Heavy element synthesis in the oldest stars and the early Universe

Nature

Volumn 440, Issue 7088, 2006, Pages 1151-1156

  Cowan, John J ^a   Sneden, Christopher ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ASTROPHYSICS; HELIUM; SOLAR SYSTEM;

STARS; SUPERNOVAE EXPLOSIONS; UNIVERSE;

GALAXIES;

ELEMENT; HELIUM; HYDROGEN; LITHIUM; UNCLASSIFIED DRUG;

EXPLOSION; EXTRATERRESTRIAL MATTER; EXTRATROPICAL ENVIRONMENT; HELIUM; HYDROGEN; PLANET;

COSMOLOGICAL PHENOMENA; COSMOS; EVOLUTION; EXPLOSION; HEAVY ELEMENT; PRIORITY JOURNAL; REVIEW; STAR; SUPERNOVA EXPLOSION; SYNTHESIS;

EID: 33646339937     PISSN: 00280836     EISSN: 14764687     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1038/nature04807     Document Type: Review

References (83)

1. Truran, J. W., Cowan, J. J., Pilachowski, C. A. & Sneden, C. Probing the neutron-capture nucleosynthesis history of galactic matter. Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacif. 114, 1293-1308 (2002).
2. Sneden, C. & Cowan, J. J. The genesis of the heaviest elements in the Milky Way galaxy. Science 299, 70-75 (2003).
3. Beers, T. C. & Christlieb, N. The discovery and analysis of very metal-poor stars in the galaxy. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 43, 531-580 (2005).
4. Cowan, J. J. & Thielemann, F.-K. R-process nucleosynthesis in supernovae. Phys. Today 57, 47-53 (2004).
5. Cowan, J. J. & Sneden, C. in Carnegie Observatories Astrophysics Series, Vol. 4: Origin and Evolution of the Elements (ed. McWilliam, A. & Rauch, M.), 27-42 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004).
6. Spite, M. & Spite, F. Nucleosynthesis in the Galaxy and the chemical composition of old halo stars. Astron. Astrophys. 67, 23-31 (1978).
7. Sneden, C. & Parthasarathy, M. The r- and s-process nuclei in the early history of the galaxy - HD122563. Astrophys. J. 267, 757-778 (1983).
8. Sneden, C. & Pilachowski, C. A. An extremely metal-poor star with r-process overabundances. Astrophys. J. 288, L55-L58 (1985).
9. Gilroy, K. K., Sneden, C., Pilachowski, C. A. & Cowan, J. J. Abundances of neutron capture elements in Population II stars. Astrophys. J. 327, 298-320 (1988).
10. Gratton, R. & Sneden, C. Abundances of neutron-capture elements in metal-poor stars. Astron. Astrophys. 287, 927-946 (1994).
11. McWilliam, A., Preston, G. W., Sneden, C. & Searle, L. Spectroscopic analysis of 33 of the most metal poor stars. II. Astron. J. 109, 2757-2799 (1995).
12. Cowan, J. J., Burris, D. L., Sneden, C., McWilliam, A. & Preston, G. W. Evidence of heavy element nucleosynthesis early in the history of the galaxy: the ultra-metal-poor star CS22892-052. Astrophys. J. 439, L51-L54 (1995).
13. Sneden, C. et al. The ultrametal-poor, neutron-capture-rich giant star CS22892-052. Astrophys. J. 467, 819-840 (1996).
14. Ryan, S. G., Norris, J. E. & Beers, T. C. Extremely metal-poor stars. II. Elemental abundances and the early chemical enrichment of the Galaxy. Asromphys. J. 471, 254-278 (1996).
15. Burris, D. L. et al. Neutron-capture elements in the early Galaxy: Insights from a large sample of metal-poor giants. Astrophys. J. 544, 302-319 (2000).
16. Sneden, C. et al. The extremely metal-poor neutron capture-rich star CS22892-052: a comprehensive abundance analysis. Astrophys. J. 591, 936-953 (2003).
