Related papers: The r-process in Magnetorotational Supernovae
We present a detailed abundance analysis of the bright (V = 9.02), metal-poor ([Fe/H] = -1.47 +/- 0.08) field red horizontal-branch star HD 222925, which was observed as part of an ongoing survey by the R-Process Alliance. We calculate…
We study the enrichment and mixing of r-process elements in ultrafaint dwarf galaxies (UFDs). We assume that r-process elements are produced by neutron-star mergers (NSMs), and examine multiple models with different natal kick velocities…
We study turbulent gas diffusion affects on $r$-process abundances in Milky Way stars, by a combination of an analytical approach and a Monte Carlo simulation. Higher $r$-process event rates and faster diffusion, lead to more efficient…
Metal-poor stars in the Milky Way (MW) halo display large star-to-star dispersion in their r-process abundance relative to lighter elements. This suggests a chemically diverse and unmixed interstellar medium (ISM) in the early Universe.…
Ground- and space-based observations of stellar heavy element abundances are providing a clearer picture of the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. A large number of (r)apid and (s)low neutron capture process elements, including the first…
The Keck I telescope has been used to obtain HIRES spectra for red giants belonging to the Draco, Sextans and Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies. An analysis of these spectra is presented, along with abundance ratios for more than…
The chemical abundances of metal-poor stars provide important clues to explore stellar formation history and set significant constraints on models of the r-process. In this work, we find that the abundance patterns of the light and iron…
The most metal-poor stars in dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) can show the nucleosynthetic patterns of one or a few supernovae. These supernovae could have zero metallicity, making metal-poor dSph stars the closest surviving links to…
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…
Abundance observations indicate the presence of rapid-neutron capture (i.e., r-process) elements in old Galactic halo and globular cluster stars. These observations demonstrate that the earliest generations of stars in the Galaxy,…
We compute the evolution of the abundances of barium and europium in the Milky Way and we compare our results with the observed abundances from the recent UVES Large Program "First Stars". We use a chemical evolution model which already…
We present a detailed abundance analysis of the three brightest member stars at the top of the giant branch of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Grus~II. All stars exhibit a higher than expected $\mathrm{[Mg/Ca]}$ ratio compared to metal-poor…
There has been a persistent conundrum in attempts to model the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements by rapid neutron capture (the $r$-process). Although the location of the abundance peaks near nuclear mass numbers 130 and 195 identify an…
This paper reviews recent abundance results of local dSph giants. All dSph systems seem to show evidence of slow star formation rates, compared to the Milky Way, based on the most metal-rich stars exhibiting low [even-Z/Fe] ratios and high…
It is unclear if neutron star mergers can explain the observed r-process abundances of metal-poor stars. Collapsars, defined here as rotating massive stars whose collapse results in a rapidly accreting disk around a black hole that can…
We report the discovery of nine metal-poor stars with high levels of r-process enhancement (+0.81<[Eu/Fe]<+1.13), including six subgiants and three stars on the red horizontal branch. We also analyze four previously-known r-process-enhanced…
The member stars in globular cluster M15 show a substantial spread in the abundances of r-process elements. We argue that a rare and prolific r-process event enriched the natal cloud of M15 in an inhomogeneous manner. To critically examine…
I present a new Galactic chemical evolution model motivated by and grounded in the hierarchical theory of galaxy formation, as expressed by a halo merger history of the Galaxy. This model accurately reproduces the "metallicity distribution…
We examine the Pb and Th abundances in 27 metal-poor stars (-3.1 < [Fe/H] < -1.4) whose very heavy metal (Z > 56) enrichment was produced only by the rapid (r-) nucleosynthesis process. New abundances are derived from HST/STIS, Keck/HIRES,…
While the origin of r-process nuclei remains a long-standing mystery, recent spectroscopic studies of extremely metal-poor stars in the Galactic halo strongly suggest that it is associated with core-collapse supernovae. In this article, an…