S-process nucleosynthesis in chemically peculiar binaries

Abstract

Context. Around half of the heavy elements in the Universe are formed through the slow neutron capture (s-) process, which takes place in thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars with masses of 1 − 6 M⊙. The nucleosynthetic imprint of the s-process can be studied by observing the material on the surface of binary barium (Ba), carbon (C), CH, and carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars. Aims. We study the s-process by observing the luminous components of binary systems polluted by a previous AGB companion. Our radial velocity (RV) monitoring program establishes an ongoing collection of binary stars exhibiting enrichment in s-process material for the study of elemental abundances, the production of s-process material, and binary mass transfer. Methods. From high-resolution optical spectra, we measured RVs for 350 stars and derived stellar parameters for approximately 150 stars using ATHOS. For a subsample of 24 chemically interesting stars, we refined our atmospheric parameters using ionization and excitation balance with the Xiru program. We used the MOOG code to compute one-dimensional local thermodynamic equilibrium (1D-LTE) abundances of carbon, magnesium, s-process elements (Sr, Y, Zr, Mo, Ba, La, Ce, Nd, Pb), and Eu to investigate neutron capture events and stellar chemical composition. We estimated dynamical stellar masses via orbital optimization using Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques in the ELC program, and we compared our results with low-mass AGB models in the FUll-Network Repository of Updated Isotopic Tables & Yields (FRUITY) database. Results. In our abundance subsample, we find enhancements in s-process material in spectroscopic binaries, a signature of AGB mass transfer. We add the element Mo to the abundance patterns, and for 12 stars we add Pb detections or upper limits, as these are not known in the literature. Computed abundances are in general agreement with the literature. Comparing our abundances to dilution-modified FRUITY yields, we find correlations in s-process enrichment and AGB mass, which are supported by dynamical modeling from RVs. Conclusions. From our high-resolution observations, we expand heavy element abundance patterns and highlight binarity in our chemically interesting systems. We find trends in s-process element enhancement from AGB stars, and agreement between theoretical and dynamically modeled masses. We investigate evolutionary stages for a small subset of our stars.