This research forms the second part of an investigation into heavy element abundances in Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars in different stellar environments. High resolution spectroscopy was taken of seven known AGB stars in 47 Tucanae and spectrum synthesis undertaken to obtain abundances for s-process elements. Contrary to theoretical predictions, preliminary results show that these AGB stars do show s-process enhancements relative to previously studied Red Giant Branch (RGB) stars in the same cluster.

The rapid neutron capture process (r-process) is understood to be responsible for the synthesis of approximately half of all of the isotopes present in Solar System matter in the mass region from approximately zinc through the actinides. While the general features of this process were identified in the classic papers by B2FH (1957) and Cameron (1957), our current understanding of the r-process remains woefully incomplete. We have yet to cleanly identify which of the studied astrophysical sites contribute significantly to the observed abundance pattern. We have yet to reconcile the apparent duplicity of r-process sites with extant models for the operation of the r-process in diverse astronomical environments. While we may still remain theoretically challenged in our attempts to understand the r-process mechanism and to identify its site, significant clues have come from the observational side. Triggered by the first detections of the element europium (formed predominantly by the r-process) in low metallicity stars (Spite & Spite 1978), observations of heavy element abundances in halo stars have since served to provide tremendously important clues to the nature of the r-process mechanism. Identified constraints include: the utter dominance of the r-process contributions (over those of the s-process in extremely metal deficient stars; an extraordinary robustness of the r-process pattern in the mass range A[gsim ]130–140; and the demand for a second r-process site for the production of the A[lsim ]130 r-process nuclei. We will review these observational trends and theoretical models in the context of the Galactic (Cosmic) evolution of r-process abundances.

We present detailed abundance measurements of neutron-capture elements for the two very metal-poor stars HD 6268 and HD 122563, based on very high-quality, near-UV spectra (S/N >140 @3100A) using Subaru/HDS. Abundances have been obtained for a total of 26 and 19 neutron-capture elements in these two stars, respectively, including Nb, Mo, Ru, Pd, Ag, Pr, and Sm. We have confirmed that the abundance pattern of neutron-capture elements in HD 6268 agrees very well with that of previously known r-process-enhanced stars. In contrast, the elemental abundances of HD 122563 are found to steeply decrease with increasing atomic number than those of HD 6268, and are much lower than than the r-process pattern in solar-system material. This result provides a new, strong constraint on models of the nucleosynthetic process that has provided light neutron-capture elements in the very early Galaxy.

While the origin of r-process nuclei remains a long-standing mystery, recent spectroscopic studies of extremely metal-poor stars in the Galactic halo strongly suggest that it is associated with core-collapse supernovae. In addition, recent comprehensive analysis of such stars implies the presence of the “weak” r-process that is responsible for only lighter nuclei with A <130. In this study, we show that the weak r-process nuclei can be produced in the neutrino winds from a typical proto-neutron star of $1.4 M_\odot$. This suggests that the significant fraction of weak r-process elements (Sr, Y, Zr, etc.) originate from typical core-collapse supernovae with the progenitor mass range of ∼ 10–$20 M_\odot$

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).

We compute the evolution of the abundances of barium and europium in the Milky Way with a chemical evolution model which already reproduces the majority of observational constraints, and we compared our results with the observed abundances from the recent UVES Large Program “First Stars” (Cayrel et al. 2004, François et al. 2005).

We confirm that barium is a neutron capture element mainly produced in the low mass AGB stars, during the thermal-pulsing phase, by the 13C neutron source, in a slow neutron capture process. However, in order to reproduce the [Ba/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] as well as the Ba solar abundance, Ba should be also produced as a r-process element by massive stars in the range 10-30M[odot ]. On the other hand, europium should be only a r-process element produced in the same range of masses (10-30M[odot ]), at variance with previous suggestions indicating a smaller mass range for the Eu producers. As it is well known, there is a large spread in the [Ba/Fe] and [Eu/Fe] ratios at low metallicities, although smaller in the newest data. With our model we estimate ranges in the r-process yields from massive stars for both elements which better reproduce the trend of the data. We discuss several possibilities to explain the observed spread. We suggest that a peculiar behaviour of the neutron capture elements could be the responsible for the spread instead of invoking a strongly inhomogeneous early Galactic halo. We finally underline that the production ratio of [Ba/Eu] may be almost constant in the massive stars.

