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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/1160
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- Title
- The cosmic production of helium
- Author(s)
- Jimenez, Raul; Flynn, Chris; MacDonald, James; Gibson, Brad K.
- Abstract
- We estimate the cosmic production rate of helium relative to metals (ΔY/ΔZ) using K dwarf stars in the Hipparcos catalog with accurate spectroscopic metallicities. The best fitting value is ΔY/ΔZ = 2.1 ± 0.4 at the 68% confidence level. Our derived value agrees with determinations from H II regions and with theoretical predictions from stellar yields with standard assumptions for the initial mass function. The amount of helium in stars determines how long they live and therefore how fast they will enrich the interstellar medium with fresh material.
- Publication type
- Journal article
- Research centre
- Swinburne University of Technology. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing
- Source
- Science, Vol. 299, no. 5612 (Mar 2003), pp. 1552-1555
- Publication year
- 2003
- Publisher
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- ISSN
- 0036-8075
- Publisher URL
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1080866
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2003 The authors. The authors grant the American Association for the Advancement of Science exclusive rights to use and authorize use of their Work, however, they retain copyright in the Work as well as rights to make certain uses of the Work. The accepted manuscript is reproduced in accordance with this policy.
- Full text
- Peer reviewed
