Fe] are also present with aremarkably clear correlation between these two abundance ratios. Conclusions: The “high-?” stars may be ancient disk orbulge stars “heated” to halo kinematics by merging satellitegalaxies or they could have formed as the first stars during thecollapse of a proto-Galactic gas cloud. The kinematics of the“low-?” stars suggest that they have been accretedfrom dwarf galaxies, and that some of them may originate from the? Cen progenitor galaxy.Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope on LaPalma, and on data from the European Southern Observatory ESO/ST-ECFScience Archive Facility.Tables 3 and 4 are also available in electronicform at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5)or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/511/L10Figures5-8 and Tables 1-4 are only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
| A Keck HIRES Doppler Search for Planets Orbiting Metal-Poor Dwarfs. II. On the Frequency of Giant Planets in the Metal-Poor Regime
We present an analysis of three years of precision radial velocity (RV)measurements of 160 metal-poor stars observed with HIRES on the Keck 1telescope. We report on variability and long-term velocity trends foreach star in our sample. We identify several long-term, low-amplitude RVvariables worthy of followup with direct imaging techniques. We placelower limits on the detectable companion mass as a function of orbitalperiod. Our survey would have detected, with a 99.5% confidence level,over 95% of all companions on low-eccentricity orbits with velocitysemiamplitude K gsim 100 m s–1, orMp sin i gsim 3.0 M J(P/yr)(1/3), fororbital periods P lsim 3 yr. None of the stars in our sampleexhibits RV variations compatible with the presence of Jovian planetswith periods shorter than the survey duration. The resulting averagefrequency of gas giants orbiting metal-poor dwarfs with–2.0lsim[Fe/H]lsim–0.6 is fp < 0.67% (at the1σ confidence level). We examine the implications of this nullresult in the context of the observed correlation between the rate ofoccurrence of giant planets and the metallicity of their main-sequencesolar-type stellar hosts. By combining our data set with the Fischer& Valenti (2005) uniform sample, we confirm that the likelihood of astar to harbor a planet more massive than Jupiter within 2 AU is asteeply rising function of the host's metallicity. However, the data forstars with –1.0lsim[Fe/H]lsim0.0 are compatible, in a statisticalsense, with a constant occurrence rate fp sime 1%. Ourresults can usefully inform theoretical studies of the process ofgiant-planet formation across two orders of magnitude in metallicity.
| Beryllium abundances and star formation in the halo and in the thick disk
Context: Beryllium is a pure product of cosmic ray spallation. Thisimplies a relatively simple evolution in time of the beryllium abundanceand suggests its use as a time-like observable. Aims: Our goal is toderive abundances of Be in a sample of 90 stars, the largest sample ofhalo and thick disk stars analyzed to date. We study the evolution of Bein the early Galaxy and its dependence on kinematic and orbitalparameters, and investigate its use as a cosmochronometer. Abundances ofBe, Fe, and α-elements of 73 stars are employed to study theformation of the halo and the thick disk of the Galaxy. Methods:Beryllium abundances are determined from high-resolution, highsignal-to-noise UVES spectra with spectrum synthesis. Atmosphericparameters and abundances of α-elements are adopted from theliterature. Lithium abundances are used to eliminate mixed stars fromthe sample. The properties of halo and thick disk stars are investigatedin diagrams of log(Be/H) vs. [ α/H] , log(Be/H) vs. [Fe/H], and [α/Fe] vs. log(Be/H) and with orbital and kinematic parameters. Results: We present our observational results in various diagrams. (i)In a log(Be/H) vs. [Fe/H] diagram we find a marginal statisticaldetection of a real scatter, above what is expected from measurementerrors, with a larger scatter among halo stars. The detection of thescatter is further supported by the existence of pairs of stars withidentical atmospheric parameters and different Be abundances; (ii) in alog(Be/H) vs. [ α/Fe] diagram, the halo stars separate into twocomponents; one is consistent with predictions of evolutionary models,while the other has too high α and Be abundances and is chemicallyindistinguishable from thick disk stars. This suggests that the halo isnot a single uniform population where a clear age-metallicity relationcan be defined; (iii) In diagrams of R_min vs. [ α/Fe] andlog(Be/H), the thick disk stars show a possible decrease in [α/Fe] with R_min, whereas no dependence of Be with R_min is seen.This anticorrelation suggests that the star formation rate was lower inthe outer regions of the thick disk, pointing towards an inside-outformation. The lack of correlation for Be indicates that it isinsensitive to the local conditions of star formation.Based on observations made with ESO VLT, at Paranal Observatory, underprograms 076.B-0133 and 077.B-0507, and on data obtained from theESO/ST-ECF Science Archive Facility and the UVES Paranal ObservatoryProject 266.D-5655.Tables 1-3, 6 and Appendices A-C are only available in electronic format http://www.aanda.org
