We present the results of an abundance analysis for a sample of stars with −4 <[Fe/H]< −2. The data were obtained with the HIRES spectrograph at Keck Observatory. The set includes 28 stars, with effective temperature ranging from 4800 to 6600 K. For 13 stars with [Fe/H]< −2.6, including nine with [Fe/H]< −3.0, and one with [Fe/H]= −4.0, these are the first reported detailed abundances. For the most metal-poor star in our sample, CS 30336-049, we measure an abundance pattern that is very similar to stars in the range [Fe/H]∼ −3.5, including a normal C+N abundance. We also find that it has very low but measurable Sr and Ba, indicating some neutron-capture activity even at this low of a metallicity. We explore this issue further by examining other very neutron-capture-deficient stars, and find that at the lowest levels, [Ba/Sr] exhibits the ratio of the main r-process. We also report on a new r-process-enhanced star, CS 31078-018. This star has [Fe/H]= −2.85, [Eu/Fe]= 1.23, and [Ba/Eu]= −0.51. CS 31078-018 exhibits an "actinide boost", i.e. much higher [Th/Eu] than expected and at a similar level to CS 31082-001. Our spectra allow us to further constrain the abundance scatter at low metallicities, which we then use to fit to the zero-metallicity Type II supernova yields of . We find that supernovae with progenitor masses between 10 and 20 M ⊙ provide the best matches to our abundances.

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We report the discovery of a strong magnetic field in the unique pulsating carbon-atmosphere white dwarf SDSS J142625.71+575218.3. From spectra gathered at the MMT and Keck telescopes, we infer a surface field of B s ≃ 1.2 MG, based on obvious Zeeman components seen in several carbon lines. We also detect the presence of a Zeeman-splitted He I 4471 line, which is an indicator of the presence of a non-negligible amount of helium in the atmosphere of this Hot DQ star. This is important for understanding its pulsations, as nonadabatic theory reveals that some helium must be present in the envelope mixture for pulsation modes to be excited in the range of effective temperature where the target star is found. Out of nearly 200 pulsating white dwarfs known today, this is the first example of a star with a large detectable magnetic field. We suggest that SDSS J142625.71+575218.3 is the white dwarf equivalent of a roAp star.

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We present a method for the determination of [α/Fe] ratios from low-resolution (R = 2000) SDSS/SEGUE stellar spectra. By means of a star-by-star comparison with degraded spectra from the ELODIE spectral library and with a set of moderately highresolution (R = 15, 000) and medium-resolution (R = 6000) spectra of SDSS/SEGUE stars, we demonstrate that we are able to measure [α/Fe] from SDSS/SEGUE spectra (with S/N > 20/1) to a precision of better than 0.1 dex, for stars with atmospheric parameters in the range T eff = [4500, 7000] K, log g = [1.5, 5.0], and [Fe/H] = [−1.4, +0.3], over the range [α/Fe] = [−0.1, +0.6]. For stars with [Fe/H] < −1.4, our methodrequires spectra with slightly higher signal-to-noise to achieve this precision (S/N > 25/1). Over the full temperature range considered, the lowest metallicity star for which a confident estimate of [α/Fe] can be obtained from our approach is [Fe/H] -2 -∼ −2.5; preliminary tests indicate that a metallicity limit as low as [Fe/H] ∼ −3.0 may apply to cooler stars. As a further validation of this approach, weighted averages of [α/Fe] obtained for SEGUE spectra of likely member stars of Galactic globular clusters (M15, M13, and M71) and open clusters (NGC 2420, M67, and NGC 6791) exhibit good agreement with the values of [α/Fe] from previous studies. The results of the comparison with NGC 6791 imply that the metallicity range for the method may extend to ∼ +0.5.