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Multiplicity and Period Distribution of Population II Field Stars in Solar Vicinity
We examine a sample of 223 F, G, and early K metal-poor subdwarfs ([m/H]< -1) with high proper motions (?>0farcs2yr-1) at distances of up to 250 pc from the Sun. Bymeans of our own speckle interferometric observations conducted on the 6m Bolshoi Azimuthal Telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatoryof the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the spectroscopic and visualdata taken from the literature, we determine the frequency of binary andmultiple systems in this sample. The ratio of single, binary, triple,and quadruple systems among 221 primary components of the sample is147:64:9:1. We show that the distribution of orbital periods of binaryand multiple subdwarfs is asymmetric in the range of up to P =1010 days, and has a maximum at P =102-103 days, which differs from the distribution,obtained for the thin disk G dwarfs. We estimated the number ofundetected companions in our sample. Comparing the frequency of binarysubdwarfs in the field and in the globular clusters, we show that theprocess of halo field star formation by the means of destruction ofglobular clusters is very unlikely in our Galaxy. We discuss themultiplicity of old metal-poor stars in nearby stellar streams.
| Speckle interferometry of metal-poor stars in the solar neighborhood. II
The results of speckle interferometric observations of 115 metal-poorstars ([m/H] < ‑1) within 250 pc from the Sun and with propermotions µ ≳ 0.2″/yr, made with the 6-m telescope of theSpecial Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences,are reported. Close companions with separations ranging from0.034″ to 1″ were observed for 12 objects—G76-21,G59-1, G63-46, G135-16, G168-42, G141-47, G142-44, G190-10, G28-43,G217-8, G130-7, and G89-14—eight of them are astrometricallyresolved for the first time. The newly resolved systems include onetriple star—G190-10. If combined with spectroscopic and visualdata, our results imply a single:binary:triple:quadruple star ratio of147:64:9:1 for a sample of 221 primary components of halo and thick-diskstars.
| Speckle interferometry of metal-poor stars in the solar neighborhood. I
We report the results of speckle-interferometric observations of 109high proper-motion metalpoor stars made with the 6-m telescope of theSpecial Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Weresolve eight objects—G102-20, G191-55, BD+19° 1185A, G89-14,G87-45, G87-47, G111-38, and G114-25—into individual componentsand we are the first to astrometrically resolve seven of these stars.New resolved systems included two triple (G111-38, G87-47) and onequadruple (G89-14) star. The ratio ofsingle-to-binary-to-triple-to-quadruple systems among the stars of oursample is equal to 71:28:6:1.
| Mapping the Local Galactic Halo. I. Optical Photometry of Cool Subdwarf Candidates
Optical (BVRI) photometric measurements of a sample of 564 candidatecool subdwarfs in the nearby halo are presented. The stars generallyspan the color range 0.4<(B-V)<1.8 hence, the sample is composedof early F- through early M-type stars on the subdwarf sequence. Thesample is selected from the revised NLTT catalog of Gould and Salim andSalim and Gould via a reduced proper motion diagram. The photometry isprecise and accurate; in particular, for stars with 9
| The usage of Strömgren photometry in studies of local group dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Application to Draco: a new catalogue of Draco members and a study of the metallicity distribution function and radial gradients
Aims.In this paper we demonstrate how Strömgren uvby photometry canbe efficiently used to: 1. identify red giant branch stars that aremembers in a dwarf spheroidal galaxy; 2. derive age-independentmetallicities for the same stars and quantify the associated errors. Methods: Strömgren uvby photometry in a 11 × 22 arcmin fieldcentered on the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy was obtained using theIsaac Newton Telescope on La Palma. Members of the Draco dSph galaxywere identified using the surface gravity sensitive c1 indexwhich discriminates between red giant and dwarf stars. Thus enabling usto distinguish the (red giant branch) members of the dwarf spheroidalgalaxy from the foreground dwarf stars in our galaxy. The method isevaluated through a comparison of our membership list with membershipclassifications in the literature based on radial velocities and propermotions. The metallicity sensitive m1 index was used toderive individual and age-independent metallicities for the members ofthe Draco dSph galaxy. The derived metallicities are compared to studiesbased on high resolution spectroscopy and the agreement is found to bevery good. Results: We present metallicities for 169 members of the redgiant branch in the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy (the largest sample todate). The metallicity distribution function for the Draco dSph galaxyshows a mean [Fe/H] = -1.74 dex with a spread of 0.24 dex. Thecorrelation between metallicity and colour for the stars on the redgiant branch is consistent with a dominant old, and coeval population.There is a possible spatial population gradient over the field with themost metal-rich stars being more centrally concentrated than themetal-poor stars.Based on observations made with the Isaac Newton Telescope, operated onthe Island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the SpanishObservatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisicade Canarias. Guest User, Canadian Astronomy Data Centre, which isoperated by the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National ResearchCouncil of Canada. Full Tables 2 and 6 are only available athttp://www.aanda.org
| Medium-resolution Isaac Newton Telescope library of empirical spectra - II. The stellar atmospheric parameters
We present a homogeneous set of stellar atmospheric parameters(Teff, logg, [Fe/H]) for MILES, a new spectral stellarlibrary covering the range λλ 3525-7500Å at2.3Å (FWHM) spectral resolution. The library consists of 985 starsspanning a large range in atmospheric parameters, from super-metal-rich,cool stars to hot, metal-poor stars. The spectral resolution, spectraltype coverage and number of stars represent a substantial improvementover previous libraries used in population synthesis models. Theatmospheric parameters that we present here are the result of aprevious, extensive compilation from the literature. In order toconstruct a homogeneous data set of atmospheric parameters we have takenthe sample of stars of Soubiran, Katz & Cayrel, which has very welldetermined fundamental parameters, as the standard reference system forour field stars, and have calibrated and bootstrapped the data fromother papers against it. The atmospheric parameters for our clusterstars have also been revised and updated according to recent metallicityscales, colour-temperature relations and improved set of isochrones.
| Pulkovo compilation of radial velocities for 35495 stars in a common system.
Not Available
| Medium resolution spectroscopy in ω Centauri: abundances of 400 subgiant and turn-off region stars
Medium resolution spectra of more than 400 subgiant and turn-off regionstars in ω Centauri were analysed. The observations were performedat the VLT/Paranal with FORS2/MXU. In order to determine themetallicities of the sample stars, we defined a set of line indices(mostly iron) adjusted to the resolution of our spectra. The indices asdetermined for ω Cen were then compared to line indices from starsin the chemically homogeneous globular cluster M 55, in addition tostandard stars and synthetic spectra. The uncertainties in the derivedmetallicities are of the order of ±0.2 {dex}. Our study confirmsthe large variations in iron abundances found on the giant branch inearlier studies (-2.2 <[Fe/H]< -0.7 dex). In addition, we studiedthe α-element and CN/CH abundances. Stars of different metallicitygroups not only show distinct ages (Hilker et al. 2004, A&A, 422,L9), but also different behaviours in their relative abundances. Theα abundances increase smoothly with increasing metallicityresulting in a flat [ α/Fe] ratio over the whole observedmetallicity range. The combined CN+CH abundance increases smoothly withincreasing iron abundance. The most metal-rich stars are CN-enriched. Ina CN vs. CH plot, though, the individual abundances divide into CN- andCH-rich branches. The large abundance variations observed in our sampleof (unevolved) subgiant branch stars most probably have their origin inthe pre-enriched material rather than in internal mixing effects.Together with the age spread of the different sub-populations, ourfindings favour the formation of ω Centauri within a more massiveprogenitor.
