CN-strong Stars Research Articles

Evidence of globular cluster abundance anomalies in the SMC intermediate-age cluster Kron 3

ABSTRACT Using spectra obtained with the VLT/FORS2 and Gemini-S/GMOS-S instruments, we have investigated carbon, nitrogen, and sodium abundances in a sample of red giant members of the Small Magellanic Cloud star cluster Kron 3. The metallicity and luminosity of the cluster are comparable to those of Galactic globular clusters but it is notably younger (age ≈ 6.5 Gyr). We have measured the strengths of the CN and CH molecular bands, finding a bimodal CN band-strength distribution and a CH/CN anticorrelation. Application of spectrum synthesis techniques reveals that the difference in the mean [N/Fe] and [C/Fe] values for the CN-strong and CN-weak stars are Δ <[N/Fe]> = 0.63 ± 0.16 dex and Δ <[C/Fe]> = −0.01 ± 0.07 dex after applying corrections for evolutionary mixing. We have also measured sodium abundances from the Na D lines finding an observed range in [Na/Fe] of ∼0.6 dex that correlates positively with the [N/Fe] values and a Δ <[Na/Fe]> = 0.12 ± 0.12 dex. While the statistical significance of the sodium abundance difference is not high, the observed correlation between the Na and N abundances supports its existence. The outcome represents the first star-by-star demonstration of correlated abundance variations involving sodium in an intermediate-age star cluster. The results add to existing photometric and spectroscopic indications of the presence of multiple populations in intermediate-age clusters with masses in excess of ∼105 M⊙. It confirms that the mechanism(s) responsible for the multiple populations in ancient globular clusters cannot solely be an early cosmological effect applying only in old clusters.

Models for metal-poor stars with different initial abundances of C, N, O, Mg, and Si. II. Application to the colour–magnitude diagrams of the globular clusters 47 Tuc, NGC 6362, M 5, M 3, M 55, and M92

ABSTRACTStellar models for −2.5 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤−0.5 that have been computed for variations in the C:N:O abundance ratio (for two different values of [CNO/Fe]) are compared with HST Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) observations of the globular clusters (GCs) 47 Tuc, NGC 6362, M 5 M 3, M 55, and M 92. The bolometric corrections (BCs) used to transpose the models to the observed planes are based on new MARCS synthetic spectra that incorporate improved treatments of molecules that involve atoms of C, N, and O. On the assumption of well-supported distance moduli and reddenings, isochrones for [O/Fe] = 0.6 and [m/Fe] = 0.4 for the other α elements, which are favoured by binary stars in GCs, generally reproduce the main features of observed colour–magnitude diagrams (CMDs) to within ∼0.03 mag. In particular, they appear to match the spreads in the observed (MF336W − MF438W)0 colours that are spanned by CN-weak and CN-strong stars along the lower giant branch quite well, but not the bluest giants, which are suspected to be N-poor ([N/Fe] ≲ −0.5). Both the absolute (MF438W − MF606W)0 colours and the variations in these colours at a given MF606W magnitude on the giant branch are difficult to explain unless the reddest stars are C-rich ([C/Fe] ≳ +0.5). Allowing for moderate He abundance variations ($\delta \, Y \sim 0.05$) improves the fits to the observations.

