Are There Any Stars Lacking Neutron-Capture Elements? Evidence from Strontium and Barium

Abstract

The cosmic dispersion in the abundances of the heavy elements strontium and barium in halo stars is well known. Strontium and barium are detected in most cool, metal-poor giants, but are these elements always detectable? To identify stars that could be considered probable candidates for lacking these elements, I examine the stellar abundance data available in the literature for 1148 field stars and 226 stars in dwarf galaxies, 776 of which have metallicities lower than [Fe/H]<-2.0. Strontium or barium have been detected in all field, globular cluster, and dwarf galaxy environments studied. All upper limits are consistent with the lowest detected ratios of [Sr/H] and [Ba/H]. The frequent appearance of these elements raises the intriguing prospect that at least one kind of neutron-capture reaction operates as often as the nucleosynthesis mechanisms that produce lighter elements, like magnesium, calcium, or iron, although the yields of heavy elements may be more variable.