Related papers: Carbon Stars and Nucleosynthesis in Galaxies
The cosmological origin of carbon, the fourth most abundant element in the Universe, is not well known and matter of heavy debate. We investigate the behavior of C/O to O/H in order to constrain the production mechanism of carbon. We…
Nucleosynthesis in the s process takes place in the He burning layers of low mass AGB stars and during the He and C burning phases of massive stars. The s process contributes about half of the element abundances between Cu and Bi in solar…
As the fourth most abundant element in the universe, carbon plays an important role in the physical and chemical evolution of the interstellar medium. Due to its unique property to form three different types of chemical bonds through sp^1,…
We numerically investigate abundance properties of the Galactic globular clusters (GCs) by adopting a new ``external pollution'' scenario. In this framework, GCs are assumed to originate in forming low-mass dwarfs embedded in dark matter…
Globular clusters contain many stars with surface abundance patterns indicating contributions from hydrogen burning products, as seen in the anti-correlated elemental abundances of e.g. sodium and oxygen, and magnesium and aluminium.…
We summarise the evolution and nucleosynthesis in AGB and Super-AGB stars. We then examine the major sources of uncertainty, especially mass-loss.
During the evolution on the AGB, S-type stars are the first objects to experience s-process nucleosynthesis and third dredge-ups, and therefore to exhibit sprocess signatures in their atmospheres. Their significant mass loss rates (10^-7 to…
Elemental abundance ratios as tracers of stellar populations are discussed with emphasis on F, G, and K stars providing a `fossil' record of the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. Most abundance studies have been based on homogeneous 1D…
The chemical evolution of the Galaxy is followed for the elements affected by neutron capture, in particular for those in the atomic number range 56 to 63 (Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm and Eu). Neutrons by the major 13^C source, released in…
The aim of this work is to shed some light on the problem of the formation of carbon stars of R-type from a detailed study of their chemical composition. We use high-resolution and high signal-to-noise optical spectra of 23 R-type stars…
[ABRIDGED] In order to trace the origin and evolution of carbon in the Galactic disk we have determined carbon abundances in 51 nearby F and G dwarf stars. The sample is divided into two kinematically distinct subsamples with 35 and 16…
In stellar astrophysics, the study of the atmospheres of early-type stars plays a very special role. The atmospheres of these stars display a variety of different phenomena, such as the presence of large magnetic fields, strong surface…
The oldest stars hide information about the chemical evolution of the early universe. In this contect new models of the AGB stellar evolution phase at very low and zero metallicity are presented. Due to the deficiency or absence of CNO…
The origin of fluorine is still a debated question. AGB stars synthesise this element and likely contribute significantly to its synthesis in the present-day Universe. However, it is not clear whether other sources contribute, especially in…
Starburst galaxies are powered by massive stars. These stars dominate the heating and enrichment with heavy elements of the interstellar medium, gas out of which new stars form. Thus, high-mass stars, and in consequence starburst galaxies,…
Among stars in Galactic globular clusters the carbon abundance tends to decrease with increasing luminosity on the upper red giant branch, particularly within the lowest metallicity clusters. While such a phenomena is not predicted by…
In this lecture I will introduce the concept of galactic chemical evolution, namely the study of how and where the chemical elements formed and how they were distributed in the stars and gas in galaxies. The main ingredients to build models…
We demonstrate that a massive asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star is a good candidate as the main source of short-lived radionuclides in the early solar system. Recent identification of massive (4-8 solar masses) AGB stars in the Galaxy,…
A popular self--enrichment scenario for the formation of globular clusters assumes that the abundance anomalies shown by the stars in many clusters are due to a second stage of star formation occurring from the matter lost by the winds of…
Ices play a critical role during the evolution of interstellar clouds. Their presence is ubiquitous in the dense molecular medium and their impact is not only limited to chemistry. Species adsorbed onto dust grains also affect cloud…