| Medium-resolution Isaac Newton Telescope library of empirical spectra
A new stellar library developed for stellar population synthesismodelling is presented. The library consists of 985 stars spanning alarge range in atmospheric parameters. The spectra were obtained at the2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope and cover the range λλ3525-7500 Å at 2.3 Å (full width at half-maximum) spectralresolution. The spectral resolution, spectral-type coverage,flux-calibration accuracy and number of stars represent a substantialimprovement over previous libraries used in population-synthesis models.
| Galactic model parameters for field giants separated from field dwarfs by their 2MASS and V apparent magnitudes
We present a method which separates field dwarfs and field giants bytheir 2MASS and V apparent magnitudes. This method is based onspectroscopically selected standards and is hence reliable. We appliedit to stars in two fields, SA 54 and SA 82, and we estimated a full setof Galactic model parameters for giants including their total localspace density. Our results are in agreement with the ones given in therecent literature.
| uvby-β photometry of high-velocity and metal-poor stars. XI. Ages of halo and old disk stars
New uvby-β data are provided for 442 high-velocity and metal-poorstars; 90 of these stars have been observed previously by us, and 352are new. When combined with our previous two photometric catalogues, thedata base is now made up of 1533 high-velocity and metal-poor stars, allwith uvby-β photometry and complete kinematic data, such as propermotions and radial velocities taken from the literature. Hipparcos, plusa new photometric calibration for Mv also based on theHipparcos parallaxes, provide distances for nearly all of these stars;our previous photometric calibrations give values for E(b-y) and [Fe/H].The [Fe/H], V(rot) diagram allows us to separate these stars intodifferent Galactic stellar population groups, such as old-thin-disk,thick-disk, and halo. The X histogram, where X is our stellar-populationdiscriminator combining V(rot) and [Fe/H], and contour plots for the[Fe/H], V(rot) diagram both indicate two probable components to thethick disk. These population groups and Galactic components are studiedin the (b-y)0, Mv diagram, compared to theisochrones of Bergbusch & VandenBerg (2001, ApJ, 556, 322), toderive stellar ages. The two thick-disk groups have the meancharacteristics: ([Fe/H], V(rot), Age, σW') ≈ (-0.7dex, 120 km s-1, 12.5 Gyr, 62.0 km s-1), and≈(-0.4, 160, 10.0, 45.8). The seven most metal-poor halo groups,-2.31 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ -1.31, show a mean age of 13.0 ± 0.2(mean error) Gyr, giving a mean difference from the WMAP results for theage of the Universe of 0.7 ± 0.3 Gyr. These results for the agesand components of the thick disk and for the age of the Galactic halofield stars are discussed in terms of various models and ideas for theformation of galaxies and their stellar populations.
| Analysis of medium resolution spectra by automated methods - Application to M 55 and ω Centauri
We have employed feedforward neural networks trained on syntheticspectra in the range 3800 to 5600 Å with resolutions of ~2-3Å to determine metallicities from spectra of about 1000main-sequence turn-off, subgiant and red giant stars in the globularclusters M 55 and ω Cen. The overall metallicity accuracies are ofthe order of 0.15 to 0.2 dex. In addition, we tested how well thestellar parameters log g and T_eff can be retrieved from such datawithout additional colour or photometric information. We find overalluncertainties of 0.3 to 0.4 dex for log g and 140 to 190 K for T_eff. Inorder to obtain some measure of uncertainty for the determined values of[Fe/H], log g and T_eff, we applied the bootstrap method for the firsttime to neural networks for this kind of parametrization problem. Thedistribution of metallicities for stars in ω Cen clearly shows alarge spread in agreement with the well known multiple stellarpopulations in this cluster.
