J/MNRAS/522/1358 A(Li) and stellar parameters of near MS stars (Norris+, 2023)
A critique of the Spite Plateau and the astration of primordial lithium.
Norris J.E., Yong D., Frebel A., Ryan S.G.
<Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 522, 1358-1376 (2023)>
=2023MNRAS.522.1358N 2023MNRAS.522.1358N (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Abundances ; Stars, population II ; Stars, pre-main sequence ;
Spectroscopy ; Optical ; Effective temperatures ; References ;
Combined data
Keywords: stars: abundances - stars: Population II - Galaxy: abundances -
early Universe
Abstract:
We investigate the distribution of the lithium abundances, A(Li), of
metal-poor dwarf and subgiant stars within the limits
5500 K < Teff < 6700 K, -6.0 < [Fe/H] < -1.5, and log g ~> 3.5 (a
superset of parameters first adopted by Spite and Spite), using
literature data for some 200 stars. We address the problem of the
several methods that yield Teff differences up to 350 K, and hence
uncertainties of 0.3 dex in [Fe/H] and A(Li), by anchoring Teff to the
infrared flux method. We seek to understand the behaviour of A(Li) as
a function of [Fe/H] - small dispersion at highest [Fe/H], 'meltdown'
at intermediate values (i.e. large spread in Li below the Spite
Plateau), and extreme variations at lowest [Fe/H]. Decreasing A(Li) is
accompanied by increasing dispersion. Insofar as [Fe/H] increases as
the Universe ages, the behaviour of A(Li) reflects chaotic star
formation involving destruction of primordial Li, which settles to the
classic Spite Plateau, with A(Li) ∼ 2.3, by the time the Galactic
halo reaches [Fe/H] ∼ -3.0. We consider three phases: (1) first star
formation in C-rich environments ([C/Fe] > 2.3), with depleted Li; (2)
silicates-dominated star formation and destruction of primordial Li
during pre-main-sequence evolution; and (3) materials from these two
phases co-existing and coalescing to form C-rich stars with A(Li)
below the Spite Plateau, leading to a toy model with the potential to
explain the 'meltdown'. We comment on the results of Mucciarelli et
al. on the Lower RGB, and the suggestion of Aguado et al.
(2019ApJ...874L..21A 2019ApJ...874L..21A) favouring a lower primordial lithium abundance
than generally accepted.
Description:
One of the basic predictions of the Big Bang cosmological model is
that lithium is produced in a hot Big Bang. Subsequently, first
reported the small dispersion in lithium abundances in
near-main-sequence stars in the ranges 5500 K < Teff < 6500 K and
-2.4 < [Fe/H] < -1.1 later to be known as the Spite Plateau and
proposed these stars as potential probes of the Big Bang prediction.
They reported a lithium abundance of the Spite Plateau of
A(Li) = 2.05 ± 0.15 but also noted, The observed lithium abundance
is thus at least a lower limit of the Li produced by the Big Bang. Two
decades later, after considerable further investigation of the
properties of the Big Bang and the Spite Plateau, by many
investigators, it became clear there is indeed a significant
difference between theory and observation. First, we present a
critique of the lithium abundances of near-main-sequence turnoff stars
on the Spite Plateau Secondly, having collated a literature data base
of A(Li) values, we correct them to a common temperature scale by
taking into account differences resulting from the various
techniquesWe also determine a further data set based on ab initio
Infrared Flux Method (IRFM) temperatures, determined for stars having
appropriate literature colours. Thirdly, we examine th that are
potentially responsible for the 'problems' summarized in section
introduction figure 1 for A(Li) values.
