Chemical Abundances of Main-Sequence, Turn-off, Subgiant and red giant Stars from APOGEE spectra I: Signatures of Diffusion in the Open Cluster M67

TL;DR

This study analyzes chemical abundances in different stellar phases of the open cluster M67 using APOGEE spectra, providing evidence for chemical diffusion effects in stars of this cluster.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed abundance analysis across multiple stellar phases in M67, highlighting signatures of chemical diffusion consistent with stellar models.

Findings

Chemical homogeneity within each stellar class (~0.02 dex)

Significant abundance variations across evolutionary phases (~0.05-0.20 dex)

Good agreement between observed and model-predicted diffusion signatures

Abstract

Detailed chemical abundance distributions for fourteen elements are derived for eight high-probability stellar members of the solar metallicity old open cluster M67 with an age of $\sim$4 Gyr. The eight stars consist of four pairs, with each pair occupying a distinct phase of stellar evolution: two G-dwarfs, two turnoff stars, two G-subgiants, and two red clump K-giants. The abundance analysis uses near-IR high-resolution spectra ($\lambda$1.5 -- 1.7$\mu$m) from the APOGEE survey and derives abundances for C, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, and Fe. Our derived stellar parameters and metallicity for 2M08510076+113115 suggest that this star is a solar-twin, exhibiting abundance differences relative to the Sun of $\leq$ 0.04 dex for all elements. Chemical homogeneity is found within each class of stars ($\sim$0.02 dex), while significant abundance variations ($\sim$0.05 -- 0.20 dex) are found across the different evolutionary phases; the turnoff stars typically have the lowest abundances, while the red clump tend to have the largest. Non-LTE corrections to the LTE-derived abundances are unlikely to explain the differences. A detailed comparison of the derived Fe, Mg, Si, and Ca abundances with recently published surface abundances from stellar models that include chemical diffusion, provides a good match between the observed and predicted abundances as a function of stellar mass. Such agreement would indicate the detection of chemical diffusion processes in the stellar members of M67.