Carbon and Strontium Abundances of Metal-poor Stars

We present carbon and strontium abundances for 100 metal-poor stars measured from R ~ 7000 spectra obtained with the Echellette Spectrograph and Imager at the Keck Observatory. Using spectral synthesis of the G-band region, we have derived carbon abundances for stars ranging from [Fe/H] = -1.3 to [Fe/H] = -3.8. The formal errors are ~0.2 dex in [C/Fe]. The strontium abundance in these stars was measured using spectral synthesis of the resonance line at 4215 Å. Using these two abundance measurements along with the barium abundances from our previous study of these stars, we show that it is possible to identify neutron-capture-rich stars with our spectra. We find, as in other studies, a large scatter in [C/Fe] below [Fe/H] = -2. Of the stars with [Fe/H] < -2, 9% ± 4% can be classified as carbon-rich metal-poor stars. The Sr and Ba abundances show that three of the carbon-rich stars are neutron-capture-rich, while two have normal barium and strontium. This fraction of carbon enhanced stars is consistent with other studies that include this metallicity range.

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