| Kinematics and metallicity analysis for nearby F, G and K stars
A sample containing 1 026 stars of spectral types F, G, and K, mainlydwarfs, from the solar neighbourhood with available space velocities andmetallicities is treated. The treatment comprises a statistical analysisof the metallicity and velocity data and calculation of galactocentricorbits. Sample stars identified as members of the galactic halo aredetached from the rest of the sample based on the values of theirmetallicities, velocity components and galactocentric orbits. Inidentifying halo stars a new, kinematical, criterion is proposed. Exceptone, these halo stars are the metal-poorest ones in the sample. Besides,they have very high velocities with respect to LSR. On the other hand,the separation between the thin disc and thick one is done statisticallybased on LSR space velocities, membership probability (Schwarzschilddistribution with assumed parameters) and galactocentric orbits. In themetallicity these two groups are not much different. For each of thethree subsamples the mean motion and velocity ellipsoid are calculated.The elements of the velocity ellipsoids agree well with the values foundin the literature, especially for the thin disc. The fractions of thesubsystems found for the present sample are: thin disc 93%, thick disc6%, halo 1%. The sample stars established to be members of the thin discare examined for existence of star streams. Traces of both, known andunknown, star streams are not found.
| Chemical Inhomogeneities in the Milky Way Stellar Halo
We have compiled a sample of 699 stars from the recent literature withdetailed chemical abundance information (spanning –4.2lsim [Fe/H]lsim+0.3), and we compute their space velocities and Galactic orbitalparameters. We identify members of the inner and outer stellar halopopulations in our sample based only on their kinematic properties andthen compare the abundance ratios of these populations as a function of[Fe/H]. In the metallicity range where the two populations overlap(–2.5lsim [Fe/H] lsim–1.5), the mean [Mg/Fe] of the outerhalo is lower than the inner halo by –0.1 dex. For [Ni/Fe] and[Ba/Fe], the star-to-star abundance scatter of the inner halo isconsistently smaller than in the outer halo. The [Na/Fe], [Y/Fe],[Ca/Fe], and [Ti/Fe] ratios of both populations show similar means andlevels of scatter. Our inner halo population is chemically homogeneous,suggesting that a significant fraction of the Milky Way stellar halooriginated from a well-mixed interstellar medium. In contrast, our outerhalo population is chemically diverse, suggesting that anothersignificant fraction of the Milky Way stellar halo formed in remoteregions where chemical enrichment was dominated by local supernovaevents. We find no abundance trends with maximum radial distance fromthe Galactic center or maximum vertical distance from the Galactic disk.We also find no common kinematic signature for groups of metal-poorstars with peculiar abundance patters, such as the α-poor stars orstars showing unique neutron-capture enrichment patterns. Several starsand dwarf spheroidal systems with unique abundance patterns spend themajority of their time in the distant regions of the Milky Way stellarhalo, suggesting that the true outer halo of the Galaxy may have littleresemblance to the local stellar halo.
| Searching for the metal-weak thick disc in the solar neighbourhood
An abundance analysis is presented of 60 metal-poor stars drawn fromcatalogues of nearby stars provided by Arifyanto et al. and Schuster etal. In an attempt to isolate a sample of metal-weak thick disc stars, weapplied the kinematic criteria Vrot >=100kms-1,|ULSR| <= 140kms-1 (LSR -local standard of rest) and |WLSR| <= 100kms-1.14 stars satisfying these criteria and having [Fe/H] <= -1.0 areincluded in the sample of 60 stars. Eight of the 14 have [Fe/H] >=-1.3 and may be simply thick disc stars of slightly lower than average[Fe/H]. The other six have [Fe/H] from -1.3 to -2.3 and are eithermetal-weak thick disc stars or halo stars with kinematics mimickingthose of the thick disc. The sample of 60 stars is completed by eightthick disc stars, 20 stars of a hybrid nature (halo or thick disc stars)and 18 stars with kinematics distinctive of the halo.
| Speckle interferometry of metal-poor stars in the solar neighborhood. II
The results of speckle interferometric observations of 115 metal-poorstars ([m/H] < ‑1) within 250 pc from the Sun and with propermotions µ ≳ 0.2″/yr, made with the 6-m telescope of theSpecial Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences,are reported. Close companions with separations ranging from0.034″ to 1″ were observed for 12 objects—G76-21,G59-1, G63-46, G135-16, G168-42, G141-47, G142-44, G190-10, G28-43,G217-8, G130-7, and G89-14—eight of them are astrometricallyresolved for the first time. The newly resolved systems include onetriple star—G190-10. If combined with spectroscopic and visualdata, our results imply a single:binary:triple:quadruple star ratio of147:64:9:1 for a sample of 221 primary components of halo and thick-diskstars.
| An extremely wide and very low-mass pair with common proper motion. Is it representative of a nearby halo stream?
