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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
| Coudé-feed stellar spectral library - atmospheric parameters
Context. Empirical libraries of stellar spectra play an important rolein different fields. For example, they are used as reference for theautomatic determination of atmospheric parameters, or for buildingsynthetic stellar populations to study galaxies. The CFLIB(Coudé-feed library, Indo-US) database is at present one of themost complete libraries, in terms of its coverage of the atmosphericparameters space (T{eff}, log g and [Fe/H]) and wavelengthcoverage 3460-9464 Å at a resolution of 1 Å FWHM. Althoughthe atmospheric parameters of most of the stars were determined fromdetailed analyses of high-resolution spectra, for nearly 300 of the 1273stars of the library at least one of the three parameters is missing.For the others, the measurements, compiled from the literature, areinhomogeneous. Aims: In this paper, we re-determine theatmospheric parameters, directly using the CFLIB spectra, and comparethem to the previous studies. Methods: We use the ULySS programto derive the atmospheric parameters, using the ELODIE library as areference. Results: Based on comparisons with several previousstudies we conclude that our determinations are unbiased. For the 958 F,G, and K type stars the precision on T{eff}, log g, and[Fe/H] is respectively 43 K, 0.13 dex and 0.05 dex. For the 53 M starsthey are 82 K, 0.22 dex and 0.28 dex. And for the 260 OBA type stars therelative precision on T{eff} is 5.1%, and on log g, and[Fe/H] the precision is respectively 0.19 dex and 0.16 dex. Theseparameters will be used to re-calibrate the CFLIB fluxes and to producesynthetic spectra of stellar populations.Tables 2 and 3 are only available in electronic form 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/525/A71
| The Lick/SDSS Library. I. Synthetic Index Definition and Calibration
A new synthetic library of spectral feature indices, Lick/Sloan DigitalSky Survey (SDSS), for stellar population studies is presented.Lick/SDSS is computed from synthetic spectra with resolving power R =1800 to fully exploit the content of the spectroscopic SDSS-DR7 stellardatabase. The Lick/SDSS system is based on the Lick/IDS one complementedwith a UV index in the wavelength region of Ca II H and K lines. Thesystem is well suited to study ?-element abundances in F, G, and Kstars. The reliability of synthetic indices in reproducing the behaviorsof observational ones with effective temperature, surface gravity,overall metallicity, and ?-element abundances is tested by usingempirical stellar libraries (ELODIE, INDO-U.S., and MILES) and theSDSS-DR7 spectroscopic database. The importance of using the sametemperature scale in comparing theoretical and observational indices isdiscussed. The full consistency between Lick/SDSS and observationalindices derived from the above mentioned stellar libraries is assessed.The comparison with indices computed from SDSS-DR7 spectra evidencesgood consistency for "dwarf" stars and significant disagreement for"giant" stars due to systematic overestimation of the stellar Teff by the SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline.
