Lithium abundance in lower red giant branch stars of Omega Centauri

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Miniatura
Fecha
2018-10
Profesor/a Guía
Facultad/escuela
Idioma
en
Título de la revista
ISSN de la revista
Título del volumen
Editor
EDP Sciences
Nombre de Curso
Licencia CC
Licencia CC
Resumen
We present Li, Na, Al, and Fe abundances of 199 lower red giant branch star members of the stellar system Omega Centauri, using high-resolution spectra acquired with FLAMES at the Very Large Telescope. The A(Li) distribution is peaked at A(Li) ∼ 1 dex with a prominent tail towards lower values. The peak of the distribution well agrees with the lithium abundances measured in lower red giant branch stars in globular clusters and Galactic field stars. Stars with A(Li) ∼ 1 dex are found at metallicities lower than [Fe/H] ∼ -1.3 dex but they disappear at higher metallicities. On the other hand, Li-poor stars are found at all metallicities. The most metal-poor stars exhibit a clear Li-Na anti-correlation, where about 30% of the sample have A(Li) lower than ∼0.8 dex, while these stars represent a small fraction of normal globular clusters. Most of the stars with [Fe/H] > -1.6 dex are Li poor and Na rich. The Li depletion measured in these stars is not observed in globular clusters with similar metallicities and we demonstrate that it is not caused by the proposed helium enhancements and/or young ages. Hence, these stars formed from a gas already depleted in lithium. Finally, we note that Omega Centauri includes all the populations (Li-normal/Na-normal, Li-normal/Na-rich, and Li-poor/Na-rich stars) observed, to a lesser extent, in mono-metallic GCs. © ESO 2018.
Notas
Indexación: Scopus.
Acknowledgements. The authors thank the anonymous referee for his/her useful comments and suggestions. SV gratefully acknowledges the support provided by Fondecyt reg. n. 1170518. LM acknowledges the support from “Proyecto interno” of the Universidad Andres Bello. AM warmly thanks Federico Mon-taguti and Olma for their essential support during the last year.
Palabras clave
Globular clusters: individual: Omega Centauri, Stars: Abundances, Stars: atmospheres, Stars: Evolution, Stars: Population II
Citación
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 618, art. no. 33457.
DOI
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