Related papers: Th Ages for Metal-Poor Stars
Rapid neutron-capture (i.e., r-process) nucleosynthesis calculations, employing internally consistent and physically realistic nuclear physics input (QRPA beta-decay rates and the ETFSI-Q nuclear mass model), have been made. These…
We report thorium abundances for 77 metal-poor stars in the metallicity range of -3.5<[Fe/H]}<-1.0, based on "snapshot" spectra obtained with VLT-UT2/UVES during the HERES Survey. We were able to determine the thorium abundances with better…
The abundance patterns of metal-poor stars provide us a wealth of chemical information about various stages of the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. In particular, these stars allow us to study the formation and evolution of the elements…
The productions of thorium and uranium are key ingredients in $r$-process nucleo-cosmochronology. With the combination of improved nuclear and stellar data, we have made detailed investigations on the $r$-process abundance pattern in the…
The ages of the oldest and most metal-poor stars in the Milky Way bear important information on the age of the Universe and its standard model. We analyze a sample of 28 extremely metal-poor field stars in the solar vicinity culled from the…
The discovery of the second highly $r$-process-enhanced, extremely metal-poor star, CS 31082-001 ([Fe/H] $= -2.9$) has provided a powerful new tool for age determination, by virtue of the detection and measurement of the radioactive species…
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,…
We present the abundance analyses for the neutron-capture elements, and discuss the observed abundance distributions in very metal-poor stars with excesses of r-process elements. As has been found by previous abundance studies, the…
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…
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…
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…
Observations of metal-poor Galactic halo stars indicate that the abundance pattern of the (heaviest) neutron-capture elements is consistent with the scaled solar system r-process abundances. Utilizing the radioactive (r-process) element…
Moderately r-process-enriched stars (r-I) are at least four times as common as those that are greatly enriched in r-process elements (r-II), and the abundances in their atmospheres are important tools for obtaining a better understanding of…
The r-process production in the early universe has been well constrained by the extensive studies of metal-poor stars. However, the r-process enrichment in the metal-rich regime is still not well understood. In this study, we examine the…
The abundance patterns of metal-poor stars provide us a wealth of chemical information about various stages of the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. In particular, these stars allow us to study the formation and evolution of the elements…
The cosmic age is an important physical quantity in cosmology. Based on the radiometric method, a reliable lower limit of the cosmic age is derived to be $15.68\pm 1.95$ Gyr by using the $r$-process abundances inferred for the solar system…
The dispersion and mean trends of r-process abundances in metal-poor stars are discussed based on a model of diverse supernova sources for the r-process. This model is unique in that its key parameters are inferred from solar system data…
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…
We review recent observational and theoretical results concerning the presence of actinide nuclei on the surfaces of old halo stars and their use as an age determinant. We present model calculations which show that the observed universality…
There has been a concerted effort in recent years to identify the astrophysical sites of the $r$-process that can operate early in the Galaxy. The discovery of many $r$-process-enhanced (RPE) stars (especially by the $R$-process Alliance…