Published in

Oxford University Press (OUP), Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 1(488), p. L109-L113, 2019

DOI: 10.1093/mnrasl/slz109

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The lowest detected stellar Fe abundance: the halo star SMSS J160540.18−144323.1

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

ABSTRACT We report the discovery of SMSS J160540.18−144323.1, a new ultra metal-poor halo star discovered with the SkyMapper telescope. We measure $\left[\rm {Fe}/\rm {H}\right]= -6.2 ± 0.2$ (1D LTE), the lowest ever detected abundance of iron in a star. The star is strongly carbon-enhanced, $\left[\rm {C}/\rm {Fe}\right] = 3.9 ± 0.2$, while other abundances are compatible with an α-enhanced solar-like pattern with $\left[\rm {Ca}/\rm {Fe}\right] = 0.4 ± 0.2$, $\left[\rm {Mg}/\rm {Fe}\right] = 0.6 ± 0.2$, $\left[\rm {Ti}/\rm {Fe}\right] = 0.8 ± 0.2$, and no significant s- or r-process enrichment, $\left[\rm {Sr}/\rm {Fe}\right] \lt 0.2$ and $\left[\rm {Ba}/\rm {Fe}\right] \lt 1.0$ (3σ limits). Population III stars exploding as fallback supernovae may explain both the strong carbon enhancement and the apparent lack of enhancement of odd-Z and neutron-capture element abundances. Grids of supernova models computed for metal-free progenitor stars yield good matches for stars of about $10\, \rm M_⊙$ imparting a low kinetic energy on the supernova ejecta, while models for stars more massive than roughly $20\, \rm M_⊙$ are incompatible with the observed abundance pattern.

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