Related papers: Heavy element diffusion and globular cluster ages
We review the theory of electron-conduction opacity, a fundamental ingredient in the computation of low-mass stellar models; shortcomings and limitations of the existing calculations used in stellar evolution are discussed. We then present…
We consider the horizontal branch (HB) of the Globular Cluster Terzan 5, recently shown to be split into two parts, the fainter one (delta M_K ~ 0.3mag) having a lower metallicity than the more luminous. Both features show that it contains…
Although the theoretical study of very low metallicity (Z) and metal-free stars is not new, their importance has recently greatly increased since two related fields have been developing rapidly. The first is cosmological simulations of the…
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…
We examine the photometric data for Fornax clusters, focussing our attention on their horizontal branch color distribution and, when available, on the RR Lyr variables fraction and period distribution. Based on our understanding of the HB…
Properties of 53 globular cluster systems are investigated. Strong correlations are found between parent galaxy luminosity and both the slope of the radial density profile for clusters and the width of the cluster color (metallicity)…
The effects of atomic diffusion on internal and surface abundances of A and F pre-main-sequence stars with mass loss are studied in order to determine at what age the effects materialize, as well as to further understand the processes at…
We present theoretical models of the angular momentum evolution of very low mass stars (0.1 - 0.5 M_sun) and solar analogues (0.6 - 1.1 M_sun). We investigate the effect of rotation on the effective temperature and luminosity of these…
Core helium burning is the dominant source of energy of extreme horizontal branch stars, as the hydrogen envelope is too small to contribute to the nuclear energy output. The evolution of each mass in the HR diagram occurs along vertical…
As part of a large project aimed at characterizing the ultraviolet (UV) properties of globular clusters, we present here a theoretical and observational analysis aimed at setting the framework for the determination of horizontal branch (HB)…
Hot subluminous stars of spectral type B and O are core helium-burning stars at the blue end of the horizontal branch or have evolved even beyond that stage. Strikingly, the distribution in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of He-rich vs.…
We present a new grid of stellar models and isochrones for old stellar populations, covering a large range of [Fe/H] values, for an heavy element mixture characterized by CNONa abundance anticorrelations as observed in Galactic globular…
Hydrogen deficient stars include the cool R CrB variable (RCBs) and hydrogen-deficient carbon (HdCs) giants through extreme helium stars (EHes) to the very hot helium-rich subdwarfs (He-sdO and O(He) stars) and white dwarfs. With surfaces…
Most Globular Clusters (GC) show chemical inhomogeneities in the composition of their stars, apparently due to a second stellar generation (SG) in which the forming gas is enriched by hot-CNO cycled material processed in stars belonging to…
Our understanding of the evolution of He4 and Li7 depends critically on the available data for these two elements at low metallicity. In particular, the degree to which there is a slope in an abundance vs metallicity regression can help…
It has been known for a long time that some red giants in globular clusters exhibit large star-to-star variations in the abundances of light elements that are not exhibited by field giants. This fact can be taken as evidence that the extra…
One of the most dramatic events in the life of a low-mass star is the He flash, which takes place at the tip of the red giant branch (RGB) and is followed by a series of secondary flashes before the star settles into the zero-age horizontal…
Atomic diffusion may lead to heavy element accumulation inside stars in certain specific layers. Iron accumulation in the Z-bump opacity region has been invoked by several authors to quantitatively account for abundance anomalies observed…
Differences in chemical composition among main sequence stars within a given cluster are probably due to differences in their masses and other effects such as radiative diffusion, magnetic field, rotation, mixing mechanisms, mass loss,…
A chemical evolution model following the evolution of the abundances of H, He, C, N, O and Fe for dwarf irregular and blue compact galaxies is presented. This model takes into account detailed nucleosynthesis and computes in detail the…