| Observational evidence for a broken Li Spite plateau and mass-dependent Li depletion
We present NLTE Li abundances for 88 stars in the metallicity range -3.5< [Fe/H] < -1.0. The effective temperatures are based on theinfrared flux method with improved E(B-V) values obtained mostly frominterstellar Na I D lines. The Li abundances were derived through MARCSmodels and high-quality UVES+VLT, HIRES+Keck and FIES+NOT spectra, andcomplemented with reliable equivalent widths from the literature. Theless-depleted stars with [Fe/H] < -2.5 and [Fe/H] > -2.5 fall intotwo well-defined plateaus of ALi = 2.18 (? = 0.04) andALi = 2.27 (? = 0.05), respectively. We show that thetwo plateaus are flat, unlike previous claims for a steep monotonicdecrease in Li abundances with decreasing metallicities. At allmetallicities we uncover a fine-structure in the Li abundances of Spiteplateau stars, which we trace to Li depletion that depends on bothmetallicity and mass. Models including atomic diffusion and turbulentmixing seem to reproduce the observed Li depletion assuming a primordialLi abundance ALi = 2.64, which agrees well with currentpredictions (ALi = 2.72) from standard Big Bangnucleosynthesis. Adopting the Kurucz overshooting model atmospheresincreases the Li abundance by +0.08 dex to ALi = 2.72, whichperfectly agrees with BBN+WMAP.Based in part on observations obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory,the Nordic Optical Telescope on La Palma, and on data from theHIRES/Keck archive and the European Southern Observatory ESO/ST-ECFScience Archive Facility.Table 1 is only available in electronic form athttp://www.aanda.org
| 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
| The Geneva-Copenhagen survey of the solar neighbourhood. III. Improved distances, ages, and kinematics
Context: Ages, chemical compositions, velocity vectors, and Galacticorbits for stars in the solar neighbourhood are fundamental test datafor models of Galactic evolution. The Geneva-Copenhagen Survey of theSolar Neighbourhood (Nordström et al. 2004; GCS), amagnitude-complete, kinematically unbiased sample of 16 682 nearby F andG dwarfs, is the largest available sample with complete data for starswith ages spanning that of the disk. Aims: We aim to improve theaccuracy of the GCS data by implementing the recent revision of theHipparcos parallaxes. Methods: The new parallaxes yield improvedastrometric distances for 12 506 stars in the GCS. We also use theparallaxes to verify the distance calibration for uvby? photometryby Holmberg et al. (2007, A&A, 475, 519; GCS II). We add newselection criteria to exclude evolved cool stars giving unreliableresults and derive distances for 3580 stars with large parallax errorsor not observed by Hipparcos. We also check the GCS II scales of T_effand [Fe/H] and find no need for change. Results: Introducing thenew distances, we recompute MV for 16 086 stars, and U, V, W,and Galactic orbital parameters for the 13 520 stars that also haveradial-velocity measurements. We also recompute stellar ages from thePadova stellar evolution models used in GCS I-II, using the new valuesof M_V, and compare them with ages from the Yale-Yonsei andVictoria-Regina models. Finally, we compare the observed age-velocityrelation in W with three simulated disk heating scenarios to show thepotential of the data. Conclusions: With these revisions, thebasic data for the GCS stars should now be as reliable as is possiblewith existing techniques. Further improvement must await consolidationof the T_eff scale from angular diameters and fluxes, and the Gaiatrigonometric parallaxes. We discuss the conditions for improvingcomputed stellar ages from new input data, and for distinguishingdifferent disk heating scenarios from data sets of the size andprecision of the GCS.Full Table 1 is 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/501/941
| Automated classification of ELODIE stellar spectral library using probabilistic artificial neural networks
A Probabilistic Neural Network model has been used for automatedclassification of ELODIE stellar spectral library consisting of about2000 spectra into 158 known spectro-luminosity classes. The full spectrawith 561 flux bins and a PCA reduced set of 57, 26 and 16 componentshave been used for the training and test sessions. The results show aspectral type classification accuracy of 3.2 sub-spectral type andluminosity class accuracy of 2.7 for the full spectra and an accuracy of3.1 and 2.6 respectively with the PCA set. This technique will be usefulfor future upcoming large databases and their rapid classification.
| Speckle interferometry of metal-poor stars in the solar neighborhood. I
We report the results of speckle-interferometric observations of 109high proper-motion metalpoor stars made with the 6-m telescope of theSpecial Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Weresolve eight objects—G102-20, G191-55, BD+19° 1185A, G89-14,G87-45, G87-47, G111-38, and G114-25—into individual componentsand we are the first to astrometrically resolve seven of these stars.New resolved systems included two triple (G111-38, G87-47) and onequadruple (G89-14) star. The ratio ofsingle-to-binary-to-triple-to-quadruple systems among the stars of oursample is equal to 71:28:6:1.
| 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.
| Pulkovo compilation of radial velocities for 35495 stars in a common system.
