Related papers: The second and third parameters of the Horizontal …
We perform an evolutionary multivariate analysis of a sample of 54 Galactic globular clusters with high-quality colour-magnitude diagrams and well-determined ages. The four parameters adopted for the analysis are: metallicity, age, maximum…
We present homogeneous age determinations for a large sample of 55 Galactic globular clusters, which constitute about 30% of the total Galactic population. A study of their age distribution reveals that all clusters from the most metal poor…
Globular Clusters (GCs) exhibit star-to-star variations in specific elements (e.g., He, C, N, O, Na, Al) that bare the hallmark of high temperature H burning. These abundance variations can be observed spectroscopically and also…
The formation of populous secondary star cluster systems is a widespread phenomenon in mergers of gas-rich galaxies. Many, if not most, of those clusters are massive and compact enough to be young globular clusters (GCs). GC systems in most…
The observed abundance variations in globular cluster red giants indicate that these stars may be mixing helium from the hydrogen shell outward into the envelope, presumably as a result of internal rotation. We have investigated the…
We have developed an homogeneous evolutionary scenario for H- and He-burning low-mass stars by computing updated stellar models for a wide metallicity and age range (0.0002$\le Z \le$0.004 and 9$\le t(Gyr) \le$15, respectively) suitable to…
We analyse complementary HST and SUBARU data for the globular cluster NGC 2419. We make a detailed analysis of the horizontal branch (HB), that appears composed by two main groups of stars: the luminous blue HB stars ---that extend by…
We analyze the angular momentum evolution from the red giant branch (RGB) to the horizontal branch (HB) and along the HB. Using rotation velocities for stars in the globular cluster M13, we find that the required angular momentum for the…
After taking into account, for the first time, the detailed systematic variation of horizontal-branch (HB) morphology with age and metallicity, our population synthesis models show that the integrated H beta index is significantly affected…
In the course of a systematic exploration of the uncertainties associated to the input micro- and macro-physics in the modeling of the evolution of intermediate mass stars during their Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) phase, we focus on the…
We present a review of the present state of knowledge regarding the relative ages of Galactic globular clusters. First, we discuss the relevant galaxy formation models and describe the detailed predictions they make with respect to the…
A popular self--enrichment scenario for the formation of globular clusters assumes that the abundance anomalies shown by the stars in many clusters are due to a second stage of star formation occurring from the matter lost by the winds of…
Strong mass loss on the red giant branch (RGB) can result in the formation of extreme horizontal branch (EHB) stars. The EHB stars spend most of their He core and shell burning phase at high temperatures and produce copious ultraviolet…
We present our recent revision of model constructions for the horizontal-branch (HB) morphology of globular clusters, which suggests the HB morphology is more sensitive to age compared to our earlier models. We also present our high…
We present the evolution of low mass and low metallicity RGB models computed under the assumption of deep mixing between the convective envelope and the hydrogen burning shell. We discuss the helium enrichment of the envelope which is…
We find a strong correlation between the extension of the Na-O anticorrelation observed in red giant branch (RGB) stars and the high temperature extension of the horizontal branch (HB) blue tails of Galactic globular clusters (GCs). The…
Despite the efforts of the past decade, the origin of the bimodal horizontal-branch (HB) found in some globular clusters (GCs) remains a conundrum. Inspired by the discovery of multiple stellar populations in the {\it most massive} Galactic…
Globular Cluster (GC) systems of most early-type galaxies show bimodal optical color distributions, yet their Luminosity Functions (LFs) look like simple Gaussians with turn-over magnitudes used for determination of distances and the Hubble…
We examine the photometric data for Fornax clusters, focussing our attention on their horizontal branch color distribution and, when available, on the RR Lyr variables fraction and period distribution. Based on our understanding of the HB…
Context. Abundance anomalies have been observed in field sdB stars and in nearly all Horizontal Branch (HB) stars of globular clusters with Teff > 11 000K whatever be the cluster metallicity. Aims. The aim is to determine the abundance…