Keck HIRES spectroscopy of SkyMapper commissioning survey candidate extremely metal-poor stars

Abstract

We present results from the analysis of high-resolution spectra obtained with the Keck HIRES spectrograph for a sample of 17 candidate extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars originally selected from commissioning data obtained with the SkyMapper telescope. Fourteen of the stars have not been observed previously at high dispersion. Three have [Fe/H] ≤ −3.0, while the remainder, with two more metal-rich exceptions, have −3.0 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ −2.0 dex. Apart from Fe, we also derive abundances for the elements C, N, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, and Zn, and for n-capture elements Sr, Ba, and Eu. None of the current sample of stars is found to be carbon-rich. In general, our chemical abundances follow previous trends found in the literature, although we note that two of the most metal-poor stars show very low [Ba/Fe] (∼−1.7) coupled with low [Sr/Ba] (∼−0.3). Such stars are relatively rare in the Galactic halo. One further star, and possibly two others, meet the criteria for classification as a r-I star. This study, together with that of Jacobson et al. (2015), completes the outcomes of the SkyMapper commissioning data survey for EMP stars.