Theoretical as well as observational aspects of the s-process nucleosynthesis are reviewed. The classical site-independent s-process model as well as the s-process in massive stars are shortly described. A special attention is paid to the nucleosynthesis taking place in AGB stars and the extra-mixing invoked to explain the production of neutrons in the C-rich layers during the interpulse. We also discuss the nucleosynthesis found in hot AGB stars for which the s-process during the interpulse phase is inhibited, but the one resulting from the large temperatures in the thermal pulse is boosted. We comment on the uncertainties affecting our understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible for a successful s-process. Finally, various types of spectroscopic observations of s-process elements are discussed.

The classical analysis of the s-process is commonly used to predict the s percentage contribution to the solar system abundance of a given isotope, and by default of the r-process residual (calculated as 1. - s). We discuss the advantages and the disadvantages of this first-order prediction, by comparing stellar model calculations at various metallicities in AGB stars and in massive stars exploding as SNII, with spectroscopic observations of different stellar populations. Observations of short-lived r-process isotopes in the early solar system help to characterize at least three different r-process components.

Chemical abundances and upper limits of three dozen elements have been derived for the binary blue metal-poor, extremely lead-rich star CS29497-030. The findings include a large contribution of s-process material (e.g., [Pb/Fe] >3.5) and a large contribution of r-process material (e.g, [Eu/Fe] ∼2), abundances which place it in the class of objects known as r+s stars. The ratio of [Zr/Nb] ∼0, along with its stellar parameters, indicates that it is not an intrinsic AGB star. Modelling the abundance distribution (which includes the first Bi abundance determination for any metal-poor star) with s-process calculations employing FRANEC models, there is excellent agreement with the observations by adopting a 1.3 M[odot ] AGB model with an enhanced 13C-pocket and a pre-enrichment of r-process material. In this scenario, the initial abundances of CS29497-030 and its binary partner arose from a parent cloud with an extreme r-process abundance, in which star formation was triggered by a core-collapse supernova which polluted, snowplowed, and clumped a nearby molecular cloud. Pollution from the former AGB star's dredged-up material subsequently enriched the envelope composition of CS29497-030 (Ivans et al. 2005). Critical tests of this model and scenario include the dependence of abundance ratios on systematics due to non-LTE effects, the choice of stellar parameters and model atmospheres, and the assumed abundance pattern of the protostellar cloud out of which the CS29497-030 binary system formed.

The study of C-enhanced metal poor stars with s-process elements overabundances offers a chance of testing the AGB models at low metallicity and constrain the nucleosynthesis codes. We analyzed a total of 13 C-enhanced metal poor stars, of which 12 turned out to be s-process enriched. The combination of our results with the analyses already published in the literature allows to highlight the discrepancies present between the current state of the art AGB low metallicity models, suggesting that they are still lacking some ingredient.

Abundances of α-, iron peak, s- and r-elements were determined for a sample of Barium stars and the [α,iron peak/s], [α,iron peak/r], [s/r] ratios were derived.

Spectroscopic abundances of s- and r-process enriched very metal-poor stars are interpreted as the result of mass transfer in a binary system from an AGB companion assuming an initial composition of the parental cloud pre-enriched in r elements. The spectroscopic determination of [Na/Fe], [Mg/Fe] and [ls/Fe] permits an estimate of the initial AGB stellar mass, while a value [Zr/Nb] ≈ 0 is a nuclear indicator of an extrinsic AGB in a binary system.

Low mass AGB Stars are the main contributors to the Galactic s-process enrichment. We present new theoretical results obtained by adopting a full network from H to Bi coupled with the physical evolution of the stellar structure. We describe the formation of a 13C pocket as a consequence of H diffusion from the envelope into the He-rich intershell. Such 13C is burnt during the interpulse phase and provides the main neutron source in these stars. We computed two models with the same total mass (that is 2 M[odot ]) but two different initial chemical composition, namely (Y=0.269 – Z=0.015) and (Y=0.245 – Z=0.0001), representative of disk and halo stars respectively. We evaluate the differences in the final s-process surface composition and compare the results with the available observational data.

