We develop a method for estimating the host galaxy dust extinction for type Ia supernovae based on an observational coincidence first noted by Lira, who found that the B-V evolution during the period from 30 to 90 days after V maximum is remarkably similar for all events, regardless of light-curve shape. This fact is used to calibrate the dependence of the Bmax-Vmax and Vmax-Imax colors on the light-curve decline rate parameter Δm15(B), which can, in turn, be used to separately estimate the host galaxy extinction. Using these methods to eliminate the effects of reddening, we reexamine the functional form of the decline rate versus luminosity relationship and provide an updated estimate of the Hubble constant of H0 = 63.3 ± 2.2(internal) ± 3.5(external) km s-1 Mpc-1.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/301032/pdf

The reddening-free decline rate versus luminosity relationship for type ia supernovae

We present up-to-date metallicity-dependent temperature versus color calibrations for main-sequence and giant stars based on temperatures derived with the infrared flux method (IRFM). Seventeen colors in the photometric systems UBV, uvby, Vilnius, Geneva, RI(Cousins), DDO, Hipparcos-Tycho, and Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) have been calibrated. The spectral types covered by the calibrations range from F0 to K5 (7000 K Teff 4000 K) with some relations extending below 4000 K or up to 8000 K. Most of the calibrations are valid in the metallicity range -3.5 [Fe/H] 0.4, although some of them extend to as low as [Fe/H] ~ -4.0. All fits to the data have been performed with more than 100 stars; standard deviations range from 30 to 120 K. Fits were carefully performed and corrected to eliminate the small systematic errors introduced by the calibration formulae. Tables of colors as a function of Teff and [Fe/H] are provided. This work is largely based on the study by A. Alonso and collaborators; thus, our relations do not significantly differ from theirs except for the very metal-poor hot stars. From the calibrations, the temperatures of 44 dwarf and giant stars with direct temperatures available are obtained. The comparison with direct temperatures confirms our finding in Paper I that the zero point of the IRFM temperature scale is in agreement, to the 10 K level, with the absolute temperature scale (that based on stellar angular diameters) within the ranges of atmospheric parameters covered by those 44 stars. The colors of the Sun are derived from the present IRFM Teff scale and they compare well with those of five solar analogs. It is shown that if the IRFM Teff scale accurately reproduces the temperatures of very metal-poor stars, systematic errors of the order of 200 K, introduced by the assumption of (V - K) being completely metallicity independent when studying very metal-poor dwarf stars, are no longer acceptable. Comparisons with other Teff scales, both empirical and theoretical, are also shown to be in reasonable agreement with our results, although it seems that both Kurucz and MARCS synthetic colors fail to predict the detailed metallicity dependence, given that for [Fe/H] = -2.0, differences as high as approximately ±200 K are found.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/430102/pdf

