Abundance analysis of the long period southern cepheid RZ Vel

The long period classical cepheid RZ Vel (HD 73502) is known to be a member of an OB association, Vel OB1 in Vela, and a high metallicity is ascribed to it by the photometric work of Eggen (1982). We have done an abundance analysis for this long period (P = 20.4 days) and hence young (age ≈ 1.80×10⁷ yr) classical cepheid using high resolution CCD spectra with good S/N ratio. We have used a detailed model atmosphere method to derive the abundances of the light elements C, O, A1, S and of many Fe-peak elements and a few s-process elements. Our present work indicates near solar abundance for most of the elements for RZ Vel and hence we do not confirm the high metallicity derived photometrically by Eggen (1982) for this star