ALBERT

Description: Context. Since 1998, a planet-search around main sequence stars within 50 pc in the southern hemisphere has been underway with the CORALIE spectrograph at La Silla Observatory. Aims. With an observing time span of more than 20 yr, the CORALIE survey is able to detect long-term trends in data with masses and separations large enough to select ideal targets for direct imaging. Detecting these giant companion candidates will allow us to start bridging the gap between radial-velocity-detected exoplanets and directly imaged planets and brown dwarfs. Methods. Long-term precise Doppler measurements with the CORALIE spectrograph reveal radial-velocity signatures of massive planetary companions and brown dwarfs on long-period orbits. Results. In this paper, we report the discovery of new companions orbiting HD 181234, HD 13724, HD 25015, HD 92987 and HD 50499. We also report updated orbital parameters for HD 50499b, HD 92788b and HD 98649b. In addition, we confirm the recent detection of HD 92788c. The newly reported companions span a period range of 15.6–40.4 yr and a mass domain of 2.93–26.77 MJup, the latter of which straddles the nominal boundary between planets and brown dwarfs. Conclusions. We report the detection of five new companions and updated parameters of four known extrasolar planets. We identify at least some of these companions to be promising candidates for imaging and further characterisation.

Description: The effects of rotation on stellar evolution are particularly important at low metallicity, when mass loss by stellar winds diminishes and the surface enrichment due to rotational mixing becomes relatively more pronounced than at high metallicities. Here we investigate the impact of rotation and metallicity on stellar evolution. Using similar physics as in our previous large grids of models at Z = 0.002 and Z = 0.014, we compute stellar evolution models with the Geneva code for rotating and nonrotating stars with initial masses (Mini) between 1.7 and 120 M⊙ and Z = 0.0004 (1/35 solar). This is comparable to the metallicities of the most metal poor galaxies observed so far, such as I Zw 18. Concerning massive stars, both rotating and nonrotating models spend most of their core-helium burning phase with an effective temperature higher than 8000 K. Stars become red supergiants only at the end of their lifetimes, and few red supergiants are expected. Our models predict very few to no classical Wolf–Rayet stars as a results of weak stellar winds at low metallicity. The most massive stars end their lifetimes as luminous blue supergiants or luminous blue variables, a feature that is not predicted by models with higher initial metallicities. Interestingly, due to the behavior of the intermediate convective zone, the mass domain of stars producing pair-instability supernovae is smaller at Z = 0.0004 than at Z = 0.002. We find that during the main sequence (MS) phase, the ratio between nitrogen and carbon abundances (N/C) remains unchanged for nonrotating models. However, N/C increases by factors of 10–20 in rotating models at the end of the MS. Cepheids coming from stars with Mini 〉  4 − 6 M⊙ are beyond the core helium burning phase and spend little time in the instability strip. Since they would evolve towards cooler effective temperatures, these Cepheids should show an increase of the pulsation period as a function of age.

Description: The heavy elements (Z 〉  30) are created in neutron (n)-capture processes that are predicted to happen at vastly different nucleosynthetic sites. To study these processes in an environment different from the Milky Way, we targeted the n-capture elements in red giant branch stars in the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Using ESO VLT/FLAMES spectra, we measured the chemical abundances of Y, Ba, La, Nd, and Eu in 98 stars covering the metalliticy range −2.4

Description: Context. The nature of the early generation of massive stars can be inferred by investigating the origin of the extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars, likely formed from the ejecta of one or a few previous massive stars. Aims. We investigate the rotational properties of early massive stars by comparing the abundance patterns of EMP stars with massive stellar models including rotation. Methods. Low metallicity 20 M⊙ massive stellar models with eight initial rotation rates between 0 and 70% of the critical velocity are computed. Explosions with strong fallback are assumed. The ejected material is considered to fit individually the abundance patterns of 272 EMP stars with −4 〈  [Fe/H] 〈  −3. Results. With increasing initial rotation, the [C/H], [N/H], [O/H], [Na/H], [Mg/H], and [Al/H] ratios in the massive star ejecta are gradually increased (up to ∼4 dex) while the 12C/13C ratio is decreased. Among the 272 EMP stars considered, ∼40 − 50% are consistent with our models. About 60 − 70% of the carbon-enhanced EMP star sample can be reproduced against ∼20 − 30% for the carbon-normal EMP star sample. The abundance patterns of carbon-enhanced EMP stars are preferentially reproduced with a material coming from mid to fast rotating massive stars. The overall velocity distribution derived from the best massive star models increases from no rotation to fast rotation. The maximum is reached for massive stars having initial equatorial velocities of ∼550 − 640 km s−1. Conclusions. Although subject to significant uncertainties, these results suggest that the rotational mixing operating in between the H-burning shell and the He-burning core of early massive stars played an important role in the early chemical enrichment of the Universe. The comparison of the velocity distribution derived from the best massive star models with velocity distributions of nearby OB stars suggests that a greater number of massive fast rotators were present in the early Universe. This may have important consequences for reionization, the first supernovae, or integrated light from high redshift galaxies.