Ba STARS AND OTHER BINARIES IN FIRST AND SECOND GENERATION STARS IN GLOBULAR CLUSTERS

Journal Article · Fri Aug 20 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/719/2/L213· OSTI ID:21450949

D'Orazi, Valentina; Gratton, Raffaele; Lucatello, Sara ^[1]; Carretta, Eugenio; Bragaglia, Angela ^[2]

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1. INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, I-35122, Padova (Italy)
2. INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, I-40127, Bologna (Italy)

The determination of the Ba abundance in globular cluster (GC) stars is a very powerful test to address several issues in the framework of multiple population scenarios. We measured the Ba content for a sample of more than 1200 stars in 15 Galactic GCs, using high-resolution FLAMES/Giraffe spectra. We found no variation in [Ba/Fe] ratios for different stellar populations within each cluster; this means that low-mass asymptotic giant branch stars do not significantly contribute to the intracluster pollution. Very interestingly, we found that the fraction of Ba stars in first generation (FG) stars is close to the values derived for field stars ({approx}2%); on the other hand, second generation (SG) stars present a significantly lower fraction. An independent and successful test, based on radial velocity variations among giant stars in NGC 6121, confirms our finding: the binary fraction among FG stars is about {approx}12%, to be compared with {approx}1% of SG stars. This is an evidence that SG stars formed in a denser environment, where infant mortality of binary systems was particularly efficient.

• OSTI ID: 21450949
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 719; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ABUNDANCE
GIANT STARS
MASS
RADIAL VELOCITY
SPECTRA
STARS
VELOCITY