Dex For Stars Research Articles

Improving metallicity estimates for very metal-poor stars in the Gaia DR3 GSP-Spec catalog

Context. In the latest Gaia Data Release (DR3), the GSP-Spec module has provided stellar parameters and chemical abundances measured from the RVS spectra alone. However, the GSP-Spec parameters – including metallicity – for very metal-poor (VMP; [Fe/H] < −2) stars suffer from parameter degeneracy due to a lack of information in their spectra, and are therefore affected by a large measurement uncertainty and systematic offset. Furthermore, the recommended quality cuts filter out the majority (~80%) of the VMP stars because some of them are confused with hot stars or with cool K- and M-type giants, for which the current pipeline is known to have problems. Aims. We aim to provide more precise metallicity estimates for VMP stars analyzed by the GSP-Spec module by taking photometric information into account in the analysis and breaking the degeneracy. Methods. We reanalyzed FGK-type stars in the GSP-Spec catalog by computing the Ca triplet equivalent widths from the published set of GSP-Spec stellar parameters. We compared these recovered equivalent widths with the values directly measured from public Gaia RVS spectra and investigated the precision of the recovered values and the parameter range within which the recovered values are reliable. We then converted the recovered equivalent widths to metallicities by adopting photometric temperatures and surface gravities that we derive based on Gaia and 2MASS catalogs. Results. The recovered equivalent widths agree with the directly measured values with a scatter of 0.05 dex for the stars that pass the GSP-Spec quality cuts. Among the stars recommended for filtering out, we observe a similar scatter for FGK-type stars initially misidentified as hot stars. Contrarily, we find a poorer agreement, in general, for stars that the GSP-Spec identifies as cool K- and M-type giants, although we can still define subsets that show reasonable agreement. At the low-metallicity end ([Fe/H] < −1.5), our metallicity estimates have a typical uncertainty of 0.18 dex, which is about half of the quoted GSP-Spec metallicity uncertainty at the same metallicity. Our metallicities also show better agreement with the high-resolution literature values than the original GSP-Spec metallicities at low metallicity; the scatter in the comparison decreases from 0.36–0.46 dex to 0.17−0.29 dex for stars that satisfy the GSP-Spec quality cuts. While the GSP-Spec metallicities show increasing scatter when misidentified “hot” stars and the subsets of the “cool K- and M-type giants” are included (up to 1.06 dex), we can now identify them as FGK-type stars and provide metallicities that show a small scatter in the comparisons (up to 0.34 dex), which helps us to increase the number of VMP stars with reliable and precise metallicity. Conclusions. The inclusion of photometric information greatly contributes to breaking parameter degeneracy, enabling precise metallicity estimates for VMP stars from Gaia RVS spectra. We produce a publicly available catalog of bright metal-poor stars suitable for high-resolution follow-up. The sample contains about 2345 VMP stars with an estimated contamination rate of 5%.

Determination of Sodium Abundance Ratio from Low-resolution Stellar Spectra and Its Applications

Abstract We present a method to determine sodium abundance ratios ([Na/Fe]) using the Na i D doublet lines in low-resolution (R ∼ 2000) stellar spectra. As stellar Na i D lines are blended with those produced by the interstellar medium, we developed a technique for removing the interstellar Na i D lines using the relationship between extinction, which is proportional to E(B − V), and the equivalent width of the interstellar Na i D absorption lines. When measuring [Na/Fe], we also considered corrections for nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) effects. Comparisons with data from high-resolution spectroscopic surveys suggest that the expected precision of [Na/Fe] from low-resolution spectra is better than 0.3 dex for stars with [Fe/H] > −3.0. We also present a simple application employing the estimated [Na/Fe] values for a large number of stellar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). After classifying the SDSS stars into Na-normal, Na-high, and Na-extreme, we explore their relation to stars in Galactic globular clusters (GCs). We find that while the Na-high SDSS stars exhibit a similar metallicity distribution function (MDF) to that of the GCs, indicating that the majority of such stars may have originated from GC debris, the MDF of the Na-normal SDSS stars follows that of typical disk and halo stars. As there is a high fraction of carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars among the Na-extreme stars, they may have a non-GC origin, perhaps due to mass-transfer events from evolved binary companions.

The Photometric Metallicity and Carbon Distributions of the Milky Way’s Halo and Solar Neighborhood from S-PLUS Observations of SDSS Stripe 82

Abstract We report photometric estimates of effective temperature, T eff, metallicity, [Fe/H], carbonicity, [C/Fe], and absolute carbon abundances, A(C), for over 700,000 stars from the Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS) Data Release 2, covering a substantial fraction of the equatorial Sloan Digital Sky Survey Stripe 82. We present an analysis for two stellar populations: (1) halo main-sequence turnoff stars and (2) K-dwarf stars of mass 0.58 < M/M ⊙ < 0.75 in the Solar Neighborhood. Application of the Stellar Photometric Index Network Explorer (SPHINX) to the mixed-bandwidth (narrow- plus wide-band) filter photometry from S-PLUS produces robust estimates of the metallicities and carbon abundances in stellar atmospheres over a wide range of temperatures, 4250 < T eff(K) < 7000. The use of multiple narrow-band S-PLUS filters enables SPHINX to achieve substantially lower levels of “catastrophic failures” (i.e., large offsets in metallicity estimates relative to spectroscopic determinations) than previous efforts using a single metallicity-sensitive narrow-band filter. We constrain the exponential slope of the Milky Way’s K-dwarf halo metallicity distribution function (MDF), λ 10,[Fe/H] = 0.85 ± 0.21, over the metallicity range −2.5 < [Fe/H] < −1.0; the MDF of our local-volume K-dwarf sample is well-represented by a gamma distribution with parameters α = 2.8 and β = 4.2. S-PLUS photometry obtains absolute carbon abundances with a precision of ∼0.35 dex for stars with T eff < 6500 K. We identify 364 candidate carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars, obtain assignments of these stars into the Yoon–Beers morphological groups in the A(C)-[Fe/H] space, and we derive the CEMP frequencies.

On the estimation of stellar parameters with uncertainty prediction from Generative Artificial Neural Networks: application toGaiaRVS simulated spectra

Aims. We present an innovative artificial neural network (ANN) architecture, called Generative ANN (GANN), that computes the forward model, that is it learns the function that relates the unknown outputs (stellar atmospheric parameters, in this case) to the given inputs (spectra). Such a model can be integrated in a Bayesian framework to estimate the posterior distribution of the outputs. Methods. The architecture of the GANN follows the same scheme as a normal ANN, but with the inputs and outputs inverted. We train the network with the set of atmospheric parameters (Teff, logg, [Fe/H] and [alpha/Fe]), obtaining the stellar spectra for such inputs. The residuals between the spectra in the grid and the estimated spectra are minimized using a validation dataset to keep solutions as general as possible. Results. The performance of both conventional ANNs and GANNs to estimate the stellar parameters as a function of the star brightness is presented and compared for different Galactic populations. GANNs provide significantly improved parameterizations for early and intermediate spectral types with rich and intermediate metallicities. The behaviour of both algorithms is very similar for our sample of late-type stars, obtaining residuals in the derivation of [Fe/H] and [alpha/Fe] below 0.1dex for stars with Gaia magnitude Grvs<12, which accounts for a number in the order of four million stars to be observed by the Radial Velocity Spectrograph of the Gaia satellite. Conclusions. Uncertainty estimation of computed astrophysical parameters is crucial for the validation of the parameterization itself and for the subsequent exploitation by the astronomical community. GANNs produce not only the parameters for a given spectrum, but a goodness-of-fit between the observed spectrum and the predicted one for a given set of parameters. Moreover, they allow us to obtain the full posterior distribution...

SYSTEMATIC Non-LTE STUDY OF THE −2.6 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ 0.2 F AND G DWARFS IN THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD. I. STELLAR ATMOSPHERE PARAMETERS

We present atmospheric parameters for 51 nearby FG dwarfs uniformly distributed over the -2.60 < [Fe/H] < +0.20 metallicity range that is suitable for the Galactic chemical evolution research. Lines of iron, Fe I and Fe II, were used to derive a homogeneous set of effective temperatures, surface gravities, iron abundances, and microturbulence velocities. We used high-resolution (R>60000) Shane/Hamilton and CFHT/ESPaDOnS observed spectra and non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) line formation for Fe I and Fe II in the classical 1D model atmospheres. The spectroscopic method was tested with the 20 benchmark stars, for which there are multiple measurements of the infrared flux method (IRFM) Teff and their Hipparcos parallax error is < 10%. We found NLTE abundances from lines of Fe I and Fe II to be consistent within 0.06 dex for every benchmark star, when applying a scaling factor of S_H = 0.5 to the Drawinian rates of inelastic Fe+H collisions. The obtained atmospheric parameters were checked for each program star by comparing its position in the log g-Teff plane with the theoretical evolutionary track in the Yi et al. (2004) grid. Our final effective temperatures lie in between the T_IRFM scales of Alonso et al. (1996) and Casagrande et al. (2011), with a mean difference of +46 K and -51 K, respectively. NLTE leads to higher surface gravity compared with that for LTE. The shift in log g is smaller than 0.1 dex for stars with either [Fe/H] > -0.75, or Teff < 5750 K, or log g > 4.20. NLTE analysis is crucial for the VMP turn-off and subgiant stars, for which the shift in log g between NLTE and LTE can be up to 0.5 dex. The obtained atmospheric parameters will be used in the forthcoming papers to determine NLTE abundances of important astrophysical elements from lithium to europium and to improve observational constraints on the chemo-dynamical models of the Galaxy evolution.

Metallicity calibration for solar type stars based on red spectra

Based on a high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) spectral analysis of 90 solar-type stars, we have established several new metallicity calibrations in the Teff range [5600, 6500] K based on red spectra with the wavelength range of 560–880 nm. The new metallicity calibrations are applied to determine the metallicity of solar analogs selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectra. There is a good consistent result with the adopted value presented in SDSS-DR7 and a small scatter of 0.26 dex for stars with S/N > 50 being obtained. This study provides a new reliable way to derive the metallicity for solar-like stars with low resolution spectra. In particular, our calibrations are useful for finding metal-rich stars, which are missing in the SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline.

The ilium forward modelling algorithm for multivariate parameter estimation and its application to derive stellar parameters fromGaiaspectrophotometry

I introduce an algorithm for estimating parameters from multidimensional data based on forward modelling. In contrast to many machine learning approaches it avoids fitting an inverse model and the problems associated with this. The algorithm makes explicit use of the sensitivities of the data to the parameters, with the goal of better treating parameters which only have a weak impact on the data. The forward modelling approach provides uncertainty (full covariance) estimates in the predicted parameters as well as a goodness-of-fit for observations. I demonstrate the algorithm, ILIUM, with the estimation of stellar astrophysical parameters (APs) from simulations of the low resolution spectrophotometry to be obtained by Gaia. The AP accuracy is competitive with that obtained by a support vector machine. For example, for zero extinction stars covering a wide range of metallicity, surface gravity and temperature, ILIUM can estimate Teff to an accuracy of 0.3% at G=15 and to 4% for (lower signal-to-noise ratio) spectra at G=20. [Fe/H] and logg can be estimated to accuracies of 0.1-0.4dex for stars with G<=18.5. If extinction varies a priori over a wide range (Av=0-10mag), then Teff and Av can be estimated quite accurately (3-4% and 0.1-0.2mag respectively at G=15), but there is a strong and ubiquitous degeneracy in these parameters which limits our ability to estimate either accurately at faint magnitudes. Using the forward model we can map these degeneracies (in advance), and thus provide a complete probability distribution over solutions. (Abridged)

Calibrating M-Dwarf Metallicities Using Molecular Indices: Extension to Low-metallicity Stars

ABSTRACTWe have calculated Fe and Ti abundances in 12 low-metallicity main sequence M stars using high-resolution spectra. These subdwarf and extreme-subdwarf stars allow us to extend our calibration of a method to determine cool-dwarf-star metallicities using molecular band strength indices from low-resolution spectra. Our calibration can now be used to determine metallicity to within ± 0.3 dex for stars with [Fe/H] between -1.5 and +0.05 and temperatures between 3500 and 4000 K. We also report a method to estimate temperatures for M dwarfs using equivalent width measurements of the infrared Ca II triplet and the K I line at 7699 Å. Our metallicity measurements show that the recently proposed classification system for low-mass stars (dwarfs, subdwarfs, extreme subdwarfs, and ultrasubdwarfs) does represent a metallicity sequence, with the ultrasubdwarfs the most metal-poor stars.

THE SEGUE STELLAR PARAMETER PIPELINE. II. VALIDATION WITH GALACTIC GLOBULAR AND OPEN CLUSTERS

We validate the accuracy and precision of the current SEGUE (Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration) Stellar Parameter Pipeline (SSPP), which determines stellar atmospheric parameters (effective temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity) and radial velocities (RVs), by comparing these estimates for selected members of three globular clusters (M 13, M 15, and M 2) and two open clusters (NGC 2420 and M 67) to the literature values. Spectroscopic and photometric data obtained during the course of the original Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-I) and its first extension (SDSS-II/SEGUE) are used to determine atmospheric parameter and RV estimates for stars in these clusters. Based on the scatter in the metallicities derived for the members of each cluster, we quantify the typical uncertainty of the SSPP values, σ ([Fe/H]) = 0.13 dex for stars in the range of –0.3 ≤ g – r ≤ 1.3 and 2.0 ≤ log g ≤ 5.0, at least over the metallicity interval spanned by the clusters studied (–2.3 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ 0). The surface gravities and effective temperatures derived by the SSPP are also compared with those estimated from the comparison of color-magnitude diagrams with stellar evolution models; we find satisfactory agreement (σ(T eff)< 200 K and σ(log g) ≤ 0.4 dex).

Estimation of Carbon Abundances in Metal-Poor Stars. I. Application to the Strong G-Band Stars of Beers, Preston, and Shectman

We develop and test a method for the estimation of metallicities ([Fe/H]) and carbon abundance ratios ([C/Fe]) for carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars based on the application of artificial neural networks, regressions, and synthesis models to medium-resolution (1–2 A) spectra and J - K colors. We calibrate this method by comparison with metallicities and carbon abundance determinations for 118 stars with available high-resolution analyses reported in the recent literature. The neural network and regression approaches make use of a previously defined set of line-strength indices quantifying the strength of the Ca II K line and the CH G band, in conjunction with J - K colors from the Two Micron All Sky Survey Point Source Catalog. The use of near-IR colors, as opposed to broadband B - V colors, is required because of the potentially large affect of molecular carbon bands on bluer color indices. We also explore the practicality of obtaining estimates of carbon abundances for metal-poor stars from the spectral information alone, i.e., without the additional information provided by photometry, as many future samples of CEMP stars may lack such data. We find that although photometric information is required for the estimation of [Fe/H], it provides little improvement in our derived estimates of [C/Fe], and hence, estimates of carbon-to-iron ratios based solely on line indices appear sufficiently accurate for most purposes. Although we find that the spectral synthesis approach yields the most accurate estimates of [C/Fe], in particular for the stars with the strongest molecular bands, it is only marginally better than is obtained from the line index approaches. Using these methods we are able to reproduce the previously measured [Fe/H] and [C/Fe] determinations with an accuracy of ≈0.25 dex for stars in the metallicity interval -5.5 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ -1.0 and with 0.2 ≤ (J - K)0 ≤ 0.8. At higher metallicity, the Ca II K line begins to saturate, especially for the cool stars in our program, and hence, this approach is not useful in some cases. As a first application, we estimate the abundances of [Fe/H] and [C/Fe] for the 56 stars identified as possibly carbon-rich, relative to stars of similar metal abundance, in the sample of strong G-band stars discussed by Beers, Preston, and Shectman.

Stellar and Gaseous Abundances in M82

The near infrared (IR) absorption spectra of starburst galaxies show several atomic and molecular lines from red supergiants which can be used to infer reliable stellar abundances. The metals locked in stars give a picture of the galaxy metallicity prior to the last burst of star formation. The enrichment of the new generation of stars born in the last burst can be traced by measuring the hot gas in the X-rays. For the first time detailed stellar abundances in the nuclear region of the starburst galaxy M82 have been obtained. They are compared with those of the hot gas as derived from an accurate re-analysis of the XMM and Chandra nuclear X-ray spectra. The cool stars and the hot gas suggest [Fe/H]=-0.35+/-0.2 dex, and an overall [Si,Mg/Fe] enhancement by 0.4 and 0.5 dex, respectively. This is consistent with a major chemical enrichment by SNe II explosions in recursive bursts on short timescales. Oxygen is more puzzling to interpret since it is enhanced by 0.3 dex in stars and depleted by 0.2 dex in the hot gas. None of the standard enrichment scenarios can fully explain such a behavior when compared with the other alpha-elements.