17. Hill, V. et al. First stars. I. The extreme r-element rich, iron-poor halo giant CS31082-001. Implications for the r-process site(s) and radioactive cosmochronology. Astron. Astrophys. 387, 560-579 (2002).
18. Christlieb, N. et al. The Hamburg/ESO R-process Enhanced Star survey (HERES). I. Project description, and discovery of two stars with strong enhancements of neutron-capture elements. Astron. Astrophys. 428, 1027 (2004).
19. Barklem, P. S. et al. The Hamburg/ESO R-process enhanced star survey (HERES). II. Spectroscopic analysis of the survey sample. Astron. Astrophys. 439, 129 (2005).
20. Christlieb, N. et al. A stellar relic from the early Milky Way. Nature 419, 904-906 (2002).
21. Frebel, A. et al. Nucleosynthetic signatures of the first stars. Nature 434, 871-873 (2005).
22. Butcher, H. R. Thorium in G-dwarf stars as a chronometer for the Galaxy. Nature 328, 127-131 (1987).
23. François, P., Spite, M. & Spite, F. On the galactic age problem: determination of the Th/Eu ratio in halo stars. Astron. Astrophys. 274, 821-824 (1993).
24. Westin, J., Sneden, C., Gustafsson, B. & Cowan, J. J. The r-process enriched low-metallicity giant HD 115444. Astrophys. J. 530, 783-799 (2000).
25. Johnson, J. A. & Bolte, M. Th ages for metal-poor stars. Astrophys. J. 554, 888-902 (2001).
26. Cowan, J. J. et al. The chemical composition and age of the metal-poor halo star BD+17°3248. Astrophys. J. 572, 861-879 (2002).
27. Honda, S. et al. Spectroscopic studies of extremely metal-poor stars with the Subaru High Dispersion Spectrograph. II. The r-process elements, including thorium. Astrophys. J. 606, 474-498 (2004).
28. Ivans, I. et al. Near-UV observations of HD 221170: new insights into the nature of r-process-rich stars. Astrophys. J. (in the press).
29. Cayrel, R. et al. Measurement of stellar age from uranium decay. Nature 409, 691-692 (2001).
30. Burbidge, E. M., Burbidge, G. R., Fowler, W. A. & Hoyle, F. Synthesis of the elements in stars. Rev. Mod. Phys. 29, 547-650 (1957).
31. Cameron, A. G. W. Nuclear reactions in stars and nucleosynthesis. Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacif. 69, 201-222 (1957).
32. Busso, M., Gallino, R. & Wasserburg, G. J. Nucleosynthesis in asymptotic giant branch stars: relevance for galactic enrichment and Solar System formation. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 37, 239-309 (1999).
33. Cowan, J. J., Thielemann, F.-K. & Truran, J. W. The R-process and nucleochronology. Phys. Rep. 208, 267-394 (1991).
34. Woosley, S. E., Wilson, J. R., Mathews, G. J., Hoffman, R. D. & Meyer, B. S. The r-process and neutrino-heated supernova ejecta. Astrophys. J. 433, 229-246 (1994).
35. Takahashi, K., Witti, J. & Janka, H.-T. Nucleosynthesis in neutrino-driven winds from protoneutron stars. II. The r-process. Astron. Astrophys. 286, 857-869 (1994).
36. Langanke, K. & Martinez-Pinedo, G. Nuclear weak-interaction processes in stars. Rev. Mod. Phys. 75, 819-862 (2003).
37. Thompson, T. A. Magnetic protoneutron star winds and r-process nucleosynthesis. Astrophys. J. 585, L33-L36 (2003).
38. Argast, D., Samland, M., Thielemann, F.-K. & Qian, Y.-Z. Neutron star mergers versus core-collapse supernovae as dominant r-process sites in the early Galaxy Astron. Astrophys. 416, 997-1011 (2004).
39. Norris, J., Ryan, S. & Beers, T. C. Extremely metal-poor stars. VIII. High-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio analysis of five stars with [Fe/H] < -3.5. Astrophys. J. 561, 1034-1059 (2001).
