Related papers: The Second Stars
The concomitant overabundances of C, N and s-process elements are commonly ascribed to the complex interplay of nucleosynthesis, mixing and mass loss taking place in Asymptotic Giant Branch stars. At low metallicity, the enhancement of C…
The majority of the inhomogeneities in the chemical composition of Globular Cluster (GC) stars appear due to primordial enrichment. The most studied model today claims that the ejecta of Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars of high mass…
We determine the contributions of the rapid (r) and slow (s) neutron capture processes to the Ba isotope mixture, along with Ba, Eu, and Sr NLTE abundances, in a sample of very metal-poor stars. The selected stars formed before the…
We discuss the cosmological significance of the transition from the Pop III to Pop II mode of star formation in the early universe, and when and how it may occur in primordial galaxies. Observations that could detect this transition include…
The first stars are predicted to have formed within 200 million years after the Big Bang, initiating the cosmic dawn. A true first star has not yet been discovered, although stars with tiny amounts of elements heavier than helium ('metals')…
Around half of the heavy elements in the universe are formed through the slow neutron capture (s-) process, which takes place in thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars with masses $1-6\;M_{\odot}$. The nucleosynthetic imprint…
The fragile light elements lithium, beryllium, and boron are easily destroyed in stellar interiors, and are thus superb probes of physical processes occuring in the outer stellar layers. The light elements are also excellent tracers of the…
A significant fraction of very metal-poor stars have unexpectedly high carbon abundances. I recap on their discovery, describe the results of high-resolution spectroscopic studies of their composition, and consider possible origins. It is…
We have recently presented observational evidence which suggests that the origin of the second generation (G2) stars in globular clusters (GCs) is due to the binary-mediated collision of primordial (G1) low-mass main-sequence (MS) stars.…
We investigate the early evolution of two distinct populations of low-mass stars in globular clusters under the influence of primordial gas expulsion driven by supernovae to study if this process can increase the fraction of second…
We report a new mechanism for the \textsl{s} in rotating massive metal-poor stars. Our models show that above a critical rotation speed, such stars evolve in a quasi-chemically-homogeneous fashion, which gives rise to a prolific…
The formation of sdBs is still puzzling, as is the chemical composition of their atmospheres. While helium and other light elements are depleted relative to solar values, heavy elements are highly enriched. Diffusion processes in the hot,…
Elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, collectively termed metals, were created inside stars and dispersed through space at the final stages of stellar evolution. The relative amounts of different isotopes (variants of the same element…
Models of the chemical evolution of the interstellar medium, galaxies, and the Universe rely on our understanding of the amounts and chemical composition of the material returned by stars and supernovae. Stellar yields are obtained from…
The astrophysical origin of the rapid neutron-capture process (r-process), which produces about half of the elements heavier than iron, remains uncertain. The oldest, most metal-poor stars preserve the chemical signatures of early…
The first stars fundamentally transformed the early universe by emitting the first light and by producing the first heavy elements. These effects were predetermined by the mass distribution of the first stars, which is thought to have been…
The origin of the elements is a fascinating question that scientists have been trying to answer for the last seven decades. The formation of light elements in the primordial universe and heavier elements in astrophysical sources occurs…
We present the abundance analyses for the neutron-capture elements, and discuss the observed abundance distributions in very metal-poor stars with excesses of r-process elements. As has been found by previous abundance studies, the…
Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars play a significant role in our understanding of the origin of the elements. They contribute to the abundances of C, N, and approximately $50\%$ of the abundances of the elements heavier than iron. An…
Recent observations of heavy elements in Globular Clusters reveal intriguing deviations from the standard paradigm of the early galactic nucleosynthesis. If the r-process contamination is a common feature of halo stars, s-process…