Related papers: The intermediate neutron-capture process and carbo…
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…
We follow the chemical evolution of the Galaxy for elements from Ba to Eu, using an evolutionary model suitable to reproduce a large set of Galactic (local and non local) and extragalactic constraints. Input stellar yields for neutron-rich…
We present new observational benchmarks of rapid neutron-capture process (r-process) nucleosynthesis for elements at and between the first (A ~ 80) and second (A ~ 130) peaks. Our analysis is based on archival ultraviolet and optical…
The properties of the relative abundances of rapid and slow neutron-capture elements are studied using a catalog containing spectroscopic abundance determinations for 14~elements produced in various nuclear-synthesis processes for 90~open…
Most carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars are thought to result from past mass transfer of He-burning material from an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star to a low-mass companion star, which we now observe as a CEMP star. Because AGB…
We present a detailed study of Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) stars, based on high-resolution spectroscopic observations of a sample of 18 stars. The stellar spectra for this sample were obtained at the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope…
We determine the abundances of neutron-capture elements from Sr to Eu for five very-metal-poor stars (-3<[Fe/H]<-2) in the Milky Way halo to reveal the origin of light neutron-capture elements. Previous spectroscopic studies have shown…
We have made a parametric study of s-process nucleosynthesis in the metal poor ([Fe/H]=-2.7) stars LP625-44 and LP706-7. We find that a high neutron exposure and a small overlap factor are necessary to fit the abundance pattern observed in…
The chemical abundances of metal-poor stars in globular clusters provide important constraints on their evolutionary scenarios. Using both main r-process and weak r-process patterns, we fit the abundances of s-poor stars in the globular…
We revisit the abundances of neutron-capture elements in the metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-2.9) r-process-rich halo star CS 31082-001. Partly motivated by the development of the new near-ultraviolet Cassegrain U-band Efficient Spectrograph for the…
For the origin of heavy r-process elements, different sources have been proposed, e.g., core-collapse supernovae or neutron star mergers. Old metal-poor stars carry the signature of the astrophysical source(s). Among the elements dominantly…
The oldest stars in the universe retain to a great extent detailed information on the chemical composition of the interstellar medium at the time of their birth. Hence the earliest phases of Galactic chemical evolution and nucleosynthesis…
Neutron star mergers (NSMs) are promising astrophysical sites for the rapid neutron-capture ("$r$-") process, but can their integrated yields explain the majority of heavy-element material in the Galaxy? One method to address this question…
The stellar population in the Galactic halo is characterised by a large fraction of CEMP stars. Most CEMP stars are enriched in $s$-elements (CEMP-$s$ stars), and some of these are also enriched in $r$-elements (CEMP-$s/r$ stars). One…
The CEMP-no stars are long-lived small mass stars presenting a very low iron content and overabundances of carbon with no sign or only very weak signs for the presence of s- or r-elements. Although the origin of that abundance pattern is…
A large star-to-star variation in the abundances of r-process elements, as seen in the [Eu/Fe] ratio for Galactic halo stars, is a prominent feature that is distinguishable from other heavy elements. It is, in part, caused by the presence…
Heavy elements (beyond iron) are formed in neutron capture nucleosynthesis processes. We have proposed a simple unified model to investigate the neutron capture nucleosynthesis in arbitrary neutron density environment. We have also…
The abundances of heavy elements in EMP stars are not well explained by the simple view of an initial basic "rapid" process. In a careful and homogeneous analysis of the "First stars" sample (eighty per cent of the stars have a metallicity…
Metal-poor stars provide the fossil record of Galactic chemical evolution and the nucleosynthesis processes that took place at the earliest times in the history of our Galaxy. From detailed abundance studies of low mass, extremely…
We report on an abundance analysis for a pilot study of seven Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) stars, based on medium-resolution optical and near-infrared spectroscopy. The optical spectra are used to estimate [Fe/H], [C/Fe], [N/Fe], and…