Accretion of dust grains as a possible origin of metal-poor stars with low alpha/Fe ratios

Abstract

The origin of low alpha/Fe ratios in some metal-poor stars, so called low-alpha stars, is discussed. It is found that most of low-alpha stars in the Galaxy are on the main-sequence. This strongly suggests that these stars suffered from external pollution. It is also found that the abundance ratios Zn/Fe of low-alpha stars both in the Galaxy and in dwarf spheroidal galaxies are lower than the average value of Galactic halo stars whereas damped Ly alpha absorbers have higher ratios. This implies that some low-alpha stars accreted matter depleted from gas onto dust grains. To explain the features in these low-alpha stars, we have proposed that metal-poor stars harboring planetary systems are the origin of these low-alpha stars. Stars engulfing a small fraction of planetesimals enhance the surface content of Fe to exhibit low alpha/Fe ratios on their surfaces while they are on the main-sequence, because dwarfs have shallow surface convection zones where the engulfed matter is mixed. After the stars leave the main-sequence, the surface convection zones become deeper to reduce the enhancement of Fe. Eventually, when the stars ascend to the tip of the red giant branch, they engulf giant planets to become low-alpha stars again as observed in dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We predict that low-alpha stars with low Mn/Fe ratios harbor planetary systems.

6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, references corrected

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Mg abundances in metal-poor halo stars as a tracer of early Galactic mixing
• Evidences of extragalactic origin and planet engulfment in the metal-poor twin pair HD 134439/HD 134440
• The puzzling abundance pattern of HD134439 and HD134440
• Implications of Elemental Abundances in Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies
• The Origin of the Metal-Poor Common Proper Motion Pair HD 134439/134440: Insights from New Elemental Abundances