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 Asteroseismology of solar-type stars with CORALIE and HARPS . I: Observations and modelling of single starsWe present here the detection and characterization of solar-likeoscillations in several targets such as beta Vir, eta Boo, delta Eri,chi Eri and the Am star HD 209625 obtained with the CORALIE and HARPSspectrographs based at the ESO La Silla Observatory. The measurement ofthe frequencies of p-mode oscillations provides an insight into theinternal structure and is nowadays the most powerful constraint on thetheory of stellar evolution. Solar-like Oscillations in the Metal-poor Subgiant ν Indi: Constraining the Mass and Age Using AsteroseismologyAsteroseismology is a powerful method for determining fundamentalproperties of stars. We report the first application to a metal-poorobject, namely the subgiant star ν Ind. We measured precisevelocities from two sites, allowing us to detect oscillations and infera large frequency separation of Δν=24.25+/-0.25 μHz.Combining this value with the location of the star in the H-R diagramand comparing with standard evolutionary models, we were able to placeconstraints on the stellar parameters. In particular, our resultsindicate that ν Ind has a low mass (0.85+/-0.04 Msolar)and is at least 9 Gyr old. Asterosismologie.Not Available Statistical Constraints for Astrometric Binaries with Nonlinear MotionUseful constraints on the orbits and mass ratios of astrometric binariesin the Hipparcos catalog are derived from the measured proper motiondifferences of Hipparcos and Tycho-2 (Δμ), accelerations ofproper motions (μ˙), and second derivatives of proper motions(μ̈). It is shown how, in some cases, statistical bounds can beestimated for the masses of the secondary components. Two catalogs ofastrometric binaries are generated, one of binaries with significantproper motion differences and the other of binaries with significantaccelerations of their proper motions. Mathematical relations betweenthe astrometric observables Δμ, μ˙, and μ̈ andthe orbital elements are derived in the appendices. We find a remarkabledifference between the distribution of spectral types of stars withlarge accelerations but small proper motion differences and that ofstars with large proper motion differences but insignificantaccelerations. The spectral type distribution for the former sample ofbinaries is the same as the general distribution of all stars in theHipparcos catalog, whereas the latter sample is clearly dominated bysolar-type stars, with an obvious dearth of blue stars. We point outthat the latter set includes mostly binaries with long periods (longerthan about 6 yr). Sulphur abundance in Galactic starsWe investigate sulphur abundance in 74 Galactic stars by using highresolution spectra obtained at ESO VLT and NTT telescopes. For the firsttime the abundances are derived, where possible, from three opticalmultiplets: Mult. 1, 6, and 8. By combining our own measurements withdata in the literature we assemble a sample of 253 stars in themetallicity range -3.2  [Fe/H]  +0.5. Two important features,which could hardly be detected in smaller samples, are obvious from thislarge sample: 1) a sizeable scatter in [S/Fe] ratios around [Fe/H]-1; 2) at low metallicities we observe stars with [S/Fe] 0.4, aswell as stars with higher [S/Fe] ratios. The latter do not seem to bekinematically different from the former ones. Whether the latter findingstems from a distinct population of metal-poor stars or simply from anincreased scatter in sulphur abundances remains an open question. Chemical abundances in 43 metal-poor starsWe have derived abundances of O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Fe,Ni, and Ba for 43 metal-poor field stars in the solar neighbourhood,most of them subgiants or turn-off-point stars with iron abundances[Fe/H] ranging from -0.4 to -3.0. About half of this sample has not beenspectroscopically analysed in detail before. Effective temperatures wereestimated from uvby photometry, and surface gravities primarily fromHipparcos parallaxes. The analysis is differential relative to the Sun,and was carried out with plane-parallel MARCS models. Various sources oferror are discussed and found to contribute a total error of about0.1-0.2 dex for most elements, while relative abundances, such as[Ca/Fe], are most probably more accurate. For the oxygen abundances,determined in an NLTE analysis of the 7774 Å triplet lines, theerrors may be somewhat larger. We made a detailed comparison withsimilar studies and traced the reasons for the, in most cases,relatively small differences. Among the results we find that [O/Fe]possibly increases beyond [Fe/H] = -1.0, though considerably less sothan in results obtained by others from abundances based on OH lines. Wedid not trace any tendency toward strong overionization of iron, andfind the excesses, relative to Fe and the Sun, of the α elementsMg, Si, and Ca to be smaller than those of O. We discuss someindications that also the abundances of different α elementsrelative to Fe vary and the possibility that some of the scatter aroundthe trends in abundances relative to iron may be real. This may supportthe idea that the formation of Halo stars occurred