Lithium in M 67: evidence for spread in a solar age cluster.

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

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Stars: Abundances, Open Clusters: Individual: M 67

Scientific paper

We present high resolution observations of main sequence stars in the solar age, solar metallicity open cluster M 67. For the first time we show conclusively that a spread in lithium abundances exists among solar-type stars belonging to this cluster. This implies that standard models with only convection as a mixing mechanism can hardly account for the spread at each colour, and that the Li abundance is not a good age indicator for solar-type stars. The comparison of Li abundances in M 67 (age ~4.7x10^9^ yrs) with those in the younger Hyades cluster (~7x10^8^ yrs) shows that the less depleted stars in M 67 have a Li content only ~ 0.25 dex below similar stars in the Hyades. Considering the ~ 4 Gyrs difference between the two clusters, this indicates that standard lithium destruction mechanisms are very inefficient (if present at all) in many solar-type stars during most of their main sequence lifetime. On the other hand, almost 40% of our sample stars show a significant Li depletion, with values comparable to the Sun. Our sample also includes one SB2 binary, for which a very high Li abundance was previously reported. We found an abundance significantly higher than in single stars, but our spectra are inconsistent with those previously published.

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