English

A Theoretical Study of the Structure and Elemental Abundances of HD 20794

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2026-05-08 v1 Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Abstract

HD~20794 is a nearby, bright, metal-poor G-type dwarf hosting a compact planetary system, including a super-Earth near the habitable zone. Its low stellar activity and the availability of precise radial-velocity and photometric data make it an excellent benchmark for studying stellar structure and chemical abundances in low-metallicity planet-hosting stars. We present, to our knowledge, the first grid-based stellar evolution analysis of HD~20794 using \texttt{MESA}, focusing on its main-sequence and late main-sequence evolution. A set of 252 stellar models was computed for initial masses between 0.780.78 and 0.80M0.80\,M_{\odot}, varying convective efficiency, numerical resolution, and atmospheric boundary conditions. Models were selected through χ2\chi^2 minimization using observed constraints on effective temperature, surface gravity, luminosity, radius, and age. The best-fit models favor a mass of 0.80M0.80\,M_{\odot} and an age of about 99~Gyr, reproducing all observed stellar properties within uncertainties. They also successfully recover the observed surface abundance pattern over a wide range of elements, including light elements, α\alpha-elements, and the odd-ZZ species phosphorus and chlorine. Comparison with nucleosynthesis yields from massive stars suggests that the measured phosphorus and chlorine abundances are compatible with enrichment from core-collapse supernovae and have remained preserved during stellar evolution. Our results support standard stellar evolution theory, indicating that low-mass, metal-poor G dwarfs such as HD~20794 can retain their natal chemical signatures over Gyr timescales. This highlights their importance as probes of stellar evolution, Galactic chemical enrichment, and the chemical environments associated with long-lived planetary systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.24596,
  title  = {A Theoretical Study of the Structure and Elemental Abundances of HD 20794},
  author = {Mrinmay Medhi and Mami Deka and Krishna Saha and Vivek Baruah Thapa and Upakul Mahanta},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.24596},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

10 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS