Phosphorus-Rich Stars With Unusual Abundances Are Challenging Theoretical Predictions
Abstract
[Abstract] Almost all chemical elements have been made by nucleosynthetic reactions in various kind of stars and have been accumulated along our cosmic history. Among those elements, the origin of phosphorus is of extreme interest because it is known to be essential for life such as we know on Earth. However, current models of (Galactic) chemical evolution under-predict the phosphorus we observe in our Solar System. Here we report the discovery of 15 phosphorus-rich stars with unusual overabundances of O, Mg, Si, Al, and Ce. Phosphorus-rich stars likely inherit their peculiar chemistry from another nearby stellar source but their intriguing chemical abundance pattern challenge the present stellar nucleosynthesis theoretical predictions. Specific effects such as rotation or advanced nucleosynthesis in convective-reactive regions in massive stars represent the most promising alternatives to explain the existence of phosphorus-rich stars. The phosphorus-rich stars progenitors may significantly contribute to the phosphorus present on Earth today. ; We acknowledge support from the State Research Agency (AEI) of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) under grants AYA2017-88254-P and RTI2018-095076-B-C22. We also wish to acknowledge the support received from the Centro de Investigación de Galicia CITIC, funded by Xunta de Galicia and the European Union (FEDER Galicia 2014-2020 Program) by grant ED431G 2019/01, the research group fund ED431B 2018/42 and the scholarship D481A-2019/155. This article is based on observations made in the Observatorios de Canarias del IAC with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) operated on the island of La Palma by NOTSA in the Observatorio de Los Muchachos (ORM). This publication makes use of VOSA, developed under the Spanish Virtual Observatory project supported by the Spanish MINECO through grant AYA2017-84089. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia, processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC,). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. Funding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, and the Participating Institutions. SDSS acknowledges support and resources from the Center for High-Performance Computing at the University of Utah. SDSS is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions of the SDSS Collaboration including the Brazilian Participation Group, the Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Mellon University, the Chilean Participation Group, the French Participation Group, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, The Johns Hopkins University, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU) / University of Tokyo, the Korean Participation Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Leibniz Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA Heidelberg), Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik (MPA Garching), Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), National Astronomical Observatories of China, New Mexico State University, New York University, University of Notre Dame, Observatório Nacional/MCTI, The Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, United Kingdom Participation Group, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, University of Arizona, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Oxford, University of Portsmouth, University of Utah, University of Virginia, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University ; Xunta de Galicia; ED431G 2019/01 ; Xunta de Galicia; ED431B 2018/42 ; Xunta de Galicia; ED481A-2019/155
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