All lithium abundances in the present work are based on the Li I 6707
Å doublet. For our purposes, we compiled from the literature a
catalogue of near-main-sequence stars having Teff, logg, and [Fe/H]
data in the ranges 5500 K < Teff < 6720 K, logg ~> 3.5, and
[Fe/H] < -1.5. As will be discussed in more detail below, A(Li) values
depend significantly on the different methods adopted by authors to
determine Teff values. We chose data samples to be as large as
possible with a view to determining systemic differences between the
effective temperatures of the various sources. This initially resulted
in 11 data subsets, each from an individual paper or from multiple
papers by closely related co-workers giving a first sample of about
450 stars in subsets as detailled in section 2.
Next we propose in section 3, two different method to bring
corrections on abundances and stellar parameters as one from Teff
scale values of Melendez et al. (2010A&A...515L...3M 2010A&A...515L...3M) and another one
called ab initio IRFM Teff values based on visual and infrared
colours, using the algorithm of Sbordone et al. (2010A&A...522A..26S 2010A&A...522A..26S,
Cat. J/A+A/522/A26) to determine A(Li). Respectively we present in
table3.dat (for 332 literature observations of the 195 individual
stars) and table4.dat (averages values of the 195 individual stars)
correction results from these two methods. Finally as explicited in
section 4, we focus on [C/Fe] abundances on reliable 78 near MS stars
connected to (Teff, [Fe/H], A(Li)) literature values from previous
tables. These [C/Fe] data are contracted in table7.dat for depicted
[Fe/H] range star classes.
File Summary:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ReadMe 80 . This file
table3.dat 91 332 *Multiple Observations of "Literature" and
"Corrected-Literature" stellar parameters and
abundances data
table4.dat 97 195 The averaged stellar parameters and abundances
of "Literature", "Corrected-Literature" and
"ab initio IRFM" data of near-MS stars sample
table7.dat 68 78 The [C/Fe] for 78 near-main-sequence stars over
three abundance ranges
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note on table3.dat: Corrected values are obtained via the IRFM Teff scale by
using the IRFM based values of Melendez et al. (2010A&A...515L...3M 2010A&A...515L...3M).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See also:
J/MNRAS/489/5900 : Extremely metal-poor stars in SkyMapper DR1.1 (Da+, 2019)
J/A+A/661/A153 : Metal-poor red giant branch stars (Mucciarelli+, 2022)
J/A+A/654/A170 : Abundances of metal-poor stars (Matas Pinto+, 2021)
J/A+A/608/A46 : Constraining cosmic scatter (Reggiani+, 2017)
J/A+A/579/A28 : Abundances of 3 CEMP stars (Bonifacio+, 2015)
J/A+A/522/A26 : Fe Abundances in metal-poor stars (Sbordone+ 2010)
J/A+A/512/A54 : Teff and Fbol from Infrared Flux Method (Casagrande+, 2010)
J/A+A/509/A93 : Carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars (Masseron+, 2010)
J/A+A/501/519 : Extremely metal-poor turnoff stars abundances
(Bonifacio+, 2009)
