Blue Stragglers In Globular Clusters Research Articles

Binary Evolution and Blue Stragglers in Different Regions of the Color–Magnitude Diagrams of Globular Clusters with Different Ages

Blue stragglers (BSs) in different regions (e.g., two sequences) of the color–magnitude diagram (CMD) have been suggested to provide a strong constraint on the origin of BSs in globular clusters (GCs). However, our understanding of the locations of binary-induced BSs is incomplete, e.g., its low-luminosity boundary. By employing Eggleton’s stellar evolution code, the locations of mass-transferring (MT) BS binaries and post-mass-transfer (post-MT) BS binaries are investigated in the CMDs of GCs with different ages. The results show that post-MT BS binaries always populate the region of the CMD below the ZAMS+0.75 for GCs older than 10 Gyr and can also populate the region above the ZAMS+0.75 (the region of MT BS binaries). The low-luminosity boundary of the binary-induced BSs is located near the ZAMS in a way that is independent of the age of old GCs. The BS binaries draw a narrow sequence below the ZAMS+0.75 and cover most of the BSs in NGC 362. These results support that binary evolution can explain the appearance of BSs in different regions of the CMDs of GCs with different ages, and at least a fraction of BSs along the blue sequence could be post-MT BSs. However, the theoretical gap does not exactly correspond to the observed gap in NGC 362, and the models predict an excess of BSs below ZAMS+0.75 with respect to the observations in NGC 362. Therefore, more theoretical and observational work is needed to clarify the origin of these discrepancies.

Binary evolution and double sequences of blue stragglers in globular clusters

AbstractBinary evolution can produce different blue-straggler binaries, for example, blue stragglers with a bright, red component, or with a faint, blue component. In globular clusters, these blue-straggler binaries are generally observed as a single star, because two components can not be distinguished. Therefore, these blue-straggler binaries can be located in different regions of the color-magnitude diagram of globular clusters, e.g. blue sequence and red sequence observed in M30. We suggest that binary evolution can contribute to the blue stragglers in both of the sequences. Some blue stragglers in the blue sequence may have a faint white dwarf companion, while the red sequence includes some binaries experiencing mass transfer. It should be noted that the red sequence may also have other binaries, for example, the binaries just finished the mass transfer, and the binaries including a blue straggler (the accretors) that have evolved away from the blue sequence.

Evolutionary history of four binary blue stragglers from the globular clustersωCen, M 55, 47 Tuc, and NGC 6752

Context. Origin and evolution of blue stragglers in globular clusters is still a matter of debate. Aims. The aim of the present investigation is to reproduce the evolutionary history of four binary blue stragglers in four different clusters, for which precise values of global parameters are known. Methods. Using the model for cool close binary evolution, developed by one of us (KS), progenitors of all investigated binaries were found and their parameters evolved into the presently observed values. Results. The results show that the progenitors of the binary blue stragglers are cool close binaries with period of a few days, which transform into stragglers by rejuvenation of the initially less massive component by mass transfer from its more massive companion overflowing the inner critical Roche surface. The parameters of V209 from \omega Cen indicate that the binary is substantially enriched in helium. This is an independent and strong evidence for the existence of the helium rich subpopulation in this cluster.

TIME-SERIESBVIPHOTOMETRY FOR THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER NGC 6981,,

We present new BVI photometry of the globular cluster NGC 6981 (M72), based mostly on ground-based CCD archive images. We present a new color-magnitude diagram (CMD) that reaches almost four magnitudes below the turn-off level. We performed new derivations of metallicity and morphological parameters of the evolved sequences, in good agreement with previous authors, obtaining a value of [Fe/H] ~ -1.50 in the new UVES scale. We also identify the cluster's blue straggler population. Comparing the radial distribution of these stars with the red giant branch population, we find that the blue stragglers are more centrally concentrated, as found in previous studies of blue stragglers in globular clusters. Taking advantage of the large field of view covered by our study, we analyzed the surface density profile of the cluster, finding extratidal main sequence stars out to r ~ 14.1 arcmin or about twice the tidal radius. We speculate that this may be due to tidal disruption in the course of M72's orbit, in which case tidal tails associated with the cluster may exist. We also take a fresh look at the variable stars in the cluster, recovering all previous known variables, including three SX Phoenicis stars, and adding three previously unknown RR Lyrae (1 c-type and 2 ab-type) to the total census. Finally, comparing our CMD with unpublished data for M3 (NGC 5272), a cluster with similar metallicity and horizontal branch morphology, we found that both objects are essentially coeval.

