A Systematic NLTE Study of Very Metal-poor Stars with Metallicity Down to −4.3 dex. II. Lithium Abundance and New Insight of the Lithium Plateau

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Abstract Metal-poor stars are crucially important for understanding the early Galaxy, first stars, and the Universe. In this series of papers, we present a homogeneous non–local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) abundance analysis of 12 elements for 103 very metal-poor (VMP)/extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars with metallicity down to −4.3 dex. The sample was selected from the LAMOST survey and observed by the high-resolution spectroscopy of Subaru. In this paper, we present the NLTE abundances and evolution of lithium in these stars. We report different lithium behaviors corresponding to different evolutionary stages and their signatures: (1) The Spite plateau shows a slightly positive slope, indicating increasing lithium abundance with increasing metallicity. Most significantly, it appears to extend to lower metallicities as previously suggested, calling into question the reality of the so-called “meltdown” at low metallicity; (2) we confirm a lithium plateau for lower red giant branch (LRGB) stars with A(Li) = 1.13 dex in our sample, while the lithium abundance drops rapidly to A(Li) < 0.5 as stars continue to evolve to a higher stage. (3) We identify four Li-rich stars in our sample across different evolutionary stages, showing complex and multiple lithium production mechanisms in VMP/EMP stars. These findings suggest that early Galactic lithium enrichment results from a complex interplay between depletion and production processes.

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