No abstract

An abundance analysis is presented and discussed for a sample of 14 RV Tauri stars. The present abundance data and those from our previous papers and by other workers are combined in an attempt to further understanding of the dust-gas separation process that afflicts many RV Tauri variables. We propose that a star's intrinsic (i.e., initial) metallicity is given by the photospheric zinc abundance. Variables warmer than about 5000 K and with an initial metallicity ½Fe /H ! À1 are affected by dust-gas separation. Variables of all metallicities and cooler than about T eA ' 5000 K are unaffected by dust-gas separation. The RV Tauri variables show a spread in their C abundances, with the lower boundary of the points in the C versus Zn plane falling close to the predicted trend for giants after the first dredge-up. The upper boundary is inhabited by a few stars that are carbon-rich. The O abundances in the mean follow the predicted trend from unevolved stars, in line with the expectation that photospheric O abundance is unaffected by the first dredge-up. An evolutionary scenario involving mass loss by a first-ascent or early-AGB red giant, the primary star of a binary, is sketched.

We present a general framework for matching the point-spread function (PSF), photometric scaling, and sky background between two images, a subject which is commonly referred to as difference image analysis (DIA). We introduce the new concept of a spatially varying photometric scale factor which will be important for DIA applied to wide-field imaging data in order to adapt to transparency and airmass variations across the field-of-view. Furthermore, we demonstrate how to separately control the degree of spatial variation of each kernel basis function, the photometric scale factor, and the differential sky background. We discuss the common choices for kernel basis functions within our framework, and we introduce the mixed-resolution delta basis functions to address the problem of the size of the least-squares problem to be solved when using delta basis functions. We validate and demonstrate our algorithm on simulated and real data. We also describe a number of useful optimisations that may be capitalised on during the construction of the least-squares matrix and which have not been reported previously. We pay special attention to presenting a clear notation for the DIA equations which are set out in a way that will hopefully encourage developers to tackle the implementation of DIA software.

Abundance analyses from high-resolution optical spectra are presented for 19 type II Cepheids in the Galactic field. The sample includes both short-period ( BL Her) and long-period (W Vir) stars. This is the first extensive abundance analysis of these variables. The C, N, and O abundances with similar spreads for the BL Her and W Vir show evidence for an atmosphere contaminated with 3 process and CN-cycling products. A notable anomaly of the BL Her stars is an overabundance of Na by a factor of about 5 relative to their presumed initial abundances. This overabundance is not seen in the W Vir stars. The abundance anomalies running from mild to extreme in W Vir stars but not seen in the BL Her stars are attributed to dust-gas separation that provides an atmosphere deficient in elements of high condensation temperature, notably, Al, Ca, Sc, Ti, and s-process elements. Such anomalies have previously been seen among RV Tau stars which represent a long-period extension of the variability enjoyed by the type II Cepheids. Comments are offered on how the contrasting abundance anomalies of BL Her and W Vir stars may be explained in terms of the stars' evolution from the blue horizontal branch.

We have analysed high‐dispersion echelle spectra (R ≳ 50 000) of red giant members for four open clusters to derive abundances for many elements. The spread in temperatures and gravities being very small among the red giants nearly the same stellar lines were employed thereby reducing the random errors. The errors of average abundance for the cluster were generally in the range 0.02–0.07 dex. Our present sample covers Galactocentric distances of 8.3–10.5 kpc. The [Fe/H] values are −0.02 ± 0.05 for NGC 752, −0.07 ± 0.06 for NGC 2360, −0.11 ± 0.05 for NGC 1817 and −0.19 ± 0.06 for NGC 2506. Abundances relative to Fe for elements from Na to Eu are equal within measurement uncertainties to published abundances for thin‐disc giants in the field. This supports the view that field stars come from disrupted open clusters.

We have collected high-dispersion echelle spectra of red giant members in the twelve open clusters (OCs) and derived stellar parameters and chemical abundances for 26 species by either line equivalent widths or synthetic spectrum analyses. We confirm the lack of an age−metallicity relation for OCs but argue that such a lack of trend for OCs arise from the limited coverage in metallicity compared to that of field stars which span a wide range in metallicity and age. We confirm that the radial metallicity gradient of OCs is steeper (flatter) for R gc < 12 kpc (>12 kpc). We demonstrate that the sample of clusters constituting a steep radial metallicity gradient of slope −0.052±0.011 dex kpc −1 at R gc < 12 kpc are younger than 1.5 Gyr and located close to the Galactic midplane (| z| < 0.5 kpc) with kinematics typical of the thin disc. Whereas the clusters describing a shallow slope of −0.015±0.007 dex kpc −1 at R gc > 12 kpc are relatively old, thick disc members with a striking spread in age and height above the midplane (0.5 < | z| < 2.5 kpc). Our investigation reveals that the OCs and field stars yield consistent radial metallicity gradients if the comparison is limited to samples drawn from the similar vertical heights. We argue via the computation of Galactic orbits that all the outer disc clusters were actually born inward of 12 kpc but the orbital eccentricity has taken them to present locations very far from their birthplaces.

We have analyzed high-resolution echelle spectra of red giant members for seven open clusters in the Galactic anticentre direction to explore their chemical compositions. Cluster membership has been confirmed by radial velocity. The spread in temperatures and gravities being very small among the red giants, nearly the same stellar lines were employed for all stars thereby reducing the abundance errors: the errors of the average abundance for a cluster were generally in the 0.02 to 0.05 dex range. Our present sample covers Galactocentric distances of 8.3 to 11.3 kpc and an age range of 0.2 to 4.3 Gyr. A careful comparison of our results for the cluster NGC 2682 (M 67) to other high-resolution abundance studies in the literature shows general good agreement for almost all elements in common.

We present the results from 10 nights of observations of the globular cluster NGC 6981 (M72) in the V, R and I Johnson wavebands. We employed the technique of difference image analysis to perform precision differential photometry on the time‐series images, which enabled us to carry out a census of the understudied variable star population of the cluster. We show that 20 suspected variables in the literature are actually non‐variable, and we confirm the variable nature of another 29 variables while refining their ephemerides. We also detect 11 new RR Lyrae variables and three new SX Phe variables, bringing the total confirmed variable star count in NGC 6981 to 43. We performed Fourier decomposition of the light curves for a subset of RR Lyrae stars and used the Fourier parameters to estimate the fundamental physical parameters of the stars using relations available in the literature. Mean values of these physical parameters have allowed us to estimate the physical parameters of the parent cluster. We derive a metallicity of [Fe/H]ZW≈−1.48 ± 0.03 on the Zinn & West scale (or [Fe/H]UVES≈−1.38 ± 0.03 on the new Carretta et al. scale) for NGC 6981, and distances of ∼16.73 ± 0.36 and ∼16.68 ± 0.36 kpc from analysis of the RR0 and RR1 stars separately. We also confirm the Oosterhoff type I classification for the cluster, and show that our colour–magnitude data are consistent with the age of ∼12.75 ± 0.75 Gyr derived by Dotter et al.