Not Available
| 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.
| Effective temperature scale and bolometric corrections from 2MASS photometry
We present a method to determine effective temperatures, angularsemi-diameters and bolometric corrections for population I and II FGKtype stars based on V and 2MASS IR photometry. Accurate calibration isaccomplished by using a sample of solar analogues, whose averagetemperature is assumed to be equal to the solar effective temperature of5777 K. By taking into account all possible sources of error we estimateassociated uncertainties to better than 1% in effective temperature andin the range 1.0-2.5% in angular semi-diameter for unreddened stars.Comparison of our new temperatures with other determinations extractedfrom the literature indicates, in general, remarkably good agreement.These results suggest that the effective temperaure scale of FGK starsis currently established with an accuracy better than 0.5%-1%. Theapplication of the method to a sample of 10 999 dwarfs in the Hipparcoscatalogue allows us to define temperature and bolometric correction (Kband) calibrations as a function of (V-K), [m/H] and log g. Bolometriccorrections in the V and K bands as a function of T_eff, [m/H] and log gare also given. We provide effective temperatures, angularsemi-diameters, radii and bolometric corrections in the V and K bandsfor the 10 999 FGK stars in our sample with the correspondinguncertainties.
| Galactic model parameters for field giants separated from field dwarfs by their 2MASS and V apparent magnitudes
We present a method which separates field dwarfs and field giants bytheir 2MASS and V apparent magnitudes. This method is based onspectroscopically selected standards and is hence reliable. We appliedit to stars in two fields, SA 54 and SA 82, and we estimated a full setof Galactic model parameters for giants including their total localspace density. Our results are in agreement with the ones given in therecent literature.
| Chemical abundances of very metal-poor stars
High-resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio spectra of 32 verymetal-poor stars were obtained with the Coudé echellespectrograph mounted on the 2.16-m telescope at the NationalAstronomical Observatories (Xinglong, China). Equivalent widths of FeI,FeII, OI, NaI, MgI, AlI, SiI, SiII, KI, CaI, ScII, TiI, VI, CrI, MnI,NiI, CuI and BaII lines were measured. Stellar effective temperatureswere determined by colour indices. Stellar surface gravities werecalculated from Hipparcos parallaxes and stellar evolutionary tracks.Photospheric abundances of 16 elements were derived by localthermodynamical equilibrium analysis. Stellar space motions (U, V, W)and Galactic orbital parameters were calculated. Based on kinematics,sample stars were separated into dissipative collapse and accretioncomponents of halo population. The global kinematics of the twocomponents were analysed. Element abundances were discussed as functionsof metallicities. The results of oxygen and α-elements abundanceconfirmed the previous works. The [K/Fe] shows a gradual systematicincrease toward a lower metallicity, such as in the case ofα-elements. The [Ba/Fe] trend suggests that the s-processdominated Ba production at least for the metal-poor stars with[Fe/H]> -2.0.
| Probing the LHS Catalog. II. Faint Proper-Motion Stars
We present low-resolution spectroscopic observations of faintproper-motion stars from the LHS Catalogue, concentrating on stars withmr>16.5 and μ>0.5" yr-1. The presentpaper includes observations and spectral classifications for 294 Mdwarfs, M subdwarfs (sdM), and extreme M subdwarfs (esdM). We alsoidentify white dwarfs among the faintest LHS stars. We havecross-referenced this sample against the Two Micron All Sky Survey(2MASS) sources, and list data for the detected objects. We discussstars of individual interest, as well as the characteristics of theoverall sample. As expected, a significant number of the stars in thisproper-motion-selected sample are halo subdwarfs, including an esdMdwarf, LHS 3481, that is likely to lie within 20 pc of the Sun. None ofthe subdwarfs show Hα emission.