in smaller systemswith different star formation rates. We verify the finding by Gratton etal. (2003b, A&A, 406, 131) that stars that do not participate in therotation of the galactic disk show a lower mean and larger spread in [α/Fe] than stars participating in the general rotation. The latterstars also seem to show some correlation between [ α/Fe] androtation speed. We trace some stars with peculiar abundances, amongthese two Ba stars, HD 17072 and HD196944, the second already known to be rich in s elements.Finally we advocate that a spectroscopic study of a larger sample ofhalo stars with well-defined selection criteria is very important, inorder to add to the very considerable efforts that various groups havealready made. Cu and Zn in the early GalaxyWe present Cu and Zn abundances for 38 FGK stars, mostly dwarfs,spanning a metallicity range between solar and [Fe/H] = -3. Theabundances were obtained using Kurucz's local thermal equilibrium (LTE)model atmospheres and the near-UV lines of Cu I 3273.95 Å and Zn I3302.58 Å observed at high spectral resolution. The trend of[Cu/Fe] versus [Fe/H] is almost solar for [Fe/H] > -1 and thendecreases to a plateau <[Cu/Fe]> = -0.98 at [Fe/H] < -2.5,whereas the [Zn/Fe] trend is essentially solar for [Fe/H] > -2 andthen slightly increases at lower metallicities to an average value of<[Zn/Fe]> = +0.18. We compare our results with previous work onthese elements, and briefly discuss them in terms of nucleosynthesisprocesses. Predictions of halo chemical evolution fairly reproduce thetrends, especially the [Cu/Fe] plateau at very low metallicities, but toa lesser extent the higher [Zn/Fe] ratios at low metallicities,indicating possibly missing yields. Galactic evolution of nitrogenWe present detailed spectroscopic analysis of nitrogen abundances in 31unevolved metal-poor stars analysed by spectral synthesis of the near-UVNH band at 3360 Å observed at high resolution with varioustelescopes. We found that [N/Fe] scales with that of iron in themetallicity range -3.1 <[Fe/H]<0 with the slope 0.01±0.02.Furthermore, we derive uniform and accurate (N/O) ratios using oxygenabundances from near-UV OH lines obtained in our previous studies. Wefind that a primary component of nitrogen is required to explain theobservations. The NH lines are discovered in the VLT/UVES spectra of thevery metal-poor subdwarfs G64-12 and LP815-43 indicating that thesestars are N rich. The results are compared with theoretical models andobservations of extragalactic H II regions and Damped Lyα systems.This is the first direct comparison of the (N/O) ratios in these objectswith those in Galactic stars. The Geneva-Copenhagen survey of the Solar neighbourhood. Ages, metallicities, and kinematic properties of 14 000 F and G dwarfsWe present and discuss new determinations of metallicity, rotation, age,kinematics, and Galactic orbits for a complete, magnitude-limited, andkinematically unbiased sample of 16 682 nearby F and G dwarf stars. Our63 000 new, accurate radial-velocity observations for nearly 13 500stars allow identification of most of the binary stars in the sampleand, together with published uvbyβ photometry, Hipparcosparallaxes, Tycho-2 proper motions, and a few earlier radial velocities,complete the kinematic information for 14 139 stars. These high-qualityvelocity data are supplemented by effective temperatures andmetallicities newly derived from recent and/or revised calibrations. Theremaining stars either lack Hipparcos data or have fast rotation. Amajor effort has been devoted to the determination of new isochrone agesfor all stars for which this is possible. Particular attention has beengiven to a realistic treatment of statistical biases and errorestimates, as standard techniques tend to underestimate these effectsand introduce spurious features in the age distributions. Our ages agreewell with those by Edvardsson et al. (\cite{edv93}), despite severalastrophysical and computational improvements since then. We demonstrate,however, how strong observational and theoretical biases cause thedistribution of the observed ages to be very different from that of thetrue age distribution of the sample. Among the many basic relations ofthe Galactic disk that can be reinvestigated from the data presentedhere, we revisit the metallicity distribution of the G dwarfs and theage-metallicity, age-velocity, and metallicity-velocity relations of theSolar neighbourhood. Our first results confirm the lack of metal-poor Gdwarfs relative to closed-box model predictions (the G dwarfproblem''), the existence of radial metallicity gradients in the disk,the small change in mean metallicity of the thin disk since itsformation and the substantial scatter in metallicity at all ages, andthe continuing kinematic heating of the thin disk with an efficiencyconsistent with that expected for a combination of spiral arms and giantmolecular clouds. Distinct features in the distribution of the Vcomponent of the space motion are extended in age and metallicity,corresponding to the effects of stochastic spiral waves rather thanclassical moving groups, and may complicate the identification ofthick-disk stars from kinematic criteria. More advanced analyses of thisrich material will