Recent studies suggest that the helium content of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters (GCs) is not uniform. The range of helium varies from cluster to cluster with more massive GCs ...having, preferentially, large helium spread. GCs with large helium variations also show extended-blue horizontal branch (HB). I exploit Hubble Space Telescope photometry to investigate multiple stellar populations in NGC 6266 and infer their relative helium abundance. This cluster is an ideal target to investigate the possible connection between helium, cluster mass, and HB morphology, as it exhibits an extended HB and is among the 10 more luminous GCs in the Milky Way. The analysis of colour-magnitude diagrams from multiwavelength photometry reveals that also NGC 6266, similarly to other massive GCs, hosts a double main sequence (MS), with the red and the blue component made up of the 79 ± 1 per cent and the 21 ± 1 per cent of stars, respectively. The red MS is consistent with a stellar population with primordial helium while the blue MS is highly helium-enhanced by ...Y = 0.08 ± 0.01. Furthermore, the red MS exhibits an intrinsic broadening that cannot be attributed to photometric errors only and is consistent with a spread in helium of ~0.025 dex. The comparison between NGC 6266 and other GCs hosting helium-enriched stellar populations supports the presence of a correlation among helium variations, cluster mass, and HB extension. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
Asteroseismic constraints on K giants make it possible to infer radii, masses and ages of tens of thousands of field stars. Tests against independent estimates of these properties are however scarce, ...especially in the metal-poor regime. Here, we report the detection of solar-like oscillations in eight stars belonging to the red-giant branch (RGB) and red-horizontal branch (RHB) of the globular cluster M4. The detections were made in photometric observations from the K2 Mission during its Campaign 2. Making use of independent constraints on the distance, we estimate masses of the eight stars by utilizing different combinations of seismic and non-seismic inputs. When introducing a correction to the Δν scaling relation as suggested by stellar models, for RGB stars we find excellent agreement with the expected masses from isochrone fitting, and with a distance modulus derived using independent methods. The offset with respect to independent masses is lower, or comparable with, the uncertainties on the average RGB mass (4–10 per cent, depending on the combination of constraints used). Our results lend confidence to asteroseismic masses in the metal-poor regime. We note that a larger sample will be needed to allow more stringent tests to be made of systematic uncertainties in all the observables (both seismic and non-seismic), and to explore the properties of RHB stars, and of different populations in the cluster.
Abstract
The Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters (GCs) has investigated GCs and their stellar populations. In previous papers of this series we have introduced a ...pseudo two-colour diagram, or ‘chromosome map’ (ChM) that maximizes the separation between the multiple populations. We have identified two main classes of GCs: Type I, including ∼83 per cent of the objects, and Type II clusters. Both classes host two main groups of stars, referred to in this series as first (1G) and second generation (2G). Type II clusters host more complex ChMs, exhibiting two or more parallel sequences of 1G and 2G stars. We exploit spectroscopic elemental abundances from the literature to assign the chemical composition to the distinct populations as identified on the ChMs of 29 GCs. We find that stars in different regions of the ChM have different compositions: 1G stars share the same light-element content as field stars, while 2G stars are enhanced in N and Na and depleted in O. Stars with enhanced Al, as well as stars with depleted Mg, populate the extreme regions of the ChM. We investigate the intriguing colour spread among 1G stars observed in many Type I GCs, and find no evidence for internal variations in light elements among these stars, whereas either a ∼0.1 dex iron spread or a variation in He among 1G stars remains to be verified. In the attempt of analysing the global properties of the multiple-population phenomenon, we have constructed a universal ChM, which highlights that, though very variegate, the phenomenon has some common pattern among all the analysed GCs. The universal ChM reveals a tight connection with Na abundances, for which we have provided an empirical relation. The additional ChM sequences observed in Type II GCs are enhanced in metallicity and, in some cases, s-process elements. Omega Centauri can be classified as an extreme Type II GC, with a ChM displaying three main extended ‘streams’, each with its own variations in chemical abundances. One of the most noticeable differences is found between the lower and upper streams, with the latter, associated with higher He, being also shifted towards higher Fe and lower Li abundances. We publicly release the ChMs.
We present high-precision multiband photometry for the globular cluster (GC) M2. We combine the analysis of the photometric data obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic ...GCs GO-13297, with chemical abundances by Yong et al., and compare the photometry with models in order to analyse the multiple stellar sequences we identified in the colour–magnitude diagram. We find three main stellar components, composed of metal-poor, metal-intermediate, and metal-rich stars (hereafter referred to as population A, B, and C, respectively). The components A and B include stars with different s-process element abundances. They host six sub-populations with different light-element abundances, and exhibit an internal variation in helium up to ΔY ∼ 0.07 dex. In contrast with M22, another cluster characterized by the presence of populations with different metallicities, M2 contains a third stellar component, C, which shows neither evidence for sub-populations nor an internal spread in light-elements. Population C does not exhibit the typical photometric signatures that are associated with abundance variations of light elements produced by hydrogen burning at hot temperatures. We compare M2 with other GCs with intrinsic heavy-element variations and conclude that M2 resembles M22, but it includes an additional stellar component that makes it more similar to the central region of the Sagittarius galaxy, which hosts a GC (M54) and the nucleus of the Sagittarius galaxy itself.
