Related papers: Understanding the Elusive Dwarf Carbon Star
Observing the stars in our night sky tells us that giant, supergiant and hypergiant stars hold an unique importance in the understanding of stellar populations. Theoretical stellar models predict a rich tapestry of evolved stars. These…
Spectro-seismic measurements of red giants enabled the recent discovery of stars in the thick disk that are more massive than 1.4 M_sun. While it has been claimed that most of these stars are younger than the rest of the typical thick disk…
Despite the recent discoveries of planets orbiting stars at all evolutionary stages, the evolution of planetary systems remains poorly understood. Studying planetary systems around red giant branch stars can reveal how main sequence…
The convective dredge-up of carbon from the interiors of hydrogen-deficient white dwarfs has long been invoked to explain the presence of carbon absorption features in the spectra of cool DQ stars ($T_{\rm eff} < 10{,}000\,{\rm K}$). It has…
Nearby companions alter the evolution of massive stars in binary systems. Using a sample of Galactic massive stars in nearby young clusters, we simultaneously measure all intrinsic binary characteristics relevant to quantify the frequency…
Any white dwarf or neutron star that accretes enough material from a red giant companion, such that this interaction can be detected at some wavelength, is currently termed Symbiotic Star (typical P(orb)=2-3 years). In the majority of ~400…
We have derived CNO abundances in 12 RR Lyrae stars. Four stars show [C/Fe] near 0.0 and two stars show [C/Fe] = 0.52 and 0.65. Red giant branch stars, which are known to be the predecessors of RR Lyrae stars, generally show a deficiency of…
The Hipparcos orbiting observatory has revealed a large number of helium-core-burning "clump" stars in the Galactic field. These low-mass stars exhibit signatures of extra-mixing processes that require modeling beyond the first dredge-up of…
We discuss the evolution of oxygen, carbon and nitrogen in galaxies of different morphological type by adopting detailed chemical evolution models with different star formation histories (continuous star formation or starbursts). We start…
We study the evolved stellar population of the galaxy Sextans A. This galaxy is one of the lowest metallicity dwarfs in which variable asymptotic giant branch stars have been detected, suggesting that little metal enrichment took place…
Massive stars are among the most important objects in the Universe and many (most?) of them are formed in binaries. A selection of observational and theoretical facts that illustrate the importance of binaries and the evolution of massive…
Carbon stars have been and are extensively studied, given their complex internal structure and their peculiar chemical composition, which make them living laboratories to test stellar structure and evolution theories of evolved stars. They…
The R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars are rare hydrogen-deficient, carbon-rich, supergiants, best known for their spectacular declines in brightness at irregular intervals. Efforts to discover more RCB stars have more than doubled the number…
Galactic bulges are central to understanding galaxy formation and evolution. Here we report on recent studies using micro-lensing events to obtain spectra of high resolution and moderately high signal-to-noise ratios of dwarf stars in the…
Studies of the early chemical evolution of some larger dwarf galaxies ( $>10^7$ solar masses) are limited by the small number of stars known at low metallicities in these systems. Here we present metallicities and carbon abundances for…
White dwarfs (WDs), the evolutionary endpoints of most stars, can form through both single-star and binary channels. While single-star evolutionary models enable reliable WD age estimates, binary evolution introduces interactions that can…
A substantial fraction of metal-poor stars in the local Milky Way halo exhibit large overabundances of carbon. These stars, dubbed Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) stars, provide crucial constraints on the nature of the early universe…
M-dwarf stars -- hydrogen-burning stars that are smaller than 60 per cent of the size of the Sun -- are the most common class of star in our Galaxy and outnumber Sun-like stars by a ratio of 12:1. Recent results have shown that M dwarfs…
Our understanding of large amplitude pulsating stars and their status in stellar evolution is briefly reviewed. The paper then describes the near-infrared light curves of various asymptotic giant branch stars, concentrating on possible…
The early-R stars are carbon-rich K-type giants. They are enhanced in C12, C13 and N14, have approximately solar oxygen, magnesium isotopes, s-process and iron abundances, have the luminosity of core-helium burning stars, are not rapid…