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This study probes the chemical abundances of the neutron-capture elements cerium and neodymium in the inner Milky Way from an analysis of a sample of $\sim$2000 stars in the Galactic Bulge/bar spatially contained within $|X_{Gal}|<$5 kpc, $|Y_{Gal}|<$3.5 kpc, and $|Z_{Gal}|<$1 kpc, and spanning metallicities between $-$2.0$\lesssim$[Fe/H]$\lesssim$+0.5. We classify the sample stars into low- or high-[Mg/Fe] populations and find that, in general, values of [Ce/Fe] and [Nd/Fe] increase as the metallicity decreases for the low- and high-[Mg/Fe] populations. Ce abundances show a more complex variation across the metallicity range of our Bulge-bar sample when compared to Nd, with the r-process dominating the production of neutron-capture elements in the high-[Mg/Fe] population ([Ce/Nd]$<$0.0). We find a spatial chemical dependence of Ce and Nd abundances for our sample of Bulge-bar stars, with low- and high-[Mg/Fe] populations displaying a distinct abundance distribution. In the region close to the center of the MW, the low-[Mg/Fe] population is dominated by stars with low [Ce/Fe], [Ce/Mg], [Nd/Mg], [Nd/Fe], and [Ce/Nd] ratios. The low [Ce/Nd] ratio indicates a significant contribution in this central region from r-process yields for the low-[Mg/Fe] population. The chemical pattern of the most metal-poor stars in our sample suggests an early chemical enrichment of the Bulge dominated by yields from core-collapse supernovae and r-process astrophysical sites, such as magneto-rotational supernovae., Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, 1 table

Previous results in the literature have found the young inner-disk open cluster NGC 6705 to be mildly $\alpha$-enhanced. We examined this possibility via an independent chemical abundance analysis for 11 red-giant members of NGC 6705. The analysis is based on near-infrared APOGEE spectra and relies on LTE calculations using spherical model atmospheres and radiative transfer. We find a mean cluster metallicity of $\rm [Fe/H] = +0.13 \pm 0.04$, indicating that NGC 6705 is metal-rich, as may be expected for a young inner-disk cluster. The mean $\alpha$-element abundance relative to iron is $\rm \langle [\alpha/Fe]\rangle =-0.03 \pm 0.05$, which is not at odds with expectations from general Galactic abundance trends. NGC 6705 also provides important probes for studying stellar mixing, given its turn-off mass of M$\sim$3.3 M$_\odot$. Its red giants have low $^{12}$C abundances ([$^{12}$C/Fe]=$-$0.16) and enhanced $^{14}$N abundances ([$^{14}$N/Fe]=+0.51), which are key signatures of the first dredge-up on the red giant branch. An additional signature of dredge-up was found in the Na abundances, which are enhanced by [Na/Fe]=+0.29, with a very small non-LTE correction. The $^{16}$O and Al abundances are found to be near-solar. All of the derived mixing-sensitive abundances are in agreement with stellar models of approximately 3.3 M$_{\odot}$ evolving along the red giant branch and onto the red clump. As found in young open clusters with similar metallicities, NGC 6705 exhibits a mild excess in the s-process element cerium, with $\rm [Ce/Fe] = +0.13\pm0.07$., Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, 6 tables

The central part of the Galaxy host a multitude of stellar populations, including the spheroidal bulge stars, stars moved to the bulge through secular evolution of the bar, inner halo, inner thick disk, inner thin disk, as well as debris from past accretion events. We identified a sample of 58 candidate stars belonging to the stellar population of the spheroidal bulge, and analyse their abundances. The present calculations of Mg, Ca, and Si lines are in agreement with the APOGEE-ASPCAP abundances, whereas abundances of C, N, O, and Ce are re-examined. We find normal $\alpha$-element enhancements in oxygen, similar to magnesium, Si, and Ca abundances, which are typical of other bulge stars surveyed in the optical in Baade's Window. The enhancement of [O/Fe] in these stars suggests that they do not belong to accreted debris. No spread in N abundances is found, and none of the sample stars is N-rich, indicating that these stars are not second generation stars originated in globular clusters. Ce instead is enhanced in the sample stars, which points to an s-process origin such as due to enrichment from early generations of massive fast rotating stars, the so-called spinstars, Comment: to be published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

The APOGEE Open Cluster Chemical Abundances and Mapping (OCCAM) survey is used to probe the chemical evolution of the s-process element cerium in the Galactic disk. Cerium abundances were derived from measurements of Ce II lines in the APOGEE spectra using the Brussels Automatic Code for Characterizing High Accuracy Spectra (BACCHUS) in 218 stars belonging to 42 open clusters. Our results indicate that, in general, for Ages $<$ 4 Gyr, younger open clusters have higher [Ce/Fe] and [Ce/$\alpha$-element] ratios than older clusters. In addition, metallicity segregates open clusters in the [Ce/X]-Age plane (where X can be H, Fe, and the $\alpha$-elements O, Mg, Si, or Ca). These metallicity-dependant relations result in [Ce/Fe] and [Ce/$\alpha$] ratios with age that are not universal clocks. Radial gradients of [Ce/H] and [Ce/Fe] ratios in open clusters, binned by age, were derived for the first time, with d[Ce/H]dR$_{GC}$ being negative, while d[Ce/Fe]/dR$_{GC}$ is positive. [Ce/H] and [Ce/Fe] gradients are approximately constant over time, with the [Ce/Fe] gradient becoming slightly steeper, changing by $\sim$+0.009 dex-kpc$^{-1}$-Gyr$^{-1}$. Both the [Ce/H] and [Ce/Fe] gradients are shifted to lower values of [Ce/H] and [Ce/Fe] for older open clusters. The chemical pattern of Ce in open clusters across the Galactic disk is discussed within the context of s-process yields from AGB stars, $\sim$Gyr time delays in Ce enrichment of the interstellar medium, and the strong dependence of Ce nucleosynthesis on the metallicity of its AGB stellar sources., Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, Accepted to ApJ

The element boron belongs, together with lithium and beryllium, to a known trio of important elements for the study of evolutionary processes in low mass stars. Because B is the least fragile of this trio to be destroyed in the stellar interiors, it can be used to test if the Li enrichment is of planetary origin. Here, for the first time, boron lines are examined in the UV for four giants with different degrees of large Li enrichment by means of observations with the Hubble telescope. Two main results are found in our study. One is that to first approximation B abundances appear not to be in excess, invalidating the planet engulfment mechanism. The second one is that the two stars with very large Li abundances present emission lines indicating that quite strong active chromospheres are acting in these very Li-rich giants. These new results obtained from the UV complement our recent studies in the mid-IR (de la Reza et al. 2015) where strong emission-line features of organic material were found in the spectra of some Li-rich stars., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, published in the Proceedings of the IAU Symposium 332 "Astrochemistry VII - Through the Cosmos from Galaxies to Planets", Puerto Varas, Chile, March 20-24, 2017