The Chemical Inhomogeneity of Faint M13 Stars: Carbon and Nitrogen Abundances

Building upon earlier observations that demonstrate substantial star-to-star differences in the carbon abundances of M13 subgiants, we present new Keck LRIS spectra reaching more that 1.5 mag below the M13 main-sequence turnoff (to V ≈ 20). Our analysis reveals a distribution of C abundances similar to that found among the subgiants, implying little change in the compositions of the M13 stars at least through the main-sequence turnoff. We presume these differences to be the result of some process operating early in the cluster history. Additional spectra of previously studied bright M13 giants have been obtained with the 5 m Hale Telescope. A comparison of C abundances derived using the present methods and those from the literature yield a mean difference of 0.03 ± 0.14 dex for four stars in common with the 1996 study by Smith et al. and 0.14 ± 0.07 dex for stars also observed in Suntzeff's 1981 survey (if one extreme case is removed). We conclude that the lower surface C abundances of these luminous giants as compared with the subgiants and main-sequence stars are likely the result of mixing rather than a difference in our abundance scales. NH band strengths have also been measured for a handful of the most luminous M13 turnoff stars. While molecular band formation in such stars is weak, significant star-to-star NH band strength differences are present. Moreover, for the stars with both C and N measurements, differences between stars in these two elements appear to be anticorrelated. Finally, the most recent C and N abundances for main-sequence, main-sequence turnoff, and subgiant stars in 47 Tuc, M71, M5, and the present M13 data are compared.

Metallicities of the SPB stars from the IUE ultraviolet spectra

We derived the stellar parameters (angular diameters, effective temperatures, metallicities) and interstellar reddenings for 20 SPB and 34 reference stars observed during the IUE satellite mission. The parameters were derived by means of an algorithmic procedure of fitting theoretical flux distributions to the low-resolution IUE spectra and optical spectrophotometric observations. Since the metallicity [m/H] has a special importance for pulsating B type stars, we focused our attention on that parameter. We found that the mean value of the metallicity of the considered SPB and reference stars amounts to [m/H] . The results only slightly depend on the reduction procedure used for the IUE images (NEWSIPS and INES). The metal abundances obtained in this paper are in accordance with the average value of -0.2 dex for stars in the solar neighborhood recently reported by other investigators.

The Composition of HB Stars: RR Lyrae Variables

view Abstract Citations (150) References (142) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS The Composition of HB Stars: RR Lyrae Variables Clementini, G. ; Carretta, E. ; Gratton, R. ; Merighi, R. ; Mould, J. R. ; McCarthy, J. K. Abstract We used moderately high-resolution, high S/N spectra to study the chemical composition of 10 field ab-type RR Lyrae stars. A new temperature scale was determined from literature Infrared Flux Method measures of subdwarfs and the Kurucz (1992) model atmospheres, and used to calibrate colors for both dwarfs and RR Lyraes. The applicability of Kurucz (1992) model atmospheres in the analysis of RR Lyraes at minimum light was analyzed: we found that they are able to reproduce colors, excitation and ionization equilibria as well as the wings of Halpha. We derived abundances for 21 species. The metal abundances of the program stars span the range -2.50<[Fe/H]<+0.17$. Lines of most elements are found to form in LTE conditions. Fe lines satisfy very well the excitation and ionization equilibria. RR Lyraes share the typical abundance pattern of other stars of similar [Fe/H]: alpha-elements are overabundant by about 0.4dex and Mn is underabundant by about 0.6dex in stars with [Fe/H]<-1. Significant departures from LTE are found only for a few species. We used our new [Fe/H] abundances, as well as values from Butler and coworkers (corrected to our system), and from high resolution spectroscopy of globular clusters giants, to obtain a new calibration of the DeltaS index: [Fe/H]= -0.194(\pm 0.011)DeltaS -0.08(\pm 0.18) and to update the metallicity calibration of the Ca II K line index: [Fe/H]= 0.65(\pm 0.17)W'(K) -3.49(\pm 0.39). Finally, our new metallicity scale was used to revise the [Fe/H] dependence of the absolute magnitude of RR Lyrae stars, Mv: Mv = 0.20(\pm 0.03)[Fe/H] + 1.06(\pm 0.04). Publication: The Astronomical Journal Pub Date: November 1995 DOI: 10.1086/117692 arXiv: arXiv:astro-ph/9507056 Bibcode: 1995AJ....110.2319C Keywords: STARS: ABUNDANCES; STARS: VARIABLES: RR LYRAE; Astrophysics E-Print: 59 pages, Latex using aaspp.sty, ps-files of text, tables (21) and figures (23) available from ftp://boas3.bo.astro.it/pub/gisella To appear in October 1995 Astronomical Journal full text sources arXiv | ADS | data products SIMBAD (108) CDS (1)