A number of stellar sources have been advocated as the origin of the enriched material required to explain the abundance anomalies seen in ancient globular clusters (GCs). Most studies to date have compared the yields from potential sources (asymptotic giant branch stars (AGBs), fast rotating massive stars (FRMS), high mass interacting binaries (IBs), and very massive stars (VMS)) with observations of specific elements that are observed to vary from star-to-star in GCs, focussing on extreme GCs such as NGC 2808, which display large He variations. However, a consistency check between the results of fitting extreme cases with the requirements of more typical clusters, has rarely been done. Such a check is particularly timely given the constraints on He abundances in GCs now available. Here we show that all of the popular enrichment sources fail to reproduce the observed trends in GCs, focussing primarily on Na, O and He. In particular, we show that any model that can fit clusters like NGC 2808, will necessarily fail (by construction) to fit more typical clusters like 47 Tuc or NGC 288. All sources severely over-produce He for most clusters. Additionally, given the large differences in He spreads between clusters, but similar spreads observed in Na--O, only sources with large degrees of stochasticity in the resulting yields will be able to fit the observations. We conclude that no enrichment source put forward so far (AGBs, FRMS, IBs, VMS - or combinations thereof) is consistent with the observations of GCs. Finally, the observed trends of increasing [N/Fe] and He spread with increasing cluster mass cannot be resolved within a self-enrichment framework, without further exacerbating the mass budget problem.
Context. Globular clusters host stars with chemical peculiarities. The associated helium enrichment is expected to affect the evolution of stars, in general, and of low-mass stars, and in particular the progenitors of white dwarfs (WDs). Aims. We investigate the effects of different initial helium contents on the properties of white dwarfs such as their masses, compositions, and the time since their formation. Results. In a globular cluster at a given age, the He enrichment implies lower initial masses for stars at a given phase. Thus it leads to a decrease of the masses of white dwarfs reachi…
Abundance anomalies observed in globular cluster stars indicate pollution with material processed by hydrogen burning. Two main sources have been suggested: asymptotic giant branch stars and massive stars rotating near the break-up limit. We discuss the potential of massive binaries as an interesting alternative source of processed material. We discuss observational evidence for mass shedding from interacting binaries. In contrast to the fast, radiatively driven winds of massive stars, this material is typically ejected with low velocity. We expect that it remains inside the potential well of …
A critical issue in the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) self-enrichment scenario for the formation of multiple populations in Globular Clusters (GCs) is the inability to reproduce the magnesium isotopic ratios, despite the model in principle can account for the depletion of magnesium. In this work we analyze how the uncertainties on the various p-capture cross sections affect the results related to the magnesium content of the ejecta of AGB stars. The observed distribution of the magnesium isotopes and of the overall Mg-Al trend in M13 and NGC 6752 are successfully reproduced when the proton-cap…
We discuss the self-enrichment scenario by AGB stars for the formation of multiple populations in globular clusters (GCs) by analyzing data set of giant stars observed in 9 Galactic GCs, covering a wide range of metallicities and for which the simultaneous measurements of C, N, O, Mg, Al, Si are available. To this aim we calculated 6 sets of AGB models, with the same chemical composition as the stars belonging to the first generation of each GC. We find that the AGB yields can reproduce the set of observations available, not only in terms of the degree of contamination shown by stars in each G…
The most massive globular cluster in the Milky Way, omega Centauri, is thought to be the remaining core of a disrupted dwarf galaxy, as expected within the model of hierarchical merging. It contains several stellar populations having different heavy elemental abundances supplied by supernovae -- a process known as metal enrichment. Although M22 appears to be similar to omega Cen, other peculiar globular clusters do not. Therefore omega Cen and M22 are viewed as exceptional, and the presence of chemical inhomogeneities in other clusters is seen as `pollution' from the intermediate-mass asymptot…
