Stellar chemical abundances: In pursuit of the highest achievable precision

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dc.contributor.authorBedell, Megan
dc.contributor.authorMelendez, Jorge
dc.contributor.authorBean, Jacob
dc.contributor.authorRamirez, Ivan
dc.contributor.authorLeite, Paulo
dc.contributor.authorAsplund, Martin
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-13T22:32:46Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.date.updated2015-12-11T09:10:23Z
dc.description.abstractThe achievable level of precision on photospheric abundances of stars is a major limiting factor on investigations of exoplanet host star characteristics, the chemical histories of star clusters, and the evolution of the Milky Way and other galaxies. While model-induced errors can be minimized through the differential analysis of spectrally similar stars, the maximum achievable precision of this technique has been debated. As a test, we derive differential abundances of 19 elements from high-quality asteroid-reflected solar spectra taken using a variety of instruments and conditions. We treat the solar spectra as being from unknown stars and use the resulting differential abundances, which are expected to be zero, as a diagnostic of the error in our measurements. Our results indicate that the relative resolution of the target and reference spectra is a major consideration, with use of different instruments to obtain the two spectra leading to errors up to 0.04 dex. Use of the same instrument at different epochs for the two spectra has a much smaller effect (∼0.007 dex). The asteroid used to obtain the solar standard also has a negligible effect (∼0.006 dex). Assuming that systematic errors from the stellar model atmospheres have been minimized, as in the case of solar twins, we confirm that differential chemical abundances can be obtained at sub-0.01 dex precision with due care in the observations, data reduction, and abundance analysis.
dc.identifier.issn0004-637X
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/75720
dc.publisherIOP Publishing
dc.rightsAuthor/s retain copyrighten_AU
dc.sourceAstrophysical Journal, The
dc.titleStellar chemical abundances: In pursuit of the highest achievable precision
dc.typeJournal article
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Accessen_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.issue1
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage10
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage23/1
local.contributor.affiliationBedell, Megan, University of Chicago
local.contributor.affiliationMelendez, Jorge, University of Sao Paulo
local.contributor.affiliationBean, Jacob, University of Chicago
local.contributor.affiliationRamirez, Ivan, University of Texas
local.contributor.affiliationLeite, Paulo, Universidade de Sao Paulo
local.contributor.affiliationAsplund, Martin, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, ANU
local.contributor.authoremailu4042723@anu.edu.au
local.contributor.authoruidAsplund, Martin, u4042723
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.absfor030600 - PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY (INCL. STRUCTURAL)
local.identifier.ariespublicationU3488905xPUB4762
local.identifier.citationvolume795
local.identifier.doi10.1088/0004-637X/795/1/23
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-84908018465
local.identifier.thomsonID000343857300023
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByU3488905
local.type.statusPublished Version

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