On ancient solar-type stars – II

Author(s):  
Klaus Fuhrmann ◽  
Rolf Chini

Abstract We report on the progress of our survey on ancient solar-type stars down to main-sequence effective temperatures Teff ≥ 5300 K and within 42 pc of the Sun. High signal-to-noise, high-resolution spectroscopy is presented for a second major subset of the Population II (τ ≥ 12 Gyr) and the intermediate-disc stars (τ ≃ 10 Gyr) within that volume. In conjunction with updates and the analyses of the single and composite sample spectra, we discuss evidence for new companions or candidates from their radial velocities, chromospheric activities, lithium and barium enrichments, and we also draw attention to related sources in the Gaia DR2 data. Among the Population II stars we note a substantial fraction of degenerates, mass transfer, and merger systems that possibly amount to about 20 per cent of that population, with inherently important consequences on the involved stellar ages and the baryonic mass budget. At the present stage, the survey has reached a two-thirds level of local volume-completeness. Key to that objective will be the forthcoming Gaia data, in terms of new companions, companion masses, and precision parallaxes from orbital solutions, in particular at the sample periphery, where many of the sources inevitably reside. In an appendix we describe a subset of about fifty a priori survey candidates, whose analyses discard them as Population I stars.

1988 ◽  
Vol 132 ◽  
pp. 381-386
Author(s):  
David R. Soderblom

The study of lithium depletion in solar-type stars should help elucidate essential properties of convection in those objects. Recent high-quality observations have revealed extensive flaws in our understanding of this phenomenon. The state of our knowledge of Li depletion is reviewed, with a brief possible explanation of it all.


1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 267-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Montmerle

AbstractFor life to develop, planets are a necessary condition. Likewise, for planets to form, stars must be surrounded by circumstellar disks, at least some time during their pre-main sequence evolution. Much progress has been made recently in the study of young solar-like stars. In the optical domain, these stars are known as «T Tauri stars». A significant number show IR excess, and other phenomena indirectly suggesting the presence of circumstellar disks. The current wisdom is that there is an evolutionary sequence from protostars to T Tauri stars. This sequence is characterized by the initial presence of disks, with lifetimes ~ 1-10 Myr after the intial collapse of a dense envelope having given birth to a star. While they are present, about 30% of the disks have masses larger than the minimum solar nebula. Their disappearance may correspond to the growth of dust grains, followed by planetesimal and planet formation, but this is not yet demonstrated.


Author(s):  
Maoxu Qian ◽  
Mehmet Sarikaya ◽  
Edward A. Stern

It is difficult, in general, to perform quantitative EELS to determine, for example, relative or absolute compositions of elements with relatively high atomic numbers (using, e.g., K edge energies from 500 eV to 2000 eV), to study ELNES (energy loss near edge structure) signal using the white lines to determine oxidation states, and to analyze EXELFS (extended energy loss fine structure) to study short range ordering. In all these cases, it is essential to have high signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio (low systematical error) with high overall counts, and sufficient energy resolution (∽ 1 eV), requirements which are, in general, difficult to attain. The reason is mainly due to three important inherent limitations in spectrum acquisition with EELS in the TEM. These are (i) large intrinsic background in EELS spectra, (ii) channel-to-channel gain variation (CCGV) in the parallel detection system, and (iii) difficulties in obtaining statistically high total counts (∽106) per channel (CH). Except the high background in the EELS spectrum, the last two limitations may be circumvented, and the S/N ratio may be attained by the improvement in the on-line acquisition procedures. This short report addresses such procedures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 168781402098732
Author(s):  
Ayisha Nayyar ◽  
Ummul Baneen ◽  
Syed Abbas Zilqurnain Naqvi ◽  
Muhammad Ahsan

Localizing small damages often requires sensors be mounted in the proximity of damage to obtain high Signal-to-Noise Ratio in system frequency response to input excitation. The proximity requirement limits the applicability of existing schemes for low-severity damage detection as an estimate of damage location may not be known  a priori. In this work it is shown that spatial locality is not a fundamental impediment; multiple small damages can still be detected with high accuracy provided that the frequency range beyond the first five natural frequencies is utilized in the Frequency response functions (FRF) curvature method. The proposed method presented in this paper applies sensitivity analysis to systematically unearth frequency ranges capable of elevating damage index peak at correct damage locations. It is a baseline-free method that employs a smoothing polynomial to emulate reference curvatures for the undamaged structure. Numerical simulation of steel-beam shows that small multiple damages of severity as low as 5% can be reliably detected by including frequency range covering 5–10th natural frequencies. The efficacy of the scheme is also experimentally validated for the same beam. It is also found that a simple noise filtration scheme such as a Gaussian moving average filter can adequately remove false peaks from the damage index profile.