Lithium is extensively known to be a good tracer of non-standard mixing processes occurring in stellar interiors. We present the results of a new large Lithium survey in red giant stars and combine it with surveys from the literature to probe the impact of rotation-induced mixing and thermohaline double-diffusive instability along stellar evolution. We determined the surface Li abundance for a sample of 829 giant stars with accurate Gaia parallaxes for a large sub-sample (810 stars) complemented with accurate Hipparcos parallaxes (19 stars). The spectra of our sample of northern and southern giant stars were obtained in three ground-based observatories (OHP, ESO-La Silla, Mc Donald). We determined the atmospheric parameters (Teff, log(g), [Fe/H]), and the Li abundance. We used Gaia parallaxes and photometry to determine the luminosity of our objects and we estimated the mass and evolution status of each sample star with a maximum-likelihood technique using stellar evolution models computed with the STAREVOL code. We compared the observed Li behaviour with predictions from stellar models, including rotation and thermohaline mixing. The same approach was used for stars from selected Li surveys from the literature. Rotation-induced mixing accounts nicely for the lithium behaviour in stars warmer than about 4200K, independently of the mass domain. For stars with masses lower than 2Msun thermohaline mixing leads to further Li depletion below the Teff of the RGB bump (about 4000K), and on the early AGB, as observed. Depending on the definition we adopt, we find between 0.8 and 2.2% of Li-rich giants in our new sample. Gaia puts a new spin on the understanding of mixing processes in stars, and our study confirms the importance of rotation-induced processes and of thermohaline mixing. However asteroseismology is required to definitively pinpoint the actual evolution status of Li-rich giants., Comment: 16 pages, 18 figures, A&A, accepted for publication (new version with an additional reference)

We undertake a critical and comprehensive comparison of the radial velocities and the main stellar atmospheric parameters for stars in common between the latest data releases from the APOGEE and the LAMOST surveys. There is a total of 42,420 dwarfs/giants stars in common between the APOGEE DR14 - LAMOST DR3 stellar catalogs. A comparison between the RVs shows an offset of 4.54 $\pm$ 0.03 km/s, with a dispersion of 5.8 km/s, in the sense that APOGEE RVs are larger. We observe a small offset in the Teff of about 13 K, with a scatter of 155 K. Small offset in [Fe/H] of about 0.06 dex together with a scatter of 0.13 dex is also observed. We notice that the largest offset between the surveys occurs in the surface gravities. Using only surface gravities in calibrated red giants from APOGEE DR14, where there are 24,074 stars in common, a deviation of 0.14 dex is found with substantial scatter. There are 17,482 red giant stars in common between APOGEE DR14 and those in LAMOST tied to APOGEE DR12 via the Cannon. There is generally good agreement between the two data-sets. However, we find dependencies of the differences of the stellar parameters on effective temperature. For metal-rich stars, a different trend for the [Fe/H] discrepancies is found. Surprisingly, we see no correlation between the internal APOGEE DR14 - DR12 differences in Teff and those in DR14 - LAMOST tied to DR12, where a correlation should be expected since LAMOST has been calibrated to APOGEE DR12. We also find no correlation between the [Fe/H] discrepancies, suggesting that LAMOST/Cannon is not well coupled to the APOGEE DR12 stellar parameters scale. A [Fe/H] dependence between the stellar parameters in APOGEE DR12 and those in DR14 is reported. We find a weak correlation in the differences between APOGEE DR14 - DR12 and LAMOST on DR12 surface gravity for stars hotter than 4800 K and in the log g range between 2.0 and 2.8., Comment: 14 pages, 20 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A)

IC 166 is an intermediate-age open cluster ($\sim 1$ Gyr) which lies in the transition zone of the metallicity gradient in the outer disc. Its location, combined with our very limited knowledge of its salient features, make it an interesting object of study. We present the first high-resolution spectroscopic and precise kinematical analysis of IC 166, which lies in the outer disc with $R_{GC} \sim 12.7$ kpc. High resolution \textit{H}-band spectra were analyzed using observations from the SDSS-IV Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey. We made use of the Brussels Automatic Stellar Parameter (BACCHUS) code to provide chemical abundances based on a line-by-line approach for up to eight chemical elements (Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Al, K, Mn and Fe). The $\alpha-$element (Mg, Si, Ca and whenever available Ti) abundances, and their trends with Fe abundances have been analysed for a total of 13 high-likelihood cluster members. No significant abundance scatter was found in any of the chemical species studied. Combining the positional, heliocentric distance, and kinematic information we derive, for the first time, the probable orbit of IC 166 within a Galactic model including a rotating boxy bar, and found that it is likely that IC 166 formed in the Galactic disc, supporting its nature as an unremarkable Galactic open cluster with an orbit bound to the Galactic plane., Comment: 16 pages, 7 tables, 8 figures, accepted for publication in AJ

APOGEE-2 is a high-resolution, near-infrared spectroscopic survey observing roughly 300,000 stars across the entire sky. It is the successor to APOGEE and is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV). APOGEE-2 is expanding upon APOGEE's goals of addressing critical questions of stellar astrophysics, stellar populations, and Galactic chemodynamical evolution using (1) an enhanced set of target types and (2) a second spectrograph at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. APOGEE-2 is targeting red giant branch (RGB) and red clump (RC) stars, RR Lyrae, low-mass dwarf stars, young stellar objects, and numerous other Milky Way and Local Group sources across the entire sky from both hemispheres. In this paper, we describe the APOGEE-2 observational design, target selection catalogs and algorithms, and the targeting-related documentation included in the SDSS data releases., Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures. Accepted to AJ

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey--III (SDSS--III) Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) has obtained high resolution (R $\sim$ 22,500), high signal-to-noise ratio ($>$ 100) spectra in the H$-$band ($\sim$1.5$-$1.7 $\mu$m) for about 146,000 stars in the Milky Way galaxy. We have computed spectral libraries with effective temperature ($T\rm{_{eff}}$) ranging from 3500 to 8000 K for the automated chemical analy\-sis of the survey data. The libraries, used to derive stellar parameters and abundances from the APOGEE spectra in the SDSS--III data release 12 (DR12), are based on ATLAS9 model atmospheres and the ASS$\epsilon$T spectral synthesis code. We present a second set of libraries based on MARCS model atmospheres and the spectral synthesis code Turbospectrum. The ATLAS9/ASS$\epsilon$T ($T\rm{_{eff}}$ = 3500$-$8000 K) and MARCS/Turbospectrum ($T\rm{_{eff}}$ = 3500$-$5500 K) grids cover a wide range of metallicity ($-$2.5 $\leq$ [M/H] $\leq$ $+$0.5 dex), surface gravity (0 $\leq$ log $g$ $\leq$ 5 dex), microturbulence (0.5 $\leq$ $\xi$ $\leq$ 8 km~s$^{-1}$), carbon ($-$1 $\leq$ [C/M] $\leq$ $+$1 dex), nitrogen ($-$1 $\leq$ [N/M] $\leq$ $+$1 dex), and $\alpha$-element ($-$1 $\leq$ [$\alpha$/M] $\leq$ $+$1 dex) variations, having thus seven dimensions. We compare the ATLAS9/ASS$\epsilon$T and MARCS/Turbospectrum libraries and apply both of them to the analysis of the observed H$-$band spectra of the Sun and the K2 giant Arcturus, as well as to a selected sample of well-known giant stars observed at very high-resolution. The new APOGEE libraries are publicly available and can be employed for chemical studies in the H$-$band using other high-resolution spectrographs., Comment: 45 pages, 11 figures; accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal

Possible main formation sites of F in the Universe include AGB stars, the {\nu}-process in Type II SNe, and/or W-R stars. The importance of the W-R stars has theoretically been questioned and they are probably not needed in the modelling of the chemical evolution of F in the solar neighborhood. It has, however, been suggested that W-R stars are indeed needed to explain the chemical evolution of F in the Bulge. The molecular spectral data of the often used HF-molecule has not been presented in a complete and consistent way and has recently been debated in the literature. In this article we determine the [F/O] vs. [O/H] trend in the Bulge to investigate the possible contribution from W-R stars. Additionally, we present here a HF line list for the K- and L-bands (including the often used 23358.33 {\AA} line) and an accompanying partition function. The F abundances were determined using spectral fitting from hi-res NIR spectra of eight K giants recorded by the spectrograph CRIRES. We have also re-analyzed five previously published Bulge giants using our new HF molecular data. We find that the F-O abundance in the Bulge probably cannot be explained with chemical evolution models including only AGB-stars and the {\nu}-process in SNe Type II, i.e. a significant amount of F production in W-R stars is likely needed to explain the F abundance in the Bulge. Concerning the HF line list, we find that a possible reason for the inconsistencies in the literature, with two different excitation energies being used, is two different definitions of the zero-point energy for the HF molecule and therefore also two accompanying different dissociation energies. Both line lists are correct, as long as the corresponding consistent partition function is used in the spectral synthesis. However, we suspect this has not been the case in several earlier works leading to F abundances 0.3 dex too high.

We investigate the chemo-kinematic properties of the Milky Way disc by exploring the first year of data from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), and compare our results to smaller optical high-resolution samples in the literature, as well as results from lower resolution surveys such as GCS, SEGUE and RAVE. We start by selecting a high-quality sample in terms of chemistry ($\sim$ 20.000 stars) and, after computing distances and orbital parameters for this sample, we employ a number of useful subsets to formulate constraints on Galactic chemical and chemodynamical evolution processes in the Solar neighbourhood and beyond (e.g., metallicity distributions -- MDFs, [$\alpha$/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] diagrams, and abundance gradients). Our red giant sample spans distances as large as 10 kpc from the Sun. We find remarkable agreement between the recently published local (d $<$ 100 pc) high-resolution high-S/N HARPS sample and our local HQ sample (d $<$ 1 kpc). The local MDF peaks slightly below solar metallicity, and exhibits an extended tail towards [Fe/H] $= -$1, whereas a sharper cut-off is seen at larger metallicities. The APOGEE data also confirm the existence of a gap in the [$\alpha$/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] abundance diagram. When expanding our sample to cover three different Galactocentric distance bins, we find the high-[$\alpha$/Fe] stars to be rare towards the outer zones, as previously suggested in the literature. For the gradients in [Fe/H] and [$\alpha$/Fe], measured over a range of 6 $ < $ R $ <$ 11 kpc in Galactocentric distance, we find a good agreement with the gradients traced by the GCS and RAVE dwarf samples. For stars with 1.5 $<$ z $<$ 3 kpc, we find a positive metallicity gradient and a negative gradient in [$\alpha$/Fe]., Comment: 25 pages, 17 figures. A&A, in press

The SDSS-III Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) is a three year survey that is collecting 100,000 high-resolution spectra in the near-IR across multiple Galactic populations. To derive stellar parameters and chemical compositions from this massive data set, the APOGEE Stellar Parameters and Chemical Abundances Pipeline (ASPCAP) has been developed. Here, we describe empirical calibrations of stellar parameters presented in the first SDSS-III APOGEE data release (DR10). These calibrations were enabled by observations of 559 stars in 20 globular and open clusters. The cluster observations were supplemented by observations of stars in NASA's Kepler field that have well determined surface gravities from asteroseismic analysis. We discuss the accuracy and precision of the derived stellar parameters, considering especially effective temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity; we also briefly discuss the derived results for the abundances of the alpha-elements, carbon, and nitrogen. Overall, we find that ASPCAP achieves reasonably accurate results for temperature and metallicity, but suffers from systematic errors in surface gravity. We derive calibration relations that bring the raw ASPCAP results into better agreement with independently determined stellar parameters. The internal scatter of ASPCAP parameters within clusters suggests that, metallicities are measured with a precision better than 0.1 dex, effective temperatures better than 150 K, and surface gravities better than 0.2 dex. The understanding provided by the clusters and Kepler giants on the current accuracy and precision will be invaluable for future improvements of the pipeline., Comment: 40 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables, accepted to AJ

