We have collected spectra of about 2000 red giant branch (RGB) stars in 19 Galactic globular clusters (GC) using FLAMESLT (about 100 stars with GIRAFFE and about 10 with UVES, respectively, in each ...GC). These observations provide an unprecedented, precise, and homogeneous data-set of Fe abundances in GCs. We use it to study the cosmic scatter of iron and find that, as far as Fe is concerned, most GCs can still be considered mono-metallic, since the upper limit to the scatter of iron is less than 0.05 dex, meaning that the degree of homogeneity is better than 12%. The scatter in Fe we find seems to have a dependence on luminosity, possibly due to the well-known inadequacies of stellar atmospheres for upper-RGB stars and/or to intrinsic variability. It also seems to be correlated with cluster properties, like the mass, indicating a larger scatter in more massive GCs which is likely a (small) true intrinsic scatter. The 19 GCs, covering the metallicity range of the bulk of Galactic GCs, define an accurate and updated metallicity scale. We provide transformation equations for a few existing scales. We also provide new values of Fe/H, on our scale, for all GCs in the Harris catalogue.
Context. The consortium of the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch installed at the Very Large Telescope (SPHERE/VLT) has been operating its guaranteed observation time (260 nights ...over five years) since February 2015. The main part of this time (200 nights) is dedicated to the detection and characterization of young and giant exoplanets on wide orbits. Aims. The large amount of data must be uniformly processed so that accurate and homogeneous measurements of photometry and astrometry can be obtained for any source in the field. Methods. To complement the European Southern Observatory pipeline, the SPHERE consortium developed a dedicated piece of software to process the data. First, the software corrects for instrumental artifacts. Then, it uses the speckle calibration tool (SpeCal) to minimize the stellar light halo that prevents us from detecting faint sources like exoplanets or circumstellar disks. SpeCal is meant to extract the astrometry and photometry of detected point-like sources (exoplanets, brown dwarfs, or background sources). SpeCal was intensively tested to ensure the consistency of all reduced images (cADI, Loci, TLoci, PCA, and others) for any SPHERE observing strategy (ADI, SDI, ASDI as well as the accuracy of the astrometry and photometry of detected point-like sources. Results. SpeCal is robust, user friendly, and efficient at detecting and characterizing point-like sources in high contrast images. It is used to process all SPHERE data systematically, and its outputs have been used for most of the SPHERE consortium papers to date. SpeCal is also a useful framework to compare different algorithms using various sets of data (different observing modes and conditions). Finally, our tests show that the extracted astrometry and photometry are accurate and not biased.
ABSTRACT
We present the result of a survey of Monte Carlo simulations of globular clusters hosting two generations of stars including a large ($f_{b}=50{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$) fraction of primordial ...binaries in both populations. The dynamical evolution of the two stellar populations is followed for a Hubble time taking into account the effect of the tidal field, two-body relaxation, stellar evolution, and three/four-body interactions. The fraction of surviving binaries, once accounted for the observational bias and uncertainties, is compared with the available radial velocity time-series performed in real globular clusters, and it is used to constrain the initial spatial concentration of the second generation. The fraction of second generation binaries appears to depend only on the ratio between the total cluster mass and the initial size of the second generation that determines the average velocity dispersion across the extent of this stellar population. In spite of the various uncertainties, we find that the observed fraction can be obtained only assuming a strong initial concentration of the second generation ($r_{h,S}\sim 0.1~(M/10^{6} \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot })\, \mathrm{pc}$). The evolution of the first generation binary fraction is more sensitive to the tidal field strength (with a non-negligible effect of the cluster orbital eccentricity) since the tidal field has a direct impact on the first generation structural properties.
Homogeneous abundances of light elements, alpha -elements, and Fe-group elements from high-resolution FLAMES spectra are presented for 76 red giant stars in NGC 6715 (M 54), a massive globular ...cluster (GC) lying in the nucleus of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. We also derived detailed abundances for 27 red giants belonging to the Sgr nucleus. Our abundances measure the intrinsic metallicity dispersion (~0.19 dex, rms scatter) of M 54, with the bulk of stars peaking at Fe/H ~ -1.6 and a long tail extending to higher metallicities, similar to omega Cen. The spread in these probable nuclear star clusters exceeds those of most GCs: these massive clusters are located in a region intermediate between normal GCs and dwarf galaxies. The GC M 54 exibits a Na-O anticorrelation, a typical signature of GCs, which is instead absent for the Sgr nucleus. The light elements (Mg, Al, Si) participating in the high temperature Mg-Al cycle show that the entire pattern of (anti)correlations produced by proton-capture reactions in H-burning is clearly different between the most metal-rich and most metal-poor components in the two most massive GCs in the Galaxy, confirming early results based on the Na-O anticorrelation. As in omega Cen, stars affected by most extreme processing, i.e. showing the signature of more massive polluters, are those of the metal-rich component. These observations can be understood if the burst of star formation giving birth to the metal-rich component was delayed by as much as 10-30 Myr with respect to the metal-poor one. The evolution of these massive GCs can be easily reconciled in the general scenario for the formation of GCs sketched previously by ourselves, taking into account that omega Cen may have already incorporated the surrounding nucleus of its progenitor and lost the remainder of the hosting galaxy while the two are still observable as distinct components in M 54 and the surrounding field.
