Issue |
A&A
Volume 665, September 2022
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A135 | |
Number of page(s) | 11 | |
Section | Stellar atmospheres | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202243140 | |
Published online | 21 September 2022 |
Chemical evolution of ytterbium in the Galactic disk★
1
Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen,
Landleven 12,
9747 AD
Groningen, The Netherlands
e-mail: montelius@astro.rug.nl
2
Lund Observatory, Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, Lund University,
Box 43,
22100
Lund, Sweden
3
Materials Science and Applied Mathematics, Malmö University,
205 06
Malmö, Sweden
4
Department of Astronomy and Space Sciences, Ege University,
35100
Bornova, İzmir, Turkey
5
Center for Star and Planet Formation, GLOBE Institute University of Copenhagen,
Øster Voldgade 5-7,
1350
Copenhagen, Denmark
6
SOFIA Science Center - USRA, NASA Ames Research Center,
Moffett Field, CA
94035, USA
7
Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab,
Casilla 603,
La Serena, Chile
8
Department of Astronomy and McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas,
Austin, TX
78712, USA
Received:
17
January
2022
Accepted:
31
January
2022
Context. Measuring the abundances of neutron-capture elements in Galactic disk stars is an important part of understanding key stellar and galactic processes. In the optical wavelength regime a number of different neutron-capture elements have been measured; however, only the s-process-dominated element cerium has been accurately measured for a large sample of disk stars from the infrared H band. The more r-process dominated element ytterbium has only been measured in a small subset of stars so far.
Aims. In this study we aim to measure the ytterbium (Yb) abundance of local disk giants using the Yb II line at λair = 16 498 Å. We also compare the resulting abundance trend with cerium and europium abundances for the same stars to analyse the s- and r-process contributions.
Methods. We analyse 30 K giants with high-resolution H band spectra using spectral synthesis. The very same stars have already been analysed using high-resolution optical spectra via the same method, but it was not possible to determine the abundance of Yb from those spectra due to blending issues for stars with [Fe/H] > −1. In the present analysis, we utilise the stellar parameters determined from the optical analysis.
Results. We determined the Yb abundances with an estimated uncertainty for [Yb/Fe] of 0.1 dex. By comparison, we found that the [Yb/Fe] trend closely follows the [Eu/Fe] trend and has clear s-process enrichment in identified s-rich stars. This comparison confirms both that the validity of the Yb abundances is ensured and that the theoretical prediction that the s-/r-process contribution to the origin of Yb of roughly 40/60 is supported.
Conclusions. These results show that, with a careful and detailed analysis of infrared spectra, reliable Yb abundances can be derived for a wider sample of cooler giants in the range −1.1 < [Fe/H] < 0.3. This is promising for further studies of the production of Yb and for the r-process channel, key for galactochemical evolution, in the infrared.
Key words: stars: abundances / stars: late-type / Galaxy: abundances / Galaxy: disk / Galaxy: evolution / infrared: stars
Tables 1 and 3 are also available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/665/A135
© ESO 2022
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