A Comparison Of Stellar Elemental Abundance Techniques And MeasurementsArizona State Univ, Sch Earth & Space Explorat, Tempe, AZ 85287 USA..
Univ Porto, Inst Astrofis & Ciencias Espaco, CAUP, Rua Estrelas, P-4150762 Oporto, Portugal..
Univ Geneva, Observ Geneve, CH-1290 Versoix, Switzerland..
NASA, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Code 667, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA.;Carnegie Inst Sci, Dept Terr Magnetism, 5241 Broad Branch Rd NW, Washington, DC 20015 USA..
Univ Porto, Inst Astrofis & Ciencias Espaco, CAUP, Rua Estrelas, P-4150762 Oporto, Portugal..
Australian Natl Univ, Res Sch Astron & Astrophys, Cotter Rd, Weston, ACT 2611, Australia..
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Theoretical Astrophysics.
Univ Porto, Inst Astrofis & Ciencias Espaco, CAUP, Rua Estrelas, P-4150762 Oporto, Portugal..
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Theoretical Astrophysics.
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Theoretical Astrophysics. Lund Observ, Dept Astron & Theoret Phys, Box 43, S-22100 Lund, Sweden..
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Observational Astronomy.
Univ Cambridge, Inst Astron, Madingley Rd, Cambridge CB3 0HA, England..
Univ Porto, Inst Astrofis & Ciencias Espaco, CAUP, Rua Estrelas, P-4150762 Oporto, Portugal.;Univ Porto, Fac Ciencias, Dept Fis & Astron, Rua Campo Alegre, P-4169007 Oporto, Portugal..
Univ Bordeaux, CNRS, LAB, UMR 5804, F-33270 Floirac, France..
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2016 (English)In: Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, ISSN 0067-0049, E-ISSN 1538-4365, Vol. 226, no 1, article id 4Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Stellar elemental abundances are important for understanding the fundamental properties of a star or stellar group, such as age and evolutionary history, as well as the composition of an orbiting planet. However, as abundance measurement techniques have progressed, there has been little standardization between individual methods and their comparisons. As a result, different stellar abundance procedures determine measurements that vary beyond the quoted error for the same elements within the same stars. The purpose of this paper is to better understand the systematic variations between methods and offer recommendations for producing more accurate results in the future. We invited a number of participants from around the world (Australia, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States) to calculate 10 element abundances (C, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Fe, Ni, Ba, and Eu) using the same stellar spectra for four stars (HD 361, HD 10700, HD 121504, and HD 202206). Each group produced measurements for each star using (1) their own autonomous techniques, (2) standardized stellar parameters, (3) a standardized line list, and (4) both standardized parameters and a line list. We present the resulting stellar parameters, absolute abundances, and a metric of data similarity that quantifies the homogeneity of the data. We conclude that standardization of some kind, particularly stellar parameters, improves the consistency between methods. However, because results did not converge as more free parameters were standardized, it is clear there are inherent issues within the techniques that need to be reconciled. Therefore, we encourage more conversation and transparency within the community such that stellar abundance determinations can be reproducible as well as accurate and precise.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2016. Vol. 226, no 1, article id 4
Keywords [en]
stars: abundances, stars: individual (HD 361, HD 10700, HD 121504, HD 202206), techniques: spectroscopic
National Category
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-305485DOI: 10.3847/0067-0049/226/1/4ISI: 000384015400004OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-305485DiVA, id: diva2:1038508
Funder
Swedish National Space Board2016-10-182016-10-182017-11-29Bibliographically approved