We present the fundamental stellar and planetary properties of the transiting planetary system WASP-13 within the framework of the Homogeneous Study of Transiting Systems (HoSTS). HoSTS aims to derive the fundamental stellar (Teff, [Fe/H], Mstar, Rstar), and planetary (Mpl, Rpl, Teq) physical properties of known transiting planets using a consistent methodology and homogeneous high-quality dataset. Four spectral analysis techniques are independently applied to a Keck+HIRES spectrum of WASP-13 considering two distinct cases: unconstrained parameters, and constrained log g from transit light curves. We check the derived stellar temperature against that from a different temperature diagnostic based on an INT+IDS H{\alpha} spectrum. The four unconstrained analyses render results that are in good agreement, and provide an improvement of 50% in the precision of Teff, and of 85% in [Fe/H] with respect to the WASP-13 discovery paper. The planetary parameters are then derived via the Monte-Carlo-Markov-Chain modeling of the radial velocity and light curves, in iteration with stellar evolutionary models to derive realistic uncertainties. WASP-13 (1.187 +- 0.065 Msun; 1.574 +- 0.048 Rsun) hosts a Saturn-mass, transiting planet (0.500 +- 0.037 MJup; 1.407 +- 0.052 RJup), and is at the end of its main-sequence lifetime (4-5.5 Gyr). Our analysis of WASP-13 showcases that both a detailed stellar characterization, and transit modeling are necessary to well determine the fundamental properties of planetary systems, which are paramount in identifying and determining empirical relationships between transiting planets and their hosts., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables; Accepted to ApJ for publication; version 2 minor changes

Results of a detailed abundance analysis of the solar twins 16 Cyg A and 16 Cyg B based on high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio echelle spectroscopy are presented. 16 Cyg B is known to host a giant planet while no planets have yet been detected around 16 Cyg A. Stellar parameters are derived directly from our high-quality spectra, and the stars are found to be physically similar, with Delta_T_eff = +43 K, Delta_logg = -0.02 dex, and Delta_xi = +0.10 km/s (in the sense of A - B), consistent with previous findings. Abundances of 15 elements are derived and are found to be indistinguishable between the two stars. The abundances of each element differ by <= 0.026 dex, and the mean difference is +0.003 +/- 0.015 (sigma) dex. Aside from Li, which has been previously shown to be depleted by a factor of at least 4.5 in 16 Cyg B relative to 16 Cyg A, the two stars appear to be chemically identical. The abundances of each star demonstrate a positive correlation with the condensation temperature of the elements (T_c); the slopes of the trends are also indistinguishable. In accordance with recent suggestions, the positive slopes of the [m/H]-T_c relations may imply that terrestrial planets have not formed around either 16 Cyg A or 16 Cyg B. The physical characteristics of the 16 Cyg system are discussed in terms of planet formation models, and plausible mechanisms that can account for the lack of detected planets around 16 Cyg A, the disparate Li abundances of 16 Cyg A and B, and the eccentricity of the planet 16 Cyg B b are suggested., Comment: 16 pages, accepted by ApJL

Fluorine (19F) abundances (or upper limits) are derived in six extragalactic AGB carbon stars from the HF(1-0) R9 line at 2.3358 mu in high resolution spectra. The stars belong to the Local Group galaxies LMC, SMC and Carina dwarf spheroidal, spanning more than a factor 50 in metallicity. This is the first study to probe the behaviour of F with metallicity in intrinsic extragalactic C-rich AGB stars. Fluorine could be measured only in four of the target stars, showing a wide range in F-enhancements. Our F abundance measurements together with those recently derived in Galactic AGB carbon stars show a correlation with the observed carbon and s-element enhancements. The observed correlations however, display a different dependence on the stellar metallicity with respect to theoretical predictions in low mass, low metallicity AGB models. We briefly discuss the possible reasons for this discrepancy. If our findings are confirmed in a larger number of metal-poor AGBs, the issue of F production in AGB stars will need to be revisited., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, accepted in ApJ Letters

This work presents a homogeneous determination of lithium abundances in a large sample of giant-planet hosting stars (N=117), and a control sample of disk stars without detected planets (N=145). The lithium abundances were derived using a detailed profile fitting of the Li I doublet at lambda 6708 A in LTE. The planet hosting and comparison stars were chosen to have significant overlap in their respective physical properties, including effective temperatures, luminosities, masses, metallicities and ages. The combination of uniform data and homogeneous analysis with well selected samples, makes this study well-suited to probe for possible differences in the lithium abundances found in planet hosting stars. An overall comparison between the two samples reveals no obvious differences between stars with and without planets. Closer examination of the behavior of the Li abundances over a narrow range of effective temperature (5700 K < Teff < 5850 K) indicates subtle differences between the two stellar samples; this temperature range is particularly sensitive to various physical processes that can deplete lithium. In this Teff range planet hosting stars have lower Li abundances (by ~0.26 dex on average) than the comparison stars, although this segregation may be influenced by combining stars from a range of ages, metallicities and masses. When stars with very restricted ranges in metallicity ([Fe/H] = 0.00 to +0.20 dex) and mass (M ~ 1.05 - 1.15 Msun are compared, however, both stars with and without planets exhibit similar behaviors in the lithium abundance with stellar age, suggesting that there are no differences in the lithium abundances between stars with planets and stars not known to have planets., Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJ

This work presents a homogeneous derivation of atmospheric parameters and iron abundances for a sample of giant and subgiant stars which host giant planets, as well as a control sample of subgiant stars not known to host giant planets. The analysis is done using the same technique as for our previous analysis of a large sample of planet-hosting and control sample dwarf stars. A comparison between the distributions of [Fe/H] in planet-hosting main-sequence stars, subgiants, and giants within these samples finds that the main-sequence stars and subgiants have the same mean metallicity of <[Fe/H]> \simeq +0.11 dex, while the giant sample is typically more metal poor, having an average metallicity of <[Fe/H]> = -0.06 dex. The fact that the subgiants have the same average metallicities as the dwarfs indicates that significant accretion of solid metal-rich material onto the planet-hosting stars has not taken place, as such material would be diluted in the evolution from dwarf to subgiant. The lower metallicity found for the planet-hosting giant stars in comparison with the planet-hosting dwarfs and subgiants is interpreted as being related to the underlying stellar mass, with giants having larger masses and thus, on average larger-mass protoplanetary disks. In core accretion models of planet formation, larger disk masses can contain the critical amount of metals necessary to form giant planets even at lower metallicities., Comment: 38 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

The metal content of planet hosting stars is an important ingredient which may affect the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Accurate stellar abundances require the determinations of reliable physical parameters, namely the effective temperature, surface gravity, microturbulent velocity, and metallicity. This work presents the homogeneous derivation of such parameters for a large sample of stars hosting planets (N=117), as well as a control sample of disk stars not known to harbor giant, closely orbiting planets (N=145). Stellar parameters and iron abundances are derived from an automated analysis technique developed for this work. As previously found in the literature, the results in this study indicate that the metallicity distribution of planet hosting stars is more metal-rich by ~0.15 dex when compared to the control sample stars. A segregation of the sample according to planet mass indicates that the metallicity distribution of stars hosting only Neptunian-mass planets (with no Jovian-mass planets) tends to be more metal-poor in comparison with that obtained for stars hosting a closely orbiting Jovian planet. The significance of this difference in metallicity arises from a homogeneous analysis of samples of FGK dwarfs which do not include the cooler and more problematic M dwarfs. This result would indicate that there is a possible link between planet mass and metallicity such that metallicity plays a role in setting the mass of the most massive planet. Further confirmation, however, must await larger samples., Comment: 41 pages, 10 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