require careful simulations of the selection criteriafor the sample and the distribution of observational errors.Based on observations made with the Danish 1.5-m telescope at ESO, LaSilla, Chile, and with the Swiss 1-m telescope at Observatoire deHaute-Provence, France.Complete Tables 1 and 2 are only available in electronic form at the CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/418/989 Comparing Deep Mixing in Globular Cluster and Halo Field Giants: Carbon Abundance Data from the LiteratureThe behavior of carbon abundance as a function of luminosity is used tocompare the rates of deep mixing within red giants of four globularclusters and the Galactic halo field population. Measurements of [C/Fe]for the clusters M92, NGC 6397, M3, and M13 have been compiled from theliterature, together with the Gratton et al. data for halo field stars.Plots of [C/Fe] versus absolute visual magnitude show that forMV<+1.6 the rate of decline of carbon abundance withincreasing luminosity on the red giant branch isd[C/Fe]/dMV~0.22+/-0.03 among the field stars, as well as inM92, NGC 6397, and M3. Among giants fainter than MV=+1.6 thevariation of [C/Fe] with absolute magnitude is much less. The dataindicate that the rate at which deep mixing introduces carbon-depletedmaterial into the convective envelopes of field halo stars during theupper red giant branch phase of evolution is similar to that of manyglobular cluster giants. The notable exception appears to be M13, inwhich stars exhibit deep mixing at a greater rate; this may account forthe high incidence of very low oxygen abundances among the most luminousgiants in M13 in comparison to M3. Solar-like OscillationsThe five-minute oscillations in the Sun have provided a wealth ofinformation about the solar interior. After many attempts, positivedetections of similar oscillations in solar-type stars have now beenmade. This review discusses the properties of solar-like oscillations,the methods used to observe them, and the results on individual stars.We conclude that the study of solar-like oscillations from the groundand space has an exciting future. Improved Astrometry and Photometry for the Luyten Catalog. II. Faint Stars and the Revised CatalogWe complete construction of a catalog containing improved astrometry andnew optical/infrared photometry for the vast majority of NLTT starslying in the overlap of regions covered by POSS I and by the secondincremental Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) release, approximately 44%of the sky. The epoch 2000 positions are typically accurate to 130 mas,the proper motions to 5.5 mas yr-1, and the V-J colors to0.25 mag. Relative proper motions of binary components are measured to 3mas yr-1. The false-identification rate is ~1% for11<~V<~18 and substantially less at brighter magnitudes. Theseimprovements permit the construction of a reduced proper-motion diagramthat, for the first time, allows one to classify NLTT stars intomain-sequence (MS) stars, subdwarfs (SDs), and white dwarfs (WDs). We inturn use this diagram to analyze the properties of both our catalog andthe NLTT catalog on which it is based. In sharp contrast to popularbelief, we find that NLTT incompleteness in the plane is almostcompletely concentrated in MS stars, and that SDs and WDs are detectedalmost uniformly over the sky δ>-33deg. Our catalogwill therefore provide a powerful tool to probe these populationsstatistically, as well as to reliably identify individual SDs and WDs. Abundances for metal-poor stars with accurate parallaxes. I. Basic dataWe present element-to-element abundance ratios measured from highdispersion spectra for 150 field subdwarfs and early subgiants withaccurate Hipparcos parallaxes (errors <20%). For 50 stars new spectrawere obtained with the UVES on Kueyen (VLT UT2), the McDonald 2.7 mtelescope, and SARG at TNG. Additionally, literature equivalent widthswere taken from the works by Nissen & Schuster, Fulbright, andProchaska et al. to complement our data. The whole sample includes boththick disk and halo stars (and a few thin disk stars); most stars havemetallicities in the range -2<[Fe/H]<-0.6. We found our data, thatof Nissen & Schuster, and that of Prochaska to be of comparablequality; results from Fulbright scatter a bit more, but they are stillof very good quality and are extremely useful due to the large size ofhis sample. The results of the present analysis will be used inforthcoming papers to discuss the chemical properties of thedissipational collapse and accretion components of our Galaxy.Based in part on data collected at the European Southern Observatory,Chile, at the MacDonald Observatory, Texas, USA, and at the TelescopioNazionale Galileo, Canary Island, INAF,Italy-Spain.