The R-Process Alliance: Hunting for gold in the near-UV spectrum of 2MASS J05383296-5904280

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Main Authors: Hansen, Terese T., Roederer, Ian U., Shah, Shivani P., Ezzeddine, Rana, Beers, Timothy C., Frebel, Anna, Holmbeck, Erika M., Placco, Vinicius M., Sakari, Charli M., Ji, Alexander P., Marshall, Jennifer L., Mardini, Mohammad K., Chit, Anirudh
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Hansen, Terese T.
Roederer, Ian U.
Shah, Shivani P.
Ezzeddine, Rana
Beers, Timothy C.
Frebel, Anna
Holmbeck, Erika M.
Placco, Vinicius M.
Sakari, Charli M.
Ji, Alexander P.
Marshall, Jennifer L.
Mardini, Mohammad K.
Chit, Anirudh
author_facet Hansen, Terese T.
Roederer, Ian U.
Shah, Shivani P.
Ezzeddine, Rana
Beers, Timothy C.
Frebel, Anna
Holmbeck, Erika M.
Placco, Vinicius M.
Sakari, Charli M.
Ji, Alexander P.
Marshall, Jennifer L.
Mardini, Mohammad K.
Chit, Anirudh
contents Context. Over the past few years, the $R$-Process Alliance (RPA) has successfully carried out a search for stars that are highly enhanced in elements produced via the rapid neutron-capture ($r$-) process. In particular, the RPA has identified a number of relatively bright, highly $r$-process-enhanced ($r$-II) stars, suitable for observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), facilitating abundance derivation of elements such as gold (Au) and cadmium (Cd). Aims. This paper presents the detailed abundances derived for the metal-poor ([Fe/H] = -2.55) highly $r$-process-enhanced ([Eu/Fe] = +1.29) $r$-II star 2MASS J05383296-5904280. Methods. 1D LTE elemental abundances are derived via equivalent width and spectral synthesis using high-resolution high signal-to-noise near-UV HST/STIS and optical Magellan/MIKE spectra. Results. Abundances are determined for 43 elements, including 26 neutron-capture elements. In particular, abundances of the rarely studied elements Nb, Mo, Cd, Lu, Os, Pt, and Au are derived from the HST spectrum. These results, combined with RPA near-UV observations of two additional $r$-II stars, increase the number of Cd abundances derived for $r$-process-enriched stars from seven to ten and Au abundances from four to seven. A large star-to-star scatter is detected for both of these elements, highlighting the need for more detections enabling further investigations, specifically into possible non-LTE (local thermodynamical equilibrium) effects.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_13426
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The R-Process Alliance: Hunting for gold in the near-UV spectrum of 2MASS J05383296-5904280
Hansen, Terese T.
Roederer, Ian U.
Shah, Shivani P.
Ezzeddine, Rana
Beers, Timothy C.
Frebel, Anna
Holmbeck, Erika M.
Placco, Vinicius M.
Sakari, Charli M.
Ji, Alexander P.
Marshall, Jennifer L.
Mardini, Mohammad K.
Chit, Anirudh
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Context. Over the past few years, the $R$-Process Alliance (RPA) has successfully carried out a search for stars that are highly enhanced in elements produced via the rapid neutron-capture ($r$-) process. In particular, the RPA has identified a number of relatively bright, highly $r$-process-enhanced ($r$-II) stars, suitable for observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), facilitating abundance derivation of elements such as gold (Au) and cadmium (Cd). Aims. This paper presents the detailed abundances derived for the metal-poor ([Fe/H] = -2.55) highly $r$-process-enhanced ([Eu/Fe] = +1.29) $r$-II star 2MASS J05383296-5904280. Methods. 1D LTE elemental abundances are derived via equivalent width and spectral synthesis using high-resolution high signal-to-noise near-UV HST/STIS and optical Magellan/MIKE spectra. Results. Abundances are determined for 43 elements, including 26 neutron-capture elements. In particular, abundances of the rarely studied elements Nb, Mo, Cd, Lu, Os, Pt, and Au are derived from the HST spectrum. These results, combined with RPA near-UV observations of two additional $r$-II stars, increase the number of Cd abundances derived for $r$-process-enriched stars from seven to ten and Au abundances from four to seven. A large star-to-star scatter is detected for both of these elements, highlighting the need for more detections enabling further investigations, specifically into possible non-LTE (local thermodynamical equilibrium) effects.
title The R-Process Alliance: Hunting for gold in the near-UV spectrum of 2MASS J05383296-5904280
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.13426