40. Depagne, E. et al. First Stars. II. Elemental abundances in the extremely metal-poor star CS22949-037. A diagnostic of early massive supernovae. Astron. Astrophys. 390, 187-198 (2002).
41. Aoki, W. et al. The chemical composition of the carbon-rich, extremely metal-poor star CS29498-043: a new class of extremely metal-poor stars with excesses of magnesium and silicon. Astrophys. J. 576, L141-L144.
42. Qian, Y.-Z. & Wasserburg, G. Determination of nucleosynthetic yields of supernovae and very massive stars from abundances in metal-poor stars. Astrophys. J. 567, 515-531 (2002).
43. Qian, Y.-Z., Sargent, W. L. W. & Wasserburg, G. The prompt inventory from very massive stars and elemental abundances in Lyα systems. Astrophys. J. 569, L61-L64 (2002).
44. Iwamoto, N., Umeda, H., Tominaga, N., Nomoto, K. & Maeda, K. The first chemical enrichment in the universe and the formation of the hyper iron-poor stars. Science 309, 451-453 (2005).
45. Mathews, G. J., Bazan, G. & Cowan, J. J. Evolution of heavy-element abundances as a constraint on sites for neutron-capture nucleosynthesis. Astrophys. J. 391, 719-735 (1992).
46. Wheeler, C., Cowan, J. J. & Hillebrandt, W. The r-process in collapsing O/Ne/Mg cores. Astrophys. J. 493, L101-L104 (1998).
47. Ishimaru, Y. & Wanajo, S. Enrichment of the r-process element europium in the galactic halo. Astrophys. J. 511, L33-L36 (1999).
48. Lawler, J. E., Sneden, C. & Cowan, J. J. Improved atomic data for Ho II and new holmium abundances for the Sun and three metal-poor halo stars. Astrophys. J. 604, 850-860 (2004).
49. Lawler, J. E., den Hartog, E. A., Sneden, C. & Cowan, J. J. Sm transition probabilities and abundances. Astrophys. J. (in the press).
50. Sneden, C. et al. Europium isotopic abundances in very metal-poor stars. Astrophys. J. 566, L25-L28 (2002).
51. Aoki, W., Honda, S., Beers, T. C. & Sneden, C. Measurement of the europium isotope ratio for the extremely metal poor, r-process-enhanced star CS31082-001. Astrophys. J. 586, 506-511 (2003).
52. Lambert, D. L. & Allende Prieto, C. The isotopic mixture of barium in the metal-poor subgiant HD140283. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 335, 325-334 (2002).
53. Johnson, J. A., & Bolte, M. The r-process in the early Galaxy. Astrophys. J. 579, 616-625 (2002).
54. Wasserburg, G. J., Busso, M. & Gallino, R. Abundances of actinides and short-lived nonactinides in the interstellar medium: diverse supernova sources for the r-processes. Astrophys. J. 466, L109-L113 (1996).
55. Wasserburg, G. J. & Qian, Y.-Z. Prompt iron enrichment, two r-process components, and abundances in very metal-poor stars. Astrophys. J. 529, L21-L24 (2000).
56. Travaglio, C. et al. Galactic evolution of Sr, Y and Zr: a multiplicity of nucleosynthesis processes. Astrophys. J. 601, 864-884 (2004).
57. Fröhlich, C. et al. Neutrino-induced nucleosynthesis of A > 64 nuclei: the vp-process. Preprint astro-ph/0511376 at 〈http://arxiv.org/abs/〉 (2005).
58. Shetrone, M. et al. VLT/UVES abundances in four nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxies. I. Nucleosynthesis and abundance ratios. Astron. J. 125, 684-706 (2003).
59. Prochaska, J. X., Howk, J. C. & Wolfe, A. M. The elemental abundance pattern in a galaxy at z = 2.626. Nature 423, 57-59 (2003).
