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Register a new userAtomic Diffusion and Mixing in Old Stars. III. Analysis of NGC 6397 Stars under New Constraints
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We have previously reported on chemical abundance trends with evolutionary state in the globular cluster NGC 6397 discovered in analyses of spectra taken with FLAMES at the VLT. Here, we reinvestigate the FLAMES-UVES sample of 18 stars, ranging from just above the turnoff point (TOP) to the red giant branch below the bump. Inspired by new calibrations of the infrared flux method, we adopt a set of hotter temperature scales. Chemical abundances are determined for six elements (Li, Mg, Ca, Ti, Cr, and Fe). Signatures of cluster-internal pollution are identified and corrected for in the analysis of Mg. On the modified temperature scales, evolutionary trends in the abundances of Mg and Fe are found to be significant at the 2{sigma} and 3{sigma} levels, respectively. The detailed evolution of abundances for all six elements agrees with theoretical isochrones, calculated with effects of atomic diffusion and a weak to moderately strong efficiency of turbulent mixing. The age of these models is compatible with the external determination from the white dwarf cooling sequence. We find that the abundance analysis cannot be reconciled with the strong turbulent-mixing efficiency inferred elsewhere for halo field stars. A weak mixing efficiency reproduces observations best, indicating a diffusion-corrected primordial lithium abundance of log {epsilon}(Li) = 2.57 +- 0.10. At 1.2{sigma}, this value agrees well with WMAP-calibrated Big-Bang nucleosynthesis predictions.
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A homogeneous spectroscopic analysis of unevolved and evolved stars in the metal-poor globular cluster NGC 6397 with FLAMES-UVES reveals systematic trends of stellar surface abundances that are likely caused by atomic diffusion. This finding helps to understand, among other issues, why the lithium abundances of old halo stars are significantly lower than the abundance found to be produced shortly after the Big Bang.
We present a homogeneous photometric and spectroscopic analysis of 18 stars along the evolutionary sequence of the metal-poor globular cluster NGC 6397 ([Fe/H] = -2), from the main-sequence turnoff point to red giants below the bump. The spectroscopic stellar parameters, in particular stellar-parameter differences between groups of stars, are in good agreement with broad-band and Stroemgren photometry calibrated on the infrared-flux method. The spectroscopic abundance analysis reveals, for the first time, systematic trends of iron abundance with evolutionary stage. Iron is found to be 31% less abundant in the turnoff-point stars than in the red giants. An abundance difference in lithium is seen between the turnoff-point and warm subgiant stars. The impact of potential systematic errors on these abundance trends (stellar parameters, the hydrostatic and LTE approximations) is quantitatively evaluated and found not to alter our conclusions significantly. Trends for various elements (Li, Mg, Ca, Ti and Fe) are compared with stellar-structure models including the effects of atomic diffusion and radiative acceleration. Such models are found to describe the observed element-specific trends well, if extra (turbulent) mixing just below the convection zone is introduced. It is concluded that atomic diffusion and turbulent mixing are largely responsible for the sub-primordial stellar lithium abundances of warm halo stars. Other consequences of atomic diffusion in old metal-poor stars are also discussed.
We present and discuss radial velocity and the very first metallicity measurements for nine evolved stars in the poorly known old open cluster NGC 7762. We isolated eight radial velocity cluster members and one interloper. Radial velocities are in good agreement with previous studies. NGC 7762 turns out to be of solar metallicity within the uncertainties ([Fe/H]=0.04$pm$0.12). For this metallicity, the cluster age is 2.5$pm$0.2 Gyr, and falls in a age range where only a few old open clusters are known. With respect to previous studies, we find a larger distance, implying the cluster to be located at 900$^{+70}_{-50}$ pc from the Sun. For most of the elements we measure solar-scaled abundance ratios. We searched the literature for open clusters of similar age in the solar vicinity and found that NGC 7762 can be considered a twin of Ruprecht 147, a similar age cluster located at only 300 pc from the Sun. In fact, beside age, also metallicity and abundance ratios are very close to Ruprecht 147 values within the observational uncertainties.
We have conducted a photometric survey of the globular cluster NGC 6397 in a search for variable stars. We obtained ~11h of time-resolved photometric images with one ne European Southern Observatory-Very Large Telescope using the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph imager distributed over two consecutive nights. We analyzed 8391 light curves of stars brighter than magnitude 23 with the 465 nm-filter, and we identified 412 variable stars, reaching ~ 4.8 +- 0.2 per cent of variability with timescales between 0.004 and 2d, with amplitudes variation greater than +- 0.2 mag.
The recent variability survey of the NGC 3766 cluster revealed a considerable number of periodic variable stars in a region of the H-R diagram where no pulsation is expected. This region lies between the instability strips of the delta Scuti and SPB stars. Moreover the periods of the new phenomenon, P~0.1-0.7 d, do not allow to associate it a priori to either of these two types of pulsations. Stars in the NGC 3766 cluster are known as fast rotators with rotational velocities typically larger than half of their critical velocity. Rotation can affect both the geometrical properties and period domain of pulsations. It also alters the apparent stellar luminosity through gravity darkening, effect seldom taken considered in theoretical studies of the rotation-pulsation interaction. We explore if both of these effects are able to deliver a consistent interpretation for the observed properties of the new variables in NGC 3766: explaining their presence outside the known instability strips and their variability periods. We carry out an instability analysis of SPB models within the framework of the Traditional Approximation of Rotation and study the visibility of modes according to the angle of view and rotation. We also check how gravity darkening affects the effective temperature and luminosity of stellar models for different angles of view and rotation velocities. At the red (cold) border of the instability strip, prograde sectoral modes are preferentially excited and their visibilities are maximum when seen equator-on. Furthermore low-mass SPB models seen equator-on can appear in the gap between non-rotating SPB and delta Scuti stars due to gravity darkening. In that case, periods of these most visible modes are shifted to the 0.2-0.5 d range due to the effects of the Coriolis force. We hence suggest that the new variable stars observed in NGC 3766 are actually fast rotating SPB pulsators.
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