We recently discovered that NGC 3201 has characteristics that set it outside the current twofold classification scheme for Galactic globular clusters (GCs). Most GCs are mono-metallic and show light-element abundance variations (e.g., Na-O and C-N anti-correlations); but a minority of clusters also present variations in Fe correlating with s-process element and C+N+O abundances, and they possess multiple C-N sequences. These anomalous GCs also have a broad sub-giant branch (SGB) and follow the same mass-size relation as dwarf galaxies possibly evolving into GCs. We now revealed that NGC 3201 belongs to neither group. It has multiple C-N sequences, but no broad SGB, no strong evidence of a Fe-spread, and it does not follow the mass-size relation.
@article{arxiv.1909.02567,
title = {Breaking the dichotomy between typical and anomalous globular clusters: the case of NGC 3201},
author = {Bruno Dias and Ignacio Araya and João Paulo Nogueira-Cavalcante and Leila Saker and Ahmed Shokry},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1909.02567},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the IAUS351 "Star Clusters: From the Milky Way to the Early Universe", A. Bragaglia, M.B. Davies, A. Sills & E. Vesperini, eds