The globular cluster H4, located in the center of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy, is crucial for understanding the formation and chemical evolution of star clusters in low-mass galactic environments. H4 is peculiar because the cluster is significantly more metal-rich than the galaxy's other clusters, is located near the galaxy center, and may also be the youngest cluster in the galaxy. In this study, we present detailed chemical abundances derived from high-resolution (R~28000) spectroscopy of an isolated H4 member star for comparison with a sample of 22 nearby Fornax field stars. We find …
AGB stars have long been held responsible for the important star-to-star variations in light elements observed in Galactic globular clusters. We analyse the main impacts of a first generation of rotating intermediate-mass stars on the chemical properties of second-generation globular cluster stars. The rotating models were computed without magnetic fields and without the effects of internal gravity waves. They account for the transports by meridional currents and turbulence. We computed the evolution of both standard and rotating stellar models with initial masses between 2.5 and 8 Msun within…
Multiple stellar populations are a widespread phenomenon among Galactic globular clusters. Even though the origin of the enriched material from which new generations of stars are produced remains unclear, it is likely that self-enrichment will be feasible only in clusters massive enough to retain this enriched material. We searched for multiple populations in the low mass (M~1.4 x 10^4 M_sun) globular cluster E 3, analyzing SOAR/Goodman multi-object spectroscopy centered on the blue CN absorption features of 23 red giant branch stars. We find that the CN abundance does not present the typical …
In order to investigate the origin of multiple stellar populations found in globular clusters (GCs) in the halo and bulge of the Milky Way, we have constructed chemical evolution models for their putative low-mass progenitors. In light of recent theoretical developments, we assume that supernova blast waves undergo blowout without expelling the pre-enriched ambient gas, while relatively slow winds of massive stars, together with the winds and ejecta from low to high mass asymptotic-giant-branch stars, are all locally retained in these less massive systems. Interestingly, we find that the obser…
We searched for trails to understand the different Na abundances measured in first and second generation stars of ancient Milky Way globular clusters. For that purpose, we gathered from the recent literature the aforementioned Na abundances, orbital parameters, structural and internal dynamical properties and ages in an homogeneous scale of 28 globular clusters. We found that the intra-cluster Na enrichment, measured by the difference of Na abundances between first and second generation stars, exhibits a trend as a function of the Na abundances of first generation stars, in the sense that the …
Star-to-star dispersion of r-process elements has been observed in a significant number of old, metal-poor globular clusters. We investigate early-time neutron-star mergers as the mechanism for this enrichment. Through both numerical modeling and analytical arguments, we show that neutron-star mergers cannot be induced through dynamical interactions early in the history of the cluster, even when the most liberal assumptions about neutron-star segregation are assumed. Therefore, if neutron-star mergers are the primary mechanism for r-process dispersion in globular clusters, they likely result f…
We determined zirconium abundance in the atmospheres of 327 red giant branch (RGB) stars in the globular cluster 47 Tuc. The 1D LTE abundances were obtained from the archival VLT GIRAFFE spectra, using 1D hydrostatic ATLAS9 stellar model atmospheres and synthetic Zr I line profiles computed with the SYNTHE package. The average zirconium abundance determined in the sample of RGB stars, [Zr/Fe] = +0.38 +/- 0.12, agrees well with zirconium abundances obtained at this metallicity in the Galactic field stars, as well as with those observed in other Galactic globular clusters.