J/A+A/439/129 : HERES II. Spectroscopic analysis (Barklem+, 2005)
J/ApJ/876/85 : HST observations for LMC Cepheids (Riess+, 2019)
J/ApJ/833/20 : Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) star abundances
(Yoon+, 2016)
J/ApJ/797/21 : Carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars (Placco+, 2014)
J/ApJ/762/27 : Most metal-poor stars. III. 86 [Fe/H]≤-3.0 stars
(Yong+, 2013)
J/ApJ/762/26 : Most metal-poor stars. II. 190 Galactic halo stars
(Yong+, 2013)
J/ApJ/681/1524 : Detailed abundances for 28 metal-poor stars (Lai+, 2008)
J/ApJ/655/492 : Equivalent widths of 26 metal-poor stars (Aoki+, 2007)
J/AJ/154/52 : Metal-poor stars from SDSS/SEGUE. I Unevolved stars
(Matsuno+, 2017)
J/AJ/147/136 : Stars of very low metal abundance. VI. Abundances
(Roederer+, 2014)
J/AJ/120/1841 : Abundances and Kinematics of Halo and Disk Stars
(Fulbright 2000)
II/336 : AAVSO Photometric All Sky Survey (APASS) DR9 (Henden+, 2016)
I/350 : Gaia EDR3 (Gaia Collaboration, 2020)
I/337 : Gaia DR1 (Gaia Collaboration, 2016)
I/322 : UCAC4 Catalogue (Zacharias+, 2012)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table3.dat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 3 I3 --- ID ? Identifier raw number (StarNo)
5- 17 A13 --- Star Star name (Starname)
19- 20 I2 h RAh Right ascension (J2000)
22- 23 I2 min RAm Right ascension (J2000)
25- 29 F5.2 s RAs Right ascension (J2000)
31 A1 --- DE- Declination sign (J2000)
32- 33 I2 deg DEd Declination (J2000)
35- 36 I2 arcmin DEm Declination (J2000)
38- 41 F4.1 arcsec DEs Declination (J2000)
43- 46 I4 K TeffLit Effective temperature from literature
(TeffLit)
48- 51 F4.2 [cm/s2] loggLit Logarithm of the surface gravity from
literature (loggLit)
53 A1 --- l_[Fe/H]Lit Upper limit flag of [Fe/H]Lit
55- 59 F5.2 [-] [Fe/H]Lit Iron to hydrogen abundace ratio from
literature ([Fe/H]Lit)
61 A1 --- l_A(Li)Lit Upper limit flag of A(Li)Lit
63- 66 F4.2 [-] A(Li)Lit Lithium abundance from literature
(ALiLit)
68- 71 I4 K Teffcor Effective temperature corrected value
(Teffcor)
73 A1 --- l_[Fe/H]cor Upper limit flag of [Fe/H]cor
75- 79 F5.2 [-] [Fe/H]cor Iron to hydrogen abundace ratio corrected
value ([Fe/H]cor)
81 A1 --- l_A(Li)cor Upper limit flag of A(Li)cor
83- 86 F4.2 [-] A(Li)cor Lithium abundance corrected value
(ALicor)
88- 91 A4 --- Author Literature references of TeffLit, loggLit,
[Fe/H]Lit and A(Li)Lit (Author) (1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note (1): Author names are as follows:
AGFR = Aguado et al. 2019ApJ...874L..21A 2019ApJ...874L..21A and
Frebel et al. 2019ApJ...871..146F 2019ApJ...871..146F
AO09 = Aoki et al. 2009ApJ...698.1803A 2009ApJ...698.1803A
AO12 = Aoki et al. 2012ApJ...751L...6A 2012ApJ...751L...6A
AS06 = Asplund et al. 2006ApJ...644..229A 2006ApJ...644..229A
BO12 = Bonifacio et al. 2012A&A...542A..87B 2012A&A...542A..87B
BO15 = Bonifacio et al. 2015A&A...579A..28B 2015A&A...579A..28B, Cat. J/A+A/579/A28
BO18 = Bonifacio et al. 2018A&A...612A..65B 2018A&A...612A..65B
CA12 = Caffau et al. 2012A&A...542A..51C 2012A&A...542A..51C
