Bibcode
Milone, A. P.; Piotto, G.; Bedin, L. R.; King, I. R.; Anderson, J.; Marino, A. F.; Bellini, A.; Gratton, R.; Renzini, A.; Stetson, P. B.; Cassisi, S.; Aparicio, A.; Bragaglia, A.; Carretta, E.; D'Antona, F.; Di Criscienzo, M.; Lucatello, S.; Monelli, M.; Pietrinferni, A.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 744, Issue 1, article id. 58 (2012).
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1
2012
Journal
Citations
256
Refereed citations
227
Description
We use Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and ground-based imaging to study
the multiple populations of 47 Tucanae (47 Tuc), combining
high-precision photometry with calculations of synthetic spectra. Using
filters covering a wide range of wavelengths, our HST photometry splits
the main sequence into two branches, and we find that this duality is
repeated in the subgiant and red giant regions, and on the horizontal
branch. We calculate theoretical stellar atmospheres for main-sequence
stars, assuming different chemical composition mixtures, and we compare
their predicted colors through the HST filters with our observed colors.
We find that we can match the complex of observed colors with a pair of
populations, one with primeval abundance and another with enhanced
nitrogen and a small helium enhancement, but with depleted C and O. We
confirm that models of red giant and red horizontal branch stars with
that pair of compositions also give colors that fit our observations. We
suggest that the different strengths of molecular bands of OH, CN, CH,
and NH, falling in different photometric bands, are responsible for the
color splits of the two populations. Near the cluster center, in each
portion of the color-magnitude diagram the population with primeval
abundances makes up only ~20% of the stars, a fraction that increases
outward, approaching equality in the outskirts of the cluster, with a
fraction ~30% averaged over the whole cluster. Thus the second,
He/N-enriched population is more concentrated and contributes the
majority of the present-day stellar content of the cluster. We present
evidence that the color-magnitude diagram of 47 Tuc consists of
intertwined sequences of the two populations, whose separate identities
can be followed continuously from the main sequence up to the red giant
branch, and thence to the horizontal branch. A third population is
visible only in the subgiant branch, where it includes ~8% of the stars.
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.
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