The Effective Temperature Scale of FGK Stars. II. Teff:Color:[Fe/H] Calibrations

We have used the Ultraviolet Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) on Kueyen (UT2) of the Very Large Telescope to take spectra of 15 individual red giants in the Sculptor, Fornax, Carina, and Leo I dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph's). We measure the abundances of α-, iron peak, first s-process, second s-process, and r-process elements. No dSph giants in our sample show the deep mixing abundance pattern (O and sometimes Mg depleted, while Na and Al are enhanced) seen in nearly all globular clusters. At a given metallicity the dSph giants exhibit lower [el/Fe] abundance ratios for the α-elements than stars in the Galactic halo. The low α abundances at low metallicities can be caused by a slow star formation rate and contribution from Type Ia SNe, and/or a small star formation event (low total mass) and mass-dependent Type II SN yields. In addition, Leo I and Sculptor exhibit a declining even-Z [el/Fe] pattern with increasing metallicity, while Fornax exhibits no significant slope. In contrast, Carina shows a large spread in the even-Z abundance pattern, even over small metallicity ranges, as might be expected from a bursting star formation history. The metal-poor stars in these dSph galaxies ([Fe/H] < -1) have halo-like s- and r-process abundances, but not every dSph exhibits the same evolution in the s- and r-process abundance pattern. Carina, Sculptor, and Fornax show a rise in the s-/r-process ratio with increasing metallicity, evolving from a pure r-process ratio to a solar-like s- and r-process ratio. On the other hand, Leo I, appears to show an r-process–dominated ratio over the range in metallicities sampled. At present, we attribute these differences in the star formation histories of these galaxies. Comparison of the dSph abundances with those of the halo reveals some consistencies with the Galactic halo. In particular, Nissen & Shuster found that their metal-rich, high Rmax high zmax halo stars exhibited low [α/Fe], [Na/Fe] and [Ni/Fe] abundance ratios. In the same abundance range our dSph exhibit the same abundance pattern, supporting their suggestions that disrupted dSph's may explain up to 50% of the metal-rich halo. Unfortunately, similar comparisons with the metal-poor Galactic halo have not revealed similar consistencies, suggesting that the majority of the metal-poor Galactic halo could not have been formed from objects similar to the dSph studied here. We use the dSph abundances to place new constraints on the nucleosynthetic origins of several elements. We attribute differences in the evolution of [Y/Fe] in the dSph stars versus the halo stars to a very weak AGB or SN Ia yield of Y (especially compared with Ba). That a lower and flatter Ba/Y ratio is seen in the halo is most likely a result of the pattern being erased by the large metallicity dispersion in the halo. Also, we find [Cu/Fe] and [Mn/Fe] are flat and halo-like over the metallicity city range -2 < [Fe/H] < -1.2, and that the [Cu/α] ratios are flat. Combining these abundances with knowledge of the age spread in these galaxies suggests that SNe Ia are not the main site for the production of Cu (and Mn) in very metal-poor stars. We suggest that metallicity-dependent SN yields may be more promising.

http://ganymede.nmsu.edu/holtz/talks/potsdam03/papers/shetrone.pdf

VLT/UVES Abundances in Four Nearby Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies. I. Nucleosynthesis and Abundance Ratios*

Seventy-two grids of stellar evolutionary tracks, along with the means to generate isochrones and luminosity/color functions from them, are presented in this investigation Sixty of them extend (and encompass) the sets of models reported by VandenBerg et al for 17 [Fe/H] values from -231 to -030 and ?-element abundances corresponding to [?/Fe] = 00, 03, and 06 (at each iron abundance) to the solar metallicity and to sufficiently high masses (up to ~22 M?) that isochrones may be computed for ages as low as 1 Gyr The remaining grids contain tracks for masses from 04 to 40 M? and 12 [Fe/H] values between -060 and +049 (assuming solar metal-to-hydrogen number abundance ratios): in this case, isochrones may be calculated down to ~02 Gyr The extent of convective core overshooting has been modeled using a parameterized version of the Roxburgh criterion, in which the value of the free parameter at a given mass and its dependence on mass have been determined from analyses of binary star data and the observed color-magnitude diagrams for several open clusters Because the calculations reported herein satisfy many empirical constraints, they should provide useful probes into the properties of both simple and complex stellar populations

The Victoria-Regina Stellar Models: Evolutionary Tracks and Isochrones for a Wide Range in Mass and Metallicity that Allow for Empirically Constrained Amounts of Convective Core Overshooting

We present radial velocities and metallicities for a sample of 39 open clusters with ages greater than about 700 million years. For 24 clusters new moderate-resolution spectroscopic data obtained with multiobject spectrographs on the Kitt Peak National Observatory and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 4 m telescopes are used to determine radial velocities and mean cluster metallicities. These new results are combined with data published previously by Friel & Janes to provide a sample of 459 giants in 39 old open clusters, which are used to investigate radial abundance gradients in the Galactic disk. Based on an updated abundance calibration of spectroscopic indices measuring Fe and Fe-peak element blends, this larger sample yields an abundance gradient of -0.06 ± 0.01 dex kpc-1 over a range in Galactocentric radius of 7 to 16 kpc. There is a slight suggestion of a steepening of the abundance gradient with increasing cluster age in this sample, but the significance of the result is limited by the restricted distance range for the youngest clusters. The clusters show no correlation of metallicity with age in the solar neighborhood. Consistent with the evidence for a steepening of the gradient with age, the clusters in the outer disk beyond 10 kpc show a suggestion at the 1.5 σ level of a dependence of metallicity on age.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/344161/pdf

J. F. Dean

Papers

Reddenings of Cepheids using BVI photometry

VBI photometry of some southern cepheid and RR Lyrae variables