Purveyors of fine halos

A long-lasting open question in the field of Galactic archeology refers to the size of the contribution from former globular cluster (GC) stars to the formation of the stellar halo of the Milky Way. We contribute to answering this important question by establishing observational links between the present-day halo field star population and GCs. To this end, we combined astrometric information such as space motions and parallaxes from the second data release of theGaiamission (GaiaDR2) with spectroscopic radial velocities and metallicities ([Fe/H]) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV, DR14) to end up with a seven-dimensional chemodynamical information space for more than 3 × 105stars. Moreover, from our previous study, we incorporated the sample of halo giant stars with a distinct chemical signature (strong CN bandheads) that resembles the light-elements anomaly otherwise only seen in the second generation of globular cluster stellar populations. Using three different tagging techniques – among which is the exploration of conservative integrals of motion – we are able to establish unique associations between 151 extratidal stars in the neighborhood of eight GCs, which coincide with earlier findings of stellar envelopes beyond the tidal radius and even beyond (out to several tens of tidal radii). In addition, we trace the possible origin of about 62% of the sample of CN-strong giants to their potential host clusters. We find a connection between several of the involved GCs and the Gaia-Enceladus and Sequoia merger events. By establishing kinematic and chemical connections between 17 CN-strong stars and their surrounding fields, we identify co-moving groups of stars at the same [Fe/H] with a possible cluster origin. Some of these associations contain RR Lyrae variables, which allows meaningful distance inferences to be made. From these, we find strong evidence that four CN-strong stars and their associates are connected to the Sagittarius stream whilst their tightly confined [Fe/H] may hint to a birth site in M 54, the massive cluster in Sagittarius’ core remnant. Finally, by employing the counts of CN-strong and bona-fide CN-normal giants from our novel sample, we provide tentative estimates for the fraction of first-generation cluster stars among all stars lost to the halo. In the immediate cluster vicinity, this value amounts to 50.0 ± 16.7% while the associations in the halo field rather imply 80.2−5.2+4.9%. We speculate that – if proven real by spectroscopic follow-up – the disparity between these numbers could indicate a major contribution of low-mass clusters to the overall number of stars escaped to the halo or could alternatively suggest strong mass loss from the first generation during early cluster dissolution.

Purveyors of fine halos: Re-assessing globular cluster contributions to the Milky Way halo buildup with SDSS-IV

There is ample evidence in the Milky Way for globular cluster (GC) disruption. It may therefore be expected that part of the Galactic halo field star population may also once have formed in GCs. We seek to quantify the fraction of halo stars donated by GCs by searching for stars that bear the unique chemical fingerprints typical for a subset of GC stars often dubbed “second-generation stars”. These are stars showing light-element abundance anomalies such as a pronounced CN-band strength accompanied by weak CH-bands. Based on this indicator, past studies have placed the fraction of halo stars with a GC origin between a few to up to 50%. Using low-resolution spectra from the most recent data release (DR14) of the latest extension of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV), we were able to identify 118 metal-poor (−1.8 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ −1.3) CN-strong stars in a sample of 4470 halo giant stars out to ∼50 kpc. This increases the number of known halo stars with GC-like light-element abundances by a factor of two and results in an observed fraction of these stars of 2.6 ± 0.2%. Using an updated formalism to account for the fraction of stars lost early on in the GC evolution, we thus estimate the fraction of the Galactic halo that stems from disrupted clusters to be very low, at 11 ± 1%. This number would represent the case that stars lost from GCs were entirely from the first generation and is thus merely an upper limit. Our conclusions are sensitive to our assumptions of the mass lost early on from the first generation formed in the GCs, the ratio of first-to-second generation stars, and other GC parameters. We carefully tested the influence of varying these parameters on the final result and find that under realistic scenarios, this fraction depends on the main assumptions at less than 10 percentage points. We further recover a flat trend in this fraction with Galactocentric radius, with a marginal indication of a rise beyond 30 kpc that could reflect the ex situ origin of the outer halo as is also seen in other stellar tracers.

Chemical and Kinematic Analysis of CN-strong Metal-poor Field Stars in LAMOST DR3

Abstract The large amount of chemical and kinematic information available in large spectroscopic surveys has inspired the search for chemically peculiar stars in the field. Though these metal-poor field stars ([Fe/H] < −1) are commonly enriched in nitrogen, their detailed spatial, kinematic, and chemical distributions suggest that various groups may exist, and thus their origin is still a mystery. To study these stars statistically, we increase the sample size by identifying new CN-strong stars with LAMOST DR3 for the first time. We use CN–CH bands around 4000 Å to find CN-strong stars, and further separate them into CH-normal stars (44) and CH-strong (or CH) stars (35). The chemical abundances from our data-driven software and APOGEE DR14 suggest that most CH-normal stars are N-rich, and this cannot be explained by an internal mixing process alone. The kinematics of our CH-normal stars indicate that a substantial fraction of these stars are retrograding, pointing to an extragalactic origin. The chemistry and kinematics of CH-normal stars imply that they may be stars dissolved from globular clusters, or accreted halo stars, or both.