60. Simmerer, J. et al. The rise of the s-process in the Galaxy. Astrophys. J. 617, 1091-1114 (2004).
61. Cowan, J. J. et al. Hubble Space Telescope observations of heavy elements in metal-poor galactic halo stars. Astrophys. J. 627, 238-250 (2005).
62. 139La. Phys. Rev. C 68, 035801 (2003).
63. Woolf, V. M., Tomkin, J. & Lambert, D. L. The r-process element europium in galactic disk F and G dwarf stars. Astrophys. J. 453, 660-672 (1995).
64. Cayrel, R. et al. First stars V - abundance patterns from C to Zn and supernova yields in the early Galaxy. Astron. Astrophys. 416, 1117-1138 (2004).
65. Arnone, E., Ryan, S. G., Argast, D., Norris, J. E. & Beers, T. C. Mg abundances in metal-poor halo stars as a tracer of early Galactic mixing. Astron. Astrophys. 430, 507-522 (2005).
66. Woosley, S. E. & Weaver, T. A. The evolution and explosion of massive stars. II. Explosive hydrodynamics and nucleosynthesis. Astrophys. J. Suppl. 101, 181-235 (1995).
67. Thielemann, F.-K. et al. Type II supernova nucleosynthesis and early galactic evolution. Mem. Soc. Astron. Ital. 71, 483-498 (2000).
68. Schatz, H. et al. Thorium and uranium chronometers applied to CS31082-001. Astrophys. J. 579, 626-638 (2002).
69. Wanajo, S., Itoh, N., Ishimaru, Y., Nozawa, S. & Beers, T. C. The r-process in the neutrino winds of core-collapse supernovae and U-Th cosmochronology. Astrophys. J. 577, 853-865 (2002).
70. Dauphas, N. The U/Th production ratio and the age of the Milky Way from meteorites and galactic halo stars. Nature 435, 1203-1205 (2005).
71. Pagel, B. E. J. in Evolutionary Phenomena in Galaxies (eds Beckman, J. E. & Pagel, B. E. J.) 201-223 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1989).
72. Pfeiffer, B., Kratz, K.-L. & Thielemann, F.-K. Analysis of the solar-system r-process abundance pattern with the new ETFSI-Q mass formula. J. Phys. A 357, 235 (1997).
73. Cowan, J. J. et al., r-process abundances and chronometers in metal-poor stars. Astrophys. J. 521, 194-205 (1999).
74. Sneden, C. et al. Evidence of multiple r-process sites in the early Galaxy: New observations of CS22892-052. Astrophys. J. 533, L139-L142 (2000).
75. Sneden, C. et al. Neutron-capture element abundances in the globular cluster M15. Astrophys. J. 536, L85-L88 (2000).
76. Krauss, L. M. & Chaboyer, B. Age estimates of globular clusters in the Milky Way: constraints on cosmology. Science 299, 65-69 (2003).
77. Jimenez, R., Verde, L., Treu, T. & Stern, S. Constraints on the equation of state of dark energy and the Hubble constant from stellar ages and the cosmic microwave background. Astrophys. J. 593, 622-629 (2003).
78. Tegmark, M. et al. Cosmological parameters from SDSS and WMAP. Phys. Rev. D 69, 103501 (2004).
79. Riess, A. G. et al. Observational evidence from supernovae for an accelerating universe and a cosmological constant. 116, 1009-1038 (1998).
80. Perlmutter, S. et al. Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 high-redshift supernovae. Astrophys. J. 517, 565-586 (1999).
81. Plez, B. et al. Lead abundance in the uranium star CS31082-001. Astron. Astrophys. 428, L9-L12 (2004).
82. Kratz, K.-L., Pfeiffer, B., Cowan, J. J. & Sneden, C. R-process chronometers. New Astron. Rev. 48, 105-108 (2004).
83. Kurucz, R. L., Furenlid, I. & Brault, J. T. L. Solar flux atlas from 296 to 1300 nm. National Solar Observatory Atlas (National Solar Observatory, Sunspot, New Mexico, 1984).