Abstract
Greenstein and Münch1, and Sargent and Searle2, have recently shown that the atmospheric helium abundance in the halo and globular cluster B stars is low compared with that for normal B stars in the Galaxy. Greenstein, Truran and Cameron3 have suggested that the low abundance may be the result of gravitational diffusion of helium from the atmosphere to a lower layer within the star. They consider that normally mixing currents set up by stellar rotation would counteract such diffusion. In contrast to galactic disk B stars, most of the halo stars appear to be slow rotators. This result is apparently confirmed by Sargent and Strittmatter4, who have discussed the weak helium line stars in Orion and conclude that they are intrinsically slow rotators, and that the anomaly is an atmospheric one.
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References
Greenstein, J. L., and Münch, G., Astrophys. J., 146, 618 (1966).
Sargent, W. L. W., and Searle, L., Astrophys. J., 145, 652 (1966).
Greenstein, G. S., Truran, J. W., and Cameron, A. G. W., Nature (in the press).
Sargent, W. L. W., and Strittmatter, P. A., Astrophys. J., 145, 938 (1966).
Walker, G. A. H., and Hodge, S. M., Publ. Dom. Astr. Obs., 12, 401 (1966).
Schild, R. E., Astrophys. J., 146, 142 (1966).
Sargent, W. L. W., and Searle, L., Observatory, 86, 27 (1966).
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DEEMING, T., WALKER, G. Helium in the Galactic Disk B Stars. Nature 213, 479 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/213479a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/213479a0
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