The first fluorine abundance determinations in extragalactic asymptotic giant branch carbon stars

C. Abia, K. Cunha, S. Cristallo, P. De Laverny, I. Domínguez, A. Recio-Blanco, V. V. Smith, O. Straniero

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

40 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fluorine (19F) abundances (or upper limits) are derived in six extragalactic asymptotic giant branch (AGB) carbon stars from the HF(1-0) R9 line at 2.3358 μm in high-resolution spectra. The stars belong to the Local Group galaxies, Large Magellanic Cloud, Small Magellanic Cloud, and Carina dwarf spheroidal, spanning more than a factor of 50 in metallicity. This is the first study to probe the behavior of F with metallicity in intrinsic extragalactic C-rich AGB stars. Fluorine could be measured only in four of the target stars, showing a wide range in F enhancements. Our F abundance measurements together with those recently derived in Galactic AGB carbon stars show a correlation with the observed carbon and s-element enhancements. The observed correlations, however, display a different dependence on the stellar metallicity with respect to theoretical predictions in low-mass, low-metallicity AGB models. We briefly discuss the possible reasons for this discrepancy. If our findings are confirmed in a larger number of metal-poor AGBs, the issue of F production in AGB stars will need to be revisited.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numberL8
JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
Volume737
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 10 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • galaxies: individual (LMC, SMC, Carina)
  • stars: AGB and post-AGB
  • stars: abundances
  • stars: carbon

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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