Simulated observations of heavy elements with CUBES

Abstract

We investigate the feasibility of robust abundances for selected neutron-capture elements (Ge, Bi, Hf, U) from near-UV spectroscopy with the CUBES instrument now in development for the Very Large Telescope. We use the CUBES end-to-end simulator to synthesise observations of the Ge I 3039 Å and Hf II 3400 and 3719 Å lines in a very metal-poor star, using the well-studied star CS 31082-001 as a template. From simulated 4 hr exposures, we recover estimated abundances to $\pm$0.1 dex for Ge for U $\sim$ 14.25 mag., and for Hf for U = 18 mag. These performances neatly highlight the powerful gain of CUBES for near-UV observations of targets that are two-to-three magnitudes fainter than the existing observations of CS 31082-001 (U = 12.5 mag.). We also investigate the weak Bi I 3025 Å and U II 3860 Å lines (for U $\sim$ 14.25 and 16mag., respectively), finding that simulated 4hr exposures should provide upper limits to these observationally challenging lines.

References in corpus (5)

• First stars VI - Abundances of C, N, O, Li, and mixing in extremely metal-poor giants. Galactic evolution of the light elements
• Probing the production of actinides under different r-process conditions
• Trans-iron Ge, As, Se, and heavier elements in the dwarf metal-poor stars, HD~19445, HD~84937, HD~94028, HD~140283, and HD~160617
• Inhomogeneity in the early Galactic chemical enrichment exposed by beryllium abundances in extremely metal-poor stars
• Be, V and Cu in the halo star CS 31082-001 from near-UV spectroscopy