On the Absolute Age of the Globular Cluster M92

di Cecco, A.; Becucci, R.; Bono, G.; Monelli, M.; Stetson, P. B.; Degl'Innocenti, S.; Prada Moroni, P. G.; Nonino, M.; Weiss, A.; Buonanno, R.; Calamida, A.; Caputo, F.; Corsi, C. E.; Ferraro, I.; Iannicola, G.; Pulone, L.; Romaniello, M.; Walker, A. R.
Bibliographical reference

Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Volume 122, issue 895, pp.991-999

Advertised on:
9
2010
Number of authors
18
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
28
Refereed citations
21
Description
We present precise and deep optical photometry of the globular M92. Data were collected in three different photometric systems: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (g ', r ', i ', and z '; MegaCam at CFHT), Johnson-Kron-Cousins ( B , V , and I ; various ground-based telescopes), and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) Vegamag (F475W, F555W, and F814W; Hubble Space Telescope). Special attention was given to the photometric calibration, and the precision of the ground-based data is generally better than 0.01 mag. We computed a new set of α-enhanced evolutionary models accounting for the gravitational settling of heavy elements at fixed chemical composition ( [ α / Fe ] = + 0.3 , [ Fe / H ] = - 2.32 dex , and Y = 0.248 ). The isochrones-assuming the same true distance modulus ( μ = 14.74 mag ), the same reddening [ E ( B - V ) = 0.025 ± 0.010 mag ], and the same reddening law-account for the stellar distribution along the main sequence and the red giant branch in different color-magnitude diagrams (i ', g ' - i '; i ', and g ' - r '; i ', g ' - z '; I , and B - I ; and F814W and F475W-F814W). The same outcome applies to the comparison between the predicted zero-age horizontal-branch (ZAHB) and the HB stars. We also found a cluster age of 11 ± 1.5 Gyr , in good agreement with previous estimates. The error budget accounts for uncertainties in the input physics and the photometry. To test the possible occurrence of CNO-enhanced stars, we also computed two sets of α- and CNO-enhanced (by a factor of 3) models, both at fixed total metallicity ( [ M / H ] = - 2.10 dex ) and at fixed iron abundance. We found that the isochrones based on the former set give the same cluster age ( 11 ± 1.5 Gyr ) as the canonical α-enhanced isochrones. The isochrones based on the latter set also give a similar cluster age ( 10 ± 1.5 Gyr ). These findings support previous results concerning the weak sensitivity of cluster isochrones to CNO-enhanced chemical mixtures.
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