| A CCD imaging search for wide metal-poor binaries
We explored the regions within a radius of 25 arcsec around 473 nearby,low-metallicity G- to M-type stars using (VR)I optical filters andsmall-aperture telescopes. About 10% of the sample was searched up toangular separations of 90 arcsec. We applied photometric and astrometrictechniques to detect true physical companions to the targets. The greatmajority of the sample stars was drawn from the Carney-Latham surveys;their metallicities range from roughly solar to [Fe/H] = -3.5 dex. OurI-band photometric survey detected objects that are between 0 and 5 magfainter (completeness) than the target stars; the maximum dynamicalrange of our exploration is 9 mag. We also investigated the literature,and inspected images from the Digitized Sky Surveys to complete oursearch. By combining photometric and proper motion measurements, weretrieved 29 previously known companions, and identified 13 new propermotion companions. Near-infrared 2MASS photometry is provided for thegreat majority of them. Low-resolution optical spectroscopy (386-1000nm) was obtained for eight of the new companion stars. Thesespectroscopic data confirm them as cool, late-type, metal-depleteddwarfs, with spectral classes from esdK7 to sdM3. After comparison withlow-metallicity evolutionary models, we estimate the masses of theproper motion companion stars to be in the range 0.5-0.1Mȯ. They are moving around their primary stars atprojected separations between 32 and 57 000 AU. These orbitalsizes are very similar to those of solar-metallicity stars of the samespectral types. Our results indicate that about 15% of the metal-poorstars have stellar companions in wide orbits, which is in agreement withthe binary fraction observed among main sequence G- to M-type stars andT Tauri stars.Based on observations made with the IAC80 telescope operated on theisland of Tenerife by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias inthe Spanish Observatorio del Teide; also based on observations made withthe 2.2 m telescope of the German-Spanish Calar Alto Observatory(Almería, Spain), the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) operatedon the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the SpanishObservatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) of the Instituto deAstrofísica de Canarias; and the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo(TNG) at the ORM.The complete Table 1 is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/419/167
| Improved Astrometry and Photometry for the Luyten Catalog. II. Faint Stars and the Revised Catalog
We complete construction of a catalog containing improved astrometry andnew optical/infrared photometry for the vast majority of NLTT starslying in the overlap of regions covered by POSS I and by the secondincremental Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) release, approximately 44%of the sky. The epoch 2000 positions are typically accurate to 130 mas,the proper motions to 5.5 mas yr-1, and the V-J colors to0.25 mag. Relative proper motions of binary components are measured to 3mas yr-1. The false-identification rate is ~1% for11<~V<~18 and substantially less at brighter magnitudes. Theseimprovements permit the construction of a reduced proper-motion diagramthat, for the first time, allows one to classify NLTT stars intomain-sequence (MS) stars, subdwarfs (SDs), and white dwarfs (WDs). We inturn use this diagram to analyze the properties of both our catalog andthe NLTT catalog on which it is based. In sharp contrast to popularbelief, we find that NLTT incompleteness in the plane is almostcompletely concentrated in MS stars, and that SDs and WDs are detectedalmost uniformly over the sky δ>-33deg. Our catalogwill therefore provide a powerful tool to probe these populationsstatistically, as well as to reliably identify individual SDs and WDs.
| A Survey of Proper-Motion Stars. XVI. Orbital Solutions for 171 Single-lined Spectroscopic Binaries
We report 25,563 radial velocity measurements for 1359 single-linedstars in the Carney-Latham sample of 1464 stars selected for high propermotion. For 171 of these, we present spectroscopic orbital solutions. Wefind no obvious difference between the binary characteristics in thehalo and the disk populations. The observed frequency is the same, andthe period distributions are consistent with the hypothesis that the twosets of binaries were drawn from the same parent population. Thissuggests that metallicity in general, and radiative opacities inparticular, have little influence over the fragmentation process thatleads to short-period binaries. All the binaries with periods shorterthan 10 days have nearly circular orbits, while the binaries withperiods longer than 20 days exhibit a wide range of eccentricities and amedian value of 0.37. For the metal-poor high-velocity halo binaries inour sample, the transition from circular to eccentric orbits appears tooccur at about 20 days, supporting the conclusion that tidalcircularization on the main sequence is important for the oldestbinaries in the Galaxy. Some of the results presented here usedobservations made with the Multiple Mirror Telescope, a joint facilityof the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Arizona.
