Bibcode
Lambert, David L.; Kameswara Rao, N.; Hinkle, Kenneth H.; Garcia-Hernandez, D. A.; Eriksson, Kjell
Bibliographical reference
NOAO Proposal ID #2008A-0316
Advertised on:
2
2008
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Phoenix spectra of C_2, CN and CO lines will provide oxygen isotopic
abundance ratios (^16O/^17O/^18O) and CNO abundances for cool R Coronae
Borealis (RCB) stars. The ratios, especially the ^16O/^18O ratio, will
be used to test the two leading scenarios for RCB production. These
observations were prompted by Clayton et al.'s striking discovery of low
^16O/^18O (<1) ratios for H-deficient carbon (HdC) stars. This ratio
requires the formation of HdC stars by the merger of two white dwarfs as
some ^14N is burnt to ^18O. The HdC are possible immediate relatives of
the RCBs. Yet, our Phoenix observations of the cool RCB S Aps give a
higher ratio (^16O/^18O=16) than for the HdCs perhaps questioning a
direct evolutionary connection between HdC and RCB stars. Also, our
Phoenix CNO abundance analysis of HdCs shows the ^14N to ^18O conversion
is far from complete. In this proposal, we seek to extend our CNO
elemental and isotopic abundance analyses from one RCB to several in
order to explore the evolutionary connection between HdC and RCB stars
and to constrain the nucleosynthesis that occurs during the cannibalism
of a He white dwarf by a C-O white dwarf.