Related papers: Horizontal-Branch Stars as an Age Indicator
We present the deepest near-UV image of M32 to date, which for the first time resolves hot HB stars in an elliptical galaxy. Given the near-solar metallicity of M32, much larger than that of globular clusters, the existence of an extended…
Blue straggler stars have been proposeed as powerful indicators to measure the dynamical state of Galactic globular clusters. Here we examine for the first time if this framework of blue straggler stars as dynamical clocks, which was…
(ABRIDGED) We assess the systematic uncertainties in (young) cluster age, mass, and - to a lesser extent - extinction and metallicity determinations, based on broad-band imaging observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. Our aim here is…
I list the characteristic features of Globular Cluster (GC) HR diagrams which provide a complete test of the stellar evolution of low mass stars: morphologies describing the different evolutionary phases, number ratios and luminosity…
We determined the age of the stellar content of the Galactic halo by considering main-sequence turn-off stars. From the large number of halo stars provided by Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we could accurately detect the turn-off as a function…
[...] The aim of this paper is to study the precision and theoretical biases in the age determinations of halo stars adopting both asteroseismic and classic observational constraints. [...] We adopt the well-tested SCEPtER pipeline,…
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…
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 present high signal-to-noise Keck spectra for 10 globular clusters associated with the giant Fornax elliptical NGC 1399, and compare measured line indices with current stellar population models. Our data convincingly demonstrate, for the…
The knowledge of stellar ages directly impacts the characterization of a planetary system as it puts strong constraints on the moment when the system was born. Unfortunately, the determination of precise stellar ages is a very difficult…
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…
The rotation-mass-age relationship offers a promising avenue for measuring the ages of field stars, assuming the attendant uncertainties to this technique can be well characterized. We model stellar angular momentum evolution starting with…
The ages of the most common stars - low-mass (cool) stars like the Sun, and smaller - are difficult to derive because traditional dating methods use stellar properties that either change little as the stars age or are hard to measure. The…
Globular clusters are dense stellar systems that have typical ages of ~13 billion years, implying that they formed at redshifts of z>~6. Massive stars in newly formed or primordial globular clusters could have played an important role…
Using up-to-date stellar models and isochrones we determine the age of 25 galactic halo clusters. The clusters are distributed into four groups according to metallicity. We measure the absolute age of a reference cluster in each group, and…
Recent analysis of stellar populations in barred galaxies have focused on the spatial distribution of stellar population ages and metallicities. However, barred galaxies are complex objects where dynamical instabilities play a leading role…
Extremely hot horizontal branch (HB) stars and their progeny are widely considered to be responsible for the "ultraviolet upturn" (or UVX) phenomenon observed in elliptical galaxies and the bulges of spirals. Yet, the precise evolutionary…
We report periods and JHKL observations for 648 oxygen-rich Mira variables found in two outer bulge fields at b=-7 degrees and l=+/-8 degrees and combine these with data on 8057 inner bulge Miras from the OGLE, Macho and 2MASS surveys,…
In the present work we analyzed seven globular clusters selected from their location in the Galactic bulge and with metallicity values in the range $-1.30\lesssim\rm{[Fe/H]}\lesssim-0.50$. The aim of this work is first to derive cluster…
Globular star clusters that formed at the same cosmic time may have evolved rather differently from a dynamical point of view (because that evolution depends on the internal environment) through a variety of processes that tend…