Production and Recycling of Carbon in the Early Galactic Halo

Abstract

AbstractA large fraction of extremely metal-poor halo stars are strongly enriched in carbon (CEMP stars). The standard scenario for their origin is mass transfer in binary systems, but this assumes that they are binaries. If not, the C must have been implanted in their natal clouds from a distant production site(s) in the preceding - possibly first - generation of stars. The binary population of CEMP subgroups can shed light on these processes.