We report the determination of the age of the Galactic thin disk by means of Th/Eu nucleocosmochronology. This method is only weakly dependent on stellar evolutions models, therefore allowing an important verification of the most used dating techniques, which are the fitting of isochrones to the oldest Galactic open clusters, and the calculation of white dwarf cooling sequences. This work builds upon our previous determination (del Peloso et al. 2005a, 2005b), by including 7 new objects to the sample which was originally composed of 19 disk dwarfs/subgiants of F5 to G8 spectral types – a 37% extension. The obtained result, (8.8±1.7)Gyr, corroborates the most recent white dwarf ages determined via cooling sequence calculations, which indicate a low age ($\widetilde{<}10~\mbox{Gyr}$) for the disk.

The living record of early Galactic nucleosynthesis is written in the chemical compositions of metal-poor stars. For stars with metallicities $-1.0 \geq $ [Fe/H] $\geq -2.5$, several decades of spectroscopic studies have delineated the abundance trends of elements that are synthesized by major nuclear fusion reaction chains. There is very strong observational evidence that the r-process isotopes identified in metal-poor stars and the solar system matter are in fact the product of two distinct types of r-process events. The observed pattern beyond Z [ges ] 40 up to Th-U should most likely be produced by only one (or a few) r-process event(s) in a unique stellar site. This “main” r-process then produces the “low-Z” elements (40 [les ] Z [les ] 48) under-abundant compared to solar, and reaches the full solar values presumably around Te.

Observed large scatters in abundances of neutron-capture elements in metal-poor stars may suggest incomplete mixing of the interstellar medium at the beginning of the Galaxy. Comparing predictions by an inhomogeneous chemical evolution model and new observational results with Subaru HDS, we attempt to constrain the origins of r-process elements.

We present the even-to-odd Ba isotope ratios in 16 thick disk and 3 halo stars as determined from hyperfine structure (HFS) seen in the Ba II resonance line λ 4554. We find in our stars a higher fraction of the odd Ba isotopes compared with the solar one 18% (Cameron 1982): 35% in the halo stars and between 25% and 53% in the thick disk stars. There is a hint of increasing this value with the Eu/Fe abundance ratio growth. Based on the r-process even-to-odd Ba isotope ratio 54 : 46 (Arlandini, Käppeler, Wisshak, et al. 1999) we deduce the ratio of the s/r-process contribution to barium in the thick disk stars as 30 : 70 (±24%).

From Ge I lines in the near-ultraviolet, germanium abundances are deduced for the Sun, one metal-poor subgiant, and nine turnoff stars spanning a range of metallicities. The abundance of germanium with respect to iron varies widely among the stars, and is always at or below its solar proportion. In four stars, one mildly and the rest extremely metal-poor, Ge is deficient by [ges ]0.5 dex. The nearby elements Zn and Zr show nearly scaled-solar abundances. The Ge deficiency persists when heavy r-process elements such as platinum are extremely enhanced. Among this small sample, Ge deficiency correlates with Al deficiency, of similar size.

We present a study of the s–process nucleosynthesis (weak s-process) occurring during convective core He–burning and convective shell Carbon–burning in a massive star of 25 M$_{\odot}$. We use an updated nuclear network for the various neutron sources and for all neutron captures and β-decay rates involved. Large uncertainties affect the final yields due to the present unsatisfactory knowledge of all neutron capture cross sections involved.

We have calculated a set of synthetic spectra for AGB-stars using the MARCS-code (Gustafsson et al., 1975) and improved spectral synthesis. Here we investigate the spectral changes as a function of the stellar parameters and we show a comparison of observed high resolution UVES spectra of galactic disk and bulge AGB-stars with calculated synthetic spectra. Using our set of synthetic spectra, we try to determine the stellar parameters using only these and (J – K) data (Schultheis 1998). To achieve this, we use a minimal-distance method and search for spectral features which can be used as indicators that are sensitive either only to a change in $T_{eff}$ or only to a change in metallicity $[M/H]$ (where M are all metals from Li to U). In a later stage of the project, we will focus on selected lines of s-process elements in an attempt to achieve a more accurate abundance determination leading to a better understanding of nucleosynthesis and dredge-up processes in these stars.