}\fnmsep\thanks{Table 1 is only available in electronic format the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) orvia\resizebox{8.8cm}{2.2mm}htpp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/404/187} Oxygen line formation in late-F through early-K disk/halo stars. Infrared O I triplet and [O I] linesIn order to investigate the formation of O I 7771-5 and [O I] 6300/6363lines, extensive non-LTE calculations for neutral atomic oxygen werecarried out for wide ranges of model atmosphere parameters, which areapplicable to early-K through late-F halo/disk stars of variousevolutionary stages.The formation of the triplet O I lines was found to be well described bythe classical two-level-atom scattering model, and the non-LTEcorrection is practically determined by the parameters of theline-transition itself without any significant relevance to the detailsof the oxygen atomic model. This simplifies the problem in the sensethat the non-LTE abundance correction is essentially determined only bythe line-strength (Wlambda ), if the atmospheric parametersof Teff, log g, and xi are given, without any explicitdependence of the metallicity; thus allowing a useful analytical formulawith tabulated numerical coefficients. On the other hand, ourcalculations lead to the robust conclusion that LTE is totally valid forthe forbidden [O I] lines.An extensive reanalysis of published equivalent-width data of O I 7771-5and [O I] 6300/6363 taken from various literature resulted in theconclusion that, while a reasonable consistency of O I and [O I]abundances was observed for disk stars (-1 <~ [Fe/H] <~ 0), theexistence of a systematic abundance discrepancy was confirmed between OI and [O I] lines in conspicuously metal-poor halo stars (-3 <~[Fe/H] <~ -1) without being removed by our non-LTE corrections, i.e.,the former being larger by ~ 0.3 dex at -3 <~ [Fe/H] <~ -2.An inspection of the parameter-dependence of this discordance indicatesthat the extent of the discrepancy tends to be comparatively lessenedfor higher Teff/log g stars, suggesting the preference ofdwarf (or subgiant) stars for studying the oxygen abundances ofmetal-poor stars.Tables 2, 5, and 7 are only available in electronic form, at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/402/343 and Table\ref{tab3} is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org The Wilson-Bappu effect: A tool to determine stellar distancesWilson & Bappu (\cite{orig}) have shown the existence of aremarkable correlation between the width of the emission in the core ofthe K line of Ca II and the absolute visual magnitude of late-typestars.Here we present a new calibration of the Wilson-Bappu effect based on asample of 119 nearby stars. We use, for the first time, widthmeasurements based on high resolution and high signal to noise ratio CCDspectra and absolute visual magnitudes from the Hipparcos database.Our primary goal is to investigate the possibility of using theWilson-Bappu effect to determine accurate distances to single stars andgroups.The result of our calibration fitting of the Wilson-Bappu relationshipis MV=33.2-18.0 log W0, and the determinationseems free of systematic effects. The root mean square error of thefitting is 0.6 mag. This error is mostly accounted for by measurementerrors and intrinsic variability of W0, but in addition apossible dependence on the metallicity is found, which becomes clearlynoticeable for metallicities below [Fe/H] ~ -0.4. This detection ispossible because in our sample [Fe/H] ranges from -1.5 to 0.4.The Wilson-Bappu effect can be used confidently for all metallicitiesnot lower than ~ -0.4, including the LMC. While it does not provideaccurate distances to single stars, it is a useful tool to determineaccurate distances to clusters and aggregates, where a sufficient numberof stars can be observed.We apply the Wilson-Bappu effect to published data of the open cluster M67; the retrieved distance modulus is of 9.65 mag, in very goodagreement with the best distance estimations for this cluster, based onmain sequence fitting.Observations collected at ESO, La Silla. Selection criteria for targets of asteroseismic campaignsVarious dedicated satellite projects are underway or in advanced stagesof planning to perform high-precision, long duration time seriesphotometry of stars, with the purpose of using the frequencies ofstellar oscillations to put new constraints on the internal structure ofstars. It is known (cf. \cite{Bro+94}) that the effectiveness ofoscillation frequencies in constraining stellar model parameters issignificantly higher if classical parameters such as effectivetemperature and luminosity are known with high precision. In order tooptimize asteroseismic campaigns it is therefore useful to selecttargets from among candidates for which good spectroscopic andastrometric data already exists. This paper presents selection criteria,as well as redeterminations of stellar luminosity and reddening forstars satisfying these criteria. Statistical cataloging of archival data for luminosity class IV-V stars. II. The epoch 2001 [Fe/H] catalogThis paper describes the derivation of an updated statistical catalog ofmetallicities. The stars for which those metallicities apply are ofspectral types F, G, and K, and are on or near the main sequence. Theinput data for the catalog are values of [Fe/H] published before 2002February and derived from lines of weak and moderate strength. Theanalyses used to derive the data have been based on one-dimensional LTEmodel atmospheres. Initial adjustments which are applied to the datainclude corrections to a uniform temperature scale which is given in acompanion paper (see Taylor \cite{t02}). After correction, the data aresubjected to a