| A Catalog of Northern Stars with Annual Proper Motions Larger than 0.15" (LSPM-NORTH Catalog)
The LSPM catalog is a comprehensive list of 61,977 stars north of theJ2000 celestial equator that have proper motions larger than 0.15"yr-1 (local-background-stars frame). The catalog has beengenerated primarily as a result of our systematic search for high propermotion stars in the Digitized Sky Surveys using our SUPERBLINK software.At brighter magnitudes, the catalog incorporates stars and data from theTycho-2 Catalogue and also, to a lesser extent, from the All-SkyCompiled Catalogue of 2.5 million stars. The LSPM catalog considerablyexpands over the old Luyten (Luyten Half-Second [LHS] and New LuytenTwo-Tenths [NLTT]) catalogs, superseding them for northern declinations.Positions are given with an accuracy of <~100 mas at the 2000.0epoch, and absolute proper motions are given with an accuracy of ~8 masyr-1. Corrections to the local-background-stars propermotions have been calculated, and absolute proper motions in theextragalactic frame are given. Whenever available, we also give opticalBT and VT magnitudes (from Tycho-2, ASCC-2.5),photographic BJ, RF, and IN magnitudes(from USNO-B1 catalog), and infrared J, H, and Ks magnitudes(from 2MASS). We also provide an estimated V magnitude and V-J color fornearly all catalog entries, useful for initial classification of thestars. The catalog is estimated to be over 99% complete at high Galacticlatitudes (|b|>15deg) and over 90% complete at lowGalactic latitudes (|b|>15deg), down to a magnitudeV=19.0, and has a limiting magnitude V=21.0. All the northern starslisted in the LHS and NLTT catalogs have been reidentified, and theirpositions, proper motions, and magnitudes reevaluated. The catalog alsolists a large number of completely new objects, which promise to expandvery significantly the census of red dwarfs, subdwarfs, and white dwarfsin the vicinity of the Sun.Based on data mining of the Digitized Sky Surveys (DSSs), developed andoperated by the Catalogs and Surveys Branch of the Space TelescopeScience Institute (STScI), Baltimore.Developed with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), aspart of the NASA/NSF NStars program.
| A Spectral Atlas of F and G Stars
We present an atlas of a group of bright stars in the range of spectralclasses F--G and luminosity classes I--V. The spectra were obtainedwith spectral resolution R 15,000 within spectral region4500--6620 Å. Typical spectra of stars with different metallicity[Fe/H] are included. We also show the digital version of the spectraldata in FITS format.
| The Indo-US Library of Coudé Feed Stellar Spectra
We have obtained spectra for 1273 stars using the 0.9 m coudéfeed telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. This telescope feedsthe coudé spectrograph of the 2.1 m telescope. The spectra havebeen obtained with the no. 5 camera of the coudé spectrograph anda Loral 3K×1K CCD. Two gratings have been used to provide spectralcoverage from 3460 to 9464 Å, at a resolution of ~1 Å FWHMand at an original dispersion of 0.44 Å pixel-1. For885 stars we have complete spectra over the entire 3460 to 9464 Åwavelength region (neglecting small gaps of less than 50 Å), andpartial spectral coverage for the remaining stars. The 1273 stars havebeen selected to provide broad coverage of the atmospheric parametersTeff, logg, and [Fe/H], as well as spectral type. The goal ofthe project is to provide a comprehensive library of stellar spectra foruse in the automated classification of stellar and galaxy spectra and ingalaxy population synthesis. In this paper we discuss thecharacteristics of the spectral library, viz., details of theobservations, data reduction procedures, and selection of stars. We alsopresent a few illustrations of the quality and information available inthe spectra. The first version of the complete spectral library is nowpublicly available from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory(NOAO) via ftp and http.
