Detection of the Second r-process Peak Element Tellurium in Metal-Poor Stars

Abstract

Using near-ultraviolet spectra obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope, we detect neutral tellurium in three metal-poor stars enriched by products of r-process nucleosynthesis, BD+17 3248, HD 108317, and HD 128279. Tellurium (Te, Z=52) is found at the second r-process peak (A=130) associated with the N=82 neutron shell closure, and it has not been detected previously in Galactic halo stars. The derived tellurium abundances match the scaled solar system r-process distribution within the uncertainties, confirming the predicted second peak r-process residuals. These results suggest that tellurium is predominantly produced in the main component of the r-process, along with the rare earth elements.

Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters (5 pages, 2 figures)

References in corpus (5)

• The s-Process in Low Metallicity Stars. II. Interpretation of High-Resolution Spectroscopic Observations with AGB models
• New Rare Earth Element Abundance Distributions for the Sun and Five r-Process-Rich Very Metal-Poor Stars
• The Ubiquity of the Rapid Neutron-Capture Process
• Abundances of Sr, Y, and Zr in Metal-Poor Stars and Implications for Chemical Evolution in the Early Galaxy
• The Extreme Overabundance of Molybdenum in Two Metal-Poor Stars

Cited by in corpus (26)

• Origin of the Heaviest Elements: the Rapid Neutron-Capture Process
• Neutron Star Mergers Might not be the Only Source of r-Process Elements in the Milky Way
• The Origin of r-Process Elements in the Milky Way
• From Nuclei to the Cosmos: Tracing Heavy-Element Production with the Oldest Stars
• Neutrino-driven wind simulations and nucleosynthesis of heavy elements
• r-Process Nucleosynthesis: Connecting Rare-Isotope Beam Facilities with the Cosmos
• Detection of Elements at All Three r-process Peaks in the Metal-Poor Star HD 160617
• New Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Heavy Elements in Four Metal-Poor Stars
• JINAbase: A database for chemical abundances of metal-poor stars
• Iron and neutron-capture element abundance variations in the globular cluster M2 (NGC 7089)
• Four-hundred Very Metal-Poor Stars Studied with LAMOST and Subaru. II. Elemental abundances
• The Hamburg/ESO R-process Enhanced Star survey (HERES) XI. The highly $r$-process-enhanced star CS 29497-004
• Post-merger Mass Ejection of Low-mass Binary Neutron Stars
• The Diverse Origins of Neutron-Capture Elements in the Metal-Poor Star HD 94028: Possible Detection of Products of i-process Nucleosynthesis
• Kinematics of Highly R-Process-Enhanced Field Stars: Evidence for an Accretion Origin and Detection of Several Groups from Disrupted Satellites
• New Detections of Arsenic, Selenium, and Other Heavy Elements in Two Metal-Poor Stars
• Hubble Space Telescope Near-Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of the Bright CEMP-no Star BD+44 493
• Detailed Chemical Abundances in NGC 5824: Another Metal-Poor Globular Cluster with Internal Heavy Element Abundance Variations
• Reexamining the temperature and neutron density conditions for r-process nucleosynthesis with augmented nuclear mass models
• Co-production of light and heavy $r$-process elements via fission deposition
• Reverse engineering nuclear properties from rare earth abundances in the $r$ process
• The R-Process Alliance: Spectroscopic Follow-up of Low-Metallicity Star Candidates from the Best & Brightest Survey
• The R-Process Alliance: Abundance Universality among Some Elements at and between the First and Second R-Process Peaks
• The R-Process Alliance: Chemical Abundances for a Trio of R-Process-Enhanced Stars -- One Strong, One Moderate, One Mild
• Is Germanium (Ge, Z=32) A Neutron-Capture Element?
• The R-Process Alliance: A Nearly Complete R-Process Abundance Template Derived from Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of the R-Process-Enhanced Metal-Poor Star HD 222925