English

Multiple stellar populations in the Globular Clusters NGC1851 and NGC6656 (M22)

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2011-07-13 v2

Abstract

In the last years, photometric and spectroscopic evidence has demonstrated that many, maybe all the Globular Clusters (GC) host multiple stellar populations. High-resolution spectroscopy has established that, while most GCs are mono-metallic with no significant abundance spread in ss-elements, in all the globulars studied to date the presence of different stellar generation is inferred by the Na-O and the C-N anticorrelations. In this context, NGC 1851 and NGC 6656 are among the most intriguing clusters. Contrary to the majority of GCs, they host two groups of stars with different s-elements abundance that are clearly associated to the two distinct sub-giant and red-giant branches detected in their color-magnitude diagrams (CMD). In the case of NGC 6656 s-rich stars are also enriched in iron and calcium. Each ss-element group exhibits its own Na-O and C-N anticorrelations thus indicating the presence of sub-populations and suggesting that the parent clusters have experienced a very complex star-formation history. In this paper we summarize the properties of multiple populations in NGC 1851 and NGC 6656.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1107.2056,
  title  = {Multiple stellar populations in the Globular Clusters NGC1851 and NGC6656 (M22)},
  author = {A. P. Milone and G. Piotto and R. L. Bedin and A. F. Marino and Y. Momany and S. Villanova},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1107.2056},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

6 pages, 6 figures, contribution talk given at the Napoli 2010 workshop "54mo congresso della societa' astronomica italiana" to appear in "Supplementi delle Memorie della Societa' Astronomica Italiana"