Bibcode
Milone, A. P.; Piotto, G.; Renzini, A.; Marino, A. F.; Bedin, L. R.; Vesperini, E.; D'Antona, F.; Nardiello, D.; Anderson, J.; King, I. R.; Yong, D.; Bellini, A.; Aparicio, A.; Barbuy, B.; Brown, T. M.; Cassisi, S.; Ortolani, S.; Salaris, M.; Sarajedini, A.; van der Marel, R. P.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 464, Issue 3, p.3636-3656
Advertised on:
1
2017
Citations
378
Refereed citations
336
Description
We use high-precision photometry of red-giant-branch (RGB) stars in 57
Galactic globular clusters (GCs), mostly from the `Hubble Space
Telescope (HST) UV Legacy Survey of Galactic GCs', to identify and
characterize their multiple stellar populations. For each cluster the
pseudo-two-colour diagram (or `chromosome map') is presented, built with
a suitable combination of stellar magnitudes in the F275W, F336W, F438W,
and F814W filters that maximizes the separation between multiple
populations. In the chromosome map of most GCs (type-I clusters), stars
separate in two distinct groups that we identify with the first (1G) and
the second generation (2G). This identification is further supported by
noticing that 1G stars have primordial (oxygen-rich, sodium-poor)
chemical composition, whereas 2G stars are enhanced in sodium and
depleted in oxygen. This 1G-2G separation is not possible for a few GCs
where the two sequences have apparently merged into an extended,
continuous sequence. In some GCs (type-II clusters) the 1G and/or the 2G
sequences appear to be split, hence displaying more complex chromosome
maps. These clusters exhibit multiple subgiant branches (SGBs) also in
purely optical colour-magnitude diagrams, with the fainter SGB joining
into a red RGB which is populated by stars with enhanced heavy-element
abundance. We measure the RGB width by using appropriate colours and
pseudo-colours. When the metallicity dependence is removed, the RGB
width correlates with the cluster mass. The fraction of 1G stars ranges
from ˜8 per cent to ˜67 per cent and anticorrelates with the
cluster mass, indicating that incidence and complexity of the multiple
population phenomenon both increase with cluster mass.
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