2007/02/21 by G. Cescutti, Cescutti, G.
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0702573
2 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of "From stars to galaxies", Venice October 2006, to be published in the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series
arxiv created 2007/02/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
The considerable scatter of the s- and r-process elements observed in low-metallicity stars, compared to the small star to star scatter observed for the alpha elements, is an open question for the chemical evolution studies. We have developed a stochastic chemical evolution model, in which the main assumption is a random formation of new stars, subject to the condition that the cumulative mass distribution follows a given initial mass function. With our model we are able to reproduce the different features of alpha-elements and s-and r-process elements. The reason for this resides in the random birth of stellar masses coupled with the different stellar mass ranges from where alpha-elements and s-and r-process elements originate. In particular, the sites of production of the alpha elements are the whole range of the massive stars, whereas the mass range of production for the s- and r-process elements has an upper limit of 30 solar masses.