More nitrogen rich B-type stars in the SMC cluster, NGC 330

¹ Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Apartado de Correos 321, 38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain
² The Department of Pure and Applied Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, N. Ireland e-mail: P.Dufton@Queens-Belfast.ac.uk

Corresponding author: D. J. Lennon, djl@ing.iac.es

Received: 12 June 2002
Accepted: 9 August 2002

Abstract

High resolution spectra of seven early B-type giant/supergiant stars in the SMC cluster NGC 330 are analysed to obtain their chemical compositions relative to SMC field and Galactic B-type stars. It is found that all seven stars are nitrogen rich with an abundance approximately 1.3 dex higher than an SMC main-sequence field B-type star, AV304. They also display evidence for deficiencies in carbon, but other metals have abundances typical of the SMC. Given the number of B-type stars with low projected rotational velocities in NGC 330 (all our targets have v sin  km s^-1), we suggest that it is unlikely that the stars in our sample are seen almost pole-on, but rather that they are intrinsically slow rotators. Furthermore, none of our objects displays any evidence of significant Balmer emission excluding the possibility that these are Be stars observed pole-on. Comparing these results with the predictions of stellar evolution models including the effects of rotationally induced mixing, we conclude that while the abundance patterns may indeed be reproduced by these models, serious discrepancies exist. Most importantly, models including the effects of initially large rotational velocities do not reproduce the observed range of effective temperatures of our sample, nor the currently observed rotational velocities. Binary models may be able to produce stars in the observed temperature range but again may be incapable of producing suitable analogues with low rotational velocities. We also discuss the clear need for stellar evolution calculations employing the correct chemical mix of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen for the SMC.