Abstract
We use multiband archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations to measure the photometric and structural parameters of the M81 globular cluster (GC) that hosts the fast radio burst FRB ...20200120E. Our best-fitting King model has an effective radius
r
h
= 3.06 pc with a moderate King model concentration of
c
= 53, and an inferred core radius of 0.81 pc. We revisit the exact astrometric location of the FRB within the cluster, and find that FRB 20200120E is located 1.92 pc from the center, but within the projected half-light radius. We estimate the relative encounter rate of the FRB host, along with the corresponding rates of 210 other GCs in M81, and compare these values with the encounter rates of Galactic GCs. The FRB resides in a GC with an encounter rate that is moderately higher than the median stellar encounter rate in our two comparison samples. While the estimated encounter rate of the FRB host cluster (e.g., ∼50% of a cluster like 47 Tuc) is sufficient to allow the possibility that the FRB formed dynamically, our results do not place strong constraints on this scenario due to the limitations of the available HST data and the possible systematic uncertainties and selection effects in the comparison data.
ABSTRACT
RZ2109 is the first of several extragalactic globular clusters shown to host an ultraluminous X-ray source. RZ2109 is particularly notable because optical spectroscopy shows it has broad, ...luminous O iii λλ4959,5007 emission, while also having no detectable hydrogen emission. The X-ray and optical characteristics of the source in RZ2109 make it a good candidate for being a stellar mass black hole accreting from a white dwarf donor (i.e. an ultracompact black hole X-ray binary). In this paper we present optical spectroscopic monitoring of the O iii5007 emission line from 2007 to 2018. We find that the flux of the emission line is significantly lower in recent observations from 2016 to 2018 than it was in earlier observations in 2007–2011. We also explore the behaviour of the emission line shape over time. Both the core and the wings of the emission line decline over time, with some evidence that the core declines more rapidly than the wings. However, the most recent observations (in 2019) unexpectedly show the emission line core rebrightening
ABSTRACT
We investigate archival Hubble Space Telescope ACS/SBC F140LP observations of NGC 1399 to search for evidence of multiple stellar populations in extragalactic globular clusters. Enhanced ...far-ultraviolet (FUV) populations are thought to be indicators of He-enhanced second generation populations in globular clusters, specifically extreme/blue horizontal branch stars. Out of 149 globular clusters in the field of view, 58 have FUV counterparts with magnitudes brighter than 28.5. Six of these FUV-detected globular clusters are also detected in X-rays, including one ultraluminous X-ray source (LX > 1039 erg/s). While optically bright clusters corresponded to brighter FUV counterparts, we observe FUV emission from both metal-rich and metal-poor clusters, which implies that the FUV excess is not dependent on optical colour. We also find no evidence that the cluster size influences the FUV emission. The clusters with X-ray emission are not unusually FUV bright, which suggests that even the ultraluminous X-ray source does not provide significant FUV contributions. NGC 1399 is only the fourth galaxy to have its globular cluster system probed for evidence of FUV-enhanced populations, and we compare these clusters to previous studies of the Milky Way, M31, M87, and the brightest cluster in M81. These sources indicate that many globular clusters likely host extreme HB stars and/or second generation stars, and highlight the need for more complete FUV observations of extragalactic globular cluster systems.
We investigate the integrated far-ultraviolet (FUV) emission from globular clusters. We present new FUV photometry of M87's clusters based on archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field ...Planetary Camera 2 F170W observations. We use these data to test the reliability of published photometry based on HST space telescope imaging spectrograph FUV-MAMA observations, which are now known to suffer from significant red-leak. We generally confirm these previous FUV detections, but suggest they may be somewhat fainter. We compare the FUV emission from bright (M sub( V) < -9.0) clusters in the Milky Way, M31, M81 and M87 to each other and to the predictions from stellar populations models. Metal-rich globular clusters show a large spread in FUV - V, with some clusters in M31, M81 and M87 being much bluer than standard predictions. This requires that some metal-rich clusters host a significant population of blue/extreme horizontal branch (HB) stars. These hot HB stars are not traditionally expected in metal-rich environments, but are a natural consequence of multiple populations in clusters -- since the enriched population is observed to be He enhanced and will therefore produce bluer HB stars, even at high metallicity. We conclude that the observed FUV emission from metal-rich clusters in M31, M81 and M87 provides evidence that He-enhanced second populations, similar to those observed directly in the Milky Way, may be a ubiquitous feature of globular clusters in the local Universe. Future HST FUV photometry is required to both confirm our interpretation of these archival data and provide constraints on He-enriched second populations of stars in extragalactic globular clusters.
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![Very Broad [O III] λλ4959, ...](http://api.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/image/issn/XR4PS5YY4K/1538-4357_0004-637X/small "Very Broad [O III] λλ4959, 5007 Emission from the NGC 4472 Globular Cluster RZ 2109 and Implications for the Mass of Its Black Hole X-Ray Source")
