Globular clusters (GCs) have been proposed as promising sites for discovering intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), offering the possibility to gain crucial insights into the formation and evolution ...of these elusive objects. The Galactic GC 47 Tucanae (also known as NGC 104) has been suggested as a potential IMBH host, yet previous studies have yielded conflicting results. Therefore, we present a set of self-consistent dynamical models based on distribution functions (DFs) that depend on action integrals to assess the presence (or absence) of an IMBH in 47 Tucanae. Leveraging the state-of-the-art Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) and
Hubble
Space Telescope (HST) data, we analyzed the three-dimensional (3D) kinematics of the cluster’s central regions, fitting individual star velocities down to the sub-arcsec scale (approximately 10
−2
pc). According to our analysis, the inner kinematics of 47 Tucanae is incompatible with a central BH more massive than 578
M
⊙
(at 3
σ
). This is the most stringent upper limit placed thus far on the mass of a putative IMBH in 47 Tucanae via a dynamical study.
We present the results of the analysis of deep photometric data for a sample of three Galactic globular clusters (NGC5466, NGC6218 and NGC 6981) with the aim of estimating their degree of mass ...segregation and testing the predictions of analytic dynamical models. The adopted data set, composed of both Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based data, reaches the low-mass end of the mass functions of these clusters from the centre up to their tidal radii allowing us to derive the radial distribution of stars with different masses. All the analysed clusters show evidence of mass segregation with the most massive stars being more concentrated than the low-mass ones. The structures of NGC5466 and NGC6981 are well reproduced by multimass dynamical models adopting a lowered Maxwellian distribution function and the prescription for mass segregation given by Gunn & Griffin. Instead, NGC6218 appears to be more mass segregated than model predictions. By applying the same technique to mock observations derived from snapshots selected from suitable N-body simulations, we show that the deviation from the behaviour predicted by these models depends on the particular stage of dynamical evolution regardless of initial conditions.
Globular star clusters are compact and massive stellar systems old enough to have witnessed the entire history of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. Although recent results suggest that their formation may ...have been more complex than previously thought, they still are the best approximation to a stellar population formed over a relatively short timescale (less than 1 Gyr) and with virtually no dispersion in the iron content. Indeed, only one cluster-like system ( Centauri) in the Galactic halo is known to have multiple stellar populations with a significant spread in iron abundance and age. Similar findings in the Galactic bulge have been hampered by the obscuration arising from thick and varying layers of interstellar dust. Here we report that Terzan 5, a globular-cluster-like system in the Galactic bulge, has two stellar populations with different iron contents and ages. Terzan 5 could be the surviving remnant of one of the primordial building blocks that are thought to merge and form galaxy bulges.
ABSTRACT
We exploit a combination of high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope and wide-field ESO-VLT observations to study the slope of the global mass function (αG) and its radial variation (α(r)) in ...the two dense, massive and post core-collapse globular clusters M15 and M30. The available data set samples the clusters’ main sequence down to ∼0.2 M⊙ and the photometric completeness allows the study of the mass function between 0.40 M⊙ and 0.75 M⊙ from the central regions out to their tidal radii. We find that both clusters show a very similar variation in α(r) as a function of clustercentric distance. They both exhibit a very steep variation in α(r) in the central regions, which then attains almost constant values in the outskirts. Such a behaviour can be interpreted as the result of long-term dynamical evolution of the systems driven by mass-segregation and mass-loss processes. We compare these results with a set of direct N-body simulations and find that they are only able to reproduce the observed values of α(r) and αG at dynamical ages (t/trh) significantly larger than those derived from the observed properties of both clusters. We investigate possible physical mechanisms responsible for such a discrepancy and argue that both clusters might be born with a non-standard (flatter/bottom-lighter) initial mass function.
