2010, Strassmeier, K.G., Granzer, T., Weber, M., Woche, M., Popow, E., Jrvinen, A., Bartus, J., Bauer, S.-M., Dionies, F., Fechner, T., Bittner, W., Paschke, J.

The Astrophysical Institute Potsdam (AIP) and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) inaugurated the robotic telescopes STELLA-I and STELLA-II (STELLar Activity) on Tenerife on May 18, 2006. The observatory is located on the Izaa ridge at an elevation of 2400m near the German Vacuum Tower Telescope. STELLA consists of two 1.2m alt-az telescopes. One telescope fiber feeds a bench-mounted high-resolution echelle spectrograph while the other telescope feeds a wide-field imaging photometer. Both scopes work autonomously by means of artificial intelligence. Not only that the telescopes are automated, but the entire observatory operates like a robot, and does not require any human presence on site. Copyright © 2010 Klaus G. Strassmeier et al.

2017, Stefani, F., Albrecht, T., Arlt, R., Christen, M., Gailitis, A., Gellert, M., Giesecke, A., Goepfert, O., Herault, J., Kirillov, O.N., Mamatsashvili, G., Priede, J., Rüdiger, G., Seilmayer, M., Tilgner, A., Vogt, T., Gerbeth, Gunther, Stieglitz, Robert

The project A2 of the LIMTECH Alliance aimed at a better understanding of those magnetohydrodynamic instabilities that are relevant for the generation and the action of cosmic magnetic fields. These comprise the hydromagnetic dynamo effect and various magnetically triggered flow instabilities, such as the magnetorotational instability and the Tayler instability. The project was intended to support the experimental capabilities to become available in the framework of the DREsden Sodium facility for DYNamo and thermohydraulic studies (DRESDYN). An associated starting grant was focused on the dimensioning of a liquid metal experiment on the newly found magnetic destabilization of rotating flows with positive shear. In this survey paper, the main results of these two projects are summarized.

2021, Matas Pinto, A. M., Spite, M., Caffau, E., Bonifacio, P., Sbordone, L., Sivarani, T., Steffen, M., Spite, F., François, P., Di Matteo, P.

Context. The study of old, metal-poor stars deepens our knowledge on the early stages of the universe. In particular, the study of these stars gives us a valuable insight into the masses of the first massive stars and their emission of ionising photons. Aims. We present a detailed chemical analysis and determination of the kinematic and orbital properties of a sample of 11 dwarf stars. These are metal-poor stars, and a few of them present a low lithium content. We inspected whether the other elements also present anomalies. Methods. We analysed the high-resolution UVES spectra of a few metal-poor stars using the Turbospectrum code to synthesise spectral lines profiles. This allowed us to derive a detailed chemical analysis of Fe, C, Li, Na, Mg, Al, Si, CaI, CaII, ScII, TiII, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Sr, and Ba. Results. We find excellent coherence with the reference metal-poor First Stars sample. The lithium-poor stars do not present any anomaly of the abundance of the elements other than lithium. Among the Li-poor stars, we show that CS 22882-027 is very probably a blue-straggler. The star CS 30302-145, which has a Li abundance compatible with the plateau, has a very low Si abundance and a high Mn abundance. In many aspects, it is similar to the α-poor star HE 1424-0241, but it is less extreme. It could have been formed in a satellite galaxy and later been accreted by our Galaxy. This hypothesis is also supported by its kinematics.

2019, Cole-Kodikara, Elizabeth M., Käpylä, Maarit J., Lehtinen, Jyri J., Hackman, Thomas, Ilyin, Ilya V., Piskunov, Nikolai, Kochukhov, Oleg

Context. LQ Hya is one of the most frequently studied young solar analogue stars. Recently, it has been observed to show intriguing behaviour when analysing long-term photometry. For instance, from 2003-2009, a coherent spot structure migrating in the rotational frame was reported by various authors. However, ever since, the star has entered a chaotic state where coherent structures seem to have disappeared and rapid phase jumps of the photometric minima occur irregularly over time. Aims. LQ Hya is one of the stars included in the SOFIN/FIES long-term monitoring campaign extending over 25 yr. Here, we publish new temperature maps for the star during 2006-2017, covering the chaotic state of the star. Methods. We used a Doppler imaging technique to derive surface temperature maps from high-resolution spectra. Results. From the mean temperatures of the Doppler maps, we see a weak but systematic increase in the surface temperature of the star. This is consistent with the simultaneously increasing photometric magnitude. During nearly all observing seasons, we see a high-latitude spot structure which is clearly non-axisymmetric. The phase behaviour of this structure is very chaotic but agrees reasonably well with the photometry. Equatorial spots are also frequently seen, but we interpret many of them to be artefacts due to the poor to moderate phase coverage. Conclusions. Even during the chaotic phase of the star, the spot topology has remained very similar to the higher activity epochs with more coherent and long-lived spot structures. In particular, we see high-latitude and equatorial spot activity, the mid latitude range still being most often void of spots. We interpret the erratic jumps and drifts in phase of the photometric minima to be caused by changes in the high-latitude spot structure rather than the equatorial spots. © E. M. Cole-Kodikara et al. 2019.

2010, Granzer, T., Weber, M., Strassmeier, K.G.

Since May 2006, the two STELLA robotic telescopes at the Izaa observatory in Tenerife, Spain, delivered an almost uninterrupted stream of scientific data. To achieve such a high level of autonomous operation, the replacement of all troubleshooting skills of a regular observer in software was required. Care must be taken on error handling issues and on robustness of the algorithms used. In the current paper, we summarize the approaches we followed in the STELLA observatory. Copyright © 2010 Thomas Granzer et al.

2010, Hoeft, M., Gottlber, S.

Galaxy surveys have shown that luminous galaxies are mainly distributed in large filaments and galaxy clusters. The remaining large volumes are virtually devoid of luminous galaxies. This is in concordance with the formation of the large-scale structure in the universe as derived from cosmological simulations. However, the numerical results indicate that cosmological voids are abundantly populated with dark matter haloes which may in principle host dwarf galaxies. Observational efforts have in contrast revealed that voids are apparently devoid of dwarf galaxies. We investigate the formation of dwarf galaxies in voids by hydrodynamical cosmological simulations. Due to the cosmic ultraviolet background radiation low-mass haloes show generally a reduced baryon fraction. We determine the characteristic mass below which dwarf galaxies are baryon deficient. We show that the circular velocity below which the accretion of baryons is suppressed is approximately 40km s-1. The suppressed baryon accretion is caused by the photo-heating due to the UV background. We set up a spherical halo model and show that the effective equation of the state of the gas in the periphery of dwarf galaxies determines the characteristic mass. This implies that any process which heats the gas around dwarf galaxies increases the characteristic mass and thus reduces the number of observable dwarf galaxies. Copyright © 2010 M. Hoeft and S. Gottlöber.

2022, Dantas, M.L.L., Guiglion, G., Smiljanic, R., Romano, D., Magrini, L., Bensby, T., Chiappini, C., Franciosini, E., Nepal, S., Tautvaišienė, G., Gilmore, G., Randich, S., Lanzafame, A.C., Heiter, U., Morbidelli, L., Prisinzano, L., Zaggia, S.

Context. Lithium (Li) is a fragile element that is produced in a variety of sites but can also be very easily depleted in stellar photospheres. Radial migration has been reported to explain the decrease in the upper envelope of Li measurements observed for relatively old metal-rich dwarf stars in some surveys. Aims. We test a scenario in which radial migration could affect the Li abundance pattern of dwarf stars in the solar neighbourhood. This may confirm that the Li abundances in these stars cannot serve as a probe for the Li abundance in the interstellar medium (ISM). In other words, to probe the evolution of the Li abundance in the local ISM, it is crucial that stellar intruders be identified and removed from the adopted sample. Methods. We used the high-quality data (including Li abundances) from the sixth internal Data Release of the Gaia-ESO survey. In this sample we grouped stars by similarity in chemical abundances via hierarchical clustering. Our analysis treats both measured Li abundances and upper limits. Results. The Li envelope of the previously identified radially migrated stars is well below the benchmark meteoritic value (<3.26 dex); the star with the highest detected abundance has A(Li) = 2.76 dex. This confirms the previous trends observed for old dwarf stars (median ages ~ 8 Gyr), where Li decreases for [Fe/H] ≳ 0. Conclusions. This result is supporting evidence that the abundance of Li measured in the upper envelope of old dwarf stars should not be considered a proxy for the ISM Li. Our scenario also indicates that the stellar yields for [M/H] >0 should not be decreased, as recently proposed in the literature. Our study backs recent studies that claim that old dwarfs on the hot side of the dip are efficient probes of the ISM abundance of Li, provided atomic diffusion does not significantly lower the initial Li abundance in the atmospheres of metal-rich objects.

2012, Neumayer, N., Walcher, C.J.

We present new upper limits for black hole masses in extremely late type spiral galaxies. We confirm that this class of galaxies has black holes with masses less than 10 6M⊙, if any. We also derive new upper limits for nuclear star cluster masses in massive galaxies with previously determined black hole masses. We use the newly derived upper limits and a literature compilation to study the low mass end of the global-to-nucleus relations. We find the following. (1) The M BH-δ relation cannot flatten at low masses, but may steepen. (2) The M BH-M bulge relation may well flatten in contrast. (3) The M B H -Sersic n relation is able to account for the large scatter in black hole masses in low-mass disk galaxies. Outliers in the M BH-Sersic n relation seem to be dwarf elliptical galaxies. When plotting M BH versus M NC we find three different regimes: (a) nuclear cluster dominated nuclei, (b) a transition region, and (c) black hole-dominated nuclei. This is consistent with the picture, in which black holes form inside nuclear clusters with a very low-mass fraction. They subsequently grow much faster than the nuclear cluster, destroying it when the ratio M BH/M NC grows above 100. Nuclear star clusters may thus be the precursors of massive black holes in galaxy nuclei.

2020, Hansen, C.J., Koch, A., Mashonkina, L., Magg, M., Bergemann, M., Sitnova, T., Gallagher, A.J., Ilyin, I., Caffau, E., Zhang, H.W., Strassmeier, K.G., Klessen, R.S.

