Emission lines in the optical spectrum of 3 Cen A

Abstract

Previously, weak emission lines had been detected at red wavelengths in the spectra of a limited sample of mid to late B type main sequence stars. A fuller description of the occurrence and origins of these lines has yet to be forwarded, in part due to the lack of observations detailing the spectral transitions involved. To address this deficiency, we present a line list of weak emission features found in the optical and near infrared spectral region of the chemically peculiar He-weak star 3 Cen A (HD 120709). Nearly 350 features, mostly associated with allowed transitions from high-excitation states of first ions, are catalogued along with identifications. Prominent among the emission lines are the spectra P II, Mn II, Fe II, Ni II and Cu II. Emission lines from Ca II, Si II and Hg II are also evident. Abundances are determined for several elements from synthetic spectrum fitting, with anomalies detected for the ions O I/II, P II/III and Si II/III. The LTE synthetic spectrum fitting also revealed that the low excitation 4s−4p transitions of Fe II predict an abundance that is greater than that determined from higher excitation 4d−4f transitions. Several of these latter transitions have upper energy levels that are found to be associated with emission lines. We also present empirical considerations for the excitation processes leading to the weak emission lines.