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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2005
We report on a dedicated effort to identify and study metal-poor stars that are strongly enhanced in r-process elements ($\mbox{[r/Fe]}>+1.0$dex; hereafter r-II stars), the Hamburg/ESO R-process Enhanced Star survey (HERES). In a sample of 253 confirmed metal-poor stars for which “snapshot” spectra ($R\sim 20,000$; $S/N \sim 50/1$ per pixel) were obtained with VLT/UVES, and abundances were determined in an automated fashion using the methods of Barklem et al. (2005), we identified eight new r-II stars. They are now being studied in detail by means of higher resolution and S/N spectroscopy. The new r-II stars have metallicities in the range $-3.2<\mbox{[Fe/H]}<-2.6$. Future searches for r-II stars should therefore focus on stars in this [Fe/H] range. Moderately r-process enhanced stars (i.e., $+0.3\,\mbox{dex}<\mbox{[r/Fe]}<+1.0\,\mbox{dex}$; r-I stars) were found at metallicities as high as $\mbox{[Fe/H]} = -1.5$. The [Fe/H] ranges in which r-I and r-II stars can be found may provide an important constraint for the identification of the site(s) of the r-process(es).