DETECTION OF NEUTRAL PHOSPHORUS IN THE NEAR-ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRA OF LATE-TYPE STARS
We report the detection of several absorption lines of neutral phosphorus (P, Z = 15) in archival near-ultraviolet spectra obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope. We derive phosphorus abundances or interesting upper limits in 14 late-type stars wit...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/93114 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4507-1710 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7727-1640 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2139-7145 |
| Summary: | We report the detection of several absorption lines of neutral phosphorus (P, Z = 15) in archival near-ultraviolet spectra obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope. We derive phosphorus abundances or interesting upper limits in 14 late-type stars with metallicities spanning –3.8 < [Fe/H] <–0.1. Previously, phosphorus had only been studied in Galactic stars with –1.0 < [Fe/H] <+0.3. Iron lines reveal abundance offsets between the optical and ultraviolet regions, and we discuss and apply a correction factor to account for this offset. In stars with [Fe/H] >–1.0, the [P/Fe] ratio decreases toward the solar value with increasing metallicity, in agreement with previous observational studies. In stars with [Fe/H] <–1.0, <[P/Fe]> = +0.04 ± 0.10, which overlaps with the [P/Fe] ratios found in several high-redshift damped Lyman-α systems. This behavior hints at a primary origin in massive stars. |
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