The Abundance of Lead in Four Metal-Poor Stars

TL;DR

This study measures lead abundances in four metal-poor stars using UV spectra, revealing that their lead levels are consistent with r-process production and only modest s-process contribution, refining understanding of heavy element origins.

Contribution

It provides detailed lead abundance measurements in four metal-poor stars, clarifying the relative roles of r- and s-processes in their heavy element composition.

Findings

Lead abundances are consistent with r-process dominance.

Modest s-process contribution suggested by spectral analysis.

All four stars show similar lead levels, supporting existing nucleosynthesis models.

Abstract

Cowan et al. (2021) review how roughly half the elements heavier than iron found in the Sun are produced by rapid neutron capture and half by slow neutron capture, the r- and s-processes. In the Sun, their relative contribution to individual elemental abundances is well understood, except for the lightest and heaviest elements beyond iron. Their contributions are especially uncertain for the heaviest non-radioactive element, lead (Pb, Z=82). This is constrained by deriving lead abundances in metal-poor stars. For in the most metal-poor halo stars, strontium and heavier elements are found in the solar r-process proportion; s-process elements appear only at metallicities above one-thirtieth solar. In unevolved metal-poor stars of roughly solar heavy-element content, only two UV Pb lines are detectable. Four such stars have high-resolution spectra of the strongest line, Pb II at 2203.53A. Roederer et al. (2020) analyzed this line in one star, deriving a lead-to-iron abundance ratio ten times solar. This and its blue-shifted profile suggested strong s-process production. This work analyzes the UV spectra of all four stars. Calculations including a predicted Fe I line blueward of the Pb II line, and assuming the lead abundance scales with r-process abundances, match all four profiles extremely well. A scaled s-process contribution might improve the match to the much lower lead abundance found in the unevolved star analyzed previously, but its s-process excess is modest. An Fe II line blends the other lead line, Pb I at 2833.05A, which constrains the lead abundance only in the coolest star.