| Revised Coordinates and Proper Motions of the Stars in the Luyten Half-Second Catalog
We present refined coordinates and proper-motion data for the highproper-motion (HPM) stars in the Luyten Half-Second (LHS) catalog. Thepositional uncertainty in the original Luyten catalog is typicallygreater than 10" and is often greater than 30". We have used the digitalscans of the POSS I and POSS II plates to derive more accurate positionsand proper motions of the objects. Out of the 4470 candidates in the LHScatalog, 4323 objects were manually reidentified in the POSS I and POSSII scans. A small fraction of the stars were not found because of thelack of finder charts and digitized POSS II scans. The uncertainties inthe revised positions are typically ~2" but can be as high as ~8" in afew cases, which is a large improvement over the original data.Cross-correlation with the Tycho-2 and Hipparcos catalogs yielded 819candidates (with mR<~12). For these brighter sources, theposition and proper-motion data were replaced with the more accurateTycho-2/Hipparcos data. In total, we have revised proper-motionmeasurements and coordinates for 4040 stars and revised coordinates for4330 stars. The electronic version of the paper5 contains the updated information on all 4470stars in the LHS catalog.
| Catalogue of [Fe/H] determinations for FGK stars: 2001 edition
The catalogue presented here is a compilation of published atmosphericparameters (Teff, log g, [Fe/H]) obtained from highresolution, high signal-to-noise spectroscopic observations. This newedition has changed compared to the five previous versions. It is nowrestricted to intermediate and low mass stars (F, G and K stars). Itcontains 6354 determinations of (Teff, log g, [Fe/H]) for3356 stars, including 909 stars in 79 stellar systems. The literature iscomplete between January 1980 and December 2000 and includes 378references. The catalogue is made up of two tables, one for field starsand one for stars in galactic associations, open and globular clustersand external galaxies. The catalogue is distributed through the CDSdatabase. Access to the catalogue with cross-identification to othersets of data is also possible with VizieR (Ochsenbein et al.\cite{och00}). The catalogue (Tables 1 and 2) is only available inelectronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/373/159 and VizieRhttp://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/.
| Estimation of Stellar Metal Abundance. II. A Recalibration of the Ca II K Technique, and the Autocorrelation Function Method
We have recalibrated a method for the estimation of stellar metalabundance, parameterized as [Fe/H], based on medium-resolution (1-2Å) optical spectra (the majority of which cover the wavelengthrange 3700-4500 Å). The equivalent width of the Ca II K line (3933Å) as a function of [Fe/H] and broadband B-V color, as predictedfrom spectrum synthesis and model atmosphere calculations, is comparedwith observations of 551 stars with high-resolution abundances availablefrom the literature (a sevenfold increase in the number of calibrationstars that were previously available). A second method, based on theFourier autocorrelation function technique first described by Ratnatunga& Freeman, is used to provide an independent estimate of [Fe/H], ascalibrated by comparison with 405 standard-star abundances.Metallicities based on a combination of the two techniques for dwarfsand giants in the color range 0.30<=(B-V)_0<=1.2 exhibit anexternal 1 sigma scatter of approximately 0.10-0.20 dex over theabundance range -4.0<=[Fe/H]<=0.5. Particular attention has beengiven to the determination of abundance estimates at the metal-rich endof the calibration, where our previous attempt suffered from aconsiderable zero-point offset. Radial velocities, accurate toapproximately 10 km s^-1, are reported for all 551 calibration stars.
| Ca II H and K Photometry on the UVBY System. III. The Metallicity Calibration for the Red Giants
New photometry on the uvby Ca system is presented for over 300 stars.When combined with previous data, the sample is used to calibrate themetallicity dependence of the hk index for cooler, evolved stars. Themetallicity scale is based upon the standardized merger of spectroscopicabundances from 38 studies since 1983, providing an overlap of 122evolved stars with the photometric catalog. The hk index producesreliable abundances for stars in the [Fe/H] range from -0.8 to -3.4,losing sensitivity among cooler stars due to saturation effects athigher [Fe/H], as expected.
