Metal-Poor Stars Observed with the Magellan Telescope I. Constraints on Progenitor Mass and Metallicity of AGB Stars Undergoing s-Process Nucleosynthesis

TL;DR

This study analyzes two metal-poor, carbon-enhanced stars to understand their nucleosynthesis origins, comparing observed elemental abundances with theoretical AGB star models to constrain progenitor mass and metallicity.

Contribution

It provides detailed abundance measurements of two CEMP stars and compares them with new AGB nucleosynthesis models to infer progenitor characteristics.

Findings

HE2138-3336 has the highest [Pb/Fe] ratio observed, especially with NLTE corrections.

The abundance patterns suggest a narrow progenitor mass range of 1.0-1.3 M☉ and metallicity -2.8 to -2.5.

HE2258-6358's pattern indicates additional processes beyond standard AGB nucleosynthesis.

Abstract

We present a comprehensive abundance analysis of two newly-discovered carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars. HE2138-3336 is a s-process-rich star with [Fe/H] = -2.79, and has the highest [Pb/Fe] abundance ratio measured thus far, if NLTE corrections are included ([Pb/Fe] = +3.84). HE2258-6358, with [Fe/H] = -2.67, exhibits enrichments in both s- and r-process elements. These stars were selected from a sample of candidate metal-poor stars from the Hamburg/ESO objective-prism survey, and followed up with medium-resolution (R ~ 2,000) spectroscopy with GEMINI/GMOS. We report here on derived abundances (or limits) for a total of 34 elements in each star, based on high-resolution (R ~ 30,000) spectroscopy obtained with Magellan-Clay/MIKE. Our results are compared to predictions from new theoretical AGB nucleosynthesis models of 1.3 Mo with [Fe/H] = -2.5 and -2.8, as well as to a set of AGB models of 1.0 to 6.0 Mo at [Fe/H] = -2.3. The agreement with the model predictions suggests that the neutron-capture material in HE2138-3336 originated from mass transfer from a binary companion star that previously went through the AGB phase, whereas for HE2258-6358, an additional process has to be taken into account to explain its abundance pattern. We find that a narrow range of progenitor masses (1.0 < M(Mo) < 1.3) and metallicities (-2.8 < [Fe/H] < -2.5) yield the best agreement with our observed elemental abundance patterns.