Related papers: The most iron-deficient stars as the polluted popu…
Renewed interest in the first stars that were formed in the universe has led to the discovery of extremely iron-poor stars. Since several competing scenarios exist, our understanding of the mass range that determines the observed elemental…
Cool white dwarf stars are usually found to have an outer atmosphere that is practically pure in hydrogen or helium. However, a small fraction have traces of heavy elements that must originate from the accretion of extrinsic material, most…
We construct star formation histories at redshifts z > 5 for two physically distinct populations of primordial, metal-free stars, motivated by theoretical and observational arguments that have hinted towards the existence of an intermediate…
We report the results of a coherent study of three chemically anomalous metal-poor ([Fe/H] ~ -2) stars. These objects exhibit unusually low abundances of Mg, Si, Ca (alpha-elements) and Sr, Y, and Ba (neutron-capture elements). Our analyses…
We investigate the formation of extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars that are observed in the Galactic halo and neighboring ultra-faint dwarf galaxies. Their low metal abundances (${\rm [Fe/H]} < -3$) indicate that their parent clouds were…
We elaborate the binary scenario for the origin of HE0107-5240, the most metal-poor star yet observed ([Fe/H] = -5.3), using current knowledge of the evolution of extremely metal-poor stars. From the observed C/N value, we estimate the…
We report on the distribution of metallicities, [Fe/H], for very metal-poor stars in the halo of the Galaxy. Although the primary information on the nature of the Metallicity Distribution Function (MDF) is obtained from the two major recent…
We report abundance analyses of three extremely metal-poor stars with [Fe/H] $\lesssim -3$, using the Subaru High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS). All are found to have sub-solar values of [Eu/Fe]. Comparison with our chemical evolution model…
We discuss the origin of HE0107-5240 which is the most metal poor star yet observed ([Fe/H] = -5.3). Its discovery has an important bearing on the question of the observability of "first generation" stars. In common with other metal-poor…
A stochastic model of the chemical enrichment of metal-poor systems by core-collapse (Type II) supernovae is presented, allowing for large-scale mixing of the enriched material by turbulent motions and cloud collisions in the interstellar…
We explore the predictions of the standard hierarchical clustering scenario of galaxy formation, regarding the numbers and metallicities of PopIII stars likely to be found within our Galaxy today. By PopIII we shall be referring to stars…
High resolution CASPEC and EMMI spectra (R$\approx$10$^4$) of the faint metal- deficient candidates CS 22891--209, CS 22897--8, CS 22948--66 and CS 22968--14 taken from the survey of Beers, Preston and Shectman (1985, BPS) are analyzed for…
Metal-poor stars in the Milky Way are local relics of the epoch of the first stars and the first galaxies. However, a low metallicity does not prove that a star formed in this ancient era, as metal-poor stars form over a range of redshift…
We present magnesium abundances derived from high resolution spectra using several Mg I and two high excitation Mg II lines for 19 metal-poor stars with [Fe/H] values between -1.1 and +0.2. The main goal is to search for systematic…
SMSS J160540.18$-$144323.1 is the carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) star with the lowest iron abundance ever measured, [Fe/H]=-6.2, which was first reported with the SkyMapper telescope. The carbon abundance is A(C)~6.1 in the low-C band,…
We examine the metallicity distribution function (MDF) and fraction of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars in a sample that includes 86 stars with [Fe/H] < -3.0, based on high-resolution, high-S/N spectroscopy, of which some 32 objects…
We present a sample of 1777 bright (9<B<14) metal-poor candidates selected from the Hamburg/ESO Survey (HES). Despite saturation effects present in the red portion of the HES objective-prism spectra, the data were recoverable and…
The first stars hold intrinsic interest for their uniqueness and for their potential importance to galaxy formation, chemical enrichment, and feedback on the intergalactic medium (IGM). The metal-free composition of the first stars…
Population III stars, the hypothetical first generation metal-free stars, have yet to be discovered. Even after three years of successful JWST operations, studies have shown that most galaxies identified to date at $z > 5$ exhibit a…
Star formation from metal-free gas, the hallmark of the first generation of Population III stars, was long assumed to occur only in the very early Universe. We report the discovery of MPG-CR3 (Metal-Pristine Galaxy COSMOS Redshift 3;…