| A catalogue of [Fe/H] determinations: 1996 edition
A fifth Edition of the Catalogue of [Fe/H] determinations is presentedherewith. It contains 5946 determinations for 3247 stars, including 751stars in 84 associations, clusters or galaxies. The literature iscomplete up to December 1995. The 700 bibliographical referencescorrespond to [Fe/H] determinations obtained from high resolutionspectroscopic observations and detailed analyses, most of them carriedout with the help of model-atmospheres. The Catalogue is made up ofthree formatted files: File 1: field stars, File 2: stars in galacticassociations and clusters, and stars in SMC, LMC, M33, File 3: numberedlist of bibliographical references The three files are only available inelectronic form at the Centre de Donnees Stellaires in Strasbourg, viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5), or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| The Ross 451 Group of Halo Stars
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1996AJ....112.2661E&db_key=AST
| Vitesses radiales. Catalogue WEB: Wilson Evans Batten. Subtittle: Radial velocities: The Wilson-Evans-Batten catalogue.
We give a common version of the two catalogues of Mean Radial Velocitiesby Wilson (1963) and Evans (1978) to which we have added the catalogueof spectroscopic binary systems (Batten et al. 1989). For each star,when possible, we give: 1) an acronym to enter SIMBAD (Set ofIdentifications Measurements and Bibliography for Astronomical Data) ofthe CDS (Centre de Donnees Astronomiques de Strasbourg). 2) the numberHIC of the HIPPARCOS catalogue (Turon 1992). 3) the CCDM number(Catalogue des Composantes des etoiles Doubles et Multiples) byDommanget & Nys (1994). For the cluster stars, a precise study hasbeen done, on the identificator numbers. Numerous remarks point out theproblems we have had to deal with.
| Spectroscopic analyses of metal-poor stars. II. The evolutionary stage of subdwarfs.
Models of post-main sequence stellar evolution of VandenBerg & Bell(???) have been applied to determine spectroscopic masses and distancesfor metal-poor stars. Careful consideration of the most important errorsources published in more recent papers such as VandenBerg (???) for thefirst time allow us to draw firm statistical conclusions. It is shownthat the evolutionary calculations qualitatively fit to the observedstellar parameters whereas quantitatively they predict too high ages formetal-poor stars. As an important result we confirm that evolutionarysequences need to be calibrated with respect to their metal abundance inorder to use their absolute predictions of temperature and luminosity.It turns out that this can be achieved by a simple shift of theevolutionary tracks and isochrones in effective temperature with values{DELTA}log T_eff_<~0.03 which accounts for possible changes of themixing-length and the O/Fe ratio with metallicity. The stellarluminosities and surface gravities obtained from evolutionary models aremuch more reliable than their effective temperatures. Therefore weconclude that the accuracy of the corresponding spectroscopic stellargravities is systematically affected by deviations from LTE, inparticular along the subgiant sequence where systematic errors less than{DELTA}log g =~0.3 must be ascribed to the non-LTE ionizationequilibrium of Fe II/Fe I. In our spectroscopic analyses the strongdependence between surface gravity and abundances determined from Fe Ilines restricts the accuracy of Fe abundances in subgiants to 0.1 dex atbest. The most remarkable result of our evolutionary and kinematicinvestigations of halo stars refers to the large fraction of slightlyevolved subgiants among the so-called subdwarfs. Since conventionalphotometric approaches often assume that the great majority ofmetal-poor stars are dwarfs this results in distances that aresystematically too low for their samples. Consequently, significantdifferences are found when comparing evolutionary and kinematicparameters obtained from either photometric or spectroscopic data. Wedemonstrate this by comparing the space velocities of the stars. Itappears that stars with particularly high space velocities derived fromspectroscopic distances show very often much lower velocities based ontheir main sequence parallaxes. We find that results refering to mainsequence parallaxes are doubtful and can be used only with greatestcare. An advantageous side-effect of the application of spectroscopicdata to evolutionary calculations is the possibility to identify binarysystems that are either standing out from the Toomre diagram with theirunusually high space velocities, or from a log g - log T_eff_ diagramwith apparently contradictory luminosities.
