Population II stars and the Spite plateau; Stellar evolution models with mass loss

TL;DR

This study investigates how stellar mass loss influences chemical abundances in metal-poor dwarf stars, comparing models with mass loss and turbulent mixing to better understand the observed lithium plateau.

Contribution

It introduces self-consistent stellar evolution models including atomic diffusion, radiative accelerations, and mass loss, providing new insights into surface abundances and stellar evolution.

Findings

Mass loss rates of about 10e-12 Msun produce surface abundances similar to turbulence models.

Models with mass loss better match lithium observations in some globular cluster stars.

Higher mass loss rates are unlikely based on solar analogs, but chromospheric activity suggests further study.

Abstract

We aim to determine the constraints that observed chemical abundances put on the potential role of mass loss in metal poor dwarfs. Self-consistent stellar evolutionary models that include all the effects of atomic diffusion and radiative accelerations for 28 chemical species were computed for stellar masses between 0.6 and 0.8 Msun. Models with an initial metallicity of Z_0=0.00017 and mass loss rates from 10e-15 Msun to 10e-12 Msun were calculated. They were then compared to previous models with mass loss, as well as to models with turbulent mixing. For models with an initial metallicity of Fe/H=-2.31, mass loss rates of about 10e-12 Msun lead to surface abundance profiles that are very similar to those obtained in models with turbulence. Both models have about the same level of agreement with observations of galactic-halo lithium abundances, as well as lithium and other elemental abundances from metal poor globular clusters such as NGC 6397. In this cluster, models with mass loss agree slightly better with subgiant observations of Li abundance than those with turbulence. Lower red giant branch stars instead favor the models with turbulence. Larger differences between models with mass loss and those with turbulence appear in the interior concentrations of metals. The relatively high mass loss rates required to reproduce plateau-like lithium abundances appear unlikely when compared to the solar mass-loss rate. However the presence of a chromosphere on these stars justifies further investigation of the mass-loss rates.