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Context. Surface brightness-colour relations (SBCRs) are largely used for general studies in stellar astrophysics and for determining extragalactic distances. Based on a careful selection of stars and a homogeneous methodology, it has been recently shown that the SBCR for late-type stars depends on the spectral type and luminosity class. Aims. Based on simulated spectra of late-type stars using MARCS model atmospheres, our aim is to analyse the effect of stellar fundamental parameters on the surface brightness. We also compare theoretical and recent empirical SBCRs. Methods. We used MARCS model atmospheres to compute spectra and obtain the surface brightness of stars. We first explored the parameter space of MARCS (i.e. effective temperature, log g, [Fe/H], microturbulence, and mass) in order to quantify their impact on the surface brightness. Then we considered a relation between the effective temperature and log g for late dwarfs and giants, as well as a solar metallicity, in order to allow a consistent comparison of theoretical and empirical SBCRs. Results. We find that the SBCR is not sensitive to the microturbulence and mass. The effect of metallicity on the SBCR is found to be larger for dwarfs than for giants. It is also larger when considering larger V - Ks values. We also find that a difference of 0.5 dex in metallicity between Galactic and LMC SBCRs does not affect the recent LMC distance determination, based on eclipsing binaries, by more than 0.4%. By comparing theoretical with empirical SBCRs, we find a good agreement of less than 2σ for F5-K7 dwarfs and giants stars, while a larger discrepancy is found for M dwarfs and giants (about 4-6σ). The surface gravity properties, as modelled in MARCS, explain the differences in the empirical SBCRs in terms of class. We finally find that theoretical and empirical SBCRs for Cepheids are consistent. Conclusions. Carefully considering metallicity and log g is mandatory when calibrating or using SBCRs.

Aims. An analysis of the methylidyne (CH) radical in non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) is performed for the physical conditions of cool stellar atmospheres typical of red giants (log ɡ = 2.0, Teff = 4500 K) and the Sun. The aim of the present work is to explore whether the G band of the CH molecule, which is commonly used in abundance diagnostics of carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars, is sensitive to NLTE effects. Methods. LTE and NLTE theoretical spectra were computed with the MULTI code. We used one-dimensional (1D) LTE hydrostatic MARCS model atmospheres with parameters representing eleven red giant stars with metallicities ranging from [Fe/H] = −4.0 to [Fe/H] = 0.0 and carbon-to-iron ratios of [C/Fe] = 0.0, +0.7, +1.5, and +3.0. The CH molecule model was represented by 1981 energy levels, 18 377 radiative bound-bound transitions, and 932 photo-dissociation reactions. The rates due to transitions caused by collisions with free electrons and hydrogen atoms were computed using classical recipes. Results. Our calculations suggest that NLTE effects in the statistical equilibrium of the CH molecule are significant and cannot be neglected for precision spectroscopic analysis of C abundances. The NLTE effects are mostly driven by radiative over-dissociation, owing to the very low dissociation threshold of the molecule and significant resonances in the photo-dissociation cross-sections. The NLTE effects in the G band increase with decreasing metallicity. When comparing the C abundances determined from the CH G band in LTE and in NLTE, we show that the C abundances are always under-estimated if LTE is assumed. The NLTE corrections to C abundance inferred from the CH feature range from +0.04 dex for the Sun to +0.21 dex for a red giant with metallicity [Fe/H] = −4.0. Conclusions. Departures from the LTE assumption in the CH molecule are non-negligible, and NLTE effects have to be taken into account in the diagnostic spectroscopy based on the CH lines. We show here that the NLTE effects in the optical CH lines are non-negligible for the Sun and red giant stars, but further calculations are warranted to investigate the effects in other regimes of stellar parameters.

