Related papers: A nearly pristine star from the Large Magellanic C…
The element abundance ratios of four low-mass stars with extremely low metallicities indicate that the gas out of which the stars formed was enriched in each case by at most a few, and potentially only one low-energy, supernova. Such…
The formation of stars is a key process in the early universe with far reaching consequences for further cosmic evolution. While stars forming from truly primordial gas are thought to be considerably more massive than our Sun, stars in the…
The relative importance of metals and dust grains in the formation of the first low-mass stars has been a subject of debate. The recently discovered Galactic halo star SDSS J102915+172927 (Caffau et al. 2011) has a mass less than 0.8 Msun…
The early Universe had a chemical composition consisting of hydrogen, helium and traces of lithium1, almost all other elements were created in stars and supernovae. The mass fraction, Z, of elements more massive than helium, is called…
Context: The small- to intermediate-mass ($M <0.8 M_\odot$), most metal-poor stars that formed in the infancy of the Universe are still shining today in the sky. They are very rare, but their discovery and investigation brings new knowledge…
Spectroscopic analysis of the Galactic halo star SDSS J102915+172927 has shown it to have a very low heavy element abundance, Z < 7.4 10-7, with [Fe/H] = -4.89 plus/minus 0.10 and an upper limit on the C abundance of [C/H] < -4.5. The low…
As the Universe emerged from its initial hot and dense phase, its chemical composition was extremely simple, being limited to stable H and He isotopes, and traces of Li. The first stars that formed had such initial composition. However,…
The Small Magellanic Cloud is a close, irregular galaxy that has experienced a complex star formation history due to the strong interactions occurred both with the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Galaxy. Despite its importance, the chemical…
We have used high-resolution spectra obtained with the multifiber facility FLAMES at the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory to derive kinematic properties and chemical abundances of Fe, O, Mg and Si for 89 stars in…
Only a handful of stars have been identified with an iron abundance [Fe/H]<-5, and only one at [Fe/H]<-7. These stars have very large carbon-to-iron ratios, with A(C)~7.0, most likely due to fallback in core-collapse supernovae, which makes…
The external pollution of the first stars in the Galaxy is investigated. The first stars were born in clouds composed of the pristine gas without heavy elements. These stars accreted gas polluted with heavy elements while they still…
We show that the "puzzling" chemical composition observed in the extremely metal poor star HE0107-5240 may be naturally explained by the concurrent pollution of at least two supernovae. In the simplest possible model a supernova of quite…
The early Universe presented a star formation environment that was almost devoid of heavy elements. The lowest metallicity stars thus provide a unique window into the earliest Galactic stages, but are exceedingly rare and difficult to find.…
Stars formed with initial mass over 50 Msun are very rare today, but they are thought to be more common in the early universe. The fates of those early, metal-poor, massive stars are highly uncertain. Most are expected to directly collapse…
Massive star evolution at low metallicity is closely connected to many fields in high-redshift astrophysics, but poorly understood. The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a unique laboratory to study this because of its metallicity of 0.2…
Dust grains in low-metallicity star-forming regions may be responsible for the formation of the first low-mass stars. The minimal conditions to activate dust-induced fragmentation require the gas to be pre-enriched above a critical…
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…
The chemical composition of the most metal-deficient stars reflects the composition of the gas from which they formed. These old stars provide crucial clues to the star formation history and the synthesis of chemical elements in the early…
The chemical composition of stars with extremely low metal contents (taking ``metals'' to mean all elements other than hydrogen and helium) provides us with information on the masses of the stars that produced the first metals. Such a…
We consider a small sample of oxygen-rich, asymptotic giant branch stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, observed by the Spitzer Space Telescope, exhibiting a peculiar spectral energy distribution, which can be hardly explained by the common…