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Register a new userNew Insights into the Physical Conditions and Internal Structure of a Candidate Proto-Globular Cluster
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We present $sim$0.1 resolution ($sim$10 pc) ALMA observations of a molecular cloud identified in the merging Antennae galaxies with the potential to form a globular cluster, nicknamed the ``Firecracker. Since star formation has not yet begun at an appreciable level, this cloud provides an example of what the birth environment of a globular cluster may have looked like before stars form and disrupt the natal conditions. Using emission from $^{12}$CO(2-1), $^{12}$CO(3-2), $^{13}$CO(2-1), HCN(4-3), and HCO$^+$(4-3), we are able to resolve the clouds structure and find that it has a characteristic radius of 22 pc and a mass of 1--9$times10^6 M_odot$. We also constrain the abundance ratios of $^{12}$CO/$^{13}$CO and H$_2$/twelveCO. Based on the calculated mass, we determine that the commonly used CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factor varies spatially, with average values in the range $X_{CO}=(0.12-1.1)times10^{20}$ cm$^{-2}$ (K km s$^{-1}$)$^{-1}$. We demonstrate that if the cloud is bound (as is circumstantially suggested by its bright, compact morphology), an external pressure of $P/k > 10^8$ K cm$^{-3}$ is required. This would be consistent with theoretical expectations that globular cluster formation requires high pressure environments. The position-velocity diagram of the cloud and its surrounding material suggests that this pressure may be produced by the collision of filaments. The radial profile of the column density can be fit with both a Gaussian and Bonnor-Ebert profile. The relative line strengths of HCN and HCO$^+$ in this region suggest that these molecular lines can be used as tracers for the evolutionary stage of a cluster.
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We present the results of a study aimed at exploring the evolution towards energy equipartition in star cluster models with different initial degrees of anisotropy in the velocity distribution. Our study reveals a number of novel aspects of the cluster dynamics and shows that the rate of evolution towards energy equipartition (1) depends on the initial degree of radial velocity anisotropy -- it is more rapid for more radially anisotropic systems; and (2) differs for the radial and the tangential components of the velocity dispersion. (3) The outermost regions of the initially isotropic system evolve towards a state of `inverted energy equipartition in which high-mass stars have a larger velocity dispersion than low-mass stars -- this inversion originates from the mass-dependence of the tangential velocity dispersion whereas the radial velocity dispersion shows no anomaly. Our results add new fundamental elements to the theoretical framework needed to interpret the wealth of recent and upcoming observational studies of stellar kinematics in globular clusters, and shed further light on the link between the clusters internal kinematics, their formation and evolutionary history.
We present our detailed spectroscopic analysis of the chemical composition of four red giant stars in the halo globular cluster NGC 6426. We obtained high-resolution spectra using the Magellan2/MIKE spectrograph, from which we derived equivalent widths and subsequently computed abundances of 24 species of 22 chemical elements. For the purpose of measuring equivalent widths, we developed a new semi-automated tool, called EWCODE. We report a mean Fe content of [Fe/H] = -2.34$pm$0.05 dex (stat.) in accordance with previous studies. At a mean $alpha$-abundance of [(Mg,Si,Ca)/3 Fe] = 0.39$pm$0.03 dex, NGC 6426 falls on the trend drawn by the Milky Way halo and other globular clusters at comparably low metallicities. The distribution of the lighter $alpha$-elements as well as the enhanced ratio [Zn/Fe] = 0.39 dex could originate from hypernova enrichment of the pre-cluster medium. We find tentative evidence for a spread in the elements Mg, Si, and Zn, indicating an enrichment scenario, where ejecta of evolved massive stars of a slightly older population polluted a newly born younger one. The heavy element abundances in this cluster fit well into the picture of metal-poor globular clusters, which in that respect appear to be remarkably homogeneous. The pattern of the neutron-capture elements heavier than Zn point towards an enrichment history governed by the r-process with only little -if any- sign of s-process contributions. This finding is supported by the striking similarity of our program stars to the metal-poor field star HD 108317.
