Beryllium and Alpha-Element Abundances in a Large Sample of Metal-Poor
  Stars
  The light elements, Li, Be, and B, provide tracers for many aspects of
astronomy including stellar structure, Galactic evolution, and cosmology. We
have taken spectra of Be in 117 metal-poor stars ranging in metallicity from
[Fe/H] = -0.5 to -3.5 with Keck I + HIRES at a resolution of 42,000 and
signal-to-noise ratios of near 100. We have determined the stellar parameters
spectroscopically from lines of Fe I, Fe II, Ti I and Ti II. The abundances of
Be and O were derived by spectrum synthesis techniques, while abundances of Fe,
Ti, and Mg were found from many spectral line measurements. There is a linear
relationship between [Fe/H] and A(Be) with a slope of +0.88 +-0.03 over three
orders of magnitude in [Fe/H]. We fit the relationship between A(Be) and [O/H]
with both a single slope and with two slopes. The relationship between [Fe/H]
and [O/H] seems robustly linear and we conclude that the slope change in Be vs.
O is due to the Be abundance. Although Be is a by-product of CNO, we have used
Ti and Mg abundances as alpha-element surrogates for O in part because O
abundances are rather sensitive to both stellar temperature and surface
gravity. We find that A(Be) tracks [Ti/H] very well with a slope of 1.00
+-0.04. It also tracks [Mg/H] very well with a slope of 0.88 +-0.03. We find
that there are distinct differences in the relationships of A(Be) and [Fe/H]
and of A(Be) and [O/H] for our dissipative stars and our accretive stars. We
suggest that the Be in the dissipative stars was primarily formed by GCR
spallation and Be in the accretive stars was formed in the vicinity of SN II.
