Table · dataset · 2021
Lanthanide fraction distribution of metal-poor stars
Listed in IVOA Registry (Virtual Observatory)
Multimessenger observations of the neutron star merger GW170817 and its kilonova proved that neutron star mergers can synthesize large quantities of r-process elements.
Description
If neutron star mergers in fact dominate all r-process element production, then the distribution of kilonova ejecta compositions should match the distribution of r-process abundance patterns observed in stars. The lanthanide fraction (X_La_) is a measurable quantity in both kilonovae and metal-poor stars, but it has not previously been explicitly calculated for stars.
Here we compute the lanthanide fraction distribution of metal-poor stars ([Fe/H]{<}-2.5) to enable comparison to current and future kilonovae. The full distribution peaks at log X_La_~-1.8, but r-process-enhanced stars ([Eu/Fe]>0.7) have distinctly higher lanthanide fractions: logX_La_>~-1.5. We review observations of GW170817 and find general consensus that the total logX_La_=-2.2+/-0.5, somewhat lower than the typical metal-poor star and inconsistent with the most highly r-enhanced stars.
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For neutron star mergers to remain viable as the dominant r-process site, future kilonova observations should be preferentially lanthanide-rich (including a population of ~10% with logX_La_>-1.5). These high-X_La_ kilonovae may be fainter and more rapidly evolving than GW170817, posing a challenge for discovery and follow-up observations. Both optical and (mid-)infrared observations will be required to robustly constrain kilonova lanthanide fractions.
If such high-X_La_ kilonovae are not found in the next few years, that likely implies that the stars with the highest r-process enhancements have a different origin for their r-process elements.
Links
Where it is published
- Reference page cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/882/40 ↗
landing page · from IVOA Registry
Documentation and papers
- ADS 2019ApJ...882...40J ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019ApJ...882...40J ↗
publication · from IVOA Registry
Catalogue records · 2
- VOResource record dc.g-vo.org/oai.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=ivo_vor&identifier=ivo%3… ↗
metadata API · from IVOA Registry
- Registry record (GAVO) dc.g-vo.org/I/cds.vizier/j/apj/882/40 ↗
catalogue entry · from IVOA Registry
Topics
- From keywords
- Astronomy & Astrophysics
- Inferred from text
- Astronomical sciences 70%
Provenance · 1 source records, 8 field assertions
| Source | Key | Last seen | Raw |
|---|---|---|---|
| IVOA Registry (Virtual Observatory) | ivo://cds.vizier/j/apj/882/40 | 15 d ago | JSON v1 |
| Field | Assertion | Extractor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| access_level | source · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].anzsrc:group:5101 | enrichment · IVOA Registry | taxonomy-embedding@1.1.0 | title+keywords+description (70%) |
| concepts[field].local:field:astronomy | mapping · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 | |
| description | source · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 | rr.resource.res_description |
| license_text | source · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 | |
| publication_date | source · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 | |
| title | source · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 | rr.resource.res_title |
| updated_date | source · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 |