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arXiv · 2602.15107

Barium Stars Across the Milky Way: Probing Their Origins via the GALAH Survey

Jaden Levine·Catherine Manea·Keith Hawkins·Kendall Sullivan·Kate H. R. Rubin·Zachary Maas·Andrew C. Nine
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Abstract

Barium stars are unusually enriched in barium ([Ba/Fe] >= 1.0 dex) and not predicted by current Galactic chemical evolution models. Previous observations of barium stars have found evidence that they form through mass transfer from a companion asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star or through radiative levitation. The chemical abundance and kinematic information of barium stars may help constrain AGB stellar nucleosynthesis, binary star evolution, and internal evolutionary processes that affect surface abundances. Using ~450,000 stars from the GALactic Archaeology with Hermes (GALAH) survey, we identify nearly 3000 new barium-rich stars and separate them into hot (Teff > 6000 K) and cool (Teff < 6000 K) populations. Cross-matching with Gaia DR3, we find that 47.7% of our barium stars within 1 kpc have elevated re-normalized unit weight error (RUWE >= 1.4), compared to 16.3% of a comparable sample of the GALAH field, suggesting multiplicity plays an important role in the formation of both populations of barium stars. A subset of hot barium stars exhibit low RUWE (RUWE < 1.2) and [alpha/Fe] < -0.2, supporting radiative levitation as an origin as well. We determine Galactic memberships using both kinematics and chemistry and find that barium stars exist in the thin disk, thick disk, and halo though they are slightly more prevalent at lower metallicities. Overall, we show evidence for barium stars produced by mass transfer and for those produced by radiative levitation, with both formation mechanisms occurring ubiquitously across the Galaxy.

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Jaden Levine, Catherine Manea, Keith Hawkins, Kendall Sullivan, Kate H. R. Rubin, Zachary Maas, Andrew C. Nine. 2026-02-16. Barium Stars Across the Milky Way: Probing Their Origins via the GALAH Survey. https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.15107

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