omega Centauri is a peculiar globular cluster formed by a complex stellar population. To investigate it, we studied 172 stars belonging to the five SGBs that we can identify in our photometry, in ...order to measure their Fe/H content as well as estimate their age dispersion and the age-metallicity relation. The first important result is that all of these SGBs have a distribution in metallicity with a spread that exceeds the observational errors and typically displays several peaks that indicate the presence of several subpopulations. We were able to identify at least six of them based on their mean Fe/H content. These metallicity-based subpopulations are seen to varying extents in each of the five SGBs. Taking advantage of the age sensitivity of the SGB, we showed that, first of all, at least half of the subpopulations have an age spread of at least 2 Gyr. Then, we obtained an age-metallicity relation that is the most complete to date for this cluster. Interpretation of the age-metallicity relation is not straightforward, but it is possible that the cluster (or what we can call its progenitor) was initially composed of two populations with different metallicities. Because of their age, it is very unlikely that the most metal-rich derives from the most metal-poor by some kind of chemical evolution process, so they can be assumed to be two independent primordial objects, or perhaps two separate parts of a single larger object, that merged in the past to form the present-day cluster.
We derived the atmospheric parameters and elemental abundances of Fe, O, and Na for about 120 red giant stars in the Galactic globular cluster NGC 2808. Our results are based on the analysis of ...medium-high resolution (R = 22 000-24 000) GIRAFFE spectra acquired with the FLAMES spectrograph at VLT-UT2 as a part of a project aimed at studying the Na-O anticorrelation as a function of physical parameters in globular clusters. We present the anticorrelation of Na and O abundances in NGC 2808 here, and discuss the distribution function of stars along this relation. Besides a bulk of O-normal stars with the typical composition of field halo stars, NGC 2808 seems to host two other groups of O-poor and super O-poor stars. In this regard, NGC 2808 is similar to M 13, the template cluster for the Na-O anticorrelation. However, in contrast to M 13, most stars in NGC 2808 are O-rich. This might be related to the horizontal branch morphologies that are very different in these two clusters. The average metallicity we found for NGC 2808 is Fe/H = -1.10 (rms = 0.065 dex, from 123 stars). We also found some evidence of a small intrinsic spread in metallicity, but more definitive conclusions are hampered by the presence of a small differential reddening.
We present Li and Fe abundances for 87 stars in the globular cluster M4, obtained by using high-resolution spectra collected with GIRAFFE at the Very Large Telescope. The targets range from the ...turn-off up to the red giant branch bump. The Li abundance in the turn-off stars is uniform, with an average value equal to A(Li)= 2.30 ± 0.02 dex (σ= 0.10 dex), consistent with the upper envelope of Li content measured in other globular clusters and in the halo field stars, confirming also for M4 the discrepancy with the primordial Li abundance predicted by Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe+ big bang nucleosynthesis (WMAP+BBNS). The global behaviour of A(Li) as a function of the effective temperature allows us to identify the two main drops in the Li evolution due to the first dredge-up and to the extra-mixing episode after the red giant branch bump. The measured iron content of M4 results to Fe/H=−1.10 ± 0.01 dex (σ= 0.07 dex), with no systematic offsets between dwarf and giant stars.
The behaviour of the Li and Fe abundances along the entire evolutionary path is incompatible with theoretical models including pure atomic diffusion, pointing out that an additional turbulent mixing below the convective region needs to be taken into account, able to inhibit the atomic diffusion. The measured value of A(Li) and its homogeneity in the turn-off stars allow us to put strong constraints on the shape of the Li profile inside the M4 turn-off stars. The global behaviour of A(Li) with the effective temperature can be reproduced with different pristine Li abundances, depending on the kind of adopted turbulent mixing. One cannot reproduce the global trend that starts from the WMAP+BBNS A(Li) and adopts the turbulent mixing described by Richard, Michaud & Richer with the same efficiency as that used by Korn et al. to explain the Li content in NGC 6397. In fact, such a solution is not able to well reproduce simultaneously the Li abundance observed in turn-off and red giant branch stars. However, the WMAP+BBNS A(Li) can be reproduced assuming a more efficient turbulent mixing able to reach deeper stellar regions where the Li is burned.
We conclude that the cosmological Li discrepancy cannot be easily solved with the present, poor understanding of the turbulence in the stellar interiors, and a future effort to well understand the true nature of this non-canonical process is needed.
ABSTRACT
The last decade of direct imaging (DI) searches for sub-stellar companions has uncovered a widely diverse sample that challenges the current formation models, while highlighting the ...intrinsically low occurrence rate of wide companions, especially at the lower end of the mass distribution. These results clearly show how blind surveys, crucial to constrain the underlying planet and sub-stellar companion population, are not an efficient way to increase the sample of DI companions. It is therefore becoming clear that efficient target selection methods are essential to ensure a larger number of detections. We present the results of the COPAINS Survey conducted with SPHERE/VLT, searching for sub-stellar companions to stars showing significant proper motion differences (Δμ) between different astrometric catalogues. We observed 25 stars and detected ten companions, including four new BDs: HIP 21152 B, HIP 29724 B, HD 60584 B, and HIP 63734 B. Our results clearly demonstrate how astrometric signatures, in the past only giving access to stellar companions, can now thanks to Gaia reveal companions well in the sub-stellar regime. We also introduce FORECAST (Finely Optimised REtrieval of Companions of Accelerating STars), a tool which allows to check the agreement between position and mass of the detected companions with the measured Δμ. Given the agreement between the values of the masses of the new sub-stellar companions from the photometry with the model-independent ones obtained with FORECAST, the results of COPAINS represent a significant increase in the number of potential benchmarks for BD and planet formation and evolution theories.
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