No Arabic abstract
A large number of spectroscopic studies have provided evidence of the presence of multiple populations in globular clusters by revealing patterns in the stellar chemical abundances. This paper is aimed at studying the origin of these abundance patterns. We explore a model in which second generation (SG) stars form out of a mix of pristine gas and ejecta of the first generation of asymptotic giant branch stars. We first study the constraints imposed by the spectroscopic data of SG stars in globular clusters on the chemical properties of the asymptotic and super asymptotic giant branch ejecta. With a simple one-zone chemical model, we then explore the formation of the SG population abundance patterns focussing our attention on the Na-O, Al-Mg anticorrelations and on the helium distribution function. We carry out a survey of models and explore the dependence of the final SG chemical properties on the key parameters affecting the gas dynamics and the SG formation process. Finally, we use our chemical evolution framework to build specific models for NGC 2808 and M4, two Galactic globular clusters which show different patterns in the Na-O and Mg-Al anticorrelation and have different helium distributions. We find that the amount of pristine gas involved in the formation of SG stars is a key parameter to fit the observed O-Na and Mg-Al patterns. The helium distribution function for these models is in general good agreement with the observed one. Our models, by shedding light on the role of different parameters and their interplay in determining the final SG chemical properties, illustrate the basic ingredients, constraints and problems encountered in this self-enrichment scenario which must be addressed by more sophisticated chemical and hydrodynamic simulations.
Evidence that the multiple populations (MPs) are common properties of globular clusters (GCs) is accumulated over the past decades from clusters in the Milky Way and in its satellites. This finding has revived GC research, and suggested that their formation at high redshift must have been a much-more complex phenomenon than imagined before. However, most information on MPs is limited to nearby GCs. The main limitation is that most studies on MPs rely on resolved stars, facing a major challenge to investigate the MP phenomenon in distant galaxies. Here we search for integrated colors of old GCs that are sensitive to the multiple-population phenomenon. To do this, we exploit integrated magnitudes of simulated GCs with MPs, and multi-band Hubble Space Telescope photometry of 56 Galactic GCs, where MPs are widely studied, and characterized as part of the UV Legacy Survey of Galactic GCs. We find that both integrated $C_{rm F275W,F336W,F438W}$ and $m_{rm F275W}-m_{rm F814W}$ colors strongly correlate with the iron abundance of the host GC. In second order, the pseudo two-color diagram built with these integrated colors is sensitive to the MP phenomenon. In particular, once removed the dependence from cluster metallicity, the color residuals depend on the maximum internal helium variation within GCs and on the fraction of second-generation stars. This diagram, which we define here for Galactic GCs, has the potential of detecting and characterizing MPs from integrated photometry of old GCs, thus providing the possibility to extend their investigation outside the Local Group.
We study the s-process abundances at the epoch of the Solar-system formation as the outcome of nucleosynthesis occurring in AGB stars of various masses and metallicities. The calculations have been performed with the Galactic chemical evolution (GCE) model presented by Travaglio et al. (1999, 2004). With respect to previous works, we used updated solar meteoritic abundances, a neutron capture cross section network that includes the most recent measurements, and we implemented the $s$-process yields with an extended range of AGB initial masses. The new set of AGB yields includes a new evaluation of the 22Ne(alpha, n)25Mg rate, which takes into account the most recent experimental information.
Recent progress in studies of globular clusters has shown that they are not simple stellar populations, being rather made of multiple generations. Evidence stems both from photometry and spectroscopy. A new paradigm is then arising for the formation of massive star clusters, which includes several episodes of star formation. While this provides an explanation for several features of globular clusters, including the second parameter problem, it also opens new perspectives about the relation between globular clusters and the halo of our Galaxy, and by extension of all populations with a high specific frequency of globular clusters, such as, e.g., giant elliptical galaxies. We review progress in this area, focusing on the most recent studies. Several points remain to be properly understood, in particular those concerning the nature of the polluters producing the abundance pattern in the clusters and the typical timescale, the range of cluster masses where this phenomenon is active, and the relation between globular clusters and other satellites of our Galaxy.
Since the discovery of chemically peculiar stars in globular clusters in the last century, the study of multiple populations has become increasingly important, given that chemical inhomogeneity is found in almost all globular clusters. Despite various proposed theories attempting to explain this phenomenon, fitting all the observational evidence in globular clusters with one single theory remains notoriously difficult and currently unsuccessful. In order to improve existing models and motivate new ones, we are observing globular clusters at critical conditions, e.g., metal-rich end, metal-poor end, and low mass end. In this paper, we present our first attempt to investigate multiple populations in low mass globular clusters. We obtained low-resolution spectra around 4000 A of 30 members of the globular cluster Palomar 13 using OSIRIS/Multi-object spectrograph mounted at the Gran Telescopio Canarias. The membership of red giant branch stars is confirmed by the latest proper motions from Gaia DR2 and literature velocities. After comparing the measured CN and CH spectral indices with those of the stellar models, we found a clear sign of nitrogen variation among the red giant branch stars. Palomar 13 may be the lowest mass globular cluster showing multiple populations.
We have carried out a set of Monte Carlo simulations to study a number of fundamental aspects of the dynamical evolution of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters with different initial masses, fractions of second generation (2G) stars, and structural properties. Our simulations explore and elucidate: 1) the role of early and long-term dynamical processes and stellar escape in the evolution of the fraction of 2G stars and the link between the evolution of the fraction of 2G stars and various dynamical parameters; 2) the link between the fraction of 2G stars inside the cluster and in the population of escaping stars during a clusters dynamical evolution; 3) the dynamics of the spatial mixing of the first-generation (1G) and 2G stars and the details of the structural properties of the two populations as they evolve toward mixing; 4) the implications of the initial differences between the spatial distribution of 1G and 2G stars for the evolution of the anisotropy in the velocity distribution and the expected radial profile of the 1G and 2G anisotropy for clusters at different stages of their dynamical history; 5) the variation of the degree of energy equipartition of the 1G and the 2G populations as a function of the distance from the clusters centre and the clusters evolutionary phase.