Assembling the Milky Way Bulge from Globular Clusters: Evidence from the Double Red Clump

Abstract Two red clumps (RCs) observed in the color–magnitude diagram of the Milky Way bulge are widely accepted as evidence for an X-shaped structure that originated from the bar instability. A drastically different interpretation has been suggested, however, based on the He-enhanced multiple stellar population phenomenon as is observed in globular clusters (GCs). Because these two scenarios imply very different pictures of the formation of the bulge and elliptical galaxies, understanding the origin of the double RC is of crucial importance. Here we report our discovery that the stars in the two RCs show a significant (>5.3σ) difference in CN-band strength, in stark contrast to that expected in the X-shaped bulge scenario. The difference in CN abundance and the population ratio between the two RCs are comparable to those observed in GCs between the first- and later-generation stars. Because CN-strong stars trace a population with enhanced N, Na, and He abundances that originated in GCs, this is direct evidence that the double RC is due to the multiple population phenomenon, and that a significant population of stars in the Milky Way bulge were assembled from disrupted proto-GCs. Our result also calls for the major revision of the 3D structure of the Milky Way bulge, given that the current view is based on the previous interpretation of the double RC phenomenon.

The CN–CH Positive Correlation in the Globular Cluster NGC 5286

Abstract We performed low-resolution spectroscopy of the red giant stars in the Galactic globular cluster (GC) NGC 5286, which is known to show intrinsic heavy element abundance variations. We found that the observed stars in this GC are clearly divided into three subpopulations by CN index (CN-weak, CN-intermediate, and CN-strong). The CN-strong stars are also enhanced in the calcium HK′ (7.4σ) and CH (5.1σ) indices, while the CN-intermediate stars show no significant difference in the strength of the HK′ index from the CN-weak stars. From the comparison with high-resolution spectroscopic data, we found that the CN- and HK′-strong stars are also enhanced in the abundances of Fe and s-process elements. It appears, therefore, that these stars are later-generation stars affected by some supernova enrichment in addition to the asymptotic giant branch ejecta. In addition, unlike normal GCs, sample stars in NGC 5286 show the CN–CH positive correlation, strengthening our previous suggestion that this positive correlation is only discovered in GCs with heavy element abundance variations, such as M22 and NGC 6273.

Light-Element Chemistry and the Double Red Giant Branch in the Galactic Globular Cluster NGC 288

The globular cluster NGC 288 was previously reported to exhibit two distinct red giant branches (RGBs) in the narrowband calcium (HK) and Strömgren b- and y-band passes. In order to investigate this phenomenon further, we obtained moderate resolution (R ∼ 18,000) spectra of 27 RGB stars in NGC 288 with the Hydra multifiber spectrograph on the Blanco 4 m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). From these data we derive iron (〈[Fe/H]〉 = -1.19; σ = 0.12), oxygen (〈[O/Fe]〉 = +0.25; σ = 0.13), and sodium (〈[Na/Fe]〉 = +0.15; σ = 0.26) abundances using standard equivalent width and spectrum synthesis techniques. Combining these data with those available in the literature indicates that the two giant branches have distinctly different light-element chemistry but do not exhibit a significant spread in [Fe/H]. A new transmission tracing for the CTIO Ca filter, obtained for this project, shows that CN contamination is the primary spectral feature driving the split RGB. Interestingly, the CN leak in the current CTIO Ca filter may be used as an efficient means to search for CN-weak and CN-strong stars in systems with otherwise small Ca abundance variations.