Aims. We describe the discovery of an extremely wide pair of low-massstars with a common large proper motion and discuss their possiblemembership in a Galactic halo stream crossing the Solar neighbourhood. Methods: In a high proper motion survey of the southern sky we usedmulti-epoch positions and photometry from the SuperCOSMOS Sky Surveys.New nearby ultracool dwarf and subdwarf candidates were selected amongthe faint and red high proper motion objects, and subsequently confirmedby low-resolution classification spectroscopy. The resultingspectroscopic distance estimates, approximate radial velocitymeasurements and improved proper motions involving additional epochsfrom the Two Micron All Sky Survey and from the DEep Near-InfraredSurvey were used to compute Galactic space velocities. Results: Thelate-type (M 7) dwarf SSSPM J2003-4433 and the ultracool subdwarf SSSPMJ1930-4311 (sdM 7) sharing the same very large proper motion of about860 mas/yr were found in the same sky region with an angular separationof about 6°. From the comparison with other high proper motioncatalogues we have estimated the probability of a chance alignment ofthe two new large proper motions to be less than 0.3%. From theindividually estimated spectroscopic distances of about38+10-7 pc and 72+21-16 pc,respectively for the M 7 dwarf and the sdM 7 subdwarf, and in view ofthe accurate agreement in their large proper motions we assume a commondistance of about 50 pc and a projected physical separation of about 5pc. The mean heliocentric space velocity of the pair (U,V,W)=(-232,-170, +74) km s-1, based on the correctness of thepreliminary radial velocity measurement for only one of the componentsand on the assumption of a common distance and velocity vector, istypical of the Galactic halo population. Conclusions: The largeseparation and the different metallicities of dwarfs and subdwarfs makea common formation scenario as a wide binary (later disrupted)improbable, although there remains some uncertainty in the spectroscopicclassification scheme of ultracool dwarfs/subdwarfs so that a dissolvedbinary origin cannot be fully ruled out yet. It seems more likely thatthis wide pair is part of an old halo stream. Higher-resolutionspectroscopic observations are needed to measure accurate radialvelocities of both components. Further, we suggest to check the M 7dwarf for an unresolved binary status, which would explain its shorterspectroscopic distance estimate, and to place both objects on atrigonometric parallax program.Based onobservations with the ESO 3.6 m/EFOSC2 at the European SouthernObservatory, La Silla (ESO program 70.C-0568).
| Mapping the Local Galactic Halo. I. Optical Photometry of Cool Subdwarf Candidates
Optical (BVRI) photometric measurements of a sample of 564 candidatecool subdwarfs in the nearby halo are presented. The stars generallyspan the color range 0.4<(B-V)<1.8 hence, the sample is composedof early F- through early M-type stars on the subdwarf sequence. Thesample is selected from the revised NLTT catalog of Gould and Salim andSalim and Gould via a reduced proper motion diagram. The photometry isprecise and accurate; in particular, for stars with 9
| Oxygen abundances in nearby stars. Clues to the formation and evolution of the Galactic disk
The abundances of iron and oxygen are homogeneously determined in asample of 523 nearby (d<150 pc) FGK disk and halo stars withmetallicities in the range -1.5<[Fe/H]<0.5. Iron abundances wereobtained from an LTE analysis of a large set of Fe I and Fe II lineswith reliable atomic data. Oxygen abundances were inferred from arestricted non-LTE analysis of the 777 nm O I triplet. We adopted theinfrared flux method temperature scale and surface gravities based onHipparcos trigonometric parallaxes. Within this framework, theionization balance of iron lines is not satisfied: the mean abundancesfrom the Fe I lines are systematically lower by 0.06 dex than those fromthe Fe II lines for dwarf stars of Teff>5500 K and[Fe/H]<0.0, and giant stars of all temperatures and metallicitiescovered by our sample. The discrepancy worsens for cooler and metal-richmain-sequence stars. We use the stellar kinematics to compute theprobabilities of our sample stars to be members of the thin disk, thickdisk, or halo of the Galaxy. We find that the majority of thekinematically-selected thick-disk stars show larger [O/Fe] ratioscompared to thin-disk stars while the rest show thin-disk abundances,which suggests that the latter are thin-disk members with unusual(hotter) kinematics. A close examination of this pattern for disk starswith ambiguous probabilities shows that an intermediate population