Low-mass supernovae in the early Galactic halo: source of the double r/s-process enriched halo stars?

Abstract

Several stars at the low-metallicity extreme of the Galactic halo ([Fe/H]=-2.5) show strong enhancements of both s-process and r-process elements. The presence of s-process elements in main-sequence stars is explained via mass transfer from an AGB companion star in a binary system. r-Process elements originate in type-II supernovae and also require mass transfer. It is however unclear how pollution by both an AGB star and a supernova could have occured. Here I show that the initial--final-mass relation steepens at low metallicity, due to low mass-loss efficiency. This may cause the degenerate cores of low-Z, high-mass AGB stars to reach the Chandresekhar mass, leading to an Iben & Renzini-type-1.5 supernova. Such supernovae can explain both the enhancement patterns and the metallicity dependence of the double-enhanced halo stars. Reduced mass loss efficiency predicts more massive remnants in metal-poor globular clusters. The evidence for a high M/L population in the cores of globular clusters is briefly discussed.