J0815+4729 is a main-sequence star (T







eff


=
6215
±
82


 K, 




log
g


 = 4.7±0.5) with a metallicity of [Fe/H] ≤ −5.8 dex. Finding unevolved stars at this extremely low metallicity is very important since their stellar surface composition is not expected to be significantly modified by any internal mixing processes as in giant stars (Spite et al. 2005). J0815+4729 is similar to HE 1327–2326 in regard to its carbon enhancement, effective temperature, and metallicity. HE 1327–2326 is considered a turn-off/subgiant star, while J0815+4729 appears to be a dwarf. The ISIS spectrum of HE 1327–2326 indicates a metallicity of [Fe/H] ∼ −4.9 since the stellar Ca line is blended in that spectrum with the ISM features (Aguado et al. 2017b). However, the authors proposed a simple analysis taking into account the ISM absorption based on the UVES spectrum of HE 1327–2326. For J0815+4729, we require a high-resolution spectrum to clearly isolate the stellar Ca feature from possible additional ISM lines, and thus together with the detection of Fe lines, to establish the metallicity of this star. There are two other confirmed dwarf stars in this metallicity regime: one without any detectable carbon, J1029+1729 (Caffau et al. 2011), and another carbon-enhanced unevolved star, J1035+0641 (Bonifacio et al. 2015). The majority of extremely metal-poor stars shows overabundances of carbon, [C/Fe] > 0.7, and it appears that carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars split into two groups, with dramatically different carbon abundances (see, e.g., Beers & Christlieb 2005; Allende Prieto et al. 2015; Bonifacio et al. 2015 and references therein). The two carbon bands (high and low) studied have different origins. On the one hand, CEMP stars in the high-carbon band (A(C) ∼ 8.2) are probably produced by mass transfer from a binary companion, most likely an AGB star (Starkenburg et al. 2014). On the other hand, objects lying in the low-carbon band (A(C) ∼ 6.8) are thought to show the original carbon abundance inherited by the star from the ISM (Stancliffe 2009; Bonifacio et al. 2015; Abate et al. 2016). J0815+4729 has an abundance ratio of 






[

C

/

Fe

]


≥
+
5.0


 dex  corresponding to A(C) ∼ 7.7 dex (adopting [Fe/H] ≤ −5.8). In Figure 4 (bottom panel), we show the carbon abundance ratio [C/Fe] for all stars at [Fe/H]  −4.5. All stars in this metallicity regime are considered to belong to the low-carbon band (Bonifacio et al. 2015), except for J0815+4729, which appears to be in between the low- and high-carbon bands. Both metallicity and carbon abundance are considered upper and lower limits, respectively. High-resolution spectra would be very useful to measure other elemental abundances and investigate the properties of the first supernovae. In particular, the barium abundance, or that of any other s-element, is not measurable from ISIS or OSIRIS spectra, and this is required to determine whether J0815+4729 is a CEMP-s, CEMP-r, or i-process star (Hampel et al. 2016). If we establish the abundance pattern, we will learn about the progenitor properties. Finally, the radial velocity accuracy from medium-resolution data is not enough to discard variations among different exposures, which would be indicative of binarity.
Citation: Allende Prieto et al. 2015
Citation function: Compare/Contrast