We develop a model for stochastic pre-enrichment and self-enrichment in globular clusters (GCs) during their formation process. GCs beginning their formation have an initial metallicity determined by the pre-enrichment of their surrounding protocloud, but can also undergo internal self-enrichment during formation. Stochastic variations in metallicity arise because of the finite numbers of supernova. We construct an analytic formulation of the combined effects of pre-enrichment and self-enrichment and use Monte Carlo models to verify that the model accurately encapsulates the mean metallicity a…
Multiple stellar populations in the Milky Way globular clusters manifest themselves with a large variety. Although chemical abundance variations in light elements, including He, are ubiquitous, the amount of these variations is different in different globulars. Stellar populations with distinct Fe, C+N+O and slow-neutron capture elements have been now detected in some globular clusters, whose number will likely increase. All these chemical features correspond to specific photometric patterns. I review the chemical+photometric features of the multiple stellar populations in globular clusters an…
We investigate the colour-magnitude relation of metal-poor globular clusters, the 'blue tilt', in the Hydra and Centaurus galaxy clusters and constrain the primordial conditions for star cluster self-enrichment. We analyse U,I photometry for about 2500 globular clusters in the central regions of Hydra and Centaurus, based on FORS1@VLT data. We convert the measured colour-magnitude relations into mass-metallicity space and obtain a scaling of Z \propto M^{0.27 \pm 0.05} for Centaurus GCs and Z \propto M^{0.40 \pm 0.06} for Hydra GCs, consistent with results in other environments. We find that t…
In our recent investigation (Lim et al. 2015), we have shown that narrow-band photometry can be combined with low-resolution spectroscopy to effectively search for globular clusters (GCs) with supernovae (SNe) enrichments. Here we apply this technique to the metal-poor bulge GC NGC 6273, and find that the red giant branch stars in this GC are clearly divided into two distinct subpopulations having different calcium abun- dances. The Ca rich subpopulation in this GC is also enhanced in CN and CH, showing a positive correlation between them. This trend is identical to the result we found in M22,…
Abundances of C, N, and O are determined in four bright red giants that span the known abundance range for light (Na and Al) and s-process (Zr and La) elements in the globular cluster NGC 1851. The abundance sum C+N+O exhibits a range of 0.6 dex, a factor of 4, in contrast to other clusters in which no significant C+N+O spread is found. Such an abundance range offers support for the Cassisi et al. (2008) scenario in which the double subgiant branch populations are coeval but with different mixtures of C+N+O abundances. Further, the Na, Al, Zr, and La abundances are correlated with C+N+O, and t…
We present detailed chemical abundances for $>$20 elements in $\sim$30 globular clusters in M31. These results have been obtained using high resolution ($λ/Δλ\sim$24,000) spectra of their integrated light and analyzed using our original method. The globular clusters have galactocentric radii between 2.5 kpc and 117 kpc, and therefore provide abundance patterns for different phases of galaxy formation recorded in the inner and outer halo of M31. We find that the clusters in our survey have a range in metallicity of $-2.2<$[Fe/H]$<-0.11$. The inner halo clusters cover this full range, while the …
Star-to-star variations in abundances of the light elements carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and sodium have been observed in stars of all evolutionary phases in all Galactic globular clusters that have been thoroughly studied. The data available for studying this phenomenon, and the hypotheses as to its origin, have both co-evolved with observing technology; once high-resolution spectra were available even for main-sequence stars in globular clusters, scenarios involving multiple closely spaced stellar generations enriched by feedback from moderate- and high-mass stars began to gain traction in the …
We present metallicities for red giant stars in the globular cluster NGC 6273 based on intermediate resolution GMOS-S spectra of the calcium triplet region. For the 42 radial velocity members with reliable calcium triplet line strength measurements, we obtain metallicities, [Fe/H], using calibrations established from standard globular clusters. We confirm the presence of an intrinsic abundance dispersion identified by Johnson et al. (2015). The total range in [Fe/H] is ~1.0 dex and after taking into account the measurement errors, the intrinsic abundance dispersion is σ[Fe/H] = 0.17 dex. Among…
