English

He-enriched STAREVOL models for globular cluster multiple populations. Self-consistent isochrones from ZAMS to the TP-AGB phase

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2024-10-02 v1 Astrophysics of Galaxies

Abstract

A common property of globular clusters (GC) is to host multiple populations characterized by peculiar chemical abundances. Recent photometric studies suggest that the He content could vary between the populations of a GC by up to Δ\DeltaHe \sim 0.13, in mass fraction. The initial He content impacts the evolution of low-mass stars by ultimately modifying their lifetimes, luminosity, temperatures, and, more generally, the morphology of post-RGB evolutionary tracks in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. We present new physically accurate isochrones with different initial He-enrichments and metallicities, with a focus on the methods implemented to deal with the post-RGB phases. The isochrones are based on tracks computed with the stellar evolution code STAREVOL for different metallicities (Z = 0.0002, 0.0009, 0.002, and 0.008) and with different He-enrichment (from 0.25 to 0.6 in mass fraction). We describe the effect of He-enrichment on the morphology of the isochrones and test these by comparing the predicted number counts of HB and AGB stars with those of selected GCs. Comparing the number ratios, we find that our new theoretical ones agree with the observed values within 1σ1\sigma in most cases. The work presented here sets the ground for future studies on stellar populations in globular clusters, in which the abundances of light elements in He-enhanced models will rely on different assumptions for the causes of this enrichment. The developed methodology permits the computation of isochrones from new stellar tracks with non-canonical stellar processes. The checked number counts ensure that, at least in this reference set, the contribution of the luminous late stages of stellar evolution to the integrated light of a GC is represented adequately.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2405.16505,
  title  = {He-enriched STAREVOL models for globular cluster multiple populations. Self-consistent isochrones from ZAMS to the TP-AGB phase},
  author = {G. Costa and T. Dumont and A. Lançon and A. Palacios and C. Charbonnel and P. Prugniel and S. Ekstrom and C. Georgy and V. Branco and P. Coelho and L. Martins and S. Borisov and K. Voggel and W. Chantereau},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.16505},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

15 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics