Issue |
A&A
Volume 388, Number 1, June II 2002
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | L13 - L16 | |
Section | Letters | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20020558 | |
Published online | 28 May 2002 |
Letter to the Editor
Carbon and nitrogen abundances in the coronae of Algol B and other evolved stars: Evidence for CNO-cycle processed material
Hamburger Sternwarte, Universität Hamburg, Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg, Germany
Corresponding author: J. H. M. M. Schmitt, jschmitt@hs.uni-hamburg.de
Received:
21
March
2002
Accepted:
10
April
2002
Using the Lyα-lines of carbon and nitrogen measured in Chandra Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (LETGS) spectra we study the coronal abundances of these elements in a sample of late-type stars including dwarf stars, the prototypical eclipsing binary Algol, the single giant β Cet, and three RS CVn binaries. In the main sequence stars of our sample the flux ratio RNC between the Lyα-lines of nitrogen and carbon is below unity, while RNC is found to be ≈8.5 for β Cet and >23.3 for Algol. These values are more than an order of magnitude larger than expected from a solar abundance plasma in collisional equilibrium regardless of the chosen temperature structure. We therefore interpret the anomalously large RNC-ratios as being due to the exposure of processed material at the surfaces and in the coronae of Algol and β Cet.
Key words: stars: abundances / stars: activity / stars: coronae / stars: late type X-rays: stars / stars: individual: Algol
© ESO, 2002
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