New ultra metal-poor stars from SDSS: follow-up GTC medium-resolution spectroscopy ^⋆

¹ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, vía Láctea, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
e-mail: aguado@iac.es
² Universidad de La Laguna, Departamento de Astrofísica, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
³ Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 28006 Madrid, Spain
⁴ GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research Univsersity, CNRS, place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France

Received: 6 June 2017
Accepted: 13 June 2017

Abstract

Context. The first generation of stars formed in the Galaxy left behind the chemical signatures of their nucleosynthesis in the interstellar medium, visible today in the atmospheres of low-mass stars that formed afterwards. Sampling the chemistry of those low-mass provides insight into the first stars.

Aims. We aim to increase the samples of stars with extremely low metal abundances, identifying ultra metal-poor stars from spectra with modest spectral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). Achieving this goal involves deriving reliable metallicities and carbon abundances from such spectra.

Methods. We carry out follow-up observations of faint, V > 19, metal-poor candidates selected from SDSS spectroscopy and observed with the Optical System for Imaging and low-Intermediate-Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy (OSIRIS) at GTC. The SDSS and follow-up OSIRIS spectra were analyzed using the FERRE code to derive effective temperatures, surface gravities, metallicities and carbon abundances. In addition, a well-known extremely metal-poor star has been included in our sample to calibrate the analysis methodology.

Results. We observed and analyzed five metal-poor candidates from modest-quality SDSS spectra. All stars in our sample have been confirmed as extremely metal-poor stars, in the [Fe/H] < −3.3 regime. We report the recognition of J173403+644632, a carbon-enhanced ultra metal-poor dwarf star with [Fe/H] = −4.3 and [C/Fe] = + 3.1.