Related papers: Horizontal-Branch Morphology as an Age Indicator
The Horizontal Branch (HB) second parameter of Globular Clusters (GCs) is a major open issue in stellar evolution. Large photometric and spectroscopic databases allow a re-examination of this issue. We derive median and extreme (90% of the…
A major uncertainty in the spectroscopic dating of extragalactic globular clusters concerns the degenerate effect that age and horizontal branch morphology have on the strength of Balmer lines. In this Letter we show that the ratio between…
The interpretation of globular cluster horizontal branch (HB) morphology is a classical problem that can significantly blur our understanding of stellar populations. In this paper, we present a new multivariate analysis connecting the…
Ages have been derived for 55 globular clusters (GCs) from overlays of isochrones onto the turnoff photometry, assuming distances based on fits of zero-age horizontal branch (ZAHB) models to the lower bound of the observed distributions of…
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…
We present deep (V ~ 28.0) BV photometry obtained with the wide field channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board HST for four M31 globular clusters that were identified as candidate intermediate-age (age ~ 1-9 Gyr) by various…
The strength of the H$\beta$ index has been computed for the integrated spectra of model globular clusters from the evolutionary population synthesis. These models take into account, for the first time, the detailed systematic variation of…
We present a new set of horizontal-branch (HB) models computed with the MESA stellar evolution code. The models adopt $\alpha$-enhanced \cite{ags09} metals mixtures and include the gravitational settling of He. They are used in our HB…
We present the first photometric results in J, H, and K_s from 2MASS imaging of 10 classical globular clusters in the far outer regions of M31. Combined with the V and I photometric data from previous literature, we constructed the…
We study the globular clusters M3 and Palomar 3 as a "second parameter (2ndP) pair," showing that: i) M3 has a surprisingly strong *internal* 2ndP; ii) The dispersion in mass on the Pal 3 horizontal branch (HB) is intrinsically very small,…
(abridged) We investigate biases in cluster ages and [Fe/H] estimated from the (V-K)-(V-I) diagram, arising from inconsistent Horizontal Branch morphology, metal mixture, treatment of core convection between observed clusters and the…
The connection between mass loss on the red giant branch (RGB) and horizontal branch (HB) morphology in globular clusters (GCs) has long been acknowledged but the mechanisms governing mass loss remains poorly understood from a theoretical…
We present a color-magnitude diagram (CMD) of the globular cluster SKHB-312 in the Andromeda galaxy (M31), obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. The cluster was included in deep observations taken to…
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…
Color-magnitude diagrams of globular clusters often exhibit a prominent horizontal branch (HB) and may also show features such as the red giant branch (RGB) bump and the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) bump. Stellar evolution theory predicts…
Morphological aspects of the $V, \bv$ diagram of metal-rich globular clusters are analyzed, on the basis of stellar evolution models for horizontal-branch (HB) and red giant branch stars. These have been incorporated into detailed synthetic…
Deep HST photometry has recently been presented for the outer-halo globular clusters Palomar 4 and Eridanus. The new high-precision color-magnitude diagrams obtained for these globulars have allowed a measurement of their ages relative to…
It is believed that, except for metallicity, some other parameters are needed to explain the horizontal branch (HB) morphology of globular clusters (GCs). Furthermore, these parameters are considered to be correlated with the mass loss of…
Various methods for age dating globular clusters in ellipticals are presented. We first present spectroscopy of individual globular clusters (feasible with the advent of the 10m-class telescopes), and the measurement of Balmer line indices.…
We schematically review some of the main steps in the study of the Horizontal Branch Morphology in Galactic Globular Clusters. Since the first realization of the existence of the so-called Second Parameter Problem (2nd-P) up to now, one…