2024/04/25 by Pierre Thibodeaux, Pierre N. Thibodeaux, Alexander P. Ji +4 · 1 voice
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.HE #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.33232/001c.122335
openalex publication_date 2024/08/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
The discovery of a star formed out of pair-instability supernova ejecta would have massive implications for the Population III star initial mass function and the existence of stars over 100 Msun, but none have yet been found. Recently, the star LAMOST J1010+2358 was claimed to be a star that formed out of gas enriched by a pair-instability supernova. We present a non-LTE abundance analysis of a new high-resolution Keck/HIRES spectrum of J1010+2358. We determined the carbon and aluminum abundances needed to definitively distinguish between enrichment by a pair-instability and core-collapse supernova. Our new analysis demonstrates that J1010+2358 does not have the unique abundance pattern of a a pair-instability supernova, but was instead enriched by the ejecta of a low mass core-collapse supernova. Thus, there are still no known stars displaying unambiguous signatures of pair-instability supernovae.