An analysis of the fluorine abundance in Galactic AGB carbon stars (24 N-type, 5 SC-type and 5 J-type) is presented. This study uses the state- of-the-art carbon rich atmosphere models and improved atomic and molecular line lists in the 2.3 {\mu}m region. F abundances significantly lower are obtained in comparison to previous study in the literature. The main reason of this difference is due to molecular blends. In the case of carbon stars of SC-type, differences in the model atmospheres are also relevant. The new F enhancements are now in agreement with the most recent theoretical nucleosynthesis models in low- mass AGB stars, solving the long standing problem of F in Galactic AGB stars. Nevertheless, some SC-type carbon stars still show larger F abundances than predicted by stellar models. The possibility that these stars are of larger mass is briefly discussed., Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, Accepted in ApJ Letters

The study of chemical abundances in stars with planets is an important ingredient for the models of formation and evolution of planetary systems. In order to determine accurate abundances, it is crucial to have a reliable set of atmospheric parameters. In this work, we describe the homogeneous determination of effective temperatures, surface gravities and iron abundances for a large sample of stars with planets as well as a control sample of stars without giant planets. Our results indicate that the metallicity distribution of the stars with planets is more metal rich by ~ 0.13 dex than the control sample stars., Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Proceedings of IAU Symposium 265, Chemical Abundances in the Universe: Connecting First Stars to Planets

High-resolution (R = 143,000), high signal-to-noise (S/N = 700-1100) Gemini-S bHROS spectra have been analyzed in a search for 6Li in 5 stars which host extrasolar planets. The presence of detectable amounts of 6Li in these mature, solar-type stars is a good monitor of accretion of planetary disk material, or solid bodies themselves, into the outer layers of the parent stars. Detailed profile-fitting of the Li I resonance doublet at lambda 6707.8 A reveals no detectable amounts of 6Li in any star in our sample. The list of stars analyzed includes HD 82943 for which 6Li has been previouly detected at the level of 6Li/7Li = 0.05 +/- 0.02. The typical limits in the derived isotopic fraction are 6Li/7Li <= 0.00-0.02. These upper limits constrain the amount of accreted material to less than ~ 0.02 to 0.5 Jovian masses. The presence of detectable amounts of 6Li would manifest itself as a red asymmetry in the Li I line-profile and the derived upper limits on such asymmetries are discussed in light of three-dimensional hydrodynamic model atmospheres, where convective motions also give rise to slight red asymmetries in line profiles., Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

We present the results from an analysis of the 8727ang forbidden [C I] line in high-resolution Gemini-S/bHROS spectra of three CEMP stars. We find the [C/Fe] ratios based on the [C I] abundances of the two most Fe-rich stars in our sample (HIP 0507-1653: [Fe/H] = -1.42 and HIP 0054-2542: [Fe/H] = -2.66) to be in good agreement with previously determined CH and C_2 line-based values. For the most Fe-deficient star in our sample (HIP 1005-1439: [Fe/H] = -3.08), however, the [C/Fe] ratio is found to be 0.34 dex lower than the published molecular-based value. We have carried out 3D local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) calculations for [C I], and the resulting corrections are found to be modest for all three stars, suggesting that the discrepancy between the [C I] and molecular-based C abundances of HIP 1005-1439 is due to more severe 3D effects on the molecular lines. Carbon abundances are also derived from C I high-excitation lines and are found to be 0.45-0.64 dex higher than the [C I]-based abundances. Previously published non-LTE C I abundance corrections bring the [C I] and C I abundances into better agreement; however, targeted NLTE calculations for CEMP stars are clearly needed. We have also derived the abundances of N, K, and Fe for each star. The Fe abundances agree well with previously derived values, and the K abundances are similar to those of C-normal metal-poor stars. Nitrogen abundances have been derived from resolved lines of the CN red system. The abundances are found to be approximately 0.44 dex larger than literature values, which have been derived from CN blue bands near 3880 and 4215 ang. We discuss evidence that suggests that analyses of the CN blue system bands underestimate the N abundances of metal-poor giants., Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ; 42 pages, 6 figures, 7 tables

The evolution of the Milky Way bulge and its relationship with the other Galactic populations is still poorly understood. The bulge has been suggested to be either a merger-driven classical bulge or the product of a dynamical instability of the inner disk. To probe the star formation history, the initial mass function and stellar nucleosynthesis of the bulge, we performed an elemental abundance analysis of bulge red giant stars. We also completed an identical study of local thin disk, thick disk and halo giants to establish the chemical differences and similarities between the various populations. High-resolution infrared spectra of 19 bulge giants and 49 comparison giants in the solar neighborhood were acquired with Gemini/Phoenix. All stars have similar stellar parameters but cover a broad range in metallicity. A standard 1D local thermodynamic equilibrium analysis yielded the abundances of C, N, O and Fe. A homogeneous and differential analysis of the bulge, halo, thin disk and thick disk stars ensured that systematic errors were minimized. We confirm the well-established differences for [O/Fe] (at a given metallicity) between the local thin and thick disks. For the elements investigated, we find no chemical distinction between the bulge and the local thick disk, which is in contrast to previous studies relying on literature values for disk dwarf stars in the solar neighborhood. Our findings suggest that the bulge and local thick disk experienced similar, but not necessarily shared, chemical evolution histories. We argue that their formation timescales, star formation rates and initial mass functions were similar., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 5 pages

Fluorine (19F) abundances are derived in a sample of 6 bulge red giants in Baade's Window. These giants span a factor of 10 in metallicity and this is the first study to define the behavior of 19F with metallicity in the bulge. The bulge results show an increase in F/O with increasing oxygen. This trend overlaps what is found in the disk at comparable metallicities, with the most oxygen-rich bulge target extending the disk trend. The increase in F/O in the disk arises from 19F synthesis in both asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and metal-rich Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars through stellar winds. The lack of an s-process enhancement in the most fluorine-rich bulge giant in this study, suggests that WR stars represented a larger contribution than AGB stars to 19F production in the bulge when compared to the disk. If this result for fluorine is combined with the previously published overall decline in the O/Mg abundance ratios in metal-rich bulge stars, it suggests that WR winds played a role in shaping chemical evolution in the bulge. One star in this study exhibits a very low value of F/O while having a large O-abundance; this chemical mixture can be understood if this star formed from gas that was enriched by metal-poor core-collapse supernovae and may indicate that chemical evolution in the bulge was inhomogeneous., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