We present a model for the concurrent formation of globular clusters (GCs) and supermassive stars (SMSs, $>10^3\,{\rm M}_\odot$) to address the origin of the HeCNONaMgAl abundance anomalies in GCs. GCs form in converging gas flows and accumulate low-angular momentum gas, which accretes onto protostars. This leads to an adiabatic contraction of the cluster and an increase of the stellar collision rate. A SMS can form via runaway collisions if the cluster reaches sufficiently high density before two-body relaxation halts the contraction. This condition is met if the number of stars $\gtrsim10^6$…
We investigate aluminum abundance variations in the stellar populations of globular clusters using both literature measurements of sodium and aluminum and APOGEE measurements of nitrogen and aluminum abundances. For the latter, we show that the Payne is the most suitable of the five available abundance pipelines for our purposes. Our combined sample of 42 globular clusters spans approximately 2 dex in [Fe/H] and 1.5 dex in $\log{M_{GC}/M_{\odot}}$. We find no fewer than five globular clusters with significant internal variations in nitrogen and/or sodium with little-to-no corresponding variati…
Internal chemical abundance spreads are one of fundamental properties of globular clusters (GCs) in the Galaxy. In order to understand the origin of such abundance spreads, we numerically investigate GC formation from massive molecular clouds (MCs) with fractal structures using our new hydrodynamical simulations with star formation and feedback effects of supernovae (SNe) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. We particularly investigate star formation from gas chemically contaminated by SNe and AGB stars within MCs with different initial conditions and environments. The principal results ar…
We present chemical abundances for the elements carbon, sodium, and fluorine in 15 red giants of the globular cluster M 4, as well as six red giants of the globular cluster $ω$ Centauri. The chemical abundances were calculated in LTE via spectral synthesis. The spectra analyzed are high-resolution spectra obtained in the near-infrared region around $λ$2.3$μ$m with the Phoenix spectrograph on the 8.1m Gemini South Telescope, the IGRINS spectrograph on the McDonald Observatory 2.7m Telescope, and the CRIRES spectrograph on the ESO 8.2m Very Large Telescope. The results indicate a significant red…
Chemical Abundances in the Metal-Poor Globular Cluster ESO 280-SC06: A Formerly Massive, Tidally Disrupted Globular Cluster
University of Chicago(芝加哥大学);Syracuse University(雪城大学);University of New South Wales(新南威尔士大学);University of Toronto(多伦多大学);Carnegie Institution for Science(卡内基科学促进会);University of Florida(佛罗里达大学)
With the exception of Terzan 5, all the Galactic globular clusters that possess significant metallicity spreads, such as omega Cen and M22, are preferentially the more luminous clusters with extended horizontal branches. Here we present radial velocities and chemical abundances for seven bright giants in the globular cluster M62, a previously little-studied cluster. With M_V = -9.18, M62 is the ninth most luminous Galactic globular cluster and has an extended horizontal branch. Within our sample, we find (i) no evidence for a dispersion in metallicity, [Fe/H], beyond the measurement uncertaint…
Detailed observations of globular clusters (GCs) have revealed evidence of self-enrichment: some of the heavy elements that we see in stars today were produced by cluster stars themselves. Moreover, GCs have internal subpopulations with different elemental abundances, including, in some cases, in elements such as iron that are produced by supernovae. This paper presents a theoretical model for GC formation motivated by observations of Milky Way star forming regions and simulations of star formation, where giant molecular clouds fragment into multiple clumps which undergo star formation at slig…
Globular clusters host multiple stellar populations that display star-to-star variation of light elements that are affected by hot hydrogen burning (e.g., He, C, N, O). Several scenarios have been suggested to explain these variations. Most involve multiple star formation episodes, where later generations are born from material contaminated by the nucleosynthetic products of the previous stellar generation(s). One difficulty in the modelling of such scenarios is knowing the extent to which processed and pristine material are mixed. In this context, beryllium abundances measured in turn-off sta…
The self-enrichment of massive star clusters by p-processed elements is shown to increase significantly with increasing gas density as a result of enhanced star formation rates and stellar scatterings compared to the lifetime of a massive star. Considering the type of cloud core where a globular cluster might have formed, we follow the evolution and enrichment of the gas and the time dependence of stellar mass. A key assumption is that interactions between massive stars are important at high density, including interactions between massive stars and massive star binaries that can shred stellar …
Observed chemical (anti)correlations in proton-capture elements among globular cluster stars are presently recognized as the signature of self-enrichment from now extinct, previous generations of stars. This defines the multiple population scenario. Since fluorine is also affected by proton captures, determining its abundance in globular clusters provides new and complementary clues regarding the nature of these previous generations, and supplies strong observational constraints to the chemical enrichment timescales. In this paper we present our results on near-infrared CRIRES spectroscopic ob…
We have studied the chemical enrichment history of the interstellar medium through an analysis of the n-dimensional stellar abundances space. This work is a non-parametric analysis of the stellar chemical abundance space. The main goal is to study the stars from their organization within this abundance space. Within this space, we seek to find clusters (in a statistical sense), that is, stars likely to share similar chemo-evolutionary history, using two methods: the hierarchical clustering and the principal component analysis. We analysed some selected abundance surveys available in the litera…
We have observed 15 red giant stars in the relatively massive, metal-poor globular cluster NGC 4833 using the Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle spectrograph at Magellan. We calculate stellar parameters for each star and perform a standard abundance analysis to derive abundances of 43 species of 39 elements, including 20 elements heavier than the iron group. We derive <[Fe/H]> = -2.25 +/- 0.02 from Fe I lines and <[Fe/H> = -2.19 +/- 0.013 from Fe II lines. We confirm earlier results that found no internal metallicity spread in NGC 4833, and there are no significant star-to-star abundance dispers…
Globular clusters are tracers of the history of star formation and chemical enrichment in the early Galaxy. Their abundance pattern can help understanding their chemical enrichment processes. In particular, the iron-peak elements have been relatively little studied so far in the Galactic bulge. The abundances of iron-peak elements are derived for the sample clusters, and compared with bulge field, and thick disk stars. We derive abundances of the iron-peak elements Sc, V, Mn, Cu, and Zn in individual stars of five bulge globular clusters (NGC 6528, NGC 6553, NGC 6522, NGC 6558, HP1), and of th…
Fluorine is a fairly good tracer of formation histories of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters as already revealed by several studies. Large variations in fluorine abundance in red giant stars of the globular cluster M22 have been recently reported by two different groups. Futhermore, one of these studies claims that the abundance of fluorine is anti-correlated with sodium abundances in this cluster, leading to strong conclusions on the chemical history of M22. To validate this important finding, we re-examine the F abundance determinations of some of the previously studied stars…
NGC 2419 is a massive outer halo Galactic globular cluster whose stars have previously been shown to have somewhat peculiar abundance patterns. We have observed seven luminous giants that are members of NGC 2419 with Keck/HIRES at reasonable SNR. One of these giants is very peculiar, with an extremely low [Mg/Fe] and high [K/Fe] but normal abundances of most other elements. The abundance pattern does not match the nucleosynthetic yields of any supernova model. The other six stars show abundance ratios typical of inner halo Galactic globular clusters, represented here by a sample of giants in t…
We present an analysis of the multiple stellar populations of the globular cluster NGC 1851. We used lower resolution spectra of giant stars to measure CN, CH, and calcium H & K spectral indices, and determine elemental abundances for carbon and nitrogen. The CN and CH indices were used to confirm that there are four populations of stars in the cluster. The primordial population of stars, with the lowest CN, was found to be generally chemically distinct in elemental abundances from the second generation populations. As expected, [N/Fe] increases with increasing CN strength, but the only other …
We study the distribution of aluminum abundances among red giants in the peculiar globular cluster NGC 1851. Aluminum abundances were derived from the strong doublet Al I 8772-8773 A measured on intermediate resolution FLAMES spectra of 50 cluster stars acquired under the Gaia-ESO public survey. We coupled these abundances with previously derived abundance of O, Na, Mg to fully characterize the interplay of the NeNa and MgAl cycles of H-burning at high temperature in the early stellar generation in NGC 1851. The stars in our sample show well defined correlations between Al,Na and Si; Al is ant…
Detailed chemical abundances of two stars in the intermediate-age Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) globular cluster NGC~1718 are presented, based on high resolution spectroscopic observations with the MIKE spectrograph. The detailed abundances confirm NGC~1718 to be a fairly metal-rich cluster, with an average [Fe/H] ~ -0.55+/-0.01. The two red giants appear to have primordial O, Na, Mg, and Al abundances, with no convincing signs of a composition difference between the two stars---hence, based on these two stars, NGC~1718 shows no evidence for hosting multiple populations. The Mg abundance is low…
Although there have been recent claims that there is a large dispersion in the abundances of the heavy neutron capture elements in the old Galactic globular cluster M92, we show that the measured dispersion for the absolute abundances of four of the rare earth elements within a sample of 12 luminous red giants in M92 (less than or equal to 0.07 dex) does not exceed the relevant sources of uncertainty. As expected from previous studies, the heavy elements show the signature of the r-process. Their abundance ratios are essentially identical to those of M30, another nearby globular cluster of sim…
We derived Potassium abundances in red giant branch stars in the Galactic globular clusters NGC104 (144 stars), NGC6752 (134 stars) and NGC6809 (151 stars) using high-resolution spectra collected with FLAMES at the ESO - Very Large Telescope. In the considered samples we do not find significant intrinsic spreads in [K/Fe] (confirming the previous findings by Carretta et al.), at variance with the cases of the massive clusters NGC2419 and NGC2808. Additionally, marginally significant [K/Fe]-[O/Fe] anti-correlations are found in NGC104 and NGC6809, and [K/Fe]-[Na/Fe] correlations are found in NG…
We present measurements of the abundances of chromium, cobalt, and nickel in 4113 red giants, including 2277 stars in globular clusters, 1820 stars in the Milky Way's dwarf satellite galaxies, and 16 field stars. We measured the abundances from mostly archival Keck/DEIMOS medium-resolution spectroscopy with a resolving power of R ~ 6500 and a wavelength range of approximately 6500-9000 A. The abundances were determined by fitting spectral regions that contain absorption lines of the elements under consideration. We used estimates of temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity that we previou…
Context. Globular clusters are known to host multiple stellar populations, which are a signature of their formation process. The globular cluster E3 is one of the few low-mass globulars that is thought not to host multiple populations. Aims. We investigate red giant branch stars in E3 with the aim of providing a first detailed chemical inventory for this cluster, we determine its radial velocity, and we provide additional insights into the possible presence of multiple populations in this cluster. Methods. We obtained high-resolution FLAMES-UVES/VLT spectra of four red giant branch stars likel…
The stellar record of elemental abundances in satellite galaxies is important to identify the origin of r-process because such a small stellar system could have hosted a single r-process event, which would distinguish member stars that are formed before and after the event through the evidence of a considerable difference in the abundances of r-process elements, as found in the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Reticulum II (Ret II). However, the limited mass of these systems prevents us from collecting information from a sufficient number of stars in individual satellites. Hence, it remains unclear wh…
We present CN and CH indices and CaII triplet metallicities for 34 giant stars and chemical abundances for 33 elements in 14 giants in the globular cluster M2. Assuming the program 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-pro…
High resolution integrated light (IL) spectroscopy provides detailed abundances of distant globular clusters whose stars cannot be resolved. Abundance comparisons with other systems (e.g. for chemical tagging) require understanding the systematic offsets that can occur between clusters, such as those due to uncertainties in the underlying stellar population. This paper analyses high resolution IL spectra of the Galactic globular clusters 47 Tuc, M3, M13, NGC 7006, and M15 to (1) quantify potential systematic uncertainties in Fe, Ca, Ti, Ni, Ba, and Eu and (2) identify the most stable abundance…
