Bibcode
Dotter, Aaron; Sarajedini, Ata; Anderson, Jay; Aparicio, A.; Bedin, Luigi R.; Chaboyer, Brian; Majewski, Steven; Marín-Franch, A.; Milone, Antonino; Paust, Nathaniel; Piotto, Giampaolo; Reid, I. Neill; Rosenberg, A.; Siegel, Michael
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 708, Issue 1, pp. 698-716 (2010).
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1
2010
Journal
Citations
415
Refereed citations
387
Description
The horizontal branch (HB) morphology of globular clusters (GCs) is most
strongly influenced by metallicity. The second parameter phenomenon,
first described in the 1960s, acknowledges that metallicity alone is not
enough to describe the HB morphology of all GCs. In particular,
astronomers noticed that the outer Galactic halo contains GCs with
redder HBs at a given metallicity than are found inside the solar
circle. Thus, at least a second parameter was required to characterize
HB morphology. While the term "second parameter" has since come to be
used in a broader context, its identity with respect to the original
problem has not been conclusively determined. Here we analyze the median
color difference between the HB and the red giant branch, hereafter
denoted as Δ(V - I), measured from Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) photometry of 60 GCs within ~20 kpc of
the Galactic center. Analysis of this homogeneous data set reveals that,
after the influence of metallicity has been removed from the data, the
correlation between Δ(V - I) and age is stronger than that of any
other parameter considered. Expanding the sample to include HST ACS and
Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 photometry of the six most distant
Galactic GCs lends additional support to the correlation between
Δ(V - I) and age. This result is robust with respect to the
adopted metallicity scale and the method of age determination, but must
bear the caveat that high-quality, detailed abundance information is not
available for a significant fraction of the sample. Furthermore, when a
subset of GCs with similar metallicities and ages is considered, a
correlation between Δ(V - I) and central luminosity density is
exposed. With respect to the existence of GCs with anomalously red HBs
at a given metallicity, we conclude that age is the second parameter and
central density is most likely the third. Important problems related to
HB morphology in GCs, notably multi-modal distributions and faint blue
tails, remain to be explained.
Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained
at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA,
Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555, under program GO-10775.
Related projects
Milky Way and Nearby Galaxies
The general aim of the project is to research the structure, evolutionary history and formation of galaxies through the study of their resolved stellar populations, both from photometry and spectroscopy. The group research concentrates in the most nearby objects, namely the Local Group galaxies including the Milky Way and M33 under the hypothesis
Martín
López Corredoira