Planets are thought to form in the gas and dust disks around young stars. In particular, it has been proposed that giant planets can form through the gravitational instability of massive extended disks around intermediate-mass stars. However, we still lack direct observations to constrain this mechanism. We have spatially resolved the 8.6 and 11.2 $mu$m emission of a massive protoplanetary disk seen edge on around an A star, Gomezs Hamburger (GoHam), using VISIR at the Very Large Telescope. A compact region situated at a projected distance of $350pm50$ AU south of the central star is found to have a reduced emission.This asymmetry is fully consistent with the presence of a cold density structure, or clump, identified in earlier CO observations, and we derive physical characteristics consistent with those observations: a mass of 0.8-11.4 Jupiter masses (for a dust-to-gas mass ratio of 0.01), a radius of about 10$^2$ astronomical units, and a local density of about $10^{7}$ cm$^{-3}$. Based on this evidence, we argue that this clump, which we call GoHam b, is a promising candidate for a young protoplanet formed by gravitational instability that might be representative of the precursors of massive planets observed around A stars, such as HR 8799 or Beta pictoris. More detailed studies at high angular resolution are needed to better constrain the physical properties of this object to confirm this proposal.
Globular clusters (GCs) are important tools to understand the formation and evolution of the Milky Way (MW). The known MW sample is still incomplete, so the discovery of new GC candidates and the confirmation of their nature are crucial for the census of the MW GC system. Our goal is to confirm the physical nature of two GC candidates: Patchick99 and TBJ3, located towards the Galactic bulge. We use public data in the near-IR from the VVV, VVVX and 2MASS along the with deep optical data from the Gaia DR2, in order to estimate their main physical parameters: reddening, extinction, distance, luminosity, mean cluster proper motions (PMs), size, metallicity and age. We investigate both candidates at different wavelengths. We use near-IR and optical CMDs in order to analyse Patchick99. We decontaminate CMDs following a statistical procedure and PM-selection. Reddening and extinction are derived by adopting reddening maps. Metallicity and age are evaluated by fitting stellar isochrones. Reddening and extinction are E(J-Ks)=0.12+/-0.02 mag, AKs=0.09+/-0.01 mag from the VVV data, whereas E(BP-RP)=0.21+/-0.03 mag, AG=0.68+/-0.08 mag from Gaia DR2. We estimate a distance d=6.4+/-0.2 kpc in near-IR and D=7.0+/-0.2 kpc in optical. We derive its metallicity and age fitting PARSEC isochrones, finding [Fe/H]=-0.2+/-0.2 dex and t=10+/-2 Gyr. The mean PMs for Patchick99 are pmRA=-298+/-1.74 mas/yr and pmDEC=-5.49+/-2.02 mas/yr. We confirm that it is a low-luminosity GC, with MKs=-7.0+/-0.6 mag. The radius estimation is performed building the radial density profile, finding r~10. We recognise 7 RR Lyrae star members within 8.2 arcmin from its centre, confirming the distance found by other methods. We found that TBJ3 shows mid-IR emissions that are not present in GCs. We discard TBJ3 as GC candidate and we focus on Patchick99. We conclude that it is an old metal-rich GC, situated in the Galactic bulge.
We have used extensive libraries of model and empirical galaxy spectra (assembled respectively from the population synthesis code of Bruzual and Charlot and the fourth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey) to interpret some puzzling features seen in the spectra of high redshift star-forming galaxies. We show that a stellar He II 1640 emission line, produced in the expanding atmospheres of Of and Wolf-Rayet stars, should be detectable with an equivalent width of 0.5-1.5AA in the integrated spectra of star-forming galaxies, provided the metallicity is greater than about half solar. Our models reproduce the strength of the He II 1640 line measured in the spectra of Lyman break galaxies for established values of their metallicities. With better empirical calibrations in local galaxies, this spectral feature has the potential of becoming a useful diagnostic of massive star winds at high, as well as low, redshifts. We also uncover a relationship in SDSS galaxies between their location in the [O III]/Hb vs. [N II]/Ha diagnostic diagram (the BPT diagram) and their excess specific star formation rate relative to galaxies of similar mass. We infer that an elevated ionisation parameter U is at the root of this effect, and propose that this is also the cause of the offset of high redshift star-forming galaxies in the BPT diagram compared to local ones. We further speculate that higher electron densities and escape fractions of hydrogen ionising photons may be the factors responsible for the systematically higher values of U in the H II regions of high redshift galaxies. The impact of such differences on abundance determinations from strong nebular lines are considered and found to be relatively minor.
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