2018 ◽  
Vol 615 ◽  
pp. L5 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Irrgang ◽  
S. Kreuzer ◽  
U. Heber ◽  
W. Brown

Context. Hypervelocity stars (HVSs) travel so fast that they may leave the Galaxy. The tidal disruption of a binary system by the supermassive black hole in the Galactic center is widely assumed to be their ejection mechanism. Aims. To test the hypothesis of an origin in the Galactic center using kinematic investigations, the current space velocities of the HVSs need to be determined. With the advent of Gaia’s second data release, accurate radial velocities from spectroscopy are complemented by proper motion measurements of unprecedented quality. Based on a new spectroscopic analysis method, we provide revised distances and stellar ages, both of which are crucial to unravel the nature of the HVSs. Methods. We reanalyzed low-resolution optical spectra of 14 HVSs from the MMT HVS survey using a new grid of synthetic spectra, which account for deviations from local thermodynamic equilibrium, to derive effective temperatures, surface gravities, radial velocities, and projected rotational velocities. Stellar masses, radii, and ages were then determined by comparison with stellar evolutionary models that account for rotation. Finally, these results were combined with photometric measurements to obtain spectroscopic distances. Results. The resulting atmospheric parameters are consistent with those of main sequence stars with masses in the range 2.5–5.0 M⊙. The majority of the stars rotate at fast speeds, providing further evidence for their main sequence nature. Stellar ages range from 90 to 400 Myr and distances (with typical 1σ-uncertainties of about 10–15%) from 30 to 100 kpc. Except for one object (B 711), which we reclassify as A-type star, all stars are of spectral type B. Conclusions. The spectroscopic distances and stellar ages derived here are key ingredients for upcoming kinematic studies of HVSs based on Gaia proper motions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 627 ◽  
pp. A173 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Valentini ◽  
C. Chiappini ◽  
D. Bossini ◽  
A. Miglio ◽  
G. R. Davies ◽  
...  

Context. Very metal-poor halo stars are the best candidates for being among the oldest objects in our Galaxy. Samples of halo stars with age determination and detailed chemical composition measurements provide key information for constraining the nature of the first stellar generations and the nucleosynthesis in the metal-poor regime. Aims. Age estimates are very uncertain and are available for only a small number of metal-poor stars. We present the first results of a pilot programme aimed at deriving precise masses, ages, and chemical abundances for metal-poor halo giants using asteroseismology and high-resolution spectroscopy. Methods. We obtained high-resolution UVES spectra for four metal-poor RAVE stars observed by the K2 satellite. Seismic data obtained from K2 light curves helped improve spectroscopic temperatures, metallicities, and individual chemical abundances. Mass and ages were derived using the code PARAM, investigating the effects of different assumptions (e.g. mass loss and [α/Fe]-enhancement). Orbits were computed using Gaia DR2 data. Results. The stars are found to be normal metal-poor halo stars (i.e. non C-enhanced), and an abundance pattern typical of old stars (i.e. α and Eu-enhanced), and have masses in the 0.80−1.0 M⊙ range. The inferred model-dependent stellar ages are found to range from 7.4 Gyr to 13.0 Gyr with uncertainties of ∼30%−35%. We also provide revised masses and ages for metal-poor stars with Kepler seismic data from the APOGEE survey and a set of M4 stars. Conclusions. The present work shows that the combination of asteroseismology and high-resolution spectroscopy provides precise ages in the metal-poor regime. Most of the stars analysed in the present work (covering the metallicity range of [Fe/H] ∼ −0.8 to −2 dex) are very old >9 Gyr (14 out of 19 stars), and all of the stars are older than >5 Gyr (within the 68 percentile confidence level).