Here we aim to understand the origin of 47 Tuc's La-rich star Lee 4710. We report abundances for O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, Y, Zr, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, and Eu, and present a detailed abundance analysis of two 47 Tuc stars with similar stellar parameters but different slow neutron-capture (s-)process enrichment. Star Lee 4710 has the highest known La abundance ratio in this cluster ([La/Fe] = 1.14), and star Lee 4626 is known to have normal s-process abundances (e.g., [Ba/Eu]$<0$). The nucleosynthetic pattern of elements with Z$\gtrsim$56 for star Lee 4710 agrees with the …
Context. While most (if not all) Type I Galactic globular clusters (GGCs) are characterised by spreads in the abundances of light chemical elements (e.g. Li, N, O, Na, Mg, Al), it is not yet well established whether similar spreads may exist in s-process elements as well. Aims. We investigated the possible difference in Ba abundance between the primordial (1P) and polluted (2P) stars in the Galactic globular cluster (GGC) 47 Tuc (NGC 104). For this, we obtained homogeneous abundances of Fe, Na, and Ba in a sample of 261 red giant branch (RGB) stars which is the largest sample used for Na and B…
We report on a strictly differential line-by-line analysis of high quality UVES spectra of bright giants in the metal-poor globular cluster NGC 6752. We achieved high precision differential chemical abundance measurements for Fe, Na, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Ni, Zn, Y, Zr, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu and Dy with uncertainties as low as ~0.01 dex (~2%). We obtained the following main results. (1) The observed abundance dispersions are a factor of ~2 larger than the average measurement uncertainty. (2) There are positive correlations, of high statistical significance, between all elements and Na. (3) For …
Oxygen abundances of 67 dwarf stars in the metallicity range -1.6<[Fe/H]<-0.4 are derived from a non-LTE analysis of the 777 nm O I triplet lines. These stars have precise atmospheric parameters measured by Nissen and Schuster, who find that they separate into three groups based on their kinematics and alpha-element (Mg, Si, Ca, Ti) abundances: thick-disk, high-alpha halo, and low-alpha halo. We find the oxygen abundance trends of thick-disk and high-alpha halo stars very similar. The low-alpha stars show a larger star-to-star scatter in [O/Fe] at a given [Fe/H] and have systematically lower o…
Multiple Populations and a CH Star Found in the 300S Globular Cluster Stellar Stream
University of Chicago(芝加哥大学);University of Toronto(多伦多大学);Carnegie Mellon University(卡内基梅隆大学);Johns Hopkins University(约翰斯·霍普金斯大学);Australian National University(澳大利亚国立大学)
Evidence of Supernova Between Formation of Stellar Populations in a Globular Cluster
University of Notre Dame(圣母大学);Northwestern University(西北大学);Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astronomy, Northwestern University(西北大学跨学科天文探索与研究中心);Fordham University(福特汉姆大学);City University of New York(纽约市立大学)
While the Milky Way Nuclear star cluster has been studied extensively, how it formed is uncertain. Studies have shown it contains a solar and supersolar metallicity population that may have formed in-situ, along with a subsolar metallicity population that may have formed via mergers of globular clusters and dwarf galaxies. Stellar abundance measurements are critical to differentiate between formation scenarios. We present new measurements of [$M/H$] and $α$-element abundances [$α/Fe$] of two subsolar-metallicity stars in the Galactic Center. These observations were taken with the adaptive-opti…
Spectrum syntheses for three elements (Mg, Na, and Eu) in high-resolution integrated light spectra of the Galactic globular clusters 47 Tuc, M3, M13, NGC 7006, and M15 are presented, along with calibration syntheses of the Solar and Arcturus spectra. Iron abundances in the target clusters are also derived from integrated light equivalent width analyses. Line profiles in the spectra of these five globular clusters are well fit after careful consideration of the atomic and molecular spectral features, providing levels of precision that are better than equivalent width analyses of the same integr…
There is increasing evidence for the presence of multiple red giant branches (RGBs) in the color-magnitude diagrams of massive globular clusters (GCs). In order to investigate the origin of this split on the RGB, we have performed new narrow-band Ca photometry and low-resolution spectroscopy for M22, NGC 1851, and NGC 288. We find significant differences (more than 4 sigma) in calcium abundance from the spectroscopic HK' index for M22 and NGC 1851. We also find more than 8 sigma differences in CN band strength between the Ca-strong and Ca-weak subpopulations for these GCs. For NGC 288, however…