THE FRACTION OF GLOBULAR CLUSTER SECOND-GENERATION STARS IN THE GALACTIC HALO

Journal Article · Sun Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/718/2/L112· OSTI ID:21451009

Vesperini, Enrico; McMillan, Stephen L. W. ^[1]; D'Antona, Francesca ^[2]; D'Ercole, Annibale ^[3]

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1. Department of Physics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States)
2. INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via di Frascati 33, I-00040 Monteporzio (Italy)
3. INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, I-40127 Bologna (Italy)

Many observational studies have revealed the presence of multiple stellar generations in Galactic globular clusters. These studies suggest that second-generation stars make up a significant fraction of the current mass of globular clusters, with the second-generation mass fraction ranging from {approx}50% to 80% in individual clusters. In this Letter, we carry out hydrodynamical simulations to explore the dependence of the mass of second-generation stars on the initial mass and structural parameters and stellar initial mass function (IMF) of the parent cluster. We then use the results of these simulations to estimate the fraction f{sub SG,H} of the mass of the Galactic stellar halo composed of second-generation stars that originated in globular clusters. We study the dependence of f{sub SG,H} on the parameters of the IMF of the Galactic globular cluster system. For a broad range of initial conditions, we find that the fraction of mass of the Galactic stellar halo in second-generation stars is always small, f{sub SG,H} < 4%-6% for a Kroupa-1993 IMF and f{sub SG,H} < 7%-9% for a Kroupa-2001 IMF.

• OSTI ID: 21451009
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 718, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/718/2/L112; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
CURRENTS
FUNCTIONS
MASS
SIMULATION
STARS