2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 831-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Funke ◽  
T. von Clarmann

Abstract. Calculation of mean trace gas contributions from profiles obtained by retrievals of the logarithm of the abundance rather than retrievals of the abundance itself are prone to biases. By means of a system simulator, biases of linear versus logarithmic averaging were evaluated for both maximum likelihood and maximum a priori retrievals, for various signal to noise ratios and atmospheric variabilities. These biases can easily reach ten percent or more. As a rule of thumb we found for maximum likelihood retrievals that linear averaging better represents the true mean value in cases of large local natural variability and high signal to noise ratios, while for small local natural variability logarithmic averaging often is superior. In the case of maximum a posteriori retrievals, the mean is dominated by the a priori information used in the retrievals and the method of averaging is of minor concern. For larger natural variabilities, the appropriateness of the one or the other method of averaging depends on the particular case because the various biasing mechanisms partly compensate in an unpredictable manner. This complication arises mainly because of the fact that in logarithmic retrievals the weight of the prior information depends on abundance of the gas itself. No simple rule was found on which kind of averaging is superior, and instead of suggesting simple recipes we cannot do much more than to create awareness of the traps related with averaging of mixing ratios obtained from logarithmic retrievals.


1974 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 109-111
Author(s):  
A. Maeder

In spite of the rather good agreement between the theory of stellar evolution and the observations, there exist some difficulties when one compares closely the sequences of open star clusters and the theoretical isochrones. Several, if not all, of the old open star clusters seem to be concerned, especially those which are accurately measured, namely Praesepe, NGC 2360, 752, 3680 and M67. The problem concerns the gap occuring in the HR diagram at the end of the phase of hydrogen burning in the core; it corresponds to the phase of hydrogen exhaustion (or of overall contraction). The sequence of M67 has been studied by Racine (1971) and Torres-Peimbert (1971). The well apparent gap is located farther from the zero-age main sequence than indicated by the models and the hook towards a larger Teff predicted during this phase is not observed. Differences in chemical composition may not be held responsible for these anomalies. From Torres-Peimbert's models, it may be assumed that neither solar type, nor super metal rich composition are able to reduce the discrepancies. As a further illustration, let us mention the case of NGC 752. In Table I, the main features related to the gap are examined: the disagreement, like in M67, essentially concern features 1 and 2. The observations are based on a recent study of Grenon and Mermillod (1973) and on Bell's data (1972). Bell has also mentioned the existence of discrepancies. As in M67, the gap is too far from the zero-age main sequence and does not present any sudden turning towards a larger Teff.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 6273-6301
Author(s):  
Edward Malina ◽  
Haili Hu ◽  
Jochen Landgraf ◽  
Ben Veihelmann

Abstract. Retrievals of methane isotopologues have the potential to differentiate between natural and anthropogenic methane sources types, which can provide much needed information about the current global methane budget. We investigate the feasibility of retrieving the second most abundant isotopologue of atmospheric methane (13CH4, roughly 1.1 % of total atmospheric methane) from the shortwave infrared (SWIR) channels of the future Sentinel-5/ultra-violet, visible, near-infrared, shortwave infrared (UVNS) and current Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) instruments. With the intended goal of calculating the δ13C value, we assume that a δ13C uncertainty of better than 1 ‰ is sufficient to differentiate between source types, which corresponds to a 13CH4 uncertainty of <0.02 ppb. Using the well-established information content analysis techniques and assuming clear-sky, non-scattering conditions, we find that the SWIR3 (2305–2385 nm) channel on the TROPOMI instrument can achieve a mean uncertainty of <1 ppb, while the SWIR1 channel (1590–1675 nm) on the Sentinel-5 UVNS instrument can achieve <0.68 ppb or <0.2 ppb in high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) cases. These uncertainties combined with significant spatial and/or temporal averaging techniques can reduce δ13C uncertainty to the target magnitude or better. However, we find that 13CH4 retrievals are highly sensitive to errors in a priori knowledge of temperature and pressure, and accurate knowledge of these profiles is required before 13CH4 retrievals can be performed on TROPOMI and future Sentinel-5/UVNS data. In addition, we assess the assumption that scattering-induced light path errors are cancelled out by comparing the δ13C values calculated for non-scattering and scattering scenarios. We find that there is a minor bias in δ13C values from scattering and non-scattering retrievals, but this is unrelated to scattering-induced errors.


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