Related papers: Halo Star Abundances and Heavy Element Nucleosynth…
We present new abundance determinations of neutron-capture elements Ge, Zr, Os, Ir, and Pt in a sample of 11 metal-poor (-3.1 <= [Fe/H] <= -1.6) Galactic halo giant stars, based on Hubble Space Telescope UV and Keck I optical…
We present new abundance observations of neutron-capture elements in Galactic stars. These include new Hubble Space Telescope (HST) detections of the elements Ge, Zr and Pt in a group of 11 halo stars. Correlations between these elements…
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…
Abundance observations indicate the presence of rapid-neutron capture (i.e., r-process) elements in old Galactic halo and globular cluster stars. Recent observations of the r-process-enriched star BD +17 3248 include new abundance…
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…
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…
We present a nearly complete rapid neutron-capture process (r-process) chemical inventory of the metal-poor ([Fe/H] = -1.46 +/- 0.10) r-process-enhanced ([Eu/Fe] = +1.32 +/- 0.08) halo star HD 222925. This abundance set is the most complete…
In a brief review of abundances neutron-capture elements (Z > ~30) in metal-poor halo stars, attention is called to their star-to-star scatter, the dominance of r-process synthesis at lowest metallicities, the puzzle of the lighter members…
First results are reported of a new abundance study of neutron-capture elements in the ultra-metal-poor (UMP; [Fe/H] = -3.1) halo field giant star CS 22892-052. Using new high resolution, high signal-to-noise spectra, abundances of more…
New high resolution, very high signal-to-noise spectra of ultra-metal-poor (UMP) giant stars HD 115444 and HD 122563 have been gathered with the High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer of the McDonald Observatory 2.7m Telescope. With these…
Neutron-capture-enhanced, metal-poor stars are of central importance to developing an understanding of the operation of the r-process in the early Galaxy, thought to be responsible for the formation of roughly half of all elements beyond…
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…
We report on a detailed abundance analysis of the r-process enhanced giant star, HE 2252-4225 ([Fe/H] = -2.63, [r/Fe] = 0.80). Determination of stellar parameters and element abundances was based on analysis of high-quality VLT/UVES…
We obtained high resolution, high S/N spectroscopy for the very metal-poor star HD122563 with the Subaru Telescope High Dispersion Spectrograph. Previous studies have shown that this object has excesses of light neutron-capture elements,…
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 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…
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 review recent observational studies of heavy element abundances in low metallicity stars and explore some implications of these results for nucleosynthesis and early Galactic chemical evolution.
Elements heavier than the iron group are found in nearly all halo stars. A substantial number of these elements, key to understanding neutron-capture nucleosynthesis mechanisms, can only be detected in the near-ultraviolet. We report the…
We have combined new high-resolution spectra obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and ground-based facilities to make a comprehensive new abundance analysis of the metal-poor, halo star BD +17^\circ 3248. We have detected the…