| Ca II H and K Filter Photometry on the UVBY System. II. The Catalog of Observations
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1995AJ....109.2828T&db_key=AST
| The general catalogue of trigonometric [stellar] paralaxes
Not Available
| Spectroscopic analyses of metal-poor stars. 1: Basic data and stellar parameters
Accurate stellar parameters have been obtained from the analyses of morethan thousand spectra of 115 metal-poor dwarfs and subgiants with visualmagnitudes brighter than V approximately equal to 12. The stellar samplewas selected mainly by high proper motion, with additional restrictionsfrom B-V colors and U-B excesses. The effective temperatures cover arange from 5000 to 6500 K while abundances are found between (M/H) =-0.1 and -0.3 dex. Based on homogeneous ODF blanketed model atmospheresin local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) and working differentially withrespect to the Sun we derive a consistent set of stellar parameters,effective temperature, surface gravity, metal abundance andmicroturbulence velocity. Individual profile synthesis is applied to anumber of spectral lines for each star, which has led as a rule toaccuracies in Teff of better than 100 K, in log g of betterthan 0.15, and in (Fe/H) of better than 0.1 dex. Because of theconsistent treatment with only one type of model atmosphere, this sampleprovides an oppurtunity to examine the individual parametersstatistically and investigate in detail their relation to the formationand evolution of the Galaxy. One aspect of this analysis is a generalshift to higher iron abundances for the most metal-poor stars. Alongwith the recently preferred meteoritic solar iron abundance andeffective temperatures from conistent Balmer line profile fits that tendto be 100-200 K hotter than found from photometric calibrations,discrepancies of up to 0.5 dex in (Fe/H) can be explained in comparisonwith other abundance analyses. The most important results refer to theevolutionary status of the bona fide subdwarf sample. Irrespective ofthe different effective temperatures found here, there exists a severeproblem when comparing post main sequence evolutionary models of coolstars with our observed parameters. Even more interesting is the fact,demonstrated by the results of a consistent analysis of the ironionization equilibrium, that roughly half of the subdwarfs aresubgiants, some of them having nearly reached the bottom of the giantbranch.
| The metallicities and kinematics of RR Lyrae variables, 1: New observations of local stars
In order to study the structure and formation history of the galaxy, wehave obtained low-to-moderate dispersion spectra of 302 nearby RR Lyraevariables of Bailey type 'ab'. We derived abundances, typically accurateto 0.15-0.20 dex and calibrated to the Zinn & West (1984) globularcluster metallicity scale, from the pseudoequivalent widths of the Ca IIK, H delta, H gamma, and H beta lines. Radial velocities accurate tobetween 2 and 30 km/s were obtained from the spectra and from theliterature. Distances accurate to between 5% and 20% were derived frompublished apparent magnitudes and Burstein & Heiles (1982)reddenings. The metallicity distribution of the RR Lyrae stars peaks at(Fe/H)K approximately equals -1.5, and is narrower than thatof the Ryan & Norris (1991) subdwarfs, as expected since the mostmetal-rich and metal-poor progenitors preferentially appear as stablered and blue horizontal branch stars, rather than as RR Lyrae. Themetal-rich tail of the RR Lyrae distribution extends to(Fe/H)K approximately equals 0, and a qualitative analysis ofthe distribution of distances from the galactic plane shows that thestars in this tail (i.e., (Fe/H)K greater than -1.0) are moreconcentrated to the plane than the more metal-poor stars. The abundancedistribution of the local RR Lyrae stars is in excellent agreement withthe changing abundance distributions of distant RR Lyrae stars as afunction of galactocentric distance, as derived by Suntzeff et al.(1991), who ascribed this change to systematic variation in horizontalbranch morphology (probably age variations) with galactocentricdistance. The abundance distribution of the local RR Lyrae stars alsoagrees well with those of the distant RR Lyrae stars as a function ofdistance from the galactic plane. There is no evidence for an abundancegradient in this direction, suggesting that gaseous dissipation did notplay a major role in the formation of the outer halo.
