A metal-poor star with abundances from a pair-instability supernova

Qian-Fan Xing, Gang Zhao (), Zheng-Wei Liu, Alexander Heger, Zhan-Wen Han, Wako Aoki, Yu-Qin Chen, Miho N. Ishigaki, Hai-Ning Li and Jing-Kun Zhao
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Qian-Fan Xing: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Gang Zhao: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zheng-Wei Liu: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Alexander Heger: Monash University
Zhan-Wen Han: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wako Aoki: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)
Yu-Qin Chen: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Miho N. Ishigaki: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)
Hai-Ning Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jing-Kun Zhao: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature, 2023, vol. 618, issue 7966, 712-715

Abstract: Abstract The most massive and shortest-lived stars dominate the chemical evolution of the pre-galactic era. On the basis of numerical simulations, it has long been speculated that the mass of such first-generation stars was up to several hundred solar masses1–4. The very massive first-generation stars with a mass range from 140 to 260 solar masses are predicted to enrich the early interstellar medium through pair-instability supernovae (PISNe)5. Decades of observational efforts, however, have not been able to uniquely identify the imprints of such very massive stars on the most metal-poor stars in the Milky Way6,7. Here we report the chemical composition of a very metal-poor (VMP) star with extremely low sodium and cobalt abundances. The sodium with respect to iron in this star is more than two orders of magnitude lower than that of the Sun. This star exhibits very large abundance variance between the odd- and even-charge-number elements, such as sodium/magnesium and cobalt/nickel. Such peculiar odd–even effect, along with deficiencies of sodium and α elements, are consistent with the prediction of primordial pair-instability supernova (PISN) from stars more massive than 140 solar masses. This provides a clear chemical signature indicating the existence of very massive stars in the early universe.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06028-1

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