Chemical abundance analysis of symbiotic giants - II. AE Ara, BX Mon, KX TrA, and CL Sco

TL;DR

This study analyzes the elemental abundances of symbiotic giant stars using high-resolution near-IR spectra to understand their chemical composition, evolution, and mass transfer history, revealing sub-solar metallicities and evidence of stellar dredge-up processes.

Contribution

First detailed high-resolution IR spectral analysis of multiple symbiotic giants, providing new insights into their chemical abundances and evolutionary states.

Findings

Sub-solar metallicities in BX Mon, KX TrA, and CL Sco.

AE Ara has near-solar metallicity.

Evidence of first dredge-up in all studied giants.

Abstract

Knowledge of the elemental abundances of symbiotic giants is essential to address the role of chemical composition in the evolution of symbiotic binaries, to map their parent population, and to trace their mass transfer history. However, there are few symbiotic giants for which the photospheric abundances are fairly well determined. This is the second in a series of papers on chemical composition of symbiotic giants determined from high-resolution (R ~ 50000) near-IR spectra. Results are presented for the late-type giant star in the AE Ara, BX Mon, KX TrA, and CL Sco systems. Spectrum synthesis employing standard local thermal equilibrium (LTE) analysis and stellar atmosphere models were used to obtain photospheric abundances of CNO and elements around the iron peak (Sc, Ti, Fe, and Ni). Our analysis resulted in sub-solar metallicities in BX Mon, KX TrA, and CL Sco by [Fe/H] ~ -0.3 or -0.5 depending on the value of microturbulence. AE Ara shows metallicity closer to solar by ~0.2 dex. The enrichment in 14N isotope found in all these objects indicates that the giants have experienced the first dredge-up. In the case of BX Mon first dredge-up is also confirmed by the low 12C/13C isotopic ratio of ~8.