Unusual Isotopic Abundances in a Fully Convective Stellar Binary
Low-mass M dwarfs represent the most common outcome of star formation, but their complex emergent spectra hinder detailed studies of their composition and initial formation. The measurement of isotopic ratios is a key tool that has been used to unlock the formation of our solar system, the Sun, and...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
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American Astronomical Society/IOP Publishing
2019
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121390 |
| _version_ | 1826207128657854464 |
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| author | Lothringer, J. D. Flores, B. Mills, E. A. C. Freedman, R. Valverde, J. Miles, B. Skemer, A. Crossfield, Ian Jm Guo, Xueying |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Lothringer, J. D. Flores, B. Mills, E. A. C. Freedman, R. Valverde, J. Miles, B. Skemer, A. Crossfield, Ian Jm Guo, Xueying |
| author_sort | Lothringer, J. D. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Low-mass M dwarfs represent the most common outcome of star formation, but their complex emergent spectra hinder detailed studies of their composition and initial formation. The measurement of isotopic ratios is a key tool that has been used to unlock the formation of our solar system, the Sun, and the nuclear processes within more massive stars. We observed GJ 745AB, two M dwarfs orbiting in a wide binary, with the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility/iSHELL spectrograph. Our spectroscopy of CO in these stars at the 4.7 μm fundamental and 2.3 μm first-overtone rovibrational bandheads reveals [superscript 12]C[superscript 16]O, [superscript 13]C[superscript16]O, and [superscript 12]C[superscript18] and in their photospheres. Because the stars are fully convective, the atomic constituents of these isotopologues should be uniformly mixed throughout the stars' interiors. We find that in these M dwarfs, both [superscript 12]C /[superscript 13]C and [superscript 16]O/[superscript 18]O greatly exceed the Solar values. These measurements cannot be explained solely by models of Galactic chemical evolution, but require that the stars formed from an interstellar medium significantly enriched by material ejected from an exploding core-collapse supernova. These isotopic measurements complement the elemental abundances provided by large-scale spectroscopic surveys, and open a new window onto studies of Galactic evolution, stellar populations, and individual systems. Key words: infrared: stars – techniques: spectroscopic – stars: abundances – supernovae: general |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:44:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/121390 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:44:34Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | American Astronomical Society/IOP Publishing |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1213902022-10-01T16:53:08Z Unusual Isotopic Abundances in a Fully Convective Stellar Binary Lothringer, J. D. Flores, B. Mills, E. A. C. Freedman, R. Valverde, J. Miles, B. Skemer, A. Crossfield, Ian Jm Guo, Xueying Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Low-mass M dwarfs represent the most common outcome of star formation, but their complex emergent spectra hinder detailed studies of their composition and initial formation. The measurement of isotopic ratios is a key tool that has been used to unlock the formation of our solar system, the Sun, and the nuclear processes within more massive stars. We observed GJ 745AB, two M dwarfs orbiting in a wide binary, with the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility/iSHELL spectrograph. Our spectroscopy of CO in these stars at the 4.7 μm fundamental and 2.3 μm first-overtone rovibrational bandheads reveals [superscript 12]C[superscript 16]O, [superscript 13]C[superscript16]O, and [superscript 12]C[superscript18] and in their photospheres. Because the stars are fully convective, the atomic constituents of these isotopologues should be uniformly mixed throughout the stars' interiors. We find that in these M dwarfs, both [superscript 12]C /[superscript 13]C and [superscript 16]O/[superscript 18]O greatly exceed the Solar values. These measurements cannot be explained solely by models of Galactic chemical evolution, but require that the stars formed from an interstellar medium significantly enriched by material ejected from an exploding core-collapse supernova. These isotopic measurements complement the elemental abundances provided by large-scale spectroscopic surveys, and open a new window onto studies of Galactic evolution, stellar populations, and individual systems. Key words: infrared: stars – techniques: spectroscopic – stars: abundances – supernovae: general 2019-06-24T14:47:03Z 2019-06-24T14:47:03Z 2019-01-17 2018-12-17 2019-03-15T18:54:46Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2041-8213 2041-8205 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121390 Crossfield, I. J. M., J. D. Lothringer, B. Flores, E. A. C. Mills, R. Freedman, J. Valverde, B. Miles, X. Guo, and A. Skemer. “Unusual Isotopic Abundances in a Fully Convective Stellar Binary.” The Astrophysical Journal 871, 1 (January 16, 2019): L3. © 2019 The American Astronomical Society http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aaf9b6 The Astrophysical Journal. Letters https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ application/pdf American Astronomical Society/IOP Publishing The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| spellingShingle | Lothringer, J. D. Flores, B. Mills, E. A. C. Freedman, R. Valverde, J. Miles, B. Skemer, A. Crossfield, Ian Jm Guo, Xueying Unusual Isotopic Abundances in a Fully Convective Stellar Binary |
| title | Unusual Isotopic Abundances in a Fully Convective Stellar Binary |
| title_full | Unusual Isotopic Abundances in a Fully Convective Stellar Binary |
| title_fullStr | Unusual Isotopic Abundances in a Fully Convective Stellar Binary |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unusual Isotopic Abundances in a Fully Convective Stellar Binary |
| title_short | Unusual Isotopic Abundances in a Fully Convective Stellar Binary |
| title_sort | unusual isotopic abundances in a fully convective stellar binary |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/121390 |
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