CA16 = Caffau et al. 2016A&A...595L...6C 2016A&A...595L...6C
FO02 = Ford et al. 2002A&A...393..617F 2002A&A...393..617F
FR08 = Frebel et al. 2008ApJ...684..588F 2008ApJ...684..588F
FU00 = Fulbright 2000AJ....120.1841F 2000AJ....120.1841F
GO08 = Gonzalez Hernandez et al. 2008A&A...480..233G 2008A&A...480..233G
HA15 = Hansen et al. 2015ApJ...807..173H 2015ApJ...807..173H
LA21 = Lardo et al. 2021MNRAS.508.3068L 2021MNRAS.508.3068L
LI15 = Li et al. 2015PASJ...67...84L 2015PASJ...67...84L
MA17 = Matsuno et al. 2017AJ....154...52M 2017AJ....154...52M, Cat. J/AJ/154/52 and
Matsuno et al. 2017PASJ...69...24M 2017PASJ...69...24M
ME10 = Melendez et al. 2010A&A...515L...3M 2010A&A...515L...3M
RE17 = Placco et al. 2016ApJ...829L..24P 2016ApJ...829L..24P and
Reggiani et al. 2017A&A...608A..46R 2017A&A...608A..46R, Cat. J/A+A/608/A46
RY99 = Ryan et al. 1999ApJ...523..654R 1999ApJ...523..654R and
Ryan et al. 2001ApJ...549...55R 2001ApJ...549...55R
SB10 = Sbordone et al. 2010A&A...522A..26S 2010A&A...522A..26S, Cat. J/A+A/522/A26
SP13 = Spite et al. 2013A&A...552A.107S 2013A&A...552A.107S
ST18 = Starkenburg et al. 2018MNRAS.481.3838S 2018MNRAS.481.3838S
TH94 = Thorburn 1994ApJ...421..318T 1994ApJ...421..318T
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table4.dat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 13 A13 --- Star Star name (Starname)
15- 16 I2 h RAh Right ascension (J2000)
18- 19 I2 min RAm Right ascension (J2000)
21- 25 F5.2 s RAs Right ascension (J2000)
27 A1 --- DE- Declination sign (J2000)
28- 29 I2 deg DEd Declination (J2000)
31- 32 I2 arcmin DEm Declination (J2000)
34- 37 F4.1 arcsec DEs Declination (J2000)
39- 42 I4 K TeffLit Effective temperature from literature
(TeffLit)
44 A1 --- l_[Fe/H]Lit Upper limit flag of [Fe/H]Lit
46- 50 F5.2 [-] [Fe/H]Lit Iron to hydrogen abundace ratio from
literature ([Fe/H]Lit)
52 A1 --- l_A(Li)Lit Upper limit flag of A(Li)Lit
54- 57 F4.2 [-] A(Li)Lit Lithium abundance from literature (ALiLit)
59- 62 I4 K Teffcor Effective temperature corrected value from
IRFM scale by adopting the IRFM Teff values
of Melendez et al. (2010A&A...515L...3M 2010A&A...515L...3M) as
explained section 3.2 (Teffcor)
64 A1 --- l_[Fe/H]cor Upper limit flag of [Fe/H]cor
66- 70 F5.2 [-] [Fe/H]cor Iron to hydrogen abundance ratio corrected
value from IRFM scale by adopting the IRFM
Teff of Melendez et al. 2010A&A...515L...3M 2010A&A...515L...3M)
as sect. 3.2 ([Fe/H]cor)
72 A1 --- l_A(Li)cor Upper limit flag of A(Li)cor
74- 77 F4.2 [-] A(Li)cor Lithium abundance corrected value from IRFM
scale by adopting the IRFM Teff values of
Melendez et al. 2010A&A...515L...3M 2010A&A...515L...3M as
explained section 3.2 (ALicor)
79 I1 --- N The number of data sources included in the
average for each star (N)
81- 84 I4 K Teffab ? Effective temperature from the ab initio
IRFM procedure as explained in section 3.3
(Teffirfm)
86- 90 F5.2 [-] [Fe/H]ab ? Iron to hydrogen abundance ratio from the
ab initio IRFM procedure as explained in
section 3.3 ([Fe/H]irfm)
92 A1 --- l_A(Li)ab Upper limit flag of A(Li)ab
