Abstract:
Using high-resolution, high-signal-to-noise ratio Keck/HIRES
spectra, we have derived the temperature and pressure structure,
and elemental abundances of the atmosphere of six stars believed
to be in the galactic open cluster NGC 752. Three of the stars are
main-sequence dwarfs, and three are evolved red giant stars. We
find the iron abundances to have an average value of [Fe=H] = -0:01
(on a scale where the Sun has an iron abundance of [Fe=H] = 0)
with a standard deviation of 0.02 dex, providing evidence that the
molecular cloud from which these stars formed was chemically
homogeneous. We also derived the abundances of carbon, oxygen,
sodium, magnesium, aluminum, and nickel to further demonstrate
this claim. Additional derivation of the star’s nitrogen abundance will
be performed, and an analysis of the abundances will be done by
testing stellar nucleosynthesis models.
