Convection and 6Li in the atmospheres of metal-poor halo stars

TL;DR

This study uses advanced 3D hydrodynamical and non-LTE modeling to reassess 6Li abundance in metal-poor halo stars, significantly reducing previous detections and questioning the existence of a 6Li plateau.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive 3D NLTE approach to correct 6Li abundance estimates, providing a more accurate assessment of 6Li presence in halo stars.

Findings

6Li/7Li ratios are reduced by about 1.5% after correction.

Number of significant 6Li detections decreases from 9 to 4.

The existence of a 6Li plateau is likely questionable.

Abstract

Based on 3D hydrodynamical model atmospheres computed with the CO5BOLD code and 3D non-LTE (NLTE) line formation calculations, we study the effect of the convection-induced line asymmetry on the derived 6Li abundance for a range in effective temperature, gravity, and metallicity covering the stars of the Asplund et al. (2006) sample. When the asymmetry effect is taken into account for this sample of stars, the resulting 6Li/7Li ratios are reduced by about 1.5% on average with respect to the isotopic ratios determined by Asplund et al. (2006). This purely theoretical correction diminishes the number of significant 6Li detections from 9 to 4 (2 sigma criterion), or from 5 to 2 (3 sigma criterion). In view of this result the existence of a 6Li plateau appears questionable. A careful reanalysis of individual objects by fitting the observed lithium 6707 A doublet both with 3D NLTE and 1D LTE synthetic line profiles confirms that the inferred 6Li abundance is systematically lower when using 3D NLTE instead of 1D LTE line fitting. Nevertheless, halo stars with unquestionable 6Li detection do exist even if analyzed in 3D-NLTE, the most prominent example being HD 84937.