CN ANOMALIES IN THE HALO SYSTEM AND THE ORIGIN OF GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN THE MILKY WAY

We explore the kinematics and orbital properties of a sample of red giants in the halo system of the Milky Way that are thought to have formed in globular clusters, based on their anomalously strong UV/blue CN bands. The orbital parameters of the CN-strong halo stars are compared to those of the inner- and outer-halo populations as described by Carollo et al., and to the orbital parameters of globular clusters with well-studied Galactic orbits. The CN-strong field stars and the globular clusters both exhibit kinematics and orbital properties similar to the inner-halo population, indicating that stripped or destroyed globular clusters could be a significant source of inner-halo field stars, and suggesting that both the CN-strong stars and the majority of globular clusters are primarily associated with this population.

CN Anomalies in the Halo System

AbstractI present an evaluation of the kinematic properties of halo red giants thought to have formed in globular clusters based on the strength of their UV/blue CN and CH absorption features. The sample has been selected from the catalog of Martell et al. (2011). The orbital parameters of CN-strong halo stars are compared to those of the inner and outer halo populations, and to the orbital parameters of globular clusters with well-studied Galactic orbits. It has been found that both the clusters and the CN-strong field stars exhibit kinematic and orbital properties similar to the inner halo population, indicating that globular clusters could be a significant source of inner halo field stars, and suggesting that both globular clusters and CN-strong stars could belong primarily to the inner halo population of the Milky Way.

THERMOHALINE MIXING AND ITS ROLE IN THE EVOLUTION OF CARBON AND NITROGEN ABUNDANCES IN GLOBULAR CLUSTER RED GIANTS: THE TEST CASE OF MESSIER 3

We review the observational evidence for extra mixing in stars on the red giant branch (RGB) and discuss why thermohaline mixing is a strong candidate mechanism. We recall the simple phenomenological description of thermohaline mixing, and aspects of mixing in stars in general. We use observations of M3 to constrain the form of the thermohaline diffusion coefficient and any associated free parameters. This is done by matching [C/Fe] and [N/Fe] along the RGB of M3. After taking into account a presumed initial primordial bimodality of [C/Fe] in the CN-weak and CN-strong stars our thermohaline mixing models can explain the full spread of [C/Fe]. Thermohaline mixing can produce a significant change in [N/Fe] as a function of absolute magnitude on the RGB for initially CN-weak stars, but not for initially CN-strong stars, which have so much nitrogen to begin with that any extra mixing does not significantly affect the surface nitrogen composition.

The connection between missing AGB stars and extended horizontal branches

Recent surveys confirm early results about a deficiency or even absence of CN-strong stars on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) of globular clusters (GCs), although with quite large cluster-to-cluster variations. In general, this is at odds with the distribution of CN band strengths among first ascent red giant branch (RGB) stars. Norris et al. proposed that the lack of CN-strong stars in some clusters is a consequence of a smaller mass of these stars that cannot evolve through the full AGB phase. In this short paper we found that the relative frequency of AGB stars can change by a factor of two between different clusters. We also find a very good correlation between the minimum mass of stars along the horizontal branch (Gratton et al. 2010) and the relative frequency of AGB stars, with a further dependence on metallicity. We conclude that indeed the stars with the smallest mass on the HB cannot evolve through the full AGB phase, being AGB-manque'. These stars likely had large He and N content, and large O-depletion. We then argue that there should not be AGB stars with extreme O depletion, and few of them with a moderate one.