| A CCD imaging search for wide metal-poor binaries
We explored the regions within a radius of 25 arcsec around 473 nearby,low-metallicity G- to M-type stars using (VR)I optical filters andsmall-aperture telescopes. About 10% of the sample was searched up toangular separations of 90 arcsec. We applied photometric and astrometrictechniques to detect true physical companions to the targets. The greatmajority of the sample stars was drawn from the Carney-Latham surveys;their metallicities range from roughly solar to [Fe/H] = -3.5 dex. OurI-band photometric survey detected objects that are between 0 and 5 magfainter (completeness) than the target stars; the maximum dynamicalrange of our exploration is 9 mag. We also investigated the literature,and inspected images from the Digitized Sky Surveys to complete oursearch. By combining photometric and proper motion measurements, weretrieved 29 previously known companions, and identified 13 new propermotion companions. Near-infrared 2MASS photometry is provided for thegreat majority of them. Low-resolution optical spectroscopy (386-1000nm) was obtained for eight of the new companion stars. Thesespectroscopic data confirm them as cool, late-type, metal-depleteddwarfs, with spectral classes from esdK7 to sdM3. After comparison withlow-metallicity evolutionary models, we estimate the masses of theproper motion companion stars to be in the range 0.5-0.1Mȯ. They are moving around their primary stars atprojected separations between 32 and 57 000 AU. These orbitalsizes are very similar to those of solar-metallicity stars of the samespectral types. Our results indicate that about 15% of the metal-poorstars have stellar companions in wide orbits, which is in agreement withthe binary fraction observed among main sequence G- to M-type stars andT Tauri stars.Based on observations made with the IAC80 telescope operated on theisland of Tenerife by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias inthe Spanish Observatorio del Teide; also based on observations made withthe 2.2 m telescope of the German-Spanish Calar Alto Observatory(Almería, Spain), the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) operatedon the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the SpanishObservatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) of the Instituto deAstrofísica de Canarias; and the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo(TNG) at the ORM.The complete Table 1 is 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/419/167
| The Geneva-Copenhagen survey of the Solar neighbourhood. Ages, metallicities, and kinematic properties of 14 000 F and G dwarfs
We present and discuss new determinations of metallicity, rotation, age,kinematics, and Galactic orbits for a complete, magnitude-limited, andkinematically unbiased sample of 16 682 nearby F and G dwarf stars. Our63 000 new, accurate radial-velocity observations for nearly 13 500stars allow identification of most of the binary stars in the sampleand, together with published uvbyβ photometry, Hipparcosparallaxes, Tycho-2 proper motions, and a few earlier radial velocities,complete the kinematic information for 14 139 stars. These high-qualityvelocity data are supplemented by effective temperatures andmetallicities newly derived from recent and/or revised calibrations. Theremaining stars either lack Hipparcos data or have fast rotation. Amajor effort has been devoted to the determination of new isochrone agesfor all stars for which this is possible. Particular attention has beengiven to a realistic treatment of statistical biases and errorestimates, as standard techniques tend to underestimate these effectsand introduce spurious features in the age distributions. Our ages agreewell with those by Edvardsson et al. (\cite{edv93}), despite severalastrophysical and computational improvements since then. We demonstrate,however, how strong observational and theoretical biases cause thedistribution of the observed ages to be very different from that of thetrue age distribution of the sample. Among the many basic relations ofthe Galactic disk that can be reinvestigated from the data presentedhere, we revisit the metallicity distribution of the G dwarfs and theage-metallicity, age-velocity, and metallicity-velocity relations of theSolar neighbourhood. Our first results confirm the lack of metal-poor Gdwarfs relative to closed-box model predictions (the ``G dwarfproblem''), the existence of radial metallicity gradients in the disk,the small change in mean metallicity of the thin disk since itsformation and the substantial scatter in metallicity at all ages, andthe continuing kinematic heating of the thin disk with an efficiencyconsistent with that expected for a combination of spiral arms and giantmolecular clouds. Distinct features in the distribution of the Vcomponent of the space motion are extended in age and metallicity,corresponding to the effects of stochastic spiral waves rather thanclassical moving groups, and may complicate the identification ofthick-disk stars from kinematic criteria. More advanced analyses of thisrich material will require careful simulations of the selection criteriafor the sample and the distribution of observational errors.Based on observations made with the Danish 1.5-m telescope at ESO, LaSilla, Chile, and with the Swiss 1-m telescope at Observatoire deHaute-Provence, France.Complete Tables 1 and 2 are only available in electronic form at the CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/418/989
