Bibcode
Brown, T. M.; Cassisi, S.; D’Antona, F.; Salaris, M.; Milone, A. P.; Dalessandro, E.; Piotto, G.; Renzini, A.; Sweigart, A. V.; Bellini, A.; Ortolani, S.; Sarajedini, A.; Aparicio, A.; Bedin, L. R.; Anderson, J.; Pietrinferni, A.; Nardiello, D.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 822, Issue 1, article id. 44, pp. (2016).
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5
2016
Journal
Citations
45
Refereed citations
41
Description
The UV-initiative Hubble Space Telescope Treasury survey of Galactic
globular clusters provides a new window into the phenomena that shape
the morphological features of the horizontal branch (HB). Using this
large and homogeneous catalog of UV and blue photometry, we demonstrate
that the HB exhibits discontinuities that are remarkably consistent in
color (effective temperature). This consistency is apparent even among
some of the most massive clusters hosting multiple distinct
sub-populations (such as NGC 2808, ω Cen, and NGC 6715),
demonstrating that these phenomena are primarily driven by atmospheric
physics that is independent of the underlying population properties.
However, inconsistencies arise in the metal-rich clusters NGC 6388 and
NGC 6441, where the discontinuity within the blue HB (BHB) distribution
shifts ∼1000–2000 K hotter. We demonstrate that this shift is
likely due to a large helium enhancement in the BHB stars of these
clusters, which in turn affects the surface convection and evolution of
such stars. Our survey also increases the number of Galactic globular
clusters known to host blue-hook stars (also known as late hot flashers)
from 6 to 23 clusters. These clusters are biased toward the bright end
of the globular cluster luminosity function, confirming that blue-hook
stars tend to form in the most massive clusters with significant
self-enrichment.
Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope,
obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by
the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under
NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with
program GO-13297.