The fluorine abundance of the Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) star HE 1305+0132 has been derived by analysis of the molecular HF (1-0) R9 line at 2.3357 microns in a high-resolution (R = 50,000) spectrum obtained with the Phoenix spectrometer and Gemini-South telescope. Our abundance analysis makes use of a CNO-enhanced ATLAS12 model atmosphere characterized by a metallicity and CNO enhancements determined utilizing medium-resolution (R = 3,000) optical and near-IR spectra. The effective iron abundance is found to be [Fe/H] = -2.5, making HE 1305+0132 the most Fe-deficient star, by more than an order of magnitude, for which the abundance of fluorine has been measured. Using spectral synthesis, we derive a super-solar fluorine abundance of A(19F) = 4.96 +/- 0.21, corresponding to a relative abundance of [F/Fe] = 2.90. A single line of the Phillips C_2 system is identified in our Phoenix spectrum, and along with multiple lines of the first-overtone vibration-rotation CO (3-1) band head, C and O abundances of A(12C) = 8.57 +/- 0.11 and A(16O) = 7.04 +/- 0.14 are derived. We consider the striking fluorine overabundance in the framework of the nucleosynthetic processes thought to be responsible for the C-enhancement of CEMP stars and conclude that the atmosphere of HE 1305+0132 was polluted via mass transfer by a primary companion during its asymptotic giant branch phase. This is the first study of fluorine in a CEMP star, and it demonstrates that this rare nuclide can be a key diagnostic of nucleosynthetic processes in the early Galaxy., Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures; Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

Abridged Abstract - Utilizing the FORS2 instrument on the VLT, we have obtained near infrared spectra for more than 200 stars in 28 populous LMC clusters. This cluster sample spans a large range of ages (~ 1-13 Gyr) and metallicities (-0.3 > [Fe/H] > -2.0) and has good areal coverage of the LMC disk. The strong absorption lines of the Calcium II triplet are used to derive cluster radial velocities and abundances. We determine mean cluster velocities to typically 1.6 km/s and mean metallicities to 0.04 dex (random error). For eight of these clusters, we report the first spectroscopically determined metallicities based on individual cluster stars, and six of these eight have no published radial velocity measurements. (continued in paper), Comment: 26 pages of text plus 14 figures and 6 tables. Accepted for publication in AJ. Scheduled for Vol. 132, No. 4 (October 2006)

Accurate parallaxes from the Hipparcos catalog have enabled detailed studies of stellar properties. Subgiants are of particular interest because they lie in an area where isochrones are well separated, enabling dependable age determination. We have initiated a project to obtain hi-res spectra of Hipparcos subgiants in a volume-limited sample within 100 pc. We obtain stellar properties and abundances via fully automatic analysis. We will use our results to constrain star formation history and chemical evolution in the solar neighborhood. We present initial results for our observed sample and discuss future development for this project., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in ASP Conference Series, eds. S. Kannappan, S. Redfield, N. Drory, J. Kessler-Silacci, M. Landriau

We present fluorine abundances in seven red-giant members of the globular cluster M4 (NGC 6121). These abundances were derived from the HF (1--0) R9 line at 2.3357 microns in high-resolution infrared spectra obtained with the Phoenix spectrograph on Gemini-South. Many abundances in the target stars have been studied previously, so that their overall abundance distributions are well-mapped. The abundance of fluorine is found to vary by more than a factor of 6, with the F-19 variations being correlated with the already established oxygen variations, and anti-correlated with the sodium and aluminium variations. In this paper we thus add fluorine to the list of elements known to vary in globular cluster stars, and this provides further evidence that H-burning is the root cause of the chemical inhomegeneities. The fact that F-19 is found to decrease in the M4 stars, as the signature of H-burning appears, indicates that the polluting stars must have masses greater than about 3.5 solar masses, as less massive stars than this should produce, not destroy, fluorine., Comment: Astrophysical Journal, accepted and in-press

We obtain high-resolution echelle spectra of evolved Hipparcos stars within 100 parsec for detailed abundance analysis. We are particularly interested in subgiants because their ages can be derived accurately. Here, we present preliminary results for 10 subgiants and discuss the future work for this project. Our main scientific interest is to incorporate our results to constrain the star formation history in the solar neighborhood., Comment: 8 pages; 5 figures; Submitted to Resolved Stellar Populations, ASP Conference Series, Vol. TBA, 2005

We compare variability of radial velocity (RV) and brightness for a sample of red giants which were selected as candidates for the Grid Giant Star Survey (GGSS). The purpose of the survey is to select astrometrically stable stars as a reference frame for the future Space Interferometry Mission. We incorporate photometric data taken by ROTSE-I and being taken by ROTSE-III robotic telescopes. Typically 2/3 of all GGSS stars to the north of DEC=-35 were observed 76 and 8 times by ROTSE-I and III respectively in white-light filters. It is shown that photometric stability at the 0.02 mag level cannot be used for a pre-selection of RV-stable stars, and the most important tool remains high-resolution spectroscopy. We deeply thank the ROTSE collaboration providing us observing time at the ROTSE-IIIb telescope. We gratefully acknowledge NASA grant NRA-99-04-OSS-058., Comment: The poster was presented at 205 AAS meeting (San Diego, CA, USA). 6 pages, 3 figures

The main astrophysical factories of fluorine (19F) are thought to be Type II supernovae, Wolf-Rayet stars, and the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) of intermediate mass stars. We present a model for the chemical evolution of fluorine in the Milky Way using a semi-analytic multi-zone chemical evolution model. For the first time, we demonstrate quantitatively the impact of fluorine nucleosynthesis in Wolf-Rayet and AGB stars. The inclusion of these latter two fluorine production sites provides a possible solution to the long-standing discrepancy between model predictions and the fluorine abundances observed in Milky Way giants. Finally, fluorine is discussed as a possible probe of the role of supernovae and intermediate mass stars in the chemical evolution history of the globular cluster omega Centauri., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. MNRAS in press

