We derive relative proper motions of stars in the fields of globular clusters M4, M12, M22, NGC 3201, NGC 6362 and NGC 6752 based on a uniform data set collected between 1997 and 2008. We assign a membership class for each star with a measured proper motion, and show that these membership classes can be successfully used to eliminate field stars from color-magnitude diagrams of the clusters. They also allow for the efficient selection of rare objects such as blue/yellow/red stragglers and stars from the asymptotic giant branch. Tables with proper motions and photometry of over 87000 stars are made publicly available via the Internet.
With a high value of heliocentric radial velocity, a retrograde orbit, and being suspected to have an extragalactic origin, NGC 3201 is an interesting globular cluster for kinematical studies. Our purpose is to calculate the relative proper motions (PMs) and membership probability for the stars in the wide region of globular cluster NGC 3201. Proper motion based membership probabilities are used to isolate the cluster sample from the field stars. The membership catalogue will help address the question of chemical inhomogeneity in the cluster. Archive CCD data taken with a wide-field imager (WFI) mounted on the ESO 2.2m telescope are reduced using the high-precision astrometric software developed by Anderson et al. for the WFI images. The epoch gap between the two observational runs is $sim$14.3 years. To standardize the $BVI$ photometry, Stetsons secondary standard stars are used. The CCD data with an epoch gap of $sim$14.3 years enables us to decontaminate the cluster stars from field stars efficiently. The median precision of PMs is better than $sim$0.8 mas~yr$^{-1}$ for stars having $V<$18 mag that increases up to $sim$1.5 mas~yr$^{-1}$ for stars with $18<V<20$ mag. Kinematic membership probabilities are calculated using proper motions for stars brighter than $Vsim$20 mag. An electronic catalogue of positions, relative PMs, $BVI$ magnitudes and membership probabilities in $sim$19.7$times$17 arcmin$^2$ region of NGC 3201 is presented. We use our membership catalogue to identify probable cluster members among the known variables and $X$-ray sources in the direction of NGC 3201.
Stellar population studies of globular clusters have suggested that the brightest clusters in the Galaxy might actually be the remnant nuclei of dwarf spheroidal galaxies. If the present Galactic globular clusters formed within larger stellar systems, they are likely surrounded by extra-tidal halos and/or tails made up of stars that were tidally stripped from their parent systems. The stellar surroundings around globular clusters are therefore one of the best places to look for the remnants of an ancient dwarf galaxy. Here an attempt is made to search for tidal debris around the supernovae enriched globular clusters M22 and NGC 1851 as well as the kinematically unique cluster NGC 3201. The stellar parameters from the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) are used to identify stars with RAVE metallicities, radial velocities and elemental-abundances consistent with the abundance patterns and properties of the stars in M22, NGC 1851 and NGC 3201. The discovery of RAVE stars that may be associated with M22 and NGC 1851 are reported, some of which are at projected distances of ~10 degrees away from the core of these clusters. Numerous RAVE stars associated with NGC 3201 suggest that either the tidal radius of this cluster is underestimated, or that there are some unbound stars extending a few arc minutes from the edge of the clusters radius. No further extra-tidal stars associated with NGC 3201 could be identified. The bright magnitudes of the RAVE stars make them easy targets for high resolution follow-up observations, allowing an eventual further chemical tagging to solidify (or exclude) stars outside the tidal radius of the cluster as tidal debris. In both our radial velocity histograms of the regions surrounding NGC 1851 and NGC 3201, a peak of stars at 230 km/s is seen, consistent with extended tidal debris from omega Centauri.
Using astrometric techniques developed by Anderson et al., we determine proper motions (PMs) in 14.60 arcmin X 16.53 arcmin area of the kinematically thick-disk globular cluster M12. The clusters proximity and sparse nature makes it a suitable target for ground-based telescopes. Archive images with time gap of 11.1 years were observed with wide-field imager (WFI) mosaic camera mounted on ESO 2.2 m telescope. The median value of PM error in both components is 0.7 mas/yr for the stars having V less than or equal to 20 mag. PMs are used to determine membership probabilities and to separate field stars from the cluster sample. In electronic form, a membership catalog of 3725 stars with precise coordinates, PMs, BVRI photometry is being provided. One of the possible applications of the catalog was shown by gathering the membership information of the variable stars, blue stragglers and X-ray sources reported earlier in the clusters region.
Convergent lines of evidence suggest that globular clusters host multiple stellar populations. It appears that they experience at least two episodes of star formation whereby a fraction of first-generation stars contribute astrated ejecta to form the second generation(s). To identify the polluting progenitors we require distinguishing chemical signatures such as that provided by lithium. Theoretical models predict that lithium can be synthesised in AGB stars, whereas no net Li production is expected from other candidates. It has been shown that in order to reproduce the abundance pattern found in M4, Li production must occur within the polluters, favouring the AGB scenario. Here we present Li and Al abundances for a large sample of RGB stars in M12 and M5. These clusters have a very similar metallicity, whilst demonstrating differences in several cluster properties. Our results indicate that the first-generation and second-generation stars share the same Li content in M12; we recover an abundance pattern similar to that observed in M4. In M5 we find a higher degree of complexity and a simple dilution model fails in reproducing the majority of the stellar population. In both clusters we require Li production across the different stellar generations, but production seems to have occurred to different extents. We suggest that such a difference might be related to the cluster mass with the Li production being more efficient in less-massive clusters. This is the first time a statistically significant correlation between the Li spread within a GC and its luminosity has been demonstrated. Finally, although Li-producing polluters are required to account for the observed pattern, other mechanisms, such as MS depletion, might have played a role in contributing to the Li internal variation, though at relatively low level.
Numerical simulations have shown that black holes (BHs) can strongly influence the evolution and present-day observational properties of globular clusters (GCs). Using a Monte Carlo code, we construct GC models that match the Milky Way (MW) cluster NGC 3201, the first cluster in which a stellar-mass BH was identified through radial-velocity measurements. We predict that NGC 3201 contains $gtrsim 200$ stellar-mass BHs. Furthermore, we explore the dynamical formation of main sequence-BH binaries and demonstrate that systems similar to the observed BH binary in NGC 3201 are produced naturally. Additionally, our models predict the existence of bright blue-straggler-BH binaries unique to core-collapsed clusters, which otherwise retain few BHs.
K. Zloczewski
,J. Kaluzny
,M. Rozyczka
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(2013)
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"A proper motion study of the globular clusters M4, M12, M22, NGC 3201, NGC 6362 and NGC 6752"
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Michal Rozyczka
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