We explain the multiple populations recently found in the ‘prototype’ globular cluster (GC) NGC 2808 in the framework of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) scenario. The chemistry of the five – or ...more – populations is approximately consistent with a sequence of star formation events, starting after the Type II supernova epoch, lasting approximately until the time when the third dredge-up affects the AGB evolution (age ∼90–120 Myr), and ending when the Type Ia supernovae begin exploding in the cluster, eventually clearing it from the gas. The formation of the different populations requires episodes of star formation in AGB gas diluted with different amounts of pristine gas. In the nitrogen-rich, helium-normal population identified in NGC 2808 by the UV Legacy Survey of GCs, the nitrogen increase is due to the third dredge-up in the smallest mass AGB ejecta involved in the star formation of this population. The possibly iron-rich small population in NGC 2808 may be a result of contamination by a single Type Ia supernova. The NGC 2808 case is used to build a general framework to understand the variety of ‘second-generation’ stars observed in GCs. Cluster-to-cluster variations are ascribed to differences in the effects of the many processes and gas sources which may be involved in the formation of the second generation. We discuss an evolutionary scheme, based on pollution by delayed Type II supernovae, which accounts for the properties of s-Fe-anomalous clusters.
Aims. We present abundance analysis based on high resolution spectra of 105 isolated red giant branch (RGB) stars in the Galactic Globular Cluster NGC 6121 (M 4). Our aim is to study its star ...population in the context of the multi-population phenomenon recently discovered to affect some Globular Clusters. Methods. The data have been collected with FLAMES+UVES, the multi-fiber high resolution facility at the ESO/VLT@UT2 telescope. Analysis was performed under LTE approximation for the following elements: O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe, Ni, Ba, and NLTE corrections were applied to those (Na, Mg) strongly affected by departure from LTE. Spectroscopic data were coupled with high-precision wide-field UBVIC photometry from WFI@2.2 m telescope and infrared JHK photometry from 2MASS. Results. We derived an average Fe/H = -1.07±0.01 (internal error), and an α enhancement of ${\rm \alpha/Fe}$ = +0.39±0.05 dex (internal error). We confirm the presence of an extended Na-O anticorrelation, and find two distinct groups of stars with significantly different Na and O content. We find no evidence of a Mg-Al anticorrelation. By coupling our results with previous studies on the CN band strength, we find that the CN strong stars have higher Na and Al content and are more O depleted than the CN weak ones. The two groups of Na-rich, CN-strong and Na-poor, CN-weak stars populate two different regions along the RGB. The Na-rich group defines a narrow sequence on the red side of the RGB, while the Na-poor sample populate a bluer, more spread portion of the RGB. In the ${U}$ vs. $ {U-B}$ color magnitude diagram the RGB spread is present from the base of the RGB to the RGB-tip. Apparently, both spectroscopic and photometric results imply the presence of two stellar populations in M 4. We briefly discuss the possible origin of these populations.
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We present CN and CH indices and Ca ii triplet metallicities for 34 giant stars and chemical abundances for 33 elements in 14 giants in the globular cluster M2. Assuming that the programme stars are ...cluster members, our analysis reveals (i) an extreme variation in CN and CH line strengths, (ii) a metallicity dispersion with a dominant peak at Fe/H ≈ −1.7 and smaller peaks at −1.5 and −1.0, (iii) star-to-star abundance variations and correlations for the light elements O, Na, Al and Si and (iv) a large (and possibly bimodal) distribution in the abundances of all elements produced mainly via the s-process in Solar system material. Following Roederer, Marino & Sneden, we define two groups of stars, ‘r + s’ and ‘r-only’, and subtract the average abundances of the latter from the former group to obtain an ‘s-process residual’. This s-process residual is remarkably similar to that found in M22 and in M4 despite the range in metallicity covered by these three systems. With recent studies identifying a double subgiant branch in M2 and a dispersion in Sr and Ba abundances, our spectroscopic analysis confirms that this globular cluster has experienced a complex formation history with similarities to M22, NGC 1851 and ω Centauri.
Accurate photometry with HSTs ACS shows that the main sequence (MS) of the globular cluster NGC 2808 splits into three separate branches. The three MS branches may be associated with the complexities ...of the cluster's horizontal branch and of its abundance distribution. We attribute the MS branches to successive rounds of star formation, with different helium abundances; we discuss possible sources of helium enrichment. Some other massive globulars also appear to have complex populations; we compare them with NGC 2808.
We present a general overview and the first results of the SUMO project (a SUrvey of Multiple pOpulations in Globular Clusters). The objective of this survey is the study of multiple stellar ...populations in the largest sample of globular clusters homogeneously analysed to date. To this aim we obtained high signal-to-noise (S/N > 50) photometry for main sequence stars with mass down to ∼0.5 M in a large sample of clusters using both archival and proprietary U, B, V and I data from ground-based telescopes.
In this paper, we focus on the occurrence of multiple stellar populations in 23 clusters. We define a new photometric index, c
U, B, I
= (U − B) − (B − I), which turns out to be very effective for identifying multiple sequences along the red giant branch (RGB). We found that in the V-c
U, B, I
diagram all clusters presented in this paper show broadened or multimodal RGBs, with the presence of two or more components. We found a direct connection with the chemical properties of different sequences, which display different abundances of light elements (O, Na, C, N and Al). The c
U, B, I
index is also a powerful tool for identifying distinct sequences of stars along the horizontal branch and, for the first time in the case of NGC 104 (47 Tuc), along the asymptotic giant branch. Our results demonstrate that (i) the presence of more than two stellar populations is a common feature amongst globular clusters, as already highlighted in previous work; (ii) multiple sequences with different chemical contents can be easily identified by using standard Johnson photometry obtained with ground-based facilities; (iii) in the study of globular cluster multiple stellar populations the c
U, B, I
index is an alternative to spectroscopy, and has the advantage of larger statistics.
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