Stellar Pollution in the Solar Neighborhood

Abstract

We study spectroscopically determined iron abundances of 642 solar-type stars to search for the signature of accreted iron-rich material. We find that the metallicity [Fe/H] of a subset of 466 main sequence stars, when plotted as a function of stellar mass, mimics the pattern seen in lithium abundances in open clusters. Using Monte Carlo models we find that, on average, these stars have accreted about 0.4 Earth masses of iron while on the main sequence. A much smaller sample of 19 stars in the Hertzsprung gap, which are slightly evolved and whose convection zones are significantly more massive, have lower average [Fe/H], and their metallicity shows no clear variation with stellar mass. These findings suggest that terrestrial-type material is common around solar type stars.

33 pages, 11 figures. Submitted to ApJ

References in corpus (10)

• Solar Models with Helium and Heavy Element Diffusion
• A Comparison of the Interiors of Jupiter and Saturn
• The Primordial Abundance of He4: An Update
• The Structure and Emission of the Accretion Shock in T Tauri Stars II: the Ultraviolet Continuum Emission
• A catalogue of [Fe/H] determinations : 1996 edition
• The Age, Extinction and Distance of the Old, Metal-Rich Open Cluster NGC 6791
• Possible Stellar Metallicity Enhancements from the Accretion of Planets
• Mining the Metal-Rich Stars for Planets
• Abundances and Physical Conditions in the Warm Neutral Medium Towards mu Columbae
• Two Boehm-Vitense gaps in the main sequence of the Hyades

Cited by in corpus (54)

• Extrasolar planet population synthesis I: Method, formation tracks and mass-distance distribution
• The metal-rich nature of stars with planets
• The Compositional Diversity of Extrasolar Terrestrial Planets: I. In-Situ Simulations
• Statistical properties of exoplanets II. Metallicity, orbital parameters, and space velocities
• The Mass of the Convective Zone in FGK Main Sequence Stars and the Effect of Accreted Planetary Material on Apparent Metallicity Determinations
• Evolved stars hint to an external origin of enhanced metallicity in planet-hosting stars
• Lithium in stars with exoplanets
• Predictions for the frequency and orbital radii of massive extrasolar planets
• Stellar parameters and chemical abundances of 223 evolved stars with and without planets
• The CORALIE survey for southern extra-solar planets VIII. The very low-mass companions of HD141937, HD162020, HD168443, HD202206: brown dwarfs or superplanets?
• The New Generation Planetary Population Synthesis (NGPPS). II. Planetary population of solar-like stars and overview of statistical results
• Abundance differences between components of wide binaries
• Abundance Analysis of Planetary Host Stars I. Differential Iron Abundances
• Metal-rich accretion and thermohaline instabilities in exoplanets-host stars: consequences on the light elements abundances
• Making the Earth: Combining Dynamics and Chemistry in the Solar System
• On the Nature of Stars with Planets
• Heavy metal rules. I. Exoplanet incidence and metallicity
• Eccentricity Evolution of Resonant Migrating Planets
• Are Stars with Planets Polluted?
• The Role of Planet Accretion in Creating the Next Generation of Red Giant Rapid Rotators
• The Chemical Compositions of Stars with Planets: A Review
• The GAPS Programme with HARPS-N at TNG. X. Differential abundances in the XO-2 planet hosting binary
• Excitation of Orbital Eccentricities of Extrasolar Planets by Repeated Resonance Crossings
• A giant planet in the triple system HD132563
• A Search for ${}^6$Li in Lithium-Poor Stars with Planets
• Seismic Test of Solar Models, Solar Neutrinos and Implications for Metal-Rich Accretion
• Using a Hipparcos derived HR diagram to limit the metallicity scatter of stars in the Hyades -- Are Stars Polluted?
• Formation of terrestrial planets in close binary systems: the case of Alpha Centauri A
• The Diversity of Planetary Systems Architectures: Contrasting Theory with Observations
• Giant Planet Accretion and Migration: Surviving the Type I Regime
• Mid-Infrared Spectra of Dust Debris Around Main-Sequence Stars
• Rotation, activity, and lithium abundance in cool binary stars
• Astrophysical false positives in direct imaging for exoplanets: a white dwarf close to a rejuvenated star
• Stellar Evolution with Enriched Surface Convection Zones I. General Effects of Planet Consumption
• Lithium abundances in exoplanet-host stars : modelling
• Population study on MHD wind-driven disc evolution -- Confronting theory and observation
• Beryllium anomalies in solar-type field stars
• Spectroscopic abundance analysis of dwarfs in young open cluster IC 4665
• Asteroseismology of exoplanets hosts stars : tests of internal metallicity
• Possible signature of hypernova nucleosynthesis in a beryllium rich halo dwarf
• Towards a population synthesis of discs and planets. II. Confronting disc models and observations at the population level
• Disruption of a planet spiralling into its host star
• Galactic chemical evolution of exoplanet host stars: Are high-mass planetary systems young?
• A search for planets in the metal-enriched binary HD 219542
• The peculiar chemical pattern of the WASP-160 binary system: signatures of planetary formation and evolution?
• Beryllium abundances in stars with planets:Extending the sample
• The impact of pollution on stellar evolution models
• Extent of pollution in planet-bearing stars
• Interpreting the M22 Spike Events
• Eruptive Behavior of Magnetically Layered Protoplanetary Disks in Low Metallicity Environments
• Stellar pollution and [Fe/H] in the Hyades
• Accretion of dust grains as a possible origin of metal-poor stars with low alpha/Fe ratios
• Earth-like planets hosting systems: Architecture and properties
• Earth-like planet predictor: A machine learning approach