English

Massive stars, globular clusters and elliptical galaxies

Astrophysics 2008-01-11 v1

Abstract

Globular clusters as ω\omega Cen and NGC 2808 appear to have a population of very He-rich stars. From a theoretical point of view, one expects the presence of He-rich stars in all globular clusters showing an oxygen-sodium (O-Na) anticorrelation. In this paper, we briefly recall how fast rotating massive stars could be the main source of the material from which He-rich stars have formed. We speculate that the UV-upturn phenomenon observed in all elliptical galaxies might be due to He-rich stars. If this hypothesis is correct then fast rotating massive stars may have played in the early evolutionary phases of these systems a similar role as the one they played in the nascent globular clusters.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0801.1574,
  title  = {Massive stars, globular clusters and elliptical galaxies},
  author = {Georges Meynet and Thibaut Decressin and Corinne Charbonnel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0801.1574},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

8 pages, 4 figures, "Memorie della Societa' Astronomica Italiana", Vol. 79 No. 2, eds. S. Cassisi & M. Salaris, in press

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