Related papers: Lithium and proton-capture elements in globular cl…
Previous surveys in a few metal-poor globular clusters (GCs) showed that the determination of abundances for Li and proton-capture elements offers a key tool to address the intracluster pollution scenario. In this Letter, we present Na, O,…
In the globular cluster NGC2808, a quasi-standard initial lithium abundance is derived for a red giant belonging to the `extreme' population, characterized by a large helium overabundance, and by abundances of proton capture elements…
Globular cluster stars show chemical abundance patterns typical of hot-CNO processing. Lithium is easily destroyed by proton capture in stellar environments, so its abundance may be crucial to discriminate among different models proposed to…
I shall review what has been learnt during 20 years of lithium observations in stars belonging to metal-poor globular clusters. The focus will be on little evolved main-sequence, turnoff-point (TOP) and subgiant-branch (SGB) stars expected…
Multiple Populations represent the standard for Globular Clusters (GC): a fraction (10-50%) of their stars have the same elemental abundances of halo stars of similar metallicity (first generation, or 1G), but the other stars (second…
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…
The various scenarios proposed for the origin of the multiple, helium-enriched populations in massive globular clusters are critically compared to the relevant constraining observations. Among accretion of helium-rich material by…
Context. The abundance inhomogeneities of light elements observed in Globular Clusters (GCs), and notably the ubiquitous Na-O anti-correlation, are generally interpreted as evidence that GCs comprise several generations of stars. There is…
Convergent lines of evidence suggest that globular clusters host multiple stellar populations. It appears that they experience at least two episodes of star formation whereby a fraction of first-generation stars contribute astrated ejecta…
Lithium is created during the Big Bang nucleosynthesis and it is destroyed in stellar interiors at relatively low temperatures. However, it should be preserved in the stellar envelopes of unevolved stars and progressively diluted during…
We take a closer look at our published results of determination of ages, metallicities, helium mass fractions and abundances of chemical elements in Galactic globular clusters in order to find possible signatures of the phenomenon of…
The determination of Li and proton-capture element abundances in globular cluster (GC) giants allows us to constrain several key questions on the multiple population scenarios in GCs, from formation and early evolution, to pollution and…
A new scenario --early disc accretion-- has been recently proposed to explain the discovery of multiple stellar populations in Galactic globular clusters. According to this model, the existence of well defined (anti)-correlations amongst…
Globular clusters have been widely studied in terms of light element variations present in their different stellar populations. However, the nature of the polluter(s) responsible for this phenomenon is still debated. The study of heavy…
The "stellar" solution to the cosmological lithium problem proposes that surface depletion of lithium in low-mass, metal-poor stars can reconcile the lower abundances found for Galactic halo stars with the primordial prediction. Globular…
Large star-to-star variations of the abundances of proton-capture elements, such as Na and O, in globular clusters (GCs) are interpreted as the effect of internal pollution resulting from the presence of multiple stellar populations. To…
The light element lithium is formed by nucleosynthesis during the Big Bang. Its abundance can help to define the parameters of the early universe. To find this primordial value, it is necessary to determine Li abundances in the oldest stars…
It is now clear that abundance variations from star-to-star among the light elements, particularly C, N, O, Na and Al, are ubiquitous within galactic globular clusters; they appear seen whenever data of high quality is obtained for a…
We review spectroscopic results concerning multiple stellar populations in globularclusters. The cluster initial mass is the most important parameter determining the fraction of second generation stars. The threshold for the onset of the…
I summarize the results of 15 years of research on the surface abundances of stars in globular clusters. Globular-cluster stars afford a unique view of the physical processes that shape the surface abundances of stars on and beyond the…