| Empirically Constrained Color-Temperature Relations. II. uvby
A new grid of theoretical color indices for the Strömgren uvbyphotometric system has been derived from MARCS model atmospheres and SSGsynthetic spectra for cool dwarf and giant stars having-3.0<=[Fe/H]<=+0.5 and 3000<=Teff<=8000 K. Atwarmer temperatures (i.e., 8000-2.0. To overcome thisproblem, the theoretical indices at intermediate and high metallicitieshave been corrected using a set of color calibrations based on fieldstars having well-determined distances from Hipparcos, accurateTeff estimates from the infrared flux method, andspectroscopic [Fe/H] values. In contrast with Paper I, star clustersplayed only a minor role in this analysis in that they provided asupplementary constraint on the color corrections for cool dwarf starswith Teff<=5500 K. They were mainly used to test thecolor-Teff relations and, encouragingly, isochrones thatemploy the transformations derived in this study are able to reproducethe observed CMDs (involving u-v, v-b, and b-y colors) for a number ofopen and globular clusters (including M67, the Hyades, and 47 Tuc)rather well. Moreover, our interpretations of such data are verysimilar, if not identical, with those given in Paper I from aconsideration of BV(RI)C observations for the sameclusters-which provides a compelling argument in support of thecolor-Teff relations that are reported in both studies. Inthe present investigation, we have also analyzed the observedStrömgren photometry for the classic Population II subdwarfs,compared our ``final'' (b-y)-Teff relationship with thosederived empirically in a number of recent studies and examined in somedetail the dependence of the m1 index on [Fe/H].Based, in part, on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope,operated jointly on the island of La Palma by Denmark, Finland, Iceland,Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de losMuchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.Based, in part, on observations obtained with the Danish 1.54 mtelescope at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile.
| Lithium Abundance of Metal-poor Stars
High-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio spectra have been obtainedfor 32 metal-poor stars. The equivalent widths of Li λ6708Åwere measured and the lithium abundances were derived. The averagelithium abundance of 21 stars on the lithium plateau is 2.33±0.02dex. The Lithium plateau exhibits a marginal trend along metallicity,dA(Li)/d[Fe/H] = 0.12±0.06, and no clear trend with the effectivetemperature. The trend indicates that the abundance of lithium plateaumay not be primordial and that a part of the lithium was produced inGalactic Chemical Evolution (GCE).
| Improved Astrometry and Photometry for the Luyten Catalog. II. Faint Stars and the Revised Catalog
We complete construction of a catalog containing improved astrometry andnew optical/infrared photometry for the vast majority of NLTT starslying in the overlap of regions covered by POSS I and by the secondincremental Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) release, approximately 44%of the sky. The epoch 2000 positions are typically accurate to 130 mas,the proper motions to 5.5 mas yr-1, and the V-J colors to0.25 mag. Relative proper motions of binary components are measured to 3mas yr-1. The false-identification rate is ~1% for11<~V<~18 and substantially less at brighter magnitudes. Theseimprovements permit the construction of a reduced proper-motion diagramthat, for the first time, allows one to classify NLTT stars intomain-sequence (MS) stars, subdwarfs (SDs), and white dwarfs (WDs). We inturn use this diagram to analyze the properties of both our catalog andthe NLTT catalog on which it is based. In sharp contrast to popularbelief, we find that NLTT incompleteness in the plane is almostcompletely concentrated in MS stars, and that SDs and WDs are detectedalmost uniformly over the sky δ>-33deg. Our catalogwill therefore provide a powerful tool to probe these populationsstatistically, as well as to reliably identify individual SDs and WDs.