withproperties between those of the thin and thick disks does not exist, atleast in the solar neighborhood. Excluding the stars with unusualkinematics, we find that thick-disk stars show slowly decreasing [O/Fe]ratios from about 0.5 to 0.4 in the -0.8<[Fe/H]<-0.3 range. Usinga simple model for the chemical evolution of the thick disk we show thatthis trend results directly from the metallicity dependence of the TypeII supernova yields. At [Fe/H]>-0.3, we find no obvious indication ofa sudden decrease (i.e., a "knee") in the [O/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] pattern ofthick-disk stars that would connect the thick and thin disk trends at ahigh metallicity. We conclude that Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) did notcontribute significantly to the chemical enrichment of the thick disk.In the -0.8<[Fe/H]<+0.3 range, thin-disk stars show decreasing[O/Fe] ratios from about 0.4 to 0.0 that require a SN Ia contribution.The implications of these results for studies of the formation andevolution of the Galactic disk are discussed.Tables 4-6 are only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/465/271 Partially based onobservations obtained with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which is a jointproject of the University of Texas at Austin, the Pennsylvania StateUniversity, Stanford University, Ludwig-Maximilians-UniversitätMünchen, and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; and datafrom the UVES Paranal Observatory Project (ESO DDT Program ID266.D-5655).
| Medium-resolution Isaac Newton Telescope library of empirical spectra - II. The stellar atmospheric parameters
We present a homogeneous set of stellar atmospheric parameters(Teff, logg, [Fe/H]) for MILES, a new spectral stellarlibrary covering the range λλ 3525-7500Å at2.3Å (FWHM) spectral resolution. The library consists of 985 starsspanning a large range in atmospheric parameters, from super-metal-rich,cool stars to hot, metal-poor stars. The spectral resolution, spectraltype coverage and number of stars represent a substantial improvementover previous libraries used in population synthesis models. Theatmospheric parameters that we present here are the result of aprevious, extensive compilation from the literature. In order toconstruct a homogeneous data set of atmospheric parameters we have takenthe sample of stars of Soubiran, Katz & Cayrel, which has very welldetermined fundamental parameters, as the standard reference system forour field stars, and have calibrated and bootstrapped the data fromother papers against it. The atmospheric parameters for our clusterstars have also been revised and updated according to recent metallicityscales, colour-temperature relations and improved set of isochrones.
| Accurate fundamental parameters for lower main-sequence stars
We derive an empirical effective temperature and bolometric luminositycalibration for G and K dwarfs, by applying our own implementation ofthe Infrared Flux Method to multiband photometry. Our study is based on104 stars for which we have excellent BV(RI)C JHKSphotometry, excellent parallaxes and good metallicities.Colours computed from the most recent synthetic libraries (ATLAS9 andMARCS) are found to be in good agreement with the empirical colours inthe optical bands, but some discrepancies still remain in the infrared.Synthetic and empirical bolometric corrections also show fair agreement.A careful comparison to temperatures, luminosities and angular diametersobtained with other methods in the literature shows that systematiceffects still exist in the calibrations at the level of a few per cent.Our Infrared Flux Method temperature scale is 100-K hotter than recentanalogous determinations in the literature, but is in agreement withspectroscopically calibrated temperature scales and fits well thecolours of the Sun. Our angular diameters are typically 3 per centsmaller when compared to other (indirect) determinations of angulardiameter for such stars, but are consistent with the limb-darkeningcorrected predictions of the latest 3D model atmospheres and also withthe results of asteroseismology.Very tight empirical relations are derived for bolometric luminosity,effective temperature and angular diameter from photometric indices.We find that much of the discrepancy with other temperature scales andthe uncertainties in the infrared synthetic colours arise from theuncertainties in the use of Vega as the flux calibrator. Angulardiameter measurements for a well-chosen set of G and K dwarfs would go along way to addressing this problem.
| Pulkovo compilation of radial velocities for 35495 stars in a common system.