| A survey of proper motion stars. 12: an expanded sample
We report new photometry and radial velocities for almost 500 stars fromthe Lowell Proper Motion Catalog. We combine these results with ourprior sample and rederive stellar temperatures based on the photometry,reddening, metallicities (using chi squared matching of our 22,500 lowSignal to Noise (S/N) high resolution echelle spectra with a grid ofsynthetic spectra), distances, space motions, and Galactic orbitalparameters for 1269 (kinematics) and 1261 (metallicity) of the 1464stars in the complete survey. The frequency of spectroscopic binariesfor the metal-poor ((m/H) less than or equal to -1.2) stars with periodsshorter than 3000 days is at least 15%. The spectroscopic binaryfrequency for metal-rich stars ((m/H) greater than -0.5) appears to belower, about 9%, but this may be a selection effect. We also discussspecial classes of stars, including treatment of the double-linedspectroscopic binaries, and identification of subgiants. Four possiblenew members of the class of field blue stragglers are noted. We pointout the detection of three possible new white dwarfs, six broad-lined(binary) systems, and discuss briefly the three already knownnitrogen-rich halo dwarfs. The primary result of this paper will beavailable on CD-ROM, in the form of a much larger table.
| Balmer lines in cool dwarf stars II. Effective temperatures and calibration of colour indices
Effective temperatures obtained from synthesis of the extended profilewings of the first four Balmer lines are presented for more than 100dwarfs and subgiants of different metal abundances and surface gravitiesin the temperature range from 5000 to 6500 K. Line formation is based onhomogeneous ODF blanketed model atmospheres in LTE. The resultingtemperatures of the more metal-rich stars differ systematically fromthose determined by reference to synthetic broad- or intermediate-bandcolours such as B-V , b-y , R-I or V-K . While the Balmer linetemperatures give room to only very small individual errors and resultin a convincingly small mean error for all four lines, the scatteragainst temperatures determined from broad-band colours is by faroutside the internal errors claimed in recent applications. This may beattributed to either (a) observational errors, (b) dependence on therelative mixture of metal abundances, (c) unknown line blocking in mostof the visible and near-infrared spectrum or (d) the inhomogeneity foundin the granular patterns of stellar surfaces. Our results suggest thatbroad-band colours are insufficient individual temperature indicators,reliable only in a statistical sense.
| UVBY - beta photometry of high-velocity and metal-poor stars. VI - A second catalogue, and stellar populations of the Galaxy
A second catalog of uvby-beta photometry for 553 high-velocity stars ispresented. Combining the catalogs, reliable (Fe/H) values are obtainedfor 1214 stars and reliable kinematic parameters for 1149. The totalsample contains at least three significant, distinct stellar populationswith properties very similar to those given in the literature of the oldthin disk, thick disk, and halo. The thick-disk component has mean(Fe/H) about -0.50 +/- 0.10 dex and sigma(Fe/H) about 0.25 +/- 0.03 dex,but there is evidence for a significant thick-disk contribution down to(Fe/H) about -1.4. A diagonal cut in the V(rot), (Fe/H) diagramindicates that there is not a chemical gradient in the Galactic halo.The mean V(rot), mean (Fe/H) curve for the whole sample indicates thatthe halo evolved mostly independently of the disk.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Hydra |
| Right ascension: | 08h59m03.38s |
| Declination: | -06°23'46.1" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 11.741 |
| Proper motion RA: | 217.5 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -489.7 |
| B-T magnitude: | 12.483 |
| V-T magnitude: | 11.803 |
Catalogs and designations:
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