English

Emergence of a lithium dip in ~35 Myr "Snake" Open Clusters

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2026-02-10 v1 Astrophysics of Galaxies Chemical Physics

Abstract

We report the discovery of a lithium dip (Li-dip) in the stellar "Snake" (age = 35±535 \pm 5 Myr), challenging the classical view that Li-dips emerge only at ages 150\gtrsim 150 Myr. Using high-resolution spectra from GALAH DR4 (R28,000R \sim 28,000) for 211 member stars, we identify a clear depletion feature in a TeffT_{\mathrm{eff}} range of 6200--6800 K with a depth of ΔA(Li)0.40\Delta A(\mathrm{Li}) \approx 0.40 dex. Our analysis reveals two key advances: the Li-dip appears 100\gtrsim 100 Myr earlier than the previous observations, and within the dip temperature range, a significant correlation is found between rotational velocity and lithium depletion. Specifically, fast rotators (vsini>25v \sin i > 25 km s1^{-1}) exhibit stronger lithium depletion than slow rotators (vsini<25v \sin i < 25 km s1^{-1}). This trend suggests that faster rotators develop stronger rotational shear at the convective-radiative boundary, which enhances turbulent mixing and accelerates lithium destruction. It is also found that the lower temperature edge of the lithium plateau can reach as low as 5500 K for the young open clusters.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.07367,
  title  = {Emergence of a lithium dip in ~35 Myr "Snake" Open Clusters},
  author = {Yun-Yi Zhang and Hai-Jun Tian and Jian-Rong Shi and Cheng-Cheng Xie and Xiang-Ming Yang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.07367},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

12 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJL