Discovery of Super-Li Rich Red Giants in Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies

Understand

Stars destroy lithium (Li) in their normal evolution.

• The convective envelopes of evolved red giants reach temperatures of millions of K, hot enough for the 7Li(p,alpha)4He reaction to burn Li efficiently.
• Only about 1% of first-ascent red giants more luminous than the luminosity function bump in the red giant branch exhibit A(Li) > 1.5.
• Nonetheless, Li-rich red giants do exist.