Detection of the Second R-Process Peak Element Tellurium in Metal-Poor Stars

• Main Authors: Roederer, Ian U. (Author), Lawler, James E. (Author), Cowan, John J. (Author), Beers, Timothy C. (Author), Frebel, Anna L. (Contributor), Ivans, Inese I. (Author), Schatz, Hendrik (Author), Sobeck, Jennifer S. (Author), Sneden, Christopher (Author)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics (Contributor), MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing, 2013-01-18T18:47:37Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

Using near-ultraviolet spectra obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope, we detect neutral tellurium in three metal-poor stars enriched by products of r-process nucleosynthesis, BD +17 3248, HD 108317, and HD 128279. Tellurium (Te, Z = 52) is found at the second r-process peak (A ≈ 130) associated with the N = 82 neutron shell closure, and it has not been detected previously in Galactic halo stars. The derived tellurium abundances match the scaled solar system r-process distribution within the uncertainties, confirming the predicted second peak r-process residuals. These results suggest that tellurium is predominantly produced in the main component of the r-process, along with the rare earth elements.