A binary origin for ‘blue stragglers’ in globular clusters

Blue stragglers in globular clusters are abnormally massive stars that should have evolved off the stellar main sequence long ago. There are two known processes that can create these objects: direct stellar collisions and binary evolution. However, the relative importance of these processes has remained unclear. In particular, the total number of blue stragglers found in a given cluster does not seem to correlate with the predicted collision rate, providing indirect support for the binary-evolution model. Yet the radial distributions of blue stragglers in many clusters are bimodal, with a dominant central peak: this has been interpreted as an indication that collisions do dominate blue straggler production, at least in the high-density cluster cores. Here we report that there is a clear, but sublinear, correlation between the number of blue stragglers found in a cluster core and the total stellar mass contained within it. From this we conclude that most blue stragglers, even those found in cluster cores, come from binary systems. The parent binaries, however, may themselves have been affected by dynamical encounters. This may be the key to reconciling all of the seemingly conflicting results found to date.

Discovery of an SX Phoenicis Type Pulsating Component in the Algol-Type Semidetached Eclipsing Binary QU Sagittae in M71

We report the discovery of an SX Phoenicis type pulsating component in the Algol-type semidetached eclipsing binary QU Sge, in the metal-rich globular cluster M71. QU Sge is only about 80'' from the center of M71 and is located in the blue straggler region in the color-magnitude diagram of M71. It is considered to be a probable member of M71, with a membership probability greater than 60% deduced from a proper-motion study in the literature. From time-series CCD photometry, we find that QU Sge has an orbital period of 3.790818 days and a primary minimum depth of ΔV = 1.333 mag. The eclipsing light curve solution shows that QU Sge has a semidetached binary configuration with the secondary component fully filling its Roche lobe. After subtracting the eclipses from the light curve, we discover an SX Phoenicis type pulsation feature. It is found to have a short period of about 0.03 days and a small amplitude of about 0.024 mag. This is the first eclipsing binary system in a globular cluster to exhibit a pulsating feature. This result supports the model in which the origin of some blue stragglers in globular clusters is mass transfer between two components in the primordial binary systems.

Stellar collisions during binary-binary and binary-single star interactions

Physical collisions between stars occur frequently in dense star clusters, either via close encounters between two single stars, or during strong dynamical interactions involving binary stars. Here we study stellar collisions that occur during binary-single and binary-binary interactions, by performing numerical scattering experiments. Our results include cross sections, branching ratios, and sample distributions of parameters for various outcomes. For interactions of hard binaries containing main-sequence stars, we find that the normalized cross section for at least one collision to occur (between any two of the four stars involved) is essentially unity, and that the probability of collisions involving more than two stars is significant. Hydrodynamic calculations have shown that the effective radius of a collision product can be 2-30 times larger than the normal main-sequence radius for a star of the same total mass. We study the effect of this expansion, and find that it increases the probability of further collisions considerably. We discuss these results in the context of recent observations of blue stragglers in globular clusters with masses exceeding twice the main-sequence turnoff mass. We also present Fewbody, a new, freely available numerical toolkit for simulating small-N gravitational dynamics that is particularly suited to performing scattering experiments.

High-resolution simulations of stellar collisions between equal-mass main-sequence stars in globular clusters

We performed high-resolution simulations of two stellar collisions relevant for stars in globular clusters. We considered one head-on collision and one off-axis collision between two 0.6-Msolar main-sequence stars. We show that a resolution of about 100000 particles is sufficient for most studies of the structure and evolution of blue stragglers. We demonstrate conclusively that collision products between main-sequence stars in globular clusters do not have surface convection zones larger than 0.004Msolar after the collision, nor do they develop convection zones during the `pre-main-sequence' thermal relaxation phase of their post-collision evolution. Therefore, any mechanism which requires a surface convection zone (i.e. chemical mixing or angular momentum loss via a magnetic wind) cannot operate in these stars. We show that no disc of material surrounding the collision product is produced in off-axis collisions. The lack of both a convection zone and a disc proves a continuing problem for the angular momentum evolution of blue stragglers in globular clusters.

