The Barium Star HD204075: Iron Abundance and the Absence of Evidence for Accretion

Abstract

Spectroscopic observations of barium star ζ Capricornus (HD204075) obtained at the 8.2 m telescope of the European Southern Observatory, with a spectral resolving power R = 80,000 and signal to noise ratio greater than 300, were used to refine the atmospheric parameters. We found new values for effective temperature (Teff = 5,300 ± 50 K), surface gravity (log g = 1.82 ± 0.15), micro-turbulent velocity (vmicro = 2.52 ± 0.10 km/s), and iron abundance (log N (Fe) = 7.32 ± 0.06). Previously published abundances of chemical elements in the atmosphere of HD204075 were analyzed and no correlations of these abundances with the second ionization potentials of these elements were found. This excludes the possible influence of accretion of hydrogen and helium atoms from the interstellar or circumstellar environment to the atmosphere of this star. The accretion of nuclear processed matter from the evolved binary companion was primary cause of the abundance anomalies. The young age of HD204075 allows an estimation of the time-scale for the creation of the abundance anomalies arising from accretion of interstellar hydrogen and helium as is the case of stars with low magnetic fields; which we estimate should exceed 108 years.