A long sought after goal using chemical abundance patterns derived from metal-poor stars is to understand the chemical evolution of the Galaxy and to pin down the nature of the first stars (Pop III). Metal-poor, old, unevolved stars are excellent tracers as they preserve the abundance pattern of the gas from which they were born, and hence they are frequently targeted in chemical tagging studies. Here, we use a sample of 14 metal-poor stars observed with the high-resolution spectrograph called the Potsdam Echelle Polarimetric and Spectroscopic Instrument (PEPSI) at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) to derive abundances of 32 elements (34 including upper limits). We present well-sampled abundance patterns for all stars obtained using local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) radiative transfer codes and one-dimensional (1D) hydrostatic model atmospheres. However, it is currently well-known that the assumptions of 1D and LTE may hide several issues, thereby introducing biases in our interpretation as to the nature of the first stars and the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. Hence, we use non-LTE (NLTE) and correct the abundances using three-dimensional model atmospheres to present a physically more reliable pattern. In order to infer the nature of the first stars, we compare unevolved, cool stars, which have been enriched by a single event (“mono-enriched”), with a set of yield predictions to pin down the mass and energy of the Pop III progenitor. To date, only few bona fide second generation stars that are mono-enriched are known. A simple χ2-fit may bias our inferred mass and energy just as much as the simple 1D LTE abundance pattern, and we therefore carried out our study with an improved fitting technique considering dilution and mixing. Our sample presents Carbon Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) stars, some of which are promising bona fide second generation (mono-enriched) stars. The unevolved, dwarf BD+09_2190 shows a mono-enriched signature which, combined with kinematical data, indicates that it moves in the outer halo and likely has been accreted onto the Milky Way early on. The Pop III progenitor was likely of 25.5 M⊙ and 0.6 foe (0.6 1051 erg) in LTE and 19.2 M⊙ and 1.5 foe in NLTE, respectively. Finally, we explore the predominant donor and formation site of the rapid and slow neutron-capture elements. In BD-10_3742, we find an almost clean r-process trace, as is represented in the star HD20, which is a “metal-poor Sun benchmark” for the r-process, while TYC5481-00786-1 is a promising CEMP-r/-s candidate that may be enriched by an asymptotic giant branch star of an intermediate mass and metallicity.

2019, Katz, D., Sartoretti, P., Cropper, M., Panuzzo, P., Seabroke, G.M., Viala, Y., Benson, K., Blomme, R., Jasniewicz, G., Jean-Antoine, A., Huckle, H., Smith, M., Baker, S., Crifo, F., Damerdji, Y., David, M., Dolding, C., Frémat, Y., Gosset, E., Guerrier, A., Guy, L. P., Haigron, R., Janßen, K., Marchal, O., Plum, G., Soubiran, C., Thévenin, F., Ajaj, M., Allende Prieto, C., Babusiaux, C., Boudreault, S., Chemin, L., Delle Luche, C., Fabre, C., Gueguen, A., Hambly, N. C., Lasne, Y., Meynadier, F., Pailler, F., Panem, C., Royer, F., Tauran, G., Zurbach, C., Zwitter, T., Arenou, F., Bossini, D., Gerssen, J., Gómez, A., Lemaitre, V., Leclerc, N., Morel, T., Munari, U., Turon, C., Vallenari, A., Žerjal, M.

Context. For Gaia DR2, 280 million spectra collected by the Radial Velocity Spectrometer instrument on board Gaia were processed, and median radial velocities were derived for 9.8 million sources brighter than GRVS = 12 mag. Aims. This paper describes the validation and properties of the median radial velocities published in Gaia DR2. Methods. Quality tests and filters were applied to select those of the 9.8 million radial velocities that have the quality to be published in Gaia DR2. The accuracy of the selected sample was assessed with respect to ground-based catalogues. Its precision was estimated using both ground-based catalogues and the distribution of the Gaia radial velocity uncertainties. Results. Gaia DR2 contains median radial velocities for 7 224 631 stars, with Teff in the range [3550; 6900] K, which successfully passed the quality tests. The published median radial velocities provide a full-sky coverage and are complete with respect to the astrometric data to within 77.2% (for G ≤ 12:5 mag). The median radial velocity residuals with respect to the ground-based surveys vary from one catalogue to another, but do not exceed a few 100 m s-1. In addition, the Gaia radial velocities show a positive trend as a function of magnitude, which starts around GRVS ∼ 9 mag and reaches about +500 m s-1 at GRVS = 11:75 mag. The origin of the trend is under investigation, with the aim to correct for it in Gaia DR3. The overall precision, estimated from the median of the Gaia radial velocity uncertainties, is 1.05 km s-1. The radial velocity precision is a function of many parameters, in particular, the magnitude and effective temperature. For bright stars, GRVS 2 [4; 8] mag, the precision, estimated using the full dataset, is in the range 220-350 m s-1, which is about three to five times more precise than the pre-launch specification of 1 km s-1. At the faint end, GRVS = 11:75 mag, the precisions for Teff = 5000 and 6500 K are 1.4 and 3.7 km s-1, respectively.