The Distribution of Collisionally Induced Blue Stragglers in the Color‐Magnitude Diagram

A primary production mechanism for blue stragglers in globular clusters is thought to be collisionally induced mergers, perhaps mediated by dynamical encounters involving binary stars. We model the formation and evolution of such blue stragglers and produce theoretical distributions of them in the color-magnitude diagram. We use a crude representation of cluster dynamics and detailed binary-single star encounter simulations to produce cross sections and rates for a variety of collisions. The results of the collisions are determined on the basis of smoothed-particle hydrodynamics simulations of realistic star models. The evolution of the collision products are then followed in detail using the Yale stellar evolution code. We present our results in the form of distributions in the observed color-magnitude diagram. We use our results to explore the effects of a variety of input assumptions on the number and kind of blue stragglers created by collisions. In particular, we describe the changes in the blue straggler distribution that result from using realistic collision products rather than the fully mixed assumption, and from changes in assumptions about the number and orbital-period distribution of the primordial binary population. We then apply our models to existing data from the core of M3, where the large blue straggler population is thought to be dominated by collision products. We find that we have difficulty successfully modeling the observed blue stragglers under a single consistent set of assumptions. However, if three particularly bright blue stragglers are considered to be part of a different observed population (as has been suggested previously for other clusters) and left out of the population, the remainder can be successfully modeled using realistic encounter products and assuming a 20% binary fraction with a plausible period distribution. Finally, we suggest a variety of routes toward a more comprehensive understanding of the blue straggler phenomenon.

Collisions of Main-Sequence Stars and the Formation of Blue Stragglers in Globular Clusters

We report the results of new SPH calculations of parabolic collisions between two main-sequence stars in a globular cluster. Such collisions are directly relevant to the formation of blue stragglers. In particular, we consider parent stars of mass M/MTO = 0.2, 0.5, 0.75, and 1, where MTO is the cluster turnoff mass (typically about 0.8M⊙). Low-mass stars (with M = 0.2MTO or 0.5MTO) are assumed to be fully convective and are therefore modeled as n = 1.5 polytropes. Stars at the turnoff (with M = MTO) are assumed to be mostly radiative and are modeled as n = 3 polytropes. Intermediate-mass stars (with M = 0.75MTO) are modeled as composite polytropes consisting of a radiative core with polytropic index n = 3 and a convective envelope with n = 1.5. We focus our study on the question of hydrodynamic mixing of helium and hydrogen, which plays a crucial role in determining the observable characteristics of blue stragglers. In all cases we find that there is negligible hydrodynamic mixing of helium into the outer envelope of the merger remnant. The amount of hydrogen mixed into the core of the merger depends strongly on the entropy profiles of the two colliding stars. For two stars with nearly equal masses (and hence entropy profiles) very little hydrodynamic mixing occurs at all, especially if they are close to the turnoff point. This is because the hydrogen-rich material from both stars maintains, on average, a higher specific entropy than the helium-rich material. If the two parent stars are close to turnoff, very little hydrogen is present at the center of the merger remnant and the main-sequence lifetime of the blue straggler could be very short. In contrast, during a collision between two stars of sufficiently different masses (mass ratio q ∼< 0.5), the hydrogen-rich material Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. Email: lombardi@spacenet.tn.cornell.edu. Department of Astronomy, Cornell University. Department of Physics, MIT 6-201, Cambridge, MA 02139. Email: rasio@mit.edu. Center for Astrophysics & Relativity, 326 Siena Drive, Ithaca, NY 14850

On the luminosity function, lifetimes, and origin of blue stragglers in globular clusters

