Discovery of Blue Hook Stars in the Massive Globular Cluster M54
Abstract
We present BV photometry centered on the globular cluster M54 (NGC 6715). The color-magnitude diagram clearly shows a blue horizontal branch extending anomalously beyond the zero age horizontal branch theoretical models. These kinds of horizontal branch stars (also called ``blue hook'' stars), which go beyond the lower limit of the envelope mass of canonical horizontal branch hot stars, have so far been known to exist in only a few globular clusters: NGC 2808, Omega Centauri (NGC 5139), NGC 6273, and NGC 6388. Those clusters, like M54, are among the most luminous in our Galaxy, indicating a possible correlation between the existence of these types of horizontal branch stars and the total mass of the cluster. A gap in the observed horizontal branch of M54 around T(eff)= 27000 K could be interpreted within the late helium flash theoretical scenario, a possible explanation for the origin of those stars.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0310746,
title = {Discovery of Blue Hook Stars in the Massive Globular Cluster M54},
author = {Alfred Rosenberg and Alejandra Recio-Blanco and Macarena Garcia-Marin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0310746},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
10 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal