Lithium abundance in the old open cluster Berkely 32
Abstract
Lithium forms during the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and is destroyed in stars at 2.8 10^6 K. The lithium observed in stellar atmospheres is mostly the primordial one, but diluted because of the mixing of the atmosphere with more internal layers, where lithium destruction occurs. The details of the mixing ess are so far poorly understood. Lithium abundance in open cluster members is the appropriate tool to address this issue, since open clusters are single stellar populations with well known parameters. We have observed with UVES spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope 40 F- and G-dwarf stars in the old open clusters Berkely 32 and measured lithium abundances through the equivalent width of the doublet at 6708 AA. Contrary to what is found in other clusters, the spread of the lithium abundances about an average abundance-vs.-temperature relationship is within the errors.
- Publication:
-
Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of India Proceedings
- Pub Date:
- 2008
- Bibcode:
- 2008BASIP..25...44P