Multiple Populations in Low-mass Globular Clusters: Eridanus
Date
2023/02/01
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Volume Title
Publisher
IOP Publishing Ltd
Abstract
Multiple populations (MPs), characterized by variations in light elemental abundances, have been found in stellar clusters in the Milky Way, Magellanic Clouds, as well as several other dwarf galaxies. Based on a large number of observations, mass has been suggested to be a key parameter affecting the presence and appearance of MPs in stellar clusters. To further investigate the existence of MPs in low-mass clusters and explore the mass threshold for the formation of MPs, we carried out a project studying the composition of the stellar population in several lowmass Galactic globular clusters. Here we present our study on the cluster Eridanus. With blue-UV low-resolution spectra obtained with the OSIRIS/Multi-object spectrograph on the Gran Telescopio Canarias, we computed the spectral indices of CH and CN for a sample of giant stars and derived their carbon and nitrogen abundances using model spectra. A significant dispersion in the initial surface abundance of nitrogen was found in the sample, indicating the existence of MPs in Eridanus. Inspecting the age-initial mass distribution of in situ clusters with MPs, we find a slight trend that initial mass increases with increasing age, and the lowest initial masses of logM(initial) similar to 4.98 and 5.26 are found at the young and old end, respectively, which might provide a rough reference for the mass threshold for clusters to form MPs. However, more observations of clusters with low initial masses are still necessary before any firm conclusion can be drawn.
Description
Keywords
UV LEGACY SURVEY, VELOCITY DISPERSION PROFILES, MAGELLANIC CLOUD CLUSTERS, INTERMEDIATE-AGE CLUSTER, STELLAR POPULATIONS, ABUNDANCE VARIATIONS, GIANT BRANCH, MEGACAM SURVEY, NO EVIDENCE, GAIA EDR3