Red supergiants (RSGs) are evolved massive stars in a stage preceding core-collapse supernova. The physical processes that trigger mass loss in their atmospheres are still not fully understood. Based on observations of $\alpha$ Ori, a new semi-empirical method to add a wind to hydrostatic model atmospheres of RSGs was recently developed. We use this method of adding a wind to a MARCS model atmosphere to compute synthetic observables, comparing the model to spatially resolved interferometric observations. We present a case study to model published data of HD 95687 and V602 Car obtained with VLTI/AMBER. We compute model intensities, spectra and visibilities for different mass-loss rates using the radiative transfer code Turbospectrum. The models are convolved to match the different spectral resolutions of the VLTI instruments, studying a wavelength range of $1.8-5\,\mathrm{\mu m}$ corresponding to the $K$, $L$ and $M$-bands for GRAVITY and MATISSE data. We compare the model spectra and visibilities with the published VLTI/AMBER data. The synthetic visibilities reproduce observed drops in the CO, SiO, and water layers that are not shown in visibilities based on MARCS models alone. For the case studies, we find that adding a wind to MARCS with simple radiative equilibrium dramatically improves the agreement with the visibilities and the spectra. Our results reproduce observed extended atmospheres up to several stellar radii. This paper shows the potential of our model to describe extended atmospheres in RSGs: it can reproduce the shapes of the spectra and visibilities with better accuracy in the CO and water lines than previous models. The method can be extended to other wavelength bands for both spectroscopic and interferometric data. We provide temperature and density stratifications that succeed for the first time in reproducing observed interferometric properties of RSG atmospheres., Comment: 13 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for publication at A&A

Context. Red supergiants are cool massive stars and are the largest and the most luminous stars in the Universe. They are characterized by irregular or semi-regular photometric variations, the physics of which is not clearly understood. Aims. The paper aims to derive the velocity field in the red supergiant star μ Cep and to relate it to the photometric variability with the help of the tomographic method. Methods. The tomographic method allows one to recover the line-of-sight velocity distribution over the stellar disk and within different optical-depth slices. This method was applied to a series of high-resolution spectra of μ Cep, and these results are compared to those obtained from 3D radiative-hydrodynamics CO5BOLD simulations of red supergiants. Fluctuations in the velocity field are compared with photometric and spectroscopic variations, the latter were derived from the TiO band strength and serve, at least partly, as a proxy of the variations in effective temperature. Results. The tomographic method reveals a phase shift between the velocity and spectroscopic and photometric variations. This phase shift results in a hysteresis loop in the temperature - velocity plane with a timescale of a few hundred days, which is similar to the photometric one. The similarity between the hysteresis loop timescale measured in μ Cep and the timescale of acoustic waves disturbing the convective pattern suggests that such waves play an important role in triggering the hysteresis loops., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

We analyze a large sample of 885 GCs giants from the APOGEE survey. We used the Cannon results to separate the red giant branch and the asymptotic giant branch stars, not only allowing for a refinement of surface gravity from isochrones, but also providing an independent H-band spectroscopic method to distinguish stellar evolutionary status in clusters. We then use the BACCHUS code to derive metallicity, microturbulence, acroturbulence and many light-element abundances as well as the neutron-capture elements Nd and Ce for the first time from the APOGEE GCs data. Our independent analysis helped us to diagnose issues regarding the standard analysis of the APOGEE DR14 for low-metallicity GC stars. Furthermore, while we confirm most of the known correlations and anti-correlation trends (Na-O, Mg-Al,C-N), we discover that some stars within our most metal-poor clusters show an extreme Mg depletion and some Si enhancement but at the same time show some relative Al depletion, displaying a turnover in the Mg-Al diagram. These stars suggest that Al has been partially depleted in their progenitors by very hot proton-capture nucleosynthetic processes. Furthermore, we attempted to quantitatively correlate the spread of Al abundances with the global properties of GCs. We find an anti-correlation of the Al spread against clusters metallicity and luminosity, but the data do not allow to find clear evidence of a dependence of N against metallicity in the more metal-poor clusters. Large and homogeneously analyzed samples from on-going spectroscopic surveys unveil unseen chemical details for many clusters, including a turnover in the Mg-Al anti-correlation, thus yielding new constrains for GCs formation evolution models., 17 pages, 23 figures, accepted in A&A

We present Non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (Non-LTE) abundance corrections for Mg, Ca, and Fe in 12 ultra metal-poor (UMP) stars ([Fe/H] < −4.00). We show that they increase in absolute value toward the lower metallicity up to 0.45 dex for Mg, 0.30 dex for Ca, and 1.00 dex for Fe. This represents a first step toward a full Non-LTE analysis of chemical species in the UMP stars that will enable us to put useful constraints on the properties of the “First” stars.

We explore the circumstellar effects on the Li and Ca abundances determination in a complete sample of massive Galactic AGB stars. The Li abundance is an indicator of the hot bottom burning (HBB) activation, while the total Ca abundance could be affected by overproduction of the short-lived radionuclide 41Ca by the s-process. Li abundances were previously studied with hydrostatic models, while Ca abundances are determined here for the first time. The pseudo-dynamical abundances of Li and Ca are very similar to the hydrostatic ones, indicating that circumstellar effects are almost negligible. The new Li abundances confirm the (super-)Li-rich character of the sample Li-detected stars, supporting the HBB activation in massive Galactic AGB stars. Most sample stars display nearly solar Ca abundances that are consistent with predictions from the s-process nucleosynthesis models. A minority of the sample stars show a significant Ca depletion. Possible reasons for their (unexpected) low Ca content are given.

Extremely metal-poor stars are keys to understand the early evolution of our Galaxy. The ESO large programme TOPoS has been tailored to analyse a new set of metal-poor turn-off stars, whereas most of the previously known extremely metal-poor stars are giant stars. Sixty five turn-off stars (preselected from SDSS spectra) have been observed with the X-Shooter spectrograph at the ESO VLT Unit Telescope 2, to derive accurate and detailed abundances of magnesium, silicon, calcium, iron, strontium and barium. We analysed medium-resolution spectra (R ~ 10 000) obtained with the ESO X-Shooter spectrograph and computed the abundances of several alpha and neutron-capture elements using standard one-dimensional local thermodynamic equilibrium (1D LTE) model atmospheres. Our results confirms the super-solar [Mg/Fe] and [Ca/Fe] ratios in metal-poor turn-off stars as observed in metal-poor giant stars. We found a significant spread of the [alpha/Fe] ratios with several stars showing sub-solar [Ca/Fe] ratios. We could measure the abundance of strontium in 12 stars of the sample, leading to abundance ratios [Sr/Fe] around the Solar value. We detected barium in two stars of the sample. One of the stars (SDSS J114424-004658) shows both very high [Ba/Fe] and [Sr/Fe] abundance ratios (>1 dex)., Accepted for publication in A&A : 17 pages, 6 figures

Context. Extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars provide us with indirect information on the first generations of massive stars. The TOPoS survey has been designed to increase the census of these stars and to provide a chemical inventory that is as detailed as possible. Aims. Seven of the most iron-poor stars have been observed with the UVES spectrograph at the ESO VLT Kueyen 8.2 m telescope to refine their chemical composition. Methods. We analysed the spectra based on 1D LTE model atmospheres, but also used 3D hydrodynamical simulations of stellar atmospheres. Results. We measured carbon in six of the seven stars: all are carbon-enhanced and belong to the low-carbon band, defined in the TOPoS II paper. We measured lithium (A(Li) = 1.9) in the most iron-poor star (SDSS J1035+0641, [Fe/H] α-to-iron ratios. Conclusions. The lack of high-carbon band stars at low metallicity can be understood in terms of evolutionary timescales of binary systems. The detection of Li in SDSS J1035+0641 places a strong constraint on theories that aim at solving the cosmological lithium problem. The Li abundance of the two warmer stars at [Fe/H] ~−4.0 places them on the Spite plateau, while the third, cooler star, lies below. We argue that this suggests that the temperature at which Li depletion begins increases with decreasing [Fe/H]. SDSS J1349+1407 may belong to a class of Mg-rich EMP stars. We cannot assess if there is a scatter in α-to-iron ratios among the EMP stars or if there are several discrete populations. However, the existence of stars with low α-to-iron ratios is supported by our observations.