94- 97 F4.2 [-] A(Li)ab ? Lithium abundance from the ab initio IRFM
procedure as explained in section 3.3
(ALiirfm)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table7.dat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 13 A13 --- Star Star name (Starname)
15- 35 A21 --- n_Star Note on [Fe/H] ranges (1)
37- 40 I4 K TeffLit Effective temperature from literature (Teff)
42 A1 --- l_[Fe/H]Lit Upper or lower limit flag of [Fe/H]Lit
44- 48 F5.2 [-] [Fe/H]Lit Iron to hydrogen abundance ratio from
literature ([Fe/H])
50 A1 --- l_A(Li)Lit Upper limit of flag [Fe/H]Lit
52- 55 F4.2 [-] A(Li)Lit Lithium abundance from literature (ALi)
57 A1 --- l_[C/Fe]Lit Upper or lower limit flag of [C/Fe]
59- 62 F4.2 [-] [C/Fe]Lit Carbon to iron abundance ratio from
literature ([C/Fe])
64- 68 A5 --- Author Literature references of [Fe/H], A(Li),
[C/Fe] (Author) (2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note (1): As presented in figure of the section 4, we distinguish three [Fe/H]
ranges in these 78 near-main-sequence stars, indeed [C/Fe] versus
A(Li) diagram reveals the three [Fe/H] ranges, for stars having
Teff > 6000 K and [Fe/H] < -4.5 as the most-Fe-poor observed stars,
-4.2 < [Fe/H] ≤ -3.0 (the 'meltdown' region), and
-3.0 < [Fe/H] ≤ -2.0 (our upper [Fe/H] region).
Note (2): Note (1): Author names are as follows:
AGFR = Aguado et al. 2019ApJ...874L..21A 2019ApJ...874L..21A and
Frebel et al. 2019ApJ...871..146F 2019ApJ...871..146F
AL20 = Alexeeva & Mashonkina 2015MNRAS.453.1619A 2015MNRAS.453.1619A as AL15
BA05 = Barklem et al. 2005A&A...439..129B 2005A&A...439..129B, Cat. J/A+A/439/129
BO09 = Bonifacio et al. 2009A&A...501..519B 2009A&A...501..519B, Cat. J/A+A/501/519
BO15 = Bonifacio et al. 2015A&A...579A..28B 2015A&A...579A..28B, Cat. J/A+A/579/A28
BO18 = Bonifacio et al. 2018A&A...612A..65B 2018A&A...612A..65B
CA12 = Caffau et al. 2011Natur.477...67C 2011Natur.477...67C as CA11
CA16 = Caffau et al. 2016A&A...595L...6C 2016A&A...595L...6C
FR08 = Frebel et al. 2008ApJ...684..588F 2008ApJ...684..588F
HA15 = Hansen et al. 2015ApJ...807..173H 2015ApJ...807..173H
HO04 = Honda et al. 2004ApJ...607..474H 2004ApJ...607..474H
JA15 = Jacobson & Frebel 2015ApJ...808...53J 2015ApJ...808...53J
LA08 = Lai et al. 2008ApJ...681.1524L 2008ApJ...681.1524L
LI15 = Li et al. 2015PASJ...67...84L 2015PASJ...67...84L
MA17 = Matsuno et al. 2017AJ....154...52M 2017AJ....154...52M, Cat. J/AJ/154/52 and
Matsuno et al. 2017PASJ...69...24M 2017PASJ...69...24M
MP21 = Matas Pinto et al. 2021A&A...654A.170M 2021A&A...654A.170M, Cat. J/A+A/654/A170
NO19 = Norris & Yong 2019ApJ...879...37N 2019ApJ...879...37N
PL16 = Placco et al. 2016ApJ...829L..24P 2016ApJ...829L..24P
SI06 = Sivarani et al. 2006A&A...459..125S 2006A&A...459..125S
SP13 = Spite et al. 2013A&A...552A.107S 2013A&A...552A.107S
ST18 = Starkenburg et al. 2018MNRAS.481.3838S 2018MNRAS.481.3838S
TO92 = Tomkin et al. 1992AJ....104.1568T 1992AJ....104.1568T
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License: CC-BY-4.0
(End) Luc Trabelsi [CDS] 23-Jun-2026