CNO Abundances of BA-Type Supergiants

Abstract

Massive BA-type supergiants are among the visually brightest stars in galaxies with active star formation. As such they are versatile tools for studies of stellar and galactochemical evolution. Moreover, they can act as distance indicators for the calibration of the cosmological distance scale. In the present work abundance patterns of the light elements helium, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen are investigated in several Galactic BA-type supergiants in the mass range between 8 and 18 M_sun. Based on high-resolution and high-S/N Echelle spectra obtained with FOCES on the Calar Alto 2.2m telescope, model atmosphere analyses are performed using state-of-the-art non-LTE spectrum synthesis. Stellar parameters and chemical abundances are determined with high accuracy. This gives tight observational constraints on the evolutionary status of the stars. Objects evolving from the main sequence to the red supergiant stage and those on a blue loop can be distinguished by their mixing signature (pure rotational vs. first dredge-up). The most sensitive tracer of nuclear processed matter, the N/C ratio, indicates a higher mixing efficiency than predicted by current evolution models of rotating stars with mass-loss.