statistical analysis. For each of 941 stars considered,the results of that analysis include a mean value of [Fe/H], an rmserror, an associated number of degrees of freedom, and one or moreidentification numbers for source papers. The catalog of these resultssupersedes an earlier version given by Taylor (\cite{t94b}).Catalog is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymousftp cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/398/731 Statistical cataloging of archival data for luminosity class IV-V stars. I. The epoch 2001 temperature catalogThis paper is one of a pair in which temperatures and metallicitycatalogs for class IV-V stars are considered. The temperature catalogdescribed here is derived from a calibration based on stellar angulardiameters. If published calibrations of this kind are compared by usingcolor-index transformations, temperature-dependent differences among thecalibrations are commonly found. However, such differences are minimizedif attention is restricted to calibrations based on Johnson V-K. Acalibration of this sort from Di Benedetto (\cite{dib98}) is thereforetested and adopted. That calibration is then applied to spectroscopicand photometric data, with the latter predominating. Cousins R-Iphotometry receives special attention because of its high precision andlow metallicity sensitivity. Testing of temperatures derived from thecalibration suggests that their accuracy and precision are satisfactory,though further testing will be warranted as new results appear. Thesetemperatures appear in the catalog as values of theta equiv5040/T(effective). Most of these entries are accompanied by measured orderived values of Cousins R-I. Entries are given for 951 stars.Catalog is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymousftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/398/721 Revised Coordinates and Proper Motions of the Stars in the Luyten Half-Second CatalogWe present refined coordinates and proper-motion data for the highproper-motion (HPM) stars in the Luyten Half-Second (LHS) catalog. Thepositional uncertainty in the original Luyten catalog is typicallygreater than 10" and is often greater than 30". We have used the digitalscans of the POSS I and POSS II plates to derive more accurate positionsand proper motions of the objects. Out of the 4470 candidates in the LHScatalog, 4323 objects were manually reidentified in the POSS I and POSSII scans. A small fraction of the stars were not found because of thelack of finder charts and digitized POSS II scans. The uncertainties inthe revised positions are typically ~2" but can be as high as ~8" in afew cases, which is a large improvement over the original data.Cross-correlation with the Tycho-2 and Hipparcos catalogs yielded 819candidates (with mR<~12). For these brighter sources, theposition and proper-motion data were replaced with the more accurateTycho-2/Hipparcos data. In total, we have revised proper-motionmeasurements and coordinates for 4040 stars and revised coordinates for4330 stars. The electronic version of the paper5 contains the updated information on all 4470stars in the LHS catalog. Behavior of Sulfur Abundances in Metal-poor Giants and DwarfsLTE and non-LTE (NLTE) abundances of sulfur in six metal-poor giants and61 dwarfs (62 dwarfs including the Sun) were explored in the range of-3<~[Fe/H]<~+0.5 using high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratiospectra of the S I 8693.9 and 8694.6 Å lines observed by us andmeasured by François and Clegg, Lambert, & Tomkin. NLTEeffects in S abundances are found to be small and practicallynegligible. The behavior of [S/Fe] versus [Fe/H] exhibits a linearincreasing trend without plateau with decreasing [Fe/H]. Combining ourresults with those available in the literature, we find that the slopeof the increasing trend is -0.25 in the NLTE behavior of [S/Fe], whichis comparable to that observed in [O/Fe]. The observed behavior of S mayrequire chemical evolution models of the Galaxy, in which scenarios ofhypernovae nucleosynthesis and/or time-delayed deposition intointerstellar medium are incorporated. Models of Metal-poor Stars with Gravitational Settling and Radiative Accelerations. II. The Age of the Oldest StarsIsochrones for ages between 12 and 18 Gyr have been derived from theevolutionary tracks presented in Paper I (Richard et al.) for massesfrom 0.5 to 1.0 Msolar and initial chemical abundancescorresponding to (1) Y=0.2352, Z=1.69×10-4([Fe/H]=-2.31,[α/Fe]=0.3) and (2) Y=0.2370,Z=1.69×10-3 ([Fe/H=-1.31,[α/Fe]=0.3). These arethe first models for Population II stars in which both gravitationalsettling and radiative accelerations have been taken into account.Allowance for these diffusive processes leads to a 10%-12% reduction inage at a given turnoff luminosity. However, in order for the diffusivemodels to satisfy the constraints from Li and Fe abundance data (seePaper I) and to reproduce the observed morphologies of globular cluster(GC) color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) in a straightforward way, extramixing just below the boundary of the convective envelope seems to benecessary. Indeed, when additional turbulent mixing is invoked, theresultant models are able to satisfy all