Abundance analysis of Przybylski's star (HD 101065).

The spectrum of Przybylski's star (HD ioio6 ), which is completely dominated by lines of the rare earths, was studied using spectra in the red. From this material, all observed lines were measured for wavelength and identifications attempted. From the resulting list of apparently unblended lines, a curve of growth analysis of the star was carried out. This analysis confirms Przybylski's result that very high overabundances of the rare earths by five orders of magnitude compared to cosmic abundances exist when allowance is for the difference in adopted atmospheric parameters in the two studies. Also the presence of previously unreported elements of the iron peak and lighter elements is established and their abundances are found to be closer to normal with respect to the Sun if the star's hydrogen abundance is assumed to be normal. From the derived value of the excitation temperature from the curve of growth (Texc = 6267 + I 20 K) and Balmer line strengths, the star is probably a dwaff of spectral class Fop. This seems consistent with the kinematical properties of the star which place it in the young disk population. The abilities of some current theories to explain the abundance anomalies are briefly discussed and a few suggestions for future study are given.