Not Available
| S0 galaxies in Fornax: data and kinematics
We have obtained long-slit spectroscopy for a sample of nine S0 galaxiesin the Fornax Cluster using the FORS2 spectrograph at the 8.2-m EuropeanSouthern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT). From these data,we have extracted the kinematic parameters, comprising the meanvelocity, velocity dispersion and higher moment h3 andh4 coefficients, as a function of position along the majoraxes of these galaxies. Comparison with published kinematics indicatesthat earlier data are often limited by their lower signal-to-noise ratioand relatively poor spectral resolution. The greater depth and higherdispersion of the new data mean that we reach well beyond the bulges ofthese systems, probing their disc kinematics in some detail for thefirst time. Qualitative inspection of the results for individualgalaxies shows that they are not entirely simple systems, perhapsindicating a turbulent past. None the less, we are able to derivereliable circular velocities for most of these systems, which points theway towards a study of their Tully-Fisher relation. This study, alongwith an analysis of the stellar populations of these systems out tolarge galactocentric distances, will form the bases of future papersexploiting these new high-quality data, hopefully shedding new light onthe evolutionary history of these systems.
| Metallicity and absolute magnitude calibrations for UBV photometry
Calibrations are presented here for metallicity ([Fe/H]) in terms of theultraviolet excess, [δ(U - B) at B - V = 0.6, hereafterδ0.6], and also for the absolute visual magnitude(MV) and its difference with respect to the Hyades(ΔMHV) in terms of δ0.6 and(B - V), making use of high-resolution spectroscopic abundances from theliterature and Hipparcos parallaxes. The relation[Fe/H]-δ0.6 has been derived for dwarf plus turn-offstars, and also for dwarf, turn-off, plus subgiant stars classifiedusing the MV-(B - V)0 plane of Fig. 11, which iscalibrated with isochrones from Bergbusch & VandenBerg (and alsoVandenBerg & Clem). The [Fe/H]-δ0.6 relations inour equations (5) and (6) agree well with those of Carney, as can beseen from Fig. 5(a). Within the uncertainties, the zero-points,+0.13(+/-0.05) of equation (5) and +0.13(+/-0.04) of equation (6), arein good agreement with the photometric ones of Cameron and of Carney,and close to the spectroscopic ones of Cayrel et al. and of Boesgaard& Friel for the Hyades open cluster. Good quantitative agreementbetween our estimated [Fe/H] abundances with those from uvby-βphotometry and spectroscopic [Fe/H]spec values demonstratesthat our equation (6) can be used in deriving quality photometric metalabundances for field stars and clusters using UBV data from variousphotometric surveys.For dwarf and turn-off stars, a new hybrid MV calibration ispresented, based on Hipparcos parallaxes withσπ/π <= 0.1 and with a dispersion of +/-0.24in MV. This hybrid MV calibration containsδ0.6 and (B - V) terms, plus higher order cross-termsof these, and is valid for the ranges of +0.37 <= (B - V)0<= +0.88,- 0.10 <= δ0.6 <= +0.29 and 3.44<= MV <= 7.23. For dwarf and turn-off stars, therelation for ΔMHV is revised and updated interms of (B - V) and δ0.6, for the ranges of -0.10<= δ0.6 <= +0.29, and +0.49 <= (B -V)0 <= +0.89, again making use of Hipparcos parallaxeswith σπ/π <= 0.1. These parallaxes formetal-poor dwarf and turn-off stars in our sample reveal that thedifference of ΔMHV(B - V) relative to Hyadesat (B - V) = +0.70 should be 1.37mag, instead of the 1.58mag given byLaird et al. In general, Hipparcos parallaxes are larger thanground-based ones, causing a divergence of ourΔMHV(B - V,δ0.6) relation(the solid line in Fig. 15b), from the one of Laird et al. (the dashedline) for the range +0.10 <= δ0.6 <= +0.29 ourabsolute magnitudes are fainter, as has been confirmed for localsubdwarfs by Reid. Our final calibrations forΔMHV(B - V, δ0.6),equations (16) and (17), are third-order polynomials inδ0.6, pass through the origin, and provide photometricdistances in reasonable agreement with those obtained directly fromHipparcos parallaxes (Fig. 18).
| Medium-resolution Isaac Newton Telescope library of empirical spectra
A new stellar library developed for stellar population synthesismodelling is presented. The library consists of 985 stars spanning alarge range in atmospheric parameters. The spectra were obtained at the2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope and cover the range λλ3525-7500 Å at 2.3 Å (full width at half-maximum) spectralresolution. The spectral resolution, spectral-type coverage,flux-calibration accuracy and number of stars represent a substantialimprovement over previous libraries used in population-synthesis models.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Baleine |
| Right ascension: | 02h14m40.30s |
| Declination: | -01°12'05.1" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 9.088 |
| Proper motion RA: | 994.6 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -80.6 |
| B-T magnitude: | 9.735 |
| V-T magnitude: | 9.142 |
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