STRÖMGREN PHOTOMETRY OF GALACTIC GLOBULAR CLUSTERS. II. METALLICITY DISTRIBUTION OF RED GIANTS IN ω CENTAURI

We present new intermediate-band Stroemgren photometry based on more than 300 u,v,b,y images of the Galactic globular cluster Omega Cen. Optical data were supplemented with new multiband near-infrared (NIR) photometry (350 J,H,K_s images). The final optical-NIR catalog covers a region of more than 20*20 arcmin squared across the cluster center. We use different optical-NIR color-color planes together with proper motion data available in the literature to identify candidate cluster red giant (RG) stars. By adopting different Stroemgren metallicity indices we estimate the photometric metallicity for ~4,000 RGs, the largest sample ever collected. The metallicity distributions show multiple peaks ([Fe/H]_phot=-1.73+/-0.08,-1.29+/-0.03,-1.05+/-0.02,-0.80+/-0.04,-0.42+/-0.12 and -0.07+/-0.08 dex) and a sharp cut-off in the metal-poor tail ([Fe/H]_phot<=-2 dex) that agree quite well with spectroscopic measurements. We identify four distinct sub-populations,namely metal-poor (MP,[Fe/H]<=-1.49), metal-intermediate (MI,-1.49<[Fe/H]<=-0.93), metal-rich (MR,-0.95<[Fe/H]<=-0.15) and solar metallicity (SM,[Fe/H]~0). The last group includes only a small fraction of stars (~8+/-5%) and should be confirmed spectroscopically. Moreover, using the difference in metallicity based on different photometric indices, we find that the 19+/-1% of RGs are candidate CN-strong stars. This fraction agrees quite well with recent spectroscopic estimates and could imply a large fraction of binary stars. The Stroemgren metallicity indices display a robust correlation with alpha-elements ([Ca+Si/H]) when moving from the metal-intermediate to the metal-rich regime ([Fe/H]>-1.7 dex).

CN Abundance Inhomogeneities among Bright Red Giants in the Globular Clusters NGC 288 and NGC 362

ABSTRACTElement inhomogeneities are studied in the second-parameter pair of globular clusters NGC 288 and NGC 362. Spectra obtained with the CTIO 1.5 m telescope of relatively high luminosity red giants (MV < -1.0) in each cluster have been used to measure a λ3883 CN band index denoted S(3839), and two indices centered on CH absorption in the λ4300 G band. Giants in both clusters exhibit a comparable spread in CN band strength, with only a small difference in mean G band absorption between CN-strong and CN-weak giants. By contrast, the S(3839) index anticorrelates with the [O/Fe] abundance measured by Shetrone & Keane. Part of this anticorrelation can be explained by the effect of reduced oxygen on the equilibria of CO and CN molecule formation in red giant atmospheres. However, the difference in S(3839) between CN-weak and CN-strong giants is sufficiently large that a factor of ∼10 enhancement in nitrogen in CN-strong stars also appears to be necessary. Additionally, the 3883 Å CN band strength correlates with [Na/Fe] abundance. These CN-O-Na relationships among the red giants of NGC 362 and NGC 288 are also a characteristic of other globular clusters of the Milky Way. At a given S(3839) and [Na/Fe] abundance, the CN-strong red giants of NGC 288 have a higher oxygen abundance than red giants in NGC 362. As such, NGC 288 and NGC 362 do not appear to follow a correlation between minimum [O/Fe] abundance and the blueward extent of the horizontal branch in the color-magnitude diagram.

Spectroscopic and photometric evidence of two stellar populations in the Galactic globular cluster NGC 6121 (M 4)

Aims. We present abundance analysis based on high resolution spectra of 105 isolated red giant branch (RGB) stars in the Galactic Globular Cluster NGC 6121 (M 4). Our aim is to study its star population in the context of the multi-population phenomenon recently discovered to affect some Globular Clusters. Methods. The data have been collected with FLAMES+UVES, the multi-fiber high resolution facility at the ESO/VLT@UT2 telescope. Analysis was performed under LTE approximation for the following elements: O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe, Ni, Ba, and NLTE corrections were applied to those (Na, Mg) strongly affected by departure from LTE. Spectroscopic data were coupled with high-precision wide-field UBVIC photometry from WFI@2.2 m telescope and infrared JHK photometry from 2MASS. Results. We derived an average [Fe/H] = −1.07 ± 0.01 (internal error), and an α enhancement of [α/Fe] =+ 0.39 ± 0.05 dex (internal error). We confirm the presence of an extended Na-O anticorrelation, and find two distinct groups of stars with significantly different Na and O content. We find no evidence of a Mg-Al anticorrelation. By coupling our results with previous studies on the CN band strength, we find that the CN strong stars have higher Na and Al content and are more O depleted than the CN weak ones. The two groups of Na-rich, CN-strong and Na-poor, CN-weak stars populate two different regions along the RGB. The Na-rich group defines a narrow sequence on the red side of the RGB, while the Na-poor sample populate a bluer, more spread portion of the RGB. In the U vs. U − B color magnitude diagram the RGB spread is present from the base of the RGB to the RGB-tip. Apparently, both spectroscopic and photometric results imply the presence of two stellar populations in M 4. We briefly discuss the possible origin of these populations.