| New Metallicity Calibration Down to [Fe/H] = -2.75 dex
We have taken 88 dwarfs, covering the colour-index interval 0.37 <=(B-V)0 <= 1.07mag, with metallicities -2.70 <= [Fe/H]<= +0.26dex, from three different sources for new metallicitycalibration. The catalogue of Cayrel de Stroble et al. (2001), whichincludes 65% of the stars in our sample, supplies detailed informationon abundances for stars with determination based on high-resolutionspectroscopy. In constructing the new calibration we have used as`corner stones' 77 stars which supply at least one of the followingconditions: (i) the parallax is larger than 10mas (distance relative tothe Sun less than 100pc) and the galactic latitude is absolutely higherthan 30° (ii) the parallax is rather large, if the galactic latitudeis absolutely low and vice versa. Contrary to previous investigations, athird-degree polynomial is fitted for the new calibration: [Fe/H]=0.10 -2.76δ - 24.04δ2 + 30.00δ3. Thecoefficients were evaluated by the least-squares method, without regardto the metallicity of Hyades. However, the constant term is in the rangeof metallicity determined for this cluster, i.e.0.08<=[Fe/H]<=0.11dex. The mean deviation and the mean error inour work are equal to those of Carney (1979), for [Fe/H] >= -1.75dexwhere Carney's calibration is valid
| Abundances of Cu and Zn in metal-poor stars: Clues for Galaxy evolution
We present new observations of copper and zinc abundances in 90metal-poor stars, belonging to the metallicity range -3<[Fe/H]<-0.5. The present study is based on high resolutionspectroscopic measurements collected at the Haute Provence Observatoire(R= 42 000, S/N>100). The trend of Cu and Zn abundances as a functionof the metallicity [Fe/H] is discussed and compared to that of otherheavy elements beyond iron. We also estimate spatial velocities andgalactic orbital parameters for our target stars in order to disentanglethe population of disk stars from that of halo stars using kinematiccriteria. In the absence of a firm a priori knowledge of thenucleosynthesis mechanisms controlling Cu and Zn production, and of therelative stellar sites, we derive constraints on these last from thetrend of the observed ratios [Cu/Fe] and [Zn/Fe] throughout the historyof the Galaxy, as well as from a few well established properties ofbasic nucleosynthesis processes in stars. We thus confirm that theproduction of Cu and Zn requires a number of different sources (neutroncaptures in massive stars, s-processing in low and intermediate massstars, explosive nucleosynthesis in various supernova types). We alsoattempt a ranking of the relative roles played by different productionmechanisms, and verify these hints through a simple estimate of thegalactic enrichment in Cu and Zn. In agreement with suggestionspresented earlier, we find evidence that type Ia Supernovae must play arelevant role, especially for the production of Cu. Based on the spectracollected with the 1.93-m telescope of Haute Provence Observatory.
| Chemical Composition of Stars in the Galactic Halo
The chemical compositions of the atmospheres of six metal-poor stars areanalyzed. Spectra with signal-to-noise ratios of no less than 100 and aresolution of R≈17 000 were obtained using the 6-m telescope of theSpecial Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences.The abundances of Li, O, α-process elements (Mg, Si, Ca, Ti), Na,K, Sc, iron-peak elements (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn), and s-processelements (Y, Ba) are derived. The star G251-54 ([Fe/H]=-1.55, T eff=5541K, logg=3.58) is deficient in some elements compared to both stars withsimilar metallicities and the Sun. The atmosphere of G251-54 has thefollowing elemental abundances relative to iron: [O/Fe]=+0.47,[α/Fe]≈-0.3, [Na/Fe]=-0.60, [Sc/Fe]=-0.57, [Cr, Ni, Fe]≈0,[Zn/Fe]=+0.16, [Cu/Fe]=-0.66, [Y/Fe]=-0.70, and [Ba/Fe]=-1.35. Theremaining five stars have metallicities in the range-1.6<[Fe/H]<-1.3 and normal abundances for this metallicityinterval and are used as reference stars for comparison with thechemical composition of G251-54. Possible explanations for deviations ofthe abundances of some elements from the mean relations established forhalo objects are discussed.
