Related papers: Explanation of the Helium-3 problem
By comparing observed abundance gradients with those predicted by a chemodynamical model of the Galaxy the following results are obtained: there is a defficiency of O/H poor PNe in the solar vicinity which implies that only a fraction of…
We estimate the initial He content in about 30% of the Galactic globular clusters (GGCs) from new star counts we have performed on the recently published HST snapshot database of Colour Magnitude Diagrams (Piotto et al. 2002). More in…
Hydrogen deficient stars include the cool R CrB variable (RCBs) and hydrogen-deficient carbon (HdCs) giants through extreme helium stars (EHes) to the very hot helium-rich subdwarfs (He-sdO and O(He) stars) and white dwarfs. With surfaces…
This paper presents a spectroscopic investigation of 11 HII regions in the nearby galaxy NGC 2403. The HII regions are observed with a long-slit spectrograph mounted on the 2.16 m telescope at XingLong station of National Astronomical…
The outer Galaxy is characterized by a lower metallicity than regions near the Sun, suggesting differences in the formation and survival of molecules in star-forming regions. To understand chemical evolution across the Milky Way, deriving…
The observations of carbon isotopic ratios in evolved stars suggest that non standard mixing is acting in low mass stars as they are ascending the red giant branch. We propose a simple consistent mechanism, based on the most recent…
Using the new 23 GHz receivers at the Very Large Array (VLA), we have detected NH3(6,6) emission (nu=25.056025 GHz) from hot (>150 K) molecular clouds in the central 10 pc of the Galaxy. This is the first successful detection of NH3(6,6)…
We present observations of Ti~II~$\lambda 3384$ absorption towards 15 distant stars in the Galactic halo and the Magellanic Clouds. These new data extend existing surveys of the distribution of Ti$^+$ to larger distances from the plane of…
We test the hypothesis that the classical and ultra-faint dwarf spheroidal satellites of the our Galaxy have been the building blocks of the Galactic halo by comparing their [O/Fe] and [Ba/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] patterns with the ones observed in…
We revisit the process of gravitational sedimentation of helium and heavy elements in the intra-cluster medium. We find that helium applies an inward drag force on heavy elements, boosting their sedimentation speed to nearly half its own.…
We present chemical evolution models for the Galactic disk. We also present a new determination of X, Y, and Z for M17 a Galactic metal-rich Hii region. We compare our models for the Galactic disk with the Galactic Hii regions abundances.…
We have investigated a highly energetic H-ingestion event during shell He burning leading to H-burning luminosities of $\log(L_\mathrm{H}/\mathrm{\Lsun}) \sim 13$ in a $45 \Msun$ Pop III massive stellar model. In order to track the…
The nitrogen chemical evolution during star and planet formation is still not fully understood. Ammonia (NH$_3$) is a key specie in the understanding of the molecular evolution in star-forming clouds and nitrogen isotope fractionation. In…
Assuming the best numerical value for the cosmic baryonic density and the existence of three neutrino flavors, standard big bang nucleosynthesis is a parameter-free model. It is important to assess if the observed primordial abundances can…
The $^6$Li abundance observed in metal poor halo stars appears to exhibit a plateau as a function of metallicity similar to that for $^7$Li, suggesting a big bang origin. However, the inferred primordial abundance of $^6$Li is $\sim$1000…
Using data from the Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey, we report the discovery of five HI clouds in the Leo I group without detected optical counterparts. Three of the clouds are found midway between M96 and M95, one is only 10$^{\prime}$…
Chemical models are routinely used to predict the atmospheric composition of exoplanets and compare it with the composition retrieved from observations, but little is known about the reliability of the calculated composition. We carried out…
We study the current discrepancy between the model-predicted and measured concentrations of Fe++ and Fe3+ in ionized nebulae. We calculate a set of photoionization models, updated with the atomic data relevant to the problem, and compare…
New 21cm observations with the Green Bank Telescope show that a significant fraction of the HI in the inner Galaxy's halo 1 kpc from the midplane exists in the form of discrete clouds. Some look very much like a Spitzer ``standard'' diffuse…
High-velocity clouds (HVCs) in the Galactic center have garnered significant attention due to their mysterious formation, potentially linked to starburst events or supermassive black hole activity in the region. However, it remains…