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Description
We report an abundance analysis for the highly r-process-enhanced (r-II) star CS 29497-004, a very metal-poor giant with solar system Teff=5013K and [Fe/H]=-2.85, whose nature was initially discovered in the course of the HERES project. Our analysis is based on high signal-to-noise ratio, high-resolution (R~75000) VLT/UVES spectra and MARCS model atmospheres under the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium, and obtains abundance measurements for a total of 46 elements, 31 of which are neutron-capture elements. As is the case for the other ~25 r-II stars currently known, the heavy-element abundance pattern of CS 29497-004 well-matches a scaled solar system second peak r-process-element abundance pattern. We confirm our previous detection of Th, and demonstrate that this star does not exhibit an "actinide boost". Uranium is also detected (log{epsilon}(U)=-2.20+/-0.30), albeit with a large measurement error that hampers its use as a precision cosmochronometer. Combining the various elemental chronometer pairs that are available for this star, we derive a mean age of 12.2+/-3.7Gyr using the theoretical production ratios from published waiting-point approximation models. We further explore the high-entropy wind model (Farouqi et al., 2010ApJ...712.1359F) production ratios arising from different neutron richness of the ejecta (Ye), and derive an age of 13.7+/-4.4Gyr for a best-fitting Ye=0.447. The U/Th nuclei-chronometer is confirmed to be the most resilient to theoretical production ratios and yields an age of 16.5+/-6.6Gyr. Lead (Pb) is also tentatively detected in CS 29497-004, at a level compatible with a scaled solar r-process, or with the theoretical expectations for a pure r-process in this star.
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