| A Survey of Proper-Motion Stars. XVI. Orbital Solutions for 171 Single-lined Spectroscopic Binaries
We report 25,563 radial velocity measurements for 1359 single-linedstars in the Carney-Latham sample of 1464 stars selected for high propermotion. For 171 of these, we present spectroscopic orbital solutions. Wefind no obvious difference between the binary characteristics in thehalo and the disk populations. The observed frequency is the same, andthe period distributions are consistent with the hypothesis that the twosets of binaries were drawn from the same parent population. Thissuggests that metallicity in general, and radiative opacities inparticular, have little influence over the fragmentation process thatleads to short-period binaries. All the binaries with periods shorterthan 10 days have nearly circular orbits, while the binaries withperiods longer than 20 days exhibit a wide range of eccentricities and amedian value of 0.37. For the metal-poor high-velocity halo binaries inour sample, the transition from circular to eccentric orbits appears tooccur at about 20 days, supporting the conclusion that tidalcircularization on the main sequence is important for the oldestbinaries in the Galaxy. Some of the results presented here usedobservations made with the Multiple Mirror Telescope, a joint facilityof the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Arizona.
| Revised Coordinates and Proper Motions of the Stars in the Luyten Half-Second Catalog
We present refined coordinates and proper-motion data for the highproper-motion (HPM) stars in the Luyten Half-Second (LHS) catalog. Thepositional uncertainty in the original Luyten catalog is typicallygreater than 10" and is often greater than 30". We have used the digitalscans of the POSS I and POSS II plates to derive more accurate positionsand proper motions of the objects. Out of the 4470 candidates in the LHScatalog, 4323 objects were manually reidentified in the POSS I and POSSII scans. A small fraction of the stars were not found because of thelack of finder charts and digitized POSS II scans. The uncertainties inthe revised positions are typically ~2" but can be as high as ~8" in afew cases, which is a large improvement over the original data.Cross-correlation with the Tycho-2 and Hipparcos catalogs yielded 819candidates (with mR<~12). For these brighter sources, theposition and proper-motion data were replaced with the more accurateTycho-2/Hipparcos data. In total, we have revised proper-motionmeasurements and coordinates for 4040 stars and revised coordinates for4330 stars. The electronic version of the paper5 contains the updated information on all 4470stars in the LHS catalog.
| Catalogue of [Fe/H] determinations for FGK stars: 2001 edition
The catalogue presented here is a compilation of published atmosphericparameters (Teff, log g, [Fe/H]) obtained from highresolution, high signal-to-noise spectroscopic observations. This newedition has changed compared to the five previous versions. It is nowrestricted to intermediate and low mass stars (F, G and K stars). Itcontains 6354 determinations of (Teff, log g, [Fe/H]) for3356 stars, including 909 stars in 79 stellar systems. The literature iscomplete between January 1980 and December 2000 and includes 378references. The catalogue is made up of two tables, one for field starsand one for stars in galactic associations, open and globular clustersand external galaxies. The catalogue is distributed through the CDSdatabase. Access to the catalogue with cross-identification to othersets of data is also possible with VizieR (Ochsenbein et al.\cite{och00}). The catalogue (Tables 1 and 2) is only available inelectronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/373/159 and VizieRhttp://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Ursa Major |
| Right ascension: | 11h12m48.00s |
| Declination: | +35°43'43.9" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 9.84 |
| Proper motion RA: | 73.7 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -507.7 |
| B-T magnitude: | 10.273 |
| V-T magnitude: | 9.876 |
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INHABITED SKY
