Related papers: r-process Abundance Patterns in the Globular Clust…
Abundance observations indicate the presence of rapid-neutron capture (i.e., r-process) elements in old Galactic halo and globular cluster stars. These observations provide insight into the nature of the earliest generations of stars in the…
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…
Neutron-capture elements, those with Z > 35, are the least well-understood in terms of nucleosynthesis and formation environments. The rapid neutron-capture, or r-process, elements are formed in the environments and/or remnants of massive…
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 report Sr, Pd and Ag abundances for a sample of metal-poor field giants and analyze a larger sample of Y, Zr, and Ba abundances. The [Y/Zr] and [Pd/Ag] abundance ratios are similar to those measured for the r-process-rich stars CS…
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…
To better characterize the abundance patterns produced by the r-process, we have derived new abundances or upper limits for the heavy elements zinc (Zn), yttrium (Y), lanthanum (La), europium (Eu), and lead (Pb). Our sample of 161…
During the last several decades, there have been a number of advances in understanding the rapid neutron-capture process (i.e., the r-process). These advances include large quantities of high-resolution spectroscopic abundance data of…
We present a strictly line-by-line differential analysis of a moderately $r$-process-enhanced star ($r$-I: HD~107752) with respect to a strongly $r$-process-enhanced star ($r$-II: CS~31082-0001) to investigate the possible common origin of…
The ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Reticulum II was enriched by a rare and prolific r-process event, such as a neutron star merger. To investigate the nature of this event, we present high-resolution Magellan/MIKE spectroscopy of the brightest…
We present the iron abundance and abundance ratios for 18 elements with respect to Fe in a sample of stars with a wide range in luminosity from luminous giants to stars near the turnoff in the globular cluster M5. The analyzed spectra,…
We present an analysis of the s-process elements Zr, Ba, and La and the r-process element Eu in a sample of 50 stars in 19 open clusters. Stellar abundances of each element are based on measures of a minimum of two lines per species via…
We investigate the enrichment in elements produced by the slow neutron-capture process ($s$-process) in the globular clusters M4 (NGC 6121) and M22 (NGC 6656). Stars in M4 have homogeneous abundances of Fe and neutron-capture elements, but…
We present analysis of high-resolution spectra of a sample of stars in the globular cluster M5 (NGC 5904). The sample includes stars from the red giant branch (seven stars), the red horizontal branch (two stars), and the asymptotic giant…
The framework for the interpretation of neutron-capture elements observed in Population II stars, established 20-25 years ago, is that these stars primarily exhibit r-process signatures, due to the inefficiency of the s-process at low…
We present a chemical composition analysis of 36 giant stars in mildly metal-poor globular cluster M5. In comparing the M5 results to those obtained in M4, a cluster previously considered to be a ``twin'' in age, metallicity and chemical…
We propose an explanation for the considerable scatter of the abundances of neutron capture elements observed in low-metallicity stars in the solar vicinity, compared to the small star-to-star scatter observed for the alpha-elements. We…
Neutron-star mergers were recently confirmed as sites of rapid-neutron-capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis. However, in Galactic chemical evolution models, neutron-star mergers alone cannot reproduce the observed element abundance patterns…
We present a detailed chemical composition analysis of 35 red giant stars in the globular cluster M22. High resolution spectra for this study were obtained at five observatories, and analyzed in a uniform manner. We have determined…
The rapid neutron capture process (r process) is believed to be responsible for about half of the production of the elements heavier than iron and contributes to abundances of some lighter nuclides as well. A universal pattern of r-process…