of these constraints, as wellas those provided by the CMDs of local subdwarfs, rather well. Moreover,they imply an age near 13.5 Gyr for M92, which is one of the mostmetal-deficient (and presumably one of the oldest) of the Galaxy's GCs,if the field subgiant HD 140283 is used to derive the cluster distance.Comparisons of field subdwarfs and subgiants with a recently publishedfiducial for M5 suggests that the cluster has [Fe/H]<~-1.4, inconflict with some estimates based on high-resolution spectroscopy, ifthe metallicities of the field stars are to be trusted. In addition, anage of ~11.5 Gyr is found for M5, irrespective of whether diffusive ornondiffusive isochrones are employed in the analysis. The implicationsof our results for the extragalactic distance scale and for the Hubbleconstant are briefly discussed in the context of the presently favoredΩM~0.35, ΩΛ~0.65 cosmologicalmodel. GAIA and Population II Visual BinariesThe results of a kinematical population classification of 497 Hipparcosorbital binaries are discussed. Less than 10% of the stars from thesample belong to the thick disk. Only seven stars have halo kinematics.There are no direct dynamical mass determinations for extreme halostars. Some suggestions, concerning Population II visual binaries forwhich ground-based astrometric observations in combination with GAIAdata will be useful in the future for the better determination of orbitsfor long period Population II binaries, are offered. HIPPARCOS age-metallicity relation of the solar neighbourhood disc starsWe derive age-metallicity relations (AMRs) and orbital parameters forthe 1658 solar neighbourhood stars to which accurate distances aremeasured by the HIPPARCOS satellite. The sample stars comprise 1382 thindisc stars, 229 thick disc stars, and 47 halo stars according to theirorbital parameters. We find a considerable scatter for thin disc AMRalong the one-zone Galactic chemical evolution (GCE) model. Orbits andmetallicities of thin disc stars show now clear relation each other. Thescatter along the AMR exists even if the stars with the same orbits areselected. We examine simple extension of one-zone GCE models whichaccount for inhomogeneity in the effective yield and inhomogeneous starformation rate in the Galaxy. Both extensions of the one-zone GCE modelcannot account for the scatter in age - [Fe/H] - [Ca/Fe] relationsimultaneously. We conclude, therefore, that the scatter along the thindisc AMR is an essential feature in the formation and evolution of theGalaxy. The AMR for thick disc stars shows that the star formationterminated 8 Gyr ago in the thick disc. As already reported by Grattonet al. (\cite{Gratton_et.al.2000}) and Prochaska et al.(\cite{Prochaska_et.al.2000}), thick disc stars are more Ca-rich thanthin disc stars with the same [Fe/H]. We find that thick disc stars showa vertical abundance gradient. These three facts, the AMR, verticalgradient, and [Ca/Fe]-[Fe/H] relation, support monolithic collapseand/or accretion of satellite dwarf galaxies as likely thick discformation scenarios. Tables 2 and 3 are only available in electronicform at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5)or via http:/ /cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/ cgi-bin/qcat?J/ A+A/394/927 A search for previously unrecognized metal-poor subdwarfs in the Hipparcos astrometric catalogueWe have identified 317 stars included in the Hipparcos astrometriccatalogue that have parallaxes measured to a precision of better than 15per cent, and the location of which in the(MV,(B-V)T) diagram implies a metallicitycomparable to or less than that of the intermediate-abundance globularcluster M5. We have undertaken an extensive literature search to locateStrömgren, Johnson/Cousins and Walraven photometry for over 120stars. In addition, we present new UBV(RI)C photometry of 201of these candidate halo stars, together with similar data for a further14 known metal-poor subdwarfs. These observations provide the firstextensive data set of RCIC photometry ofmetal-poor, main-sequence stars with well-determined trigonometricparallaxes. Finally, we have obtained intermediate-resolution opticalspectroscopy of 175 stars. 47 stars still lack sufficient supplementaryobservations for population classification; however, we are able toestimate abundances for 270 stars, or over 80 per cent of the sample.The overwhelming majority have near-solar abundance, with theirinclusion in the present sample stemming from errors in the colourslisted in the Hipparcos catalogue. Only 44 stars show consistentevidence of abundances below [Fe/H]=-1.0. Nine are additions to thesmall sample of metal-poor subdwarfs with accurate photometry. Weconsider briefly the implication of these results for clustermain-sequence fitting. Sulphur Abundance in Very Metal-poor StarsWe have obtained high-resolution high signal-to-noise ratio spectra ofthe S I near-infrared doublet at 8694 Å in eight metal-poor starswith metallicities in the range -0.6<=[Fe/H]<=-3.0. Elementalsulphur abundances were derived for six targets, and upper limits wereset for two of the most metal-poor stars in the sample. The sulphurdoublet at 8694.62 Å has been detected in three stars (HD 19445,HD 2665, and HD 2796) with [Fe/H]<=-1.9. Our observations, combinedwith those available in the literature, indicate a monotonic increase ofthe [S/Fe] ratio as [Fe/H] decreases, reaching values of [S/Fe]~0.7-0.8below [Fe/H]=-2. We discuss plausible scenarios for the interpretationof these results. Based on observations obtained with the WilliamHerschel Telescope (WHT), operated on the island of La Palma by theIsaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de losMuchachos (ORM) of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. Catalogue of Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (CADARS) - Third edition - Comments and statisticsThe Catalogue, available at the Centre de Données Stellaires deStrasbourg, consists of 13 573 records concerning the results obtainedfrom different methods for 7778 stars, reported in the literature. Thefollowing data are listed for each star: identifications, apparentmagnitude, spectral type, apparent diameter in arcsec, absolute radiusin solar units, method of determination, reference, remarks. Commentsand statistics obtained from CADARS are given. The Catalogue isavailable in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcar?J/A+A/367/521 Distances, Ages, and Epoch of Formation of Globular ClustersWe review the results on distances and absolute ages of Galacticglobular clusters (GCs) obtained after the release of the Hipparcoscatalog. Several methods aimed at the definition of the Population IIlocal distance scale are discussed, and their results compared,exploiting new results for RR Lyraes in the Large Magellanic Cloud(LMC). We find that the so-called short distance and long distancescales may be reconciled whether or not a consistent reddening scale isadopted for Cepheids and RR Lyrae variables in the LMC. Emphasis isgiven in the paper to the discussion of distances and ages of GCsderived using Hipparcos parallaxes of local subdwarfs. We find that theselection criteria adopted to choose the local subdwarfs, as well as thesize of the corrections applied to existing systematic biases, are themain culprit for the differences found among the various independentstudies that first used Hipparcos parallaxes and the subdwarf fittingtechnique. We also caution that the absolute age of M92 (usuallyconsidered one of the oldest clusters) still remains uncertain due tothe lack of subdwarfs of comparable metallicity with accurateparallaxes. Distances and ages for the nine clusters discussed in aprevious paper by Gratton et al. are rederived using an enlarged sampleof local subdwarfs, which includes about 90% of the metal-poor dwarfswith accurate parallaxes (Δπ/π<=0.12) in the wholeHipparcos catalog. On average, our revised distance moduli are decreasedby 0.04 mag with respect to Gratton et al. The corresponding age of theGCs is t=11.5+/-2.6 Gyr, where the error bars refer to the 95%confidence range. The relation between the zero-age horizontal branch(ZAHB) absolute magnitude and metallicity for the nine program clustersturns out to beMV(ZAHB)=(0.18+/-0.09)([Fe/H]+1.5)+(0.53+/-0.12) Thanks toHipparcos the major contribution to the total error budget associatedwith the subdwarf fitting technique has been moved from parallaxes tophotometric calibrations, reddening, and metallicity scale. This totaluncertainty still amounts to about +/-0.12 mag. We then compare thecorresponding (true) LMC distance modulusμLMC=18.64+/-0.12 mag with other existing determinations.We conclude that at present the best estimate for the distance of theLMC is μLMC=18.54+/-0.03+/-0.06, suggesting that distancesfrom the subdwarf fitting method are ~1 σ too long. Consequently,our best estimate for the age of the GCs is revised to Age=12.9+/-2.9Gyr (95% confidence range). The best relation between ZAHB absolutemagnitude and metallicity isMV(ZAHB)=(0.18+/-0.09)([Fe/H]+1.5)+(0.63+/-0.07). Finally, wecompare the ages of the GCs with the cosmic star formation rate recentlydetermined by studies of the Hubble Deep Field (HDF), exploiting thedeterminations of ΩM=0.3 andΩΛ=0.7 provided by Type Ia supernovae surveys.We find that the epoch of formation of the GCs (at z~3) matches well themaximum of the star formation rate for elliptical galaxies in the HDF asdetermined by Franceschini et al. Based on data from the Hipparcosastrometry satellite. Galactic [O/Fe] and [C/Fe] Ratios: The Influence of New Stellar ParametersWe consider the effects of recent NLTE gravities and Fe abundances onstellar [O/Fe] and [C/Fe] ratios. The NLTE parameters greatly reduce oreliminate the well-known discrepancy between CH- and C I-based Cabundances in metal-poor stars and previously seen trends ofatomic-based [C/Fe] and [O/Fe] with Teff. With the NLTEparameters, the metal-poor molecular-based [C/Fe] ratio maintains itsincrease with declining [Fe/H] this may also be demonstrated by therevised atomic-based ratios. [O/Fe] values derived from OH and O Ifeatures are considerably reduced and typically show improved agreementbut are 0.1-0.2 dex larger than those exhibited by the Lick-Texassyndicate's recent [O I]-based giant determinations. The revised [O/Fe]ratios still show an increase down to at least [Fe/H]~-2 we suggest thatrecent field giant data show an increase with similar slope. Evenadopting uniform