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Stars with masses between roughly 1 and 8~$M_\odot$ end their lives on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB), when intense mass loss takes place. The outflows are generally accepted to be driven by radiation pressure acting on dust grains that…
Using deep high-resolution multi-band images taken with the Very Large Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope, we discovered a new anomalous sequence in the Color Magnitude Diagram of omega Cen. This feature appears as a narrow,…
We examine the flow from asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars when along a small solid angle the optical depth due to dust is very large. We consider two types of flows. In the first, small cool spots are formed on the surface of slowly…
High spectral resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio optical spectra of red giants in the globular cluster Omega Centauri are analysed for stellar parameters and chemical abundances of 15 elements including helium by either line…
Many disc-type post-asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) stars are chemically peculiar, showing underabundances of refractory elements in their photospheres that correlate with condensation temperature. The aim of this paper is to investigate…
Internal chemical abundance spreads are one of fundamental properties of globular clusters (GCs) in the Galaxy. In order to understand the origin of such abundance spreads, we numerically investigate GC formation from massive molecular…
The globular cluster $\omega$ Centauri (NGC 5139) is a puzzling stellar system harboring several distinct stellar populations whose origin still represents a unique astrophysical challenge. Current scenarios range from primordial chemical…
Modelling dust formation in single stars evolving through the carbon-star stage of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) reproduces well the mid-infrared colours and magnitudes of most of the C-rich sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC),…
A new mechanism for enhancing the helium abundance in the blue main sequence stars of omega Centauri and NGC 2808 is investigated. We suggest that helium enhancement was caused by the inhomogeneous big bang nucleosynthesis. Regions with…
The majority of the inhomogeneities in the chemical composition of Globular Cluster (GC) stars appear due to primordial enrichment by hot-CNO cycled material processed in stars belonging to a first stellar generation. Either massive AGB…
We analyse continuum and molecular emission, observed with ALMA, from the dust-enshrouded intermediate-mass AGB star OH 30.1 -0.7. We find a secondary peak in the continuum maps, "feature B", separated by 4.6" from the AGB star, which…
We are in the process of testing a popular theory that the observed abundance anomalies in the Globular Cluster NGC 6752 are due to `internal pollution' from intermediate mass asymptotic giant branch stars. To this end we are using a…
All globular clusters (GCs) studied to date show evidence for internal variation in their light element abundances. These variations have been interpreted as evidence for multiple star formation episodes within GCs, with secondary episodes…
We explain the multiple populations recently found in the 'prototype' Globular Cluster (GC) NGC 2808 in the framework of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) scenario. The chemistry of the five -or more- populations is approximately consistent…
We present elemental abundances for 855 red giant branch (RGB) stars in the globular cluster Omega Centauri (w Cen) from spectra obtained with the Blanco 4m telescope and Hydra multifiber spectrograph. The sample includes nearly all RGB…
Recent high-quality Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry shows that the main sequences (MS) stars of young star clusters form two discrete components in the color-magnitude diagram (CMD). Based on their distribution in the CMD, we show…
The canonical formation of second-generation (G2) stars in globular clusters (GCs) from gas enriched and ejected by G1 (primordial) polluters faces substantial challenges, i.e. (i) a mass-budget problem and (ii) uncertainty in the source(s)…
We find a deficiency of binary stars moving on strongly retrograde Galactic orbits. No binary deficiencies are seen for U or W velocities, however. From theoretical analyses, we rule out preferential disruption of pre-existing binary stars…
We present spectral energy distribution modelling of 6875 stars in omega Centauri, obtaining stellar luminosities and temperatures by fitting literature photometry to state-of-the-art MARCS stellar models. By comparison to four different…
Recent exam of large samples of omega Cen giants shows that it shares with mono-metallic globular clusters the presence of the sodium versus oxygen anticorrelation, within each subset of stars with iron content in the range…