NGC1851 is surrounded by a stellar component that extends more than ten times beyond the tidal radius. Although the nature of this stellar structure is not known, it has been suggested to be a sparse halo of stars or associated with a stellar stream.
We analyse the nature of this intriguing stellar component surrounding NGC1851 by investigating its radial velocities and chemical composition, in particular in comparison with those of the central cluster analysed in a homogeneous manner. In total we observed 23 stars in the halo with radial velocities consistent with NGC1851, and for 15 of them we infer [Fe/H] abundances. Our results show that: (i) stars dynamically linked to NGC1851 are present at least up to ~2.5 tidal radii, supporting the presence of a halo of stars surrounding the cluster; (ii) apart from the NGC1851 radial velocity-like stars, our observed velocity distribution agrees with that expected from Galactic models, suggesting that no other sub-structure (such as a stream) at different radial velocities is present in our field; (iii) the chemical abundances for the s-process elements Sr and Ba are consistent with the s-normal stars observed in NGC1851; (iv) all halo stars have metallicities, and abundances for the other studied elements Ca, Mg and Cr, consistent with those exhibited by the cluster. The complexity of the whole NGC1851 cluster+halo system may agree with the scenario of a tidally-disrupted dwarf galaxy in which NGC1851 was originally embedded.
The Galactic globular cluster NGC 1851 has raised much interest since HST photometry revealed that it hosts a double subgiant branch. Here we report on our homogeneous study into the cyanogen (CN) bandstrengths in the RGB population (17 stars) and AG
B population (21 stars) using AAOmega/2dF spectra with R $sim 3000$. We discover that NGC 1851 hosts a quadrimodal distribution of CN bandstrengths in its RGB and AGB populations. This result supports the merger formation scenario proposed for this cluster, such that the CN quadrimodality could be explained by the superposition of two `normal bimodal populations. A small sample overlap with an abundance catalogue allowed us to tentatively explore the relationship between our CN populations and a range of elemental abundances. We found a striking correlation between CN and [O/Na]. We also found that the four CN peaks may be paired -- the two CN-weaker populations being associated with low Ba and the two CN-stronger populations with high Ba. If true then s-process abundances would be a good diagnostic for disentangling the two original clusters in the merger scenario. More observations are needed to confirm the quadrimodality, and also the relationship between the subpopulations. We also report CN results for NGC 288 as a comparison. Our relatively large samples of AGB stars show that both clusters have a bias towards CN-weak AGB populations.
A previously reported literature search suggested that the AGB stars in Galactic globular clusters may be showing different distributions of CN-strong and CN-weak stars as compared to their RGB stars. In most cases the second giant branches of GCs ap
peared to be deficient in stars with strong CN bands. However the sample sizes of AGB stars at that time were too small to give a definitive picture. Thus an observing campaign targeting GC AGB stars was proposed. We now have medium resolution spectral observations of about 250 GC AGB stars across 9 globular clusters, obtained with the 2dF/AAOmega instrument on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. In this paper we report some preliminary results regarding the distributions of CN-strong and CN-weak stars on the two giant branches of a selection of globular clusters. We find that some GCs show a total lack of CN-strong stars on the AGB, whilst some show a reduction in CN-strong stars as compared to the RGB. Standard stellar evolution does not predict this change in surface abundance between the two giant branches. We discuss some possible causes of this unexpected phenomenon.