NLTE parameters, study-to-study abundance differencescan be significant; moreover, different NLTE studies yield differinggravities and Fe abundances even after taking Teffdifferences into account. Comparison of metal-poor giant gravities andcluster abundances with isochrones, trigonometric gravities, andnear-turnoff cluster abundances yields conflicting indications aboutwhether the evolved gravities might be underestimated as suggested formetal-poor dwarfs. Regardless, we argue that even extreme gravityrevisions do not affect the [O/Fe]-[Fe/H] relation derived from theextant results. Combining what we believe the most reliable giant anddwarf data considered here, we find[O/Fe]=-0.184(+/-0.022)×[Fe/H]+0.019 with an rms scatter of only0.13 dex; there is no indication of a break or slope change atintermediate [Fe/H]. The gentle slope is in very reasonable agreementwith some chemical evolution models employing yields with small mass andmetallicity dependences. Finally, two notes are made concerning Naabundance-spatial position and element-to-element correlations in M13giants. A statistical analysis of the metallicities of nine old superclusters and moving groupsUsing both high-dispersion and low-resolution data, the metallicities ofnine old moving groups and superclusters are analyzed. These stellargroupings include the HR 1614 and Hyades superclusters and the Wolf 630,zeta Her, 61 Cyg, HR 1614, sigma Pup, eta Cep, and Arcturus groups.Samples of these stellar groupings are drawn from Eggen's membershiplists. Precautions are taken against problems posed by reddening, visualand spectroscopic binaries, and typographical errors in Eggen's lists.When required, the analyses allow for systematic differences betweenlow-resolution and high-dispersion metallicities. It is found that noneof the stellar groupings have the small metallicity dispersion found fora selection of galactic clusters. Instead, the metallicity dispersionsturn out to be comparable to the dispersion for a random selection offield stars. For most of the stellar groupings, it does not seempossible at present to learn more by analyzing metallicities. However,one can be more definite about three of them: the HR 1614 supercluster,the HR 1614 group, and the Hyades supercluster. Using a membership listfrom Eggen (\cite{e98c}) that is based on Hipparcos astrometry, noevidence is found for the existence of an HR 1614 supercluster. Toisolate an HR 1614 group, results from a kinematic analysis (Dehnen\cite{d98}) are then used to select a tentative list of members fromEggen's group and supercluster lists. From the mean metallicity of theredefined group, it is found that the group is very unlikely to be arandom, magnitude-limited sample of stars. A similar result is obtainedfor a version of the Hyades supercluster derived from 18 of Eggen'smembership lists. About 43% of the stars in this version turn out to bemembers of the supercluster. Mixing along the red giant branch in metal-poor field starsWe have determined Li, C, N, O, Na, and Fe abundances, and12C/13C isotopic ratios for a sample of 62 fieldmetal-poor stars in the metallicity range -2<=[Fe/H]<= -1. Starswere selected in order to have accurate luminosity estimates from theliterature, so that evolutionary phases could be clearly determined foreach star. We further enlarged this dataset by adding 43 more starshaving accurate abundances for some of these elements and similarly welldefined luminosities from the literature. This large sample was used toshow that (small mass) lower-RGB stars (i.e. stars brighter than thefirst dredge-up luminosity and fainter than that of the RGB bump) haveabundances of light elements in agreement with predictions fromclassical evolutionary models: only marginal changes occur for CNOelements, while dilution within the convective envelope causes thesurface Li abundance to decrease by a factor of ~ 20. A second, distinctmixing episode occurs in most (perhaps all) small mass metal-poor starsjust after the RGB bump, when the molecular weight barrier left by themaximum inward penetration of the convective shell is canceled by theoutward expansion of the H-burning shell, in agreement with recenttheoretical predictions. In field stars, this second mixing episode onlyreaches regions of incomplete CNO burning: it causes a depletion of thesurface 12C abundance by about a factor of 2.5, and acorresponding increase in the N abundance by about a factor of 4. The12C/13C is lowered to about 6 to 10 (close to butdistinctly higher than the equilibrium value of 3.5), while practicallyall remaining Li is burnt. However an O-Na anti-correlation such astypically observed amongst globular cluster stars, is not present infield stars. None of the 29 field stars more evolved than the RGB bump(including 8 RHB stars) shows any sign of an O depletion or Naenhancement. This means that the second mixing episode is not deepenough to reach regions were ON-burning occurs in field stars. Based inpart on observations made at the ESO La Silla ObservatoryTables 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are available in electronic form only at the CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
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