2016MNRAS.459..871K

Previous studies have shown that hot blue horizontal-branch (BHB) stars in globular clusters present abundance anomalies of certain chemical elements in their atmosphere; some metals are overabundant while helium is underabundant. Vertical stratification of chemical species, including iron, is also found in the atmosphere of a number of these objects. The aim of our work is to do a detailed abundance analysis of BHB stars found in the field. We studied the stars HD 128801, HD 143459, HD 213781, and HZ 27, using our high-resolution spectra in the visible region obtained with ESPaDOnS at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, and also Feige 86, using existing Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph visible spectra from the ESO archives. We searched for vertical stratification of the elements identified in our five stars, with the zeeman2 code and stellar model atmospheres of PHOENIX. We confirm here the star rotational and radial velocities previously found, along with their average abundances. For the three cooler stars in our sample (HD 128801, HD 143459, and HZ 27), most elements detected are underabundant. For the two hotter stars (Feige 86 and HD 213781), the abundances of most elements are near or above their solar value. Of all the elements studied, only phosphorus is clearly found to be vertically stratified in the atmosphere of HD 213781. Marginal indications of vertical stratification of iron is observed for Feige 86. The chemical properties of the five field BHB stars are consistent with those of their globular-cluster counterparts.