Non-LTE metal abundances in V652 Her and HD144941

Abstract

Two evolutionary scenarios are proposed for the formation of extreme helium stars: a post-AGB star suffering from a late thermal pulse, or the merger of two white dwarfs. An identification of the evolutionary channel for individual objects has to rely on surface abundances. We present preliminary results from a non-LTE analysis of CNO, Mg and S for two unique objects, V652 Her and HD144941. Non-LTE abundance corrections for these elements range from negligible values to ~0.7 dex. Non-LTE effects typically lead to systematic shifts in the abundances relative to LTE and reduce the uncertainties.