The source of fluorine is not well understood, although core-collapse supernovae, Wolf-Rayet stars, and asymptotic giant branch stars have been suggested. A search for evidence of the nu process during Type II supernovae is presented. Absorption from interstellar F I is seen in spectra of HD 208440 and HD 209339A acquired with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. In order to extract the column density for F I from the line at 954 A, absorption from H2 has to be modeled and then removed. Our analysis indicates that for H2 column densities less than about 3 x 10^20 cm^-2, the amount of F I can be determined from lambda 954. For these two sight lines, there is no clear indication for enhanced F abundances resulting from the nu process in a region shaped by past supernovae., Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

We report the first detection of a planetary-mass companion to a star using the High Resolution Spectrograph (HRS) of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET). The HET-HRS now gives routine radial velocity precision of 2-3 m/s for high SNR observations of quiescent stars. The planetary-mass companion to the metal-rich K0V star HD37605 has an orbital period of 54.23 days, an orbital eccentricity of 0.737, and a minimum mass of 2.84 Jupiter masses. The queue-scheduled operation of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope enabled us to discovery of this relatively short-period planet with a total observation time span of just two orbital periods. The ability of queue-scheduled large-aperture telescopes to respond quickly to interesting and important results demonstrates the power of this new approach in searching for extra-solar planets as well as in other ares of research requiring rapid response time critical observations., Comment: 4 Pages, 2 figures. Accepted in Astrophysical Journal Letters, http://austral.as.utexas.edu/planets/hd37605/hd37605.html

We present high-resolution optical spectra (at ~0.6--1.8 km s-1) of interstellar CN, CH, CH^+, \ion{Ca}{1}, \ion{K}{1}, and \ion{Ca}{2} absorption toward 29 lines of sight in three star-forming regions, \rho Oph, Cep OB2, and Cep OB3. The observations and data reduction are described. The agreement between earlier measurements of the total equivalent widths and our results is quite good. However, our higher resolution spectra reveal complex structure and closely blended components in most lines of sight. The velocity component structure of each species is obtained by analyzing the spectra of the six species for a given sight line together. The tabulated column densities and Doppler parameters of individual components are determined by using the method of profile fitting. Total column densities along lines of sight are computed by summing results from profile fitting for individual components and are compared with column densities from the apparent optical depth method. A more detailed analysis of these data and their implications will be presented in a companion paper., Comment: 66 pages, 15 figures, accepted to ApJS

The behavior of fluorine with metallicity has not yet been probed in any stellar population. In this work, we present the first fluorine abundances measured outside of the Milky Way from a sample of red giants in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), as well the Galactic globular cluster Omega Centauri. The fluorine abundances are derived from vibration-rotation transitions of HF using infrared spectra obtained with the Phoenix spectrograph on the Gemini South 8.1m telescope. It is found that the abundance ratio of F/O declines as the oxygen abundance decreases. The values of F/O are especially low in the two Omega Cen giants; this very low value of F/O probably indicates that 19F synthesis in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars is not the dominant source of fluorine in stellar populations. The observed decline in F/O with lower O abundances is in qualitative agreement with what is expected if 19F is produced via H- and He-burning sequences in very massive stars, with this fluorine then ejected in high mass-loss rate Wolf-Rayet winds. A quantitative comparison of observations with this process awaits results from more detailed chemical evolution models incorporating the yields from Wolf-Rayet winds. Perhaps of more significance is the quantitative agreement between the Galactic and LMC results with predictions from models in which 19F is produced from neutrino nucleosynthesis during core collpase in supernovae of Type II. The very low values of F/O in Omega Cen are also in agreement with neutrino nucleosynthesis models if the ``peculiar'' star formation history of Omega Cen, with 2-4 distinct episodes of star formation, is considered., Comment: 19 pages, 2 tables, 4 figures. In press to the Astronomical Journal

Non-LTE abundances of magnesium, aluminum and sulfur are derived for a sample of 23 low-v \sin i stars belonging to six northern OB associations of the Galactic disk within 1 kpc of the Sun. The abundances are obtained from the fitting of synthetic line profiles to high resolution spectra. A comparison of our results with HII region abundances indicates good agreement for sulfur while the cepheid abundances are higher. The derived abundances of Mg show good overlap with the cepheid results. The aluminum abundances for OB stars are significantly below the cepheid values. But, the OB star results show a dependence with effective temperature and need further investigation. The high Al abundances in the cepheids could be the result of mixing. A discussion of the oxygen abundance in objects near the solar circle suggests that the current mean galactic oxygen abundance in this region is 8.6-8.7 and in agreement with the recently revised oxygen abundance in the solar photosphere. Meaningful comparisons of the absolute S, Al and Mg abundances in OB stars with the Sun must await a reinvestigation of these elements, as well as the meteoritic reference element Si, with 3D hydrodynamical model atmospheres for the Sun. No abundance gradients are found within the limited range in galactocentric distances in the present study. Such variations would be expected only if there were large metallicity gradients in the disk., Comment: 3 figures, accepted for publication in A&A, needs aa.sty

High-resolution infrared spectra (R=50,000) have been obtained for twelve red-giant members of the LMC with the Gemini South 8.3-meter telescope plus Phoenix spectrometer. Quantitative chemical abundances of carbon-12, carbon-13, nitrogen-14, and oxygen-16 were derived from molecular lines of CO, CN, and OH, while sodium, scandium, titanium, and iron abundances were derived from neutral atomic lines. The LMC giants have masses from about 1 to 4 solar masses and span a metallicity range from [Fe/H]= -1.1 to -0.3. The program red giants all show evidence of first dredge-up mixing, with low 12C/13C ratios, and low 12C correlated with high 14N abundances. Comparisons of the oxygen-to-iron ratios in the LMC and the Galaxy indicate that the trend of [O/Fe] versus [Fe/H] in the LMC falls about 0.2 dex below the Galactic trend. Such an offset can be modeled as due to an overall lower rate of supernovae per unit mass in the LMC relative to the Galaxy, as well as a slightly lower ratio of supernovae of type II to supernovae of type Ia., Comment: 25 pages, 6 tables, 10 figures. "In press" in The Astronomical Journal (scheduled for December 2002)

We describe first results of a spectroscopic probe of selected fields from the Grid Giant Star Survey. Multifiber spectroscopy of several hundred stars in a strip of eleven fields along delta approximately -17^{circ}, in the range 12 <~ alpha <~ 17 hours, reveals a group of 8 giants that have kinematical characteristics differing from the main field population, but that as a group maintain coherent, smoothly varying distances and radial velocities with position across the fields. Moreover, these stars have roughly the same abundance, according to their MgH+Mgb absorption line strengths. Photometric parallaxes place these stars in a semi-loop structure, arcing in a contiguous distribution between 5.7 and 7.9 kpc from the Galactic center. The spatial, kinematical, and abundance coherence of these stars suggests that they are part of a diffuse stream of tidal debris, and one roughly consistent with a wrapped, leading tidal arm of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy., Comment: 8 pages including 4 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJL

Hubble Space Telescope STIS observations of the B III resonance line at 2066A have been obtained and analyzed for two Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) B-type stars. While boron is not detected in either star, upper limits to the boron abundance are set, with 12+log(B/H) le 1.6 for both AV 304 and NGC 346-637. The upper limits are consistent with the relationship between boron and oxygen previously reported for Galactic disk stars. The SMC upper limits are discussed in light of that galaxy's star formation history, present oxygen abundance, and its present cosmic ray flux. The UV spectrum has also been used to determine the iron-group abundances in the SMC stars. For AV 304, [Fe/H]=-0.6 pm 0.2, from both an absolute and a differential analysis (with respect to the Galactic B-type star HD 36591). This is consistent with results from A-F supergiants in the SMC. A lower iron abundance is found for NGC 346-637, [Fe/H]=-1.0 pm 0.3, but this is in good agreement with the supergiant iron abundances in NGC 330,another young SMC cluster. We propose NGC 346-637 may be an unrecognized binary though, which complicates its spectral analysis., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Accepted to ApJ

Copper abundances are presented for 40 red-giant stars in Omega Cen as well as 15 red-giant members of the globular clusters NGC288, NGC362, NGC3201, NGC6752, and M4. A comparison with the halo field star pattern indicates that, unlike the field stars, Omega Cen displays a constant ratio of [Cu/Fe] -0.5 all the way from [Fe/H]=-2.0 to -0.8. At the metallicity of [Fe/H]= -0.8, the values of [Cu/Fe] in Omega Cen fall below the corresponding mean ratio in the field stars by roughly 0.5 dex. If copper is produced primarily in type Ia supernovae (SN Ia), the lack of an increase in [Cu/Fe] in Omega Cen would suggest very little contribution from SN Ia to its chemical evolution within the metallicity range from [Fe/H] of -2.0 up to -0.8., Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, 6 tables, submitted to Astronomical Journal. Previous version missing 2 figures and 6 tables

Surprisingly large column densities of H3+ have been detected using infrared absorption spectroscopy in seven diffuse cloud sightlines (Cygnus OB2 12, Cygnus OB2 5, HD 183143, HD 20041, WR 104, WR 118, and WR 121), demonstrating that H3+ is ubiquitous in the diffuse interstellar medium. Using the standard model of diffuse cloud chemistry, our H3+ column densities imply unreasonably long path lengths (~1 kpc) and low densities (~3 cm^-3). Complimentary millimeter-wave, infrared, and visible observations of related species suggest that the chemical model is incorrect and that the number density of H3+ must be increased by one to two orders of magnitude. Possible solutions include a reduced electron fraction, an enhanced rate of H2 ionization, and/or a smaller value of the H3+ dissociative recombination rate constant than implied by laboratory experiments., Comment: To be published in Astrophysical Journal, March 2002

We present the results of s-process nucleosynthesis calculations for AGB stars of different metallicities and initial masses. The computations were based on previously published stellar evolutionary models that account for the III dredge up phenomenon occurring late on the AGB. Neutron production is driven by the 13C(alpha,n)16O reaction during the interpulse periods in a tiny layer in radiative equilibrium at the top of the He- and C-rich shell. The s-enriched material is subsequently mixed with the envelope by the III dredge up, and the envelope composition is computed after each thermal pulse. We follow the changes in the photospheric abundance of the Ba-peak elements (heavy s, or `hs') and that of the Zr-peak ones (light s, or `ls'), whose logarithmic ratio [hs/ls] has often been adopted as an indicator of the s-process efficiency. The theoretical predictions are compared with published abundances of s elements for Galactic AGB giants of classes MS, S, SC, post-AGB supergiants, and for various classes of binary stars. The observations in general confirm the complex dependence of n captures on metallicity. They suggest that a moderate spread exists in the abundance of 13C that is burnt in different stars. Although additional observations are needed, a good understanding has been achieved of s-process operation in AGB. The detailed abundance distribution including the light elements (CNO) of a few s-enriched stars at different metallicity are examined., Comment: Accepted for ApJ, 59 pages, 19 figures, 5 tables

By employing two different spectroscopic techniques we have mapped out the variable ISM dust extinction endemic to globular cluster M4. We derive an average E(B-V) reddening of 0.33 +/- 0.01 and R = 3.4 +/- 0.4, both in good agreement with previous studies of M4. For individual stars in the most heavily reddened regions of M4, we find E(B-V) values significantly higher than those inferred by studies of interstellar gas; for heavily reddened regions, the gas measured in column density measurements may not completely trace the dust., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Revista Mexicana de Astronomia y Astrofisica Serie de Conferencias: ``The Seventh Texas-Mexico Conference on Astrophysics: Glows, Flows & Blows'' April 6-8, 2000, Austin, Texas

High resolution (R=110000), very high S/N spectra, centered on the 6707.8A LiI line have been obtained with the ESO Coude Echelle Spectrometer for five, metal-poor (-0.8 < [Fe/H] < -0.6) disk stars in the turnoff region of the HR-diagram. The instrumental and stellar atmospheric line broadening have been determined from two unblended iron lines and used in a model atmosphere synthesis of the profile of the LiI line as a function of the lithium isotope ratio. This has led to a detection of 6Li in HD68284 and HD130551 with 6Li/7Li = 0.05, whereas the other stars, HR2883, HR3578 and HR8181, have 6Li/7Li close to zero. By comparing Teff-values and absolute magnitudes based on Hipparcos parallaxes with recent stellar evolutionary tracks, the masses of the stars have been derived. It is shown that the two stars with 6Li present have a significantly higher mass, M = 1.05 M(sun), than the other three stars for which values between 0.85 and 1.0 M(sun) are obtained. The results are discussed in terms of models for the galactic evolution of the light elements and depletion of the lithium isotopes in stellar envelopes. It is shown that the measured 6Li abundances are in agreement with standard cosmic ray production of 6Li in the galactic disk and a moderate depletion (0.5 dex) in the stars. Recent models for the evolution of 6Li including alpha + alpha fusion reactions and predicting a high lithium isotopic ratio, 6Li/7Li = 0.3 at [Fe/H] = -0.6, require a high degree of 6Li depletion (1.0 dex) to fit the observations. Furthermore, these models imply a 7Li abundance about 0.2 dex higher than observed for metal-poor disk stars., Comment: 12 pages with 9 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A