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A stellar census in globular clusters with MUSE. A new perspective on the multiple main sequences of ω Centauri

Latour, M, Calamida, A, Husser, T-O, Kamann, S, Dreizler, S and Brinchmann, J (2021) A stellar census in globular clusters with MUSE. A new perspective on the multiple main sequences of ω Centauri. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 653 (L8). ISSN 0004-6361

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Abstract

Context w Cen is a rare example of a globular cluster where the iron abundance of the stars spans more than one order of magnitude. Many spectroscopic investigations of its red-giant- and sub-giant- branches have revealed multiple peaks in the iron abundance distribution. The metallicity distribution of main-sequence (MS) stars is not well characterized yet, due to the faintness of the stars and lack of data. So far, almost all studies of MS stars are based on photometric measurements. Our goal is to investigate the metallicity distribution of a statistically significant sample of MS stars in Context w Cen. In particular, we aim at revisiting the metallicity difference between the red and blue MS of the cluster. We use MUSE spectra obtained for the central region of Context w Cen to derive metallicities for =4200 MS stars. We find that blue MS stars are on average, = 0.1 dex more metal-rich than their red counterparts. On the basis of this new estimate, we find that the two sequences can be fit on the Hubble Space Telescope color-magnitude diagram with two isochrones having the same global metallicity and age but a higher helium abundance for the blue MS, i.e. $\Delta Y \lesssim$ 0.1. Furthermore, we determine the average metallicity of the five main populations along w Cen MS and these estimates are consistent with expectations from previous photometric studies.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Reproduced with permission from Astronomy & Astrophysics, © ESO
Uncontrolled Keywords: astro-ph.SR; astro-ph.SR; astro-ph.GA
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy
Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions: Astrophysics Research Institute
Publisher: EDP Sciences
Related URLs:
Date Deposited: 14 Sep 2021 08:12
Last Modified: 03 Aug 2022 11:00
DOI or ID number: 10.1051/0004-6361/202141791
URI: https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/15481
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