天文基础知识

• Metallic A stars (Am)

Among the A class, the 25% of stars show some oddities. Among all these peculiar stars the most important classes are the metallic A stars (Am)and the magnetic A stars (Ap).

Am stars, due to the strong intensity of their metallic lines were first classified in the F class and they were shifted to the A class only after the discovery that their black-body temperature was in the range of the temperatures of A stars. Among the elements that can be found in the atmosphere of these stars with abundancies up to 25 times the average we can find Stronzium,Yttrium, Barium, Zirconium, Zinc and Copper. On the contrary, sole light elements are under abundant, like Calcium and Scandium.

The real physical processes involved in such an odd spectrum were first understood around 1970 when it become clear that Am stars are all unusually slow rotators and that they belong to binary systems where the original fast rotation was slowed down by tidal forces until star rotation was locked with orbital period.

Without a fast rotation and without convection that is typical only of colder stars, the atmospheres of these stars are extremely quiet and superficial segregation phenomena can arise where the chemical composition is very different from that of deeper layers, producing peculiar absorption spectra.