The UV-initiative Hubble Space Telescope Treasury survey of Galactic globular clusters provides a new window into the phenomena that shape the morphological features of the horizontal branch (HB). ...Using this large and homogeneous catalog of UV and blue photometry, we demonstrate that the HB exhibits discontinuities that are remarkably consistent in color (effective temperature). This consistency is apparent even among some of the most massive clusters hosting multiple distinct sub-populations (such as NGC 2808, omega Cen, and NGC 6715), demonstrating that these phenomena are primarily driven by atmospheric physics that is independent of the underlying population properties. However, inconsistencies arise in the metal-rich clusters NGC 6388 and NGC 6441, where the discontinuity within the blue HB (BHB) distribution shifts ~1000-2000 K hotter. We demonstrate that this shift is likely due to a large helium enhancement in the BHB stars of these clusters, which in turn affects the surface convection and evolution of such stars. Our survey also increases the number of Galactic globular clusters known to host blue-hook stars (also known as late hot flashers) from 6 to 23 clusters. These clusters are biased toward the bright end of the globular cluster luminosity function, confirming that blue-hook stars tend to form in the most massive clusters with significant self-enrichment.
We report on the identification of the optical counterpart to the recently detected INTEGRAL transient IGR J1824-24525 in the Galactic globular cluster M28. From analysis of a multi-epoch Hubble ...Space Telescope data set, we have identified a strongly variable star positionally coincident with the radio and Chandra X-ray sources associated with the INTEGRAL transient. The star has been detected during both a quiescent and an outburst state. In the former case it appears as a faint, unperturbed main-sequence star, while in the latter state it is about two magnitudes brighter and slightly bluer than main-sequence stars. We also detected H alpha excess during the outburst state, suggestive of active accretion processes by the neutron star.
Abstract
Terzan 5 is a complex stellar system in the Galactic bulge, harboring stellar populations (SPs) with very different iron content (ΔFe/H ∼ 1 dex) and with ages differing by several gigayears. ...Here we present an investigation of its variable stars. We report on the discovery and characterization of three RR Lyrae stars. For these newly discovered RR Lyrae and for six Miras of known periods we provide radial velocity (RV) and chemical abundances from spectra acquired with X-SHOOTER at the Very Large Telescope. We find that the three RR Lyrae and the three short-period Miras (
P
< 300 days) have RV consistent with being Terzan 5 members. They have subsolar iron abundances and enhanced
α
/Fe, well matching the age and abundance patterns of the 12 Gyr metal-poor SPs of Terzan 5. Only one, out of the three long-period (
P
> 300 days) Miras analyzed in this study, has an RV consistent with being a Terzan 5 member. Its super-solar iron abundance and solar-scaled
α
/Fe nicely match the chemical properties of the metal-rich SP of Terzan 5 and its derived mass nicely agrees with being several gigayears younger than the short-period Miras. This young variable is an additional proof of the surprisingly young subpopulation discovered in Terzan 5.
ABSTRACT
Fornax 4 is the most distinctive globular cluster in the Fornax dwarf spheroidal. Located close to the centre of the galaxy, more metal-rich and potentially younger than its four companions ...(namely, Fornax clusters number 1, 2, 3, and 5), it has been suggested to have experienced a different formation than the other clusters in the galaxy. Here, we use Hubble Space Telescope/WFC3 photometry to characterize the stellar population content of this system and shed new light on its nature. By means of a detailed comparison of synthetic horizontal branch and red giant branch with the observed colour–magnitude diagrams, we find that this system likely hosts stellar sub-populations characterized by a significant iron spread up to ΔFe/H ∼ 0.4 dex and possibly by also some degree of He abundance variations ΔY ∼ 0.03. We argue that this purely observational evidence, combined with the other peculiarities characterizing this system, supports the possibility that Fornax 4 is the nuclear star cluster of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy. A spectroscopic follow-up for a large number of resolved member stars is needed to confirm this interesting result and to study in detail the formation and early evolution of this system and more in general the process of galaxy nucleation.
PDF
