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 M4 Core Project with HST is designed to exploit the Hubble Space Telescope to investigate the central regions of M4, the Globular Cluster closest to the Sun. In this paper we combine optical and near-infrared photometry to study multiple stellar
populations in M4. We detected two sequences of M-dwarfs containing ~38% (MS_I) and ~62% (MS_II) of MS stars below the main-sequence (MS) knee. We compare our observations with those of NGC2808, which is the only other GCs where multiple MSs of very low-mass stars have been studied to date. We calculate synthetic spectra for M-dwarfs, assuming the chemical composition mixture inferred from spectroscopic studies of stellar populations along the red giant branch, and different Helium abundances, and we compare predicted and observed colors. Observations are consistent with two populations, one with primordial abundance and another with enhanced nitrogen and depleted oxygen.
We present an abundance analysis of 96 horizontal branch (HB) stars in NGC2808, a globular cluster exhibiting a complex multiple stellar population pattern. These stars are distributed in different portions of the HB and cover a wide range of tempera
ture. By studying the chemical abundances of this sample, we explore the connection between HB morphology and the chemical enrichment history of multiple stellar populations. For stars lying on the red HB, we use GIRAFFE and UVES spectra to determine Na, Mg, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Zn, Y, Ba, and Nd abundances. For colder, blue HB stars, we derive abundances for Na, primarily from GIRAFFE spectra. We were also able to measure direct NLTE He abundances for a subset of these blue HB stars with temperature higher than ~9000 K. Our results show that: (i) HB stars in NGC2808 show different content in Na depending on their position in the color-magnitude diagram, with blue HB stars having higher Na than red HB stars; (ii) the red HB is not consistent with an uniform chemical abundance, with slightly warmer stars exhibiting a statistically significant higher Na content; and (iii) our subsample of blue HB stars with He abundances shows evidence of enhancement with respect to the predicted primordial He content by Delta(Y)=+0.09+-0.01. Our results strongly support theoretical models that predict He enhancement among second generation(s) stars in globular clusters and provide observational constraints on the second-parameter governing HB morphology.
The next generation of gravitational wave (gw) detectors is expected to fully enter into the quantum regime of force and displacement detection. With this aim, it is important to scale up the experiments on opto-mechanical effects from the microscopi
c regime to large mass systems and test the schemes that should be applied to reach the quantum regime of detection. In this work we present the experimental characterization of a prototype of massive gw detector, composed of two oscillators with a mass of the order of the kg, whose distance is read by a high finesse optical cavity. The mechanical response function is measured by exciting the oscillators though modulated radiation pressure. We demonstrate two effects crucial for the next generation of massive, cryogenic gw detectors (DUAL detectors): a) the reduction of the contribution of local susceptibility thanks to an average over a large interrogation area. Such effect is measured on the photo-thermal response thanks to the first implementation of a folded-Fabry-Perot cavity; b) the back-action reduction due to negative interference between acoustic modes. Moreover, we obtain the active cooling of an oscillation mode through radiation pressure, on the described mechanical device which is several orders of magnitude heavier than previously demonstrated radiation-pressure cooled systems.
We present new abundances and radial velocities for stars in the field of the open cluster Tombaugh 2, which has been suggested to be associated with the Galactic Anticenter Stellar Structure (also known as the Monoceros stream). Using VLT/FLAMES wit
h the UVES and GIRAFFE spectrographs, we find a radial velocity (RV) of <V_{r}> = 121 pm 0.4 km/s using eighteen Tombaugh 2 cluster stars. Our abundance analysis of RV-selected members finds that Tombaugh 2 is more metal-rich than previous studies have found; moreover, unlike the previous work, our larger sample also reveals that stars with the velocity of the cluster show a relatively large spread in chemical properties (e.g., Delta[Fe/H] > 0.2). This is the first time a possible abundance spread has been observed in an open cluster, though this is one of several possible explanations for our observations. While there is an apparent trend of [alpha/Fe] with [Fe/H], the distribution of abundances of these RV cluster members also may hint at a possible division into two primary groups with different mean chemical characteristics -- namely (<[Fe/H]>,<[Ti/Fe]>) ~ (-0.06, +0.02) and (-0.28, +0.36). Based on position and kinematics Tombaugh 2 is a likely member of the GASS/Monoceros stream, which makes Tombaugh 2 the second star cluster within the originally proposed GASS/Monoceros family. However, we explore other possible explanations for the observed spread in abundances and two possible sub-populations, with the most likely explanation being that the metal-poor ([Fe/H] = -0.28), more centrally-concentrated population being the true Tombaugh 2 clusters stars and the metal-rich ([Fe/H] = -0.06) population being an overlapping, and kinematically associated, but cold (sigma_V < 2 km/s) stellar stream at R_{gc} >= 15 kpc.
