Related papers: Shedding Light on Lithium Evolution: The Globular …
The WMAP determination of the baryon-to-photon ratio implies, through Big Bang nucleosynthesis, a cosmological Li abundance larger, by a factor of 2 to 3, than the Li abundance plateau observed in the oldest Pop II stars. It is however…
Globular clusters provide a unique probe of galaxy formation and evolution. Here I briefly summarize the known observational properties of globular cluster systems. One re-occurring theme is that the globular cluster systems of spirals and…
Lithium abundances and rotation, determined for 120 subgiant stars in Lebre et al. (1999) are analyzed. To this purpose, the evolutionary status of the sample as well as the individual masses have been determined using the HIPPARCOS…
Lithium is predicted, and observed, to be depleted in contracting, low-mass pre main sequence (PMS) stars. Yet these stars reach the zero age main sequence (ZAMS) with a spread in lithium abundance at a given effective temperature that is…
We revisit large spectroscopic data sets for field stars from the literature to derive the upper Li envelope in the high metallicity regime in our Galaxy. We take advantage of Gaia EDR3 data and state-of-the-art stellar models to precisely…
Low-mass stars play a key role in many different areas of astrophysics. In this article, I provide a brief overview of the evolution of low-mass stars, and discuss some of the uncertainties and problems currently affecting low-mass stellar…
We want to determine the lithium abundances of solar twin stars as a function of stellar age to provide constraints for stellar evolutions models and to investigate whether there is a connection between low Li abundance and the occurrence…
Context. Globular clusters host multiple populations of long-lived low-mass stars whose origin remains an open question. Several scenarios have been proposed to explain the associated photometric and spectroscopic peculiarities. They…
We discuss the high lithium abundances in the secondary stars of X-ray binaries. We show that no lithium production in these stars is necessary, and that the abundances can be explained simply due to the tidally locked rotation of the…
We propose a new chemical evolution model aimed at explaining the chemical properties of globular clusters (GC) stars. Our model depends upon the existence of (i) a peculiar pre-enrichment phase in the GC's parent galaxy associated with…
We incorporate a semi-analytic formula for the main sequence lifetime of helium-rich stars in N-body simulations of multiple population globular clusters to investigate how the enriched helium stars impact the dynamics of globular clusters.…
Abundance anomalies observed in globular cluster stars indicate pollution with material processed by hydrogen burning. Two main sources have been suggested: asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and massive stars rotating near the break-up…
The mean color of globular clusters (GCs) in early-type galaxies is in general bluer than the integrated color of halo field stars in host galaxies. Metal-rich GCs often appear more associated with field stars than metal-poor GCs, yet show…
Blue horizontal branch and UV bright stars in several globular clusters are analysed spectroscopically and the results are compared with predictions of stellar evolutionary theory. We find that the distribution of temperatures and surface…
I use literature data and a new temperature calibration to determine the Li abundances in the globular cluster M 92. Based on the same data, Boesgaard et al. have claimed that there is a dispersion in Li abundances in excess of…
The presence of multiple populations in globular clusters has been well established thanks to high-resolution spectroscopy. It is widely accepted that distinct populations are a consequence of different stellar generations: intra-cluster…
We discuss the present state of knowledge and thought concerning the spread in age found among Galactic globular clusters, with some discussion of the implications for what happened during the earliest stages of the formation of the Milky…
Evolutionary trends in the surface abundances of heavier elements have recently been identified in the globular cluster NGC 6397 ([Fe/H]=-2), indicating the operation of atomic diffusion in these stars. Such trends constitute important…
The application to main-sequence stars of the rotation-induced mixing theory in the presence of mu-gradients leads to partial mixing in the lithium destruction region, not visible in the atmosphere. The induced lithium depletion becomes…
Recent pieces of evidence have revealed that most, and possibly all, globular star clusters are composed of groups of stars that formed in multiple episodes with different chemical compositions. In this sense, it has also been argued that…