Related papers: Possible Systematic Decreases in the Age of Globul…
The age of globular clusters inferred from observations depends sensitively on assumptions such as the initial helium abundance and the mass loss rate. A high helium abundance (e.g., $Y\approx$0.28), as well as an inclusion of helium…
The main sequence turnoff luminosity is the best stellar `clock' which can be used to determine the absolute ages of globular clusters. This is due to the fact that it is generally assumed that the luminosity and lifetimes of main sequence…
I review here recent developments which have affected our understanding of both the absolute age of globular clusters and the uncertainties in this age estimate, and comment on the implications for cosmological models. This present estimate…
New estimates of globular cluster distances, combined with revised ranges for input parameters in stellar evolution codes and recent estimates of the earliest redshift of cluster formation allow us to derive a new 95% confidence level lower…
Estimating the age of the Universe is an old problem. Rapid progress in observational cosmology in recent years has led to more accurate values of the fundamental parameters. The current most popular model is a flat Universe, with about 30%…
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…
This is the third article in a series aimed at computing accurate and precise ages of galactic globular clusters from their full color-magnitude diagram in order to estimate the age of the Universe and in turn constrain the cosmological…
We revisit the determination of the age of the Universe from galactic globular clusters, extending previous analyses by explicitly accounting for the presence of multiple stellar populations within each cluster. Using high--quality…
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…
Main sequence turnoff magnitudes from the recent set of Yale isochrones (Chaboyer \ea 1995) have been combined with a variety of relations for the absolute magnitude of RR Lyr stars (\mvrr) to calibrate age as a function of the difference…
We present accurate relative ages for a sample of 55 Galactic globular clusters. The ages have been obtained by measuring the difference between the horizontal branch and the turnoff in two, internally photometrically homogeneous databases.…
We have reanalyzed the age of the universe problem under the assumption that the lower limit on the age of the globular clusters is 11Gyr, as predicted by the recent Hipparcos data. We find that the globular cluster and the expansion ages…
The dominant systematic uncertainty in the age determination of galactic globular clusters is the depth of the convection envelope of the stars. This parameter is partially degenerate with metallicity which is in turn degenerate with age.…
We report the results of a detailed numerical study designed to estimate both the absolute age and the uncertainty in age (with confidence limits) of the oldest globular clusters. Such an estimate is essential if a comparison with the…
Nine presently known "young" Galactic globular clusters, which have ages / 3 Gyr smaller than the oldest clusters of similar metallicity, all have RGC > 15 kpc. Furthermore these young globulars are found to have below-average luminosities.…
A significant fraction of stars in globular clusters (about 70%-85%) exhibit peculiar chemical patterns with strong abundance variations in light elements along with constant abundances in heavy elements. These abundance anomalies can be…
We review five independent techniques which are used to set the distance scale to globular clusters, including subdwarf main sequence fitting utilizing the recent Hipparcos parallax catalogue. These data together all indicate that globular…
Globular clusters are the oldest objects in the Galaxy whose age may be accurately determined. As such globular cluster ages provide the best estimate for the age of the universe. The age of a globular cluster is determined by a comparison…
It is found that the ages of the most metal-poor Galactic globular clusters are probably around 18 Gyr. On the other hand a Hubble parameter of 82 +/- 8 km/sec/Mpc (in conjunction with the standard Einstein-de Sitter model with an Omega =1…
We establish a framework for determing absolute ages of Galactic globular clusters and then use these ages to investigate the age-metallicity and age-Galactocentric distance relations for the 36 clusters with the most reliable age data. The…