Related papers: Blue Stragglers as Tracers of Globular Cluster Evo…
Recent observations of blue stragglers by De Marco et al. (2004) have revealed continuum deficits on the blue side of the Balmer discontinuity, leading these authors to infer the presence of discs around the stars. This intriguing…
Context. Origin and evolution of blue stragglers in globular clusters is still a matter of debate. Aims. The aim of the present investigation is to reproduce the evolutionary history of four binary blue stragglers in four different…
In this paper, we present the simulations for the primordial blue stragglers in the old open cluster M67 based on detailed modelling of the evolutionary processes. The principal aim is to discuss the contribution of mass transfer between…
Blue straggler stars present as secure members in the Galactic open clusters form a major challenge to the conventional picture of evolutionary population synthesis based on the stellar evolution theory of single stars, as illustrated in…
We analyze the position of the two populations of blue stragglers in the globular cluster M30 in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Both populations of blue stragglers are brighter than the cluster's turn-off, but one population (the blue…
We examine the blue straggler populations of 13 low-luminosity (M_V_t >~ -6) globular clusters and 2 old open clusters. These clusters test blue straggler formation in environments intermediate between higher luminosity (and usually higher…
This chapter presents an overview of the main observational results obtained to date about Blue Straggler Stars (BSSs) in Galactic Globular Clusters (GCs). The BSS specific frequency, radial distribution, chemical composition and rotational…
Blue Stragglers are stars located in an unexpected region of the color-magnitude diagram of a stellar population, as they appear bluer and more luminous than the stars in the turnoff region. They are ubiquitous, since they have been found…
Representing single stellar populations, globular clusters (GCs) are relatively easy to model, thus providing powerful tools for studying the evolution of galaxies. This has been demonstrated for the blue compact galaxy ESO338-IG04. GC…
(abridged) We use newly available empirical binary fractions for globular clusters to carry out a direct test of the binary evolution hypothesis, and of collisional channels that involve binary stars. More specifically, using the previously…
When two stars collide and merge they form a new star that can stand out against the background population in a starcluster as a blue straggler. In so called collision runaways many stars can merge and may form a very massive star that…
Globular clusters are collisional systems, meaning that the stars inside them interact on timescales much shorter than the age of the Universe. These frequent interactions transfer energy between stars and set up observable trends that tell…
Observations have revealed that most stars are born in clusters. These systems, containing from tens to thousands of stars and typically significant mass in gas in the youngest systems, evolve due to a combination of stellar and star-gas…
Blue straggler stars (BSS) are abundantly observed in all Galactic globular clusters (GGC) where data exist. However, observations alone cannot reveal the relative importance of various formation channels or the typical formation times for…
The hydrodynamics of stellar collisions and mergers is discussed in the context of blue straggler formation. Emphasis is placed on the very important question of hydrodynamic mixing during the merger process. Recent results of…
We analyze {\sl Hubble Space Telescope} observations of nine Large Magellanic Cloud star clusters with ages of 1--2 Gyr to search for evolved counterparts of blue straggler stars. Near the red clump regions in the clusters' color--magnitude…
Blue stragglers (BSS) are stars whose position in the Color-Magnitude Diagram (CMD) places them above the main sequence turn-off (TO) point of a star cluster. Using data from the core of 47 Tuc in the ultraviolet (UV), we have identified…
We investigate the distribution of Blue Straggler stars in the field of three open star clusters. The main purpose is to highlight the crucial role played by general Galactic disk fore-/back-ground field stars, which are often located in…
Blue straggler stars (BSSs) are the most massive stars in a cluster formed via binary or higher-order stellar interactions. Though the exact nature of such formation scenarios is difficult to pin down, we provide observational constraints…
We study the post-main sequence evolution of products of collisions between main sequence stars (blue stragglers), with particular interest paid to the horizontal branch and asymptotic giant branch phases. We found that the blue straggler…