A large fraction of stars in binary systems are expected to undergo mass and angular momentum exchange at some point in their evolution, which can drastically alter the chemical and dynamical properties and fates of the systems. Interaction by stellar wind is an important process in wide binaries. However, the details of wind mass transfer are still not well understood. We perform threedimensional hydrodynamical simulations of wind mass transfer in binary systems to explore mass accretion efficiencies and geometries of mass outflows, for a range of mass ratios from 0.05 to 1.0. In particular, we focus on the case of a free wind, in which some physical mechanism accelerates the expelled wind material balancing the gravity of the mass-losing star with the wind velocity comparable to the orbital velocity of the system. We find that the mass accretion efficiency and accreted specific angular momentum increase with the mass ratio of the system. For an adiabatic wind, we obtain that the accretion efficiency onto the secondary star varies from about 0.1% to 8% for mass ratios between 0.05 and 1.0.

A significant fraction of all metal-poor stars are carbon-rich. Most of these carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars also show enhancement in elements produced mainly by the s-process (CEMP-s stars), and evidence suggests that the origin of these nonstandard abundances can be traced to mass transfer from a binary asymptotic giant branch (AGB) companion. Thus, observations of CEMP-s stars are commonly used to infer the nucleosynthesis output of low-metallicity AGB stars. A crucial step in this exercise is understanding what happens to the accreted material after mass transfer ceases. Here we present models of the post-mass-transfer evolution of CEMP-s stars considering the physics of thermohaline mixing and atomic diffusion, including radiative levitation. We find that stars with typical CEMP-s star masses, M ≈ 0.85 M , have very shallow convective envelopes (M env 10 −7 M ). Hence, the surface abundance variations arising from the competition between gravitational settling and radiative levitation should be orders of magnitude larger than observed (e.g. [C/Fe] < −1 or [C/Fe] > +4). Lower-mass stars (M ≈ 0.80 M ) retain thicker convective envelopes and thus show variations more in line with observations, but are generally too unevolved (log g > 4) when they reach the age of the Universe. We are therefore unable to reproduce the spread in the observed abundances with these models and conclude that some other physical process must largely suppress atomic diffusion in the outer layers of CEMP-s stars. We demonstrate that this could be achieved by some additional (turbulent) mixing process operating at the base of the convective envelope, as found by other authors. Alternatively, mass-loss rates around 10 −13 M yr −1 could also negate most of the abundance variations by eroding the surface layers and forcing the base of the convective envelope to move inwards in mass. Since atomic diffusion cannot have a substantial effect on the surface abundances of CEMP-s stars, the dilution of the accreted material, while variable in degree from one star to the next, is most likely the same for all elements.

The chemically peculiar barium stars, CH stars, and most carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars are all believed to be the products of mass transfer in binary systems from a now extinct asymptotic giant branch (AGB) primary star. The mass of the AGB star and the orbital parameters of the system are the key factors usually considered when determining how much mass is transferred onto the lower-mass main-sequence companion. What is usually neglected, however, is the angular momentum of the accreted material, which should spin up the accreting star. If the star reaches critical rotation, further accretion should cease until the excess angular momentum is somehow dealt with. If the star cannot redistribute or lose the angular momentum while the primary is on the AGB, the amount of mass accreted could be much lower than otherwise expected. Here we present calculations, based on detailed stellar evolution models, of the mass that can be accreted by putative progenitors of Ba and CEMP stars before they reach critical rotation under the assumption that no angular momentum loss occurs during the mass transfer. We consider different accretion rates and values of specific angular momentum. The most stringent limits on the accreted masses result from considering accretion from a Keplerian accretion disk, which is likely present during the formation of most extrinsically-polluted carbon-enriched stars. Our calculations indicate that in this scenario only about 0.05 M of material can be added to the accreting star before it reaches critical rotation, which is much too low to explain the chemical enrichment of many Ba and CEMP stars. Either the specific angular momentum of the accreted material has to effectively be lower by about a factor of ten than the Keplerian value, or significant angular momentum losses must occur for substantial accretion to take place.

Context. The Galactic chemical evolution of sulphur is still under debate. At low metallicities some studies find no correlation between [S/Fe] and [Fe/H], which is typical for α-elements, while others find [S/Fe] increasing towards lower metallicities, and still others find a combination of the two. Each scenario has different implications for the Galactic chemical evolution of sulphur. Aims. The aim of this study is to contribute to the discussion on the Galactic chemical evolution of sulphur by deriving sulphur abundances from non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) insensitive spectral diagnostics in disk and halo stars with homogeneously determined stellar parameters. Methods. We derived effective temperatures from photometric colours, surface gravities from stellar isochrones and Bayesian estimation, and metallicities and sulphur abundances from spectrum synthesis. We derived sulphur abundances from the [S ] λ1082 nm line in 39 mostly cool and metal-poor giants using 1D LTE MARCS model atmospheres to model our high-resolution near-infrared spectra obtained with the VLT, NOT, and Gemini South telescopes. Results. We derive homogeneous stellar parameters for 29 of the 39 stars. Our results argue for a chemical evolution of sulphur that is typical for α-elements, contrary to some previous studies that have found high sulphur abundances ([S/Fe] 0.6) for stars with −2.5 < [Fe/H] < −1. Our abundances are systematically higher by about 0.1 dex than those of other studies that arrived at similar conclusions using other sulphur diagnostics. Conclusions. We find the [S ] line to be a valuable diagnostic of sulphur abundances in cool giants down to [Fe/H] −2.3. We argue that a homogeneous determination of stellar parameters is necessary, since the derived abundances are sensitive to them. Our results ([S/Fe]) agree reasonably well with predictions of contemporary models of Galactic chemical evolution. In these models sulphur is predominantly created in massive stars by oxygen burning and is ejected into the interstellar medium during Type II supernovae explosions. Systematic differences with previous studies most likely fall within modelling uncertainties.

Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars with s-process enrichment (CEMP-s) are believed to be the products of mass transfer from an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) companion, which has long since become a white dwarf. The surface abundances of CEMP-s stars are thus commonly assumed to reflect the nucleosynthesis output of the first AGB stars. We have previously shown that, for this to be the case, some physical mechanism must counter atomic diffusion (gravitational settling and radiative levitation) in these nearly fully radiative stars, which otherwise leads to surface abundance anomalies clearly inconsistent with observations. Here we take into account angular momentum accretion by these stars. We compute in detail the evolution of typical CEMP-s stars from the zero-age main sequence, through the mass accretion, and up the red giant branch for a wide range of specific angular momentum j a of the accreted material, corresponding to surface rotation velocities, v rot , between about 0.3 and 300 km s −1 . We find that only for j a 10 17 cm 2 s −1 (v rot > 20 km s −1 , depending on mass accreted) angular momentum accretion directly causes chemical dilution of the accreted material. This could nevertheless be relevant to CEMP-s stars, which are observed to rotate more slowly, if they undergo continuous angular momentum loss akin to solar-like stars. In models with rotation velocities characteristic of CEMP-s stars, rotational mixing primarily serves to inhibit atomic diffusion, such that the maximal surface abundance variations (with respect to the composition of the accreted material) prior to first dredge-up remain within about 0.4 dex without thermohaline mixing or about 0.5-1.5 dex with thermohaline mixing. Even in models with the lowest rotation velocities (v rot 1 km s −1 ), rotational mixing is able to severely inhibit atomic diffusion, compared to non-rotating models. We thus conclude that it offers a natural solution to the problem posed by atomic diffusion and cannot be neglected in models of CEMP-s stars.