AGB subpopulations in the nearby globular cluster NGC6397

Date

2018

Authors

MacLean, B. T.
Campbell, S
De Silva, Gayandhi
Lattanzio, John
D'Orazi, V
Cottrell, P L
Momany, Y
Casagrande, Luca

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Abstract

It has been well established that Galactic Globular clusters (GCs) harbour more than one stellar population, distinguishable by the anticorrelations of light-element abundances (C-N, Na-O, and Mg-Al). These studies have been extended recently to the asymptotic giant branch (AGB). Here, we investigate the AGB of NGC6397 for the first time. We have performed an abundance analysis of high-resolution spectra of 47 red giant branch (RGB) and eight AGB stars, deriving Fe, Na, O, Mg, and Al abundances. We find that NGC6397 shows no evidence of a deficit in Na-rich AGB stars, as reported for some other GCs - the subpopulation ratios of the AGB and RGB in NGC6397 are identical, within uncertainties. This agrees with expectations from stellar theory. This GC acts as a control for our earlier work on the AGB of M4 (with contrasting results), since the same tools and methods were used.

Description

Keywords

stars: abundances, stars: AGB and post-AGB, Galaxy: abundances, Galaxy: formation, globular clusters: general

Citation

Source

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

Open Access

License Rights

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