We compute theoretical evolutionary tracks of blue stragglers created by mergers. Two formation scenarios are considered: mergers of primordial binaries, and stellar collisions. These two scenarios predict strikingly different luminosity functions, which are potentially distinguishable observationally. Tabulated theoretical luminosity functions and lifetimes are presented for blue stragglers formed under a variety of input conditions. We compare our results with observations of the blue straggler sequences in 47 Tucanae and M3. In the case of 47 Tuc, the luminosity function and the formation rate are compatible with the hypothesis that the blue stragglers formed through the collision of single stars. Mergers of primordial binaries are only marginally cosistent with the data, and a significant enhancement of the collision cross section by binary-single-star encounters appears to be ruled out. In the case of M3, we find that the innermost blue stragglers have a luminosity function significantly different from that of the outer stragglers, thus confirming earlier suggestions that there are two distinct populations of blue stragglers in this cluster. The inner stragglers are preferentially brighter and bluer, as would be expected if they were made by collisions, but there are so many of them that the collision rate would need to be enhanced by interactions involving wide binaries. The luminosity function of the outer stragglers is almost identical to the predictions of mergers from primordial binaries and is inconsistent with the collision hypothesis.

Three New Contact Binaries Near the Centre of NGC 6121 (M4)

The central 2×3 arcmin2 region of M4 has been observed as part of a programme to find blue stragglers in globular clusters. A preliminary analysis has been carried out of 58 V frames and 65 I frames obtained on two separate occasions with an RCA CCD on the 1.0m telescope at Sutherland.

Are there two kinds of blue stragglers in globular clusters?

Blue stragglers made from collisions may have excess He abundance outside the core compared to those made from binary mergers. This effect may be observable, particularly in ultraviolet colors. Most blue stragglers have been discovered in clusters sufficiently sparse that collisions are improbable, and there is direct evidence for binarity in several cases. However, the newly discovered blue straggler sequences in the cores of NGC 6397 and 47 Tuc show characteristics which may be more easily explained if they are formed from collisional mergers.

Stellar collisions in globular clusters and the blue straggler problem

The hypothesis that the blue stragglers in globular clusters are produced by physical stellar collisions is critically examined. The most serious objection to the collisional hypothesis is that direct stellar collisions between single stars are not expected to occur frequently enough in low-density globular clusters to account for the observed number of blue stragglers in such clusters. However, if a small fraction of the main-sequence stars in those systems are primordial binaries, then physical stellar collisions can occur at the required rate of one every about 10 to the 8th yr. This is because: (1) mass segregation will result in a high binary frequency in the cluster core; (2) the cross section for a binary-binary collision is about 100 times that for a single-single collision; and (3) physical stellar collisions are likely to occur during strong binary-binary interactions. Since a small fraction of binaries cannot be ruled out in the low-density globular clusters, then neither can the collisional hypothesis for the blue stragglers. Several observations that could be used to test the collisional hypothesis are listed. 52 refs.

Main-sequence binaries, contact binaries, and blue stragglers in globular clusters

The existence of binary stars in globular clusters has a long history of controversy1–3. At present the only evidence for binaries in globular clusters comes from binaries in extreme states: cataclysmic variables4,5 and X-ray sources (see refs 6 and 7 for reviews, and ref. 8 for new observations of very weak X-ray sources). The existence of the latter is customarily ascribed to tidal capture of red dwarf companions by neutron stars (or possibly solar-mass black holes)9. In fact, tidal capture should be at least as effective in creating close binaries comprising two main-sequence stars9,10. Subsequent evolution of such binaries is very likely to lead to mass exchange between the two, and possibly merger. In conventional calculations, gravitational radiation drives the binary orbital evolution11,12; recently, it has been shown that in the denser globular clusters, where tidal capture is most effective, gravitational encounters with passing field stars also have an important role, both by slow, cumulative compression of the binary orbit, and by occasional catastrophic physical collisions13. On the basis of these mechanisms, we predict that globular clusters should contain substantial numbers of: close binaries; low-mass contact binaries, perhaps similar to the somewhat more massive WUMa stars; and ‘blue stragglers’, stars lying on the extrapolated main sequence beyond the turn-off. These objects should be most common in the densest regions of the Galaxy's globular cluster system.