Comparing CN and CH line strengths in a homogeneous spectroscopic sample of 8 Galactic globular clusters

Our work focuses on the understanding of the origin of CNO-anomalies, which have been detected in several Galactic globular clusters (GCs). This study is based on a homogeneous data set of hundreds of medium resolution spectra of stars in eight GCs. Two of the clusters are believed to be former members of the Sagittarius dSph galaxy. Our sample comprises stars in different evolutionary states, namely the main sequence turn-off (MSTO) region, the subgiant branch (SGB), and the base of the red giant branch (RGB). We compare the relative CN and CH line strengths of stars in the same evolutionary states. The majority of the examined clusters show significant variations in their CN and CH abundances at the base of the RGB. The two former Sgr dSph clusters do not exhibit any CN-strong stars. Our results suggest that the environment in which the clusters influences existence of CN-strong stars. We confirm the known anticorrelation between CN and CH for most of the observed GCs. Although the signal of CN absorption is weaker for the hotter stars on the MSTO and SGB we observed the same anticorrelation in these less evolved stars for the CN-bimodal clusters. The inclusion of structural parameters taken from literature reveals that the existence of the CN-bifurcation seems to be independent of most other cluster characteristics. In particular, we do not confirm the correlation between cluster ellipticity and number of CN-strong stars. However, there may be a trend of an increased percentage of CN-strong stars with increasing cluster tidal radius and total luminosity. We argue that our findings are consistent with pollution by intermediate AGB stars and/or fast rotating massive stars and two generations of star formation in luminous clusters with larger tidal radii at larger Galactocentric distances.

Origin of abundance inhomogeneity in globular clusters

We numerically investigate abundance properties of the Galactic globular clusters (GCs) by adopting a new “external pollution” scenario. In this framework, GCs are assumed to originate in forming low-mass dwarfs embedded in dark matter subhalos at very high redshifts (z) and thus be chemically influenced by field AGB stars of the dwarfs during early GC formation processes. GCs within a dwarf galaxy therefore can be formed from the mixture of (i) gas ejected from the field AGB stars formed earlier in the dwarf and (ii) the interstellar gas infalling to the central region of the dwarf. In this external pollution scenario, the ratio of the total mass of infalling gas to that of AGB ejecta during GC formation in a dwarf (s) and the time scale of gas infall (σI) are the most important key parameters that can determine abundance properties of GCs. We mainly investigate the abundance inhomogeneity among light elements (e.g., C, N, O, Na, and Al) of stars in GCs by using the latest stellar yield models of metal-poor AGB stars with and without third dredge-up. Our principal results for the models with no third dredge-up, which are more consistent with observations, are as follows. (1) Both [N/Fe] and [C/Fe] can be diverse among stars within a GC owing to chemical pollution from field AGB stars. [N/Fe] distributions in some GCs can clearly show bimodality whereas [C/Fe] is monomodal in most models. [N/Fe] distributions depend on s such that models with smaller s (i.e., larger mass fraction of AGB ejecta used for GC formation) show the [N/Fe] bimodality more clearly. (2) N-rich, C-poor stars in GCs also have higher He abundances owing to pollution from massive AGB stars with He-rich ejecta. The number fraction of He-rich stars (Y > 0.30) is higher for the models with smaller s and shorter σI for 3 � s � 24 and 10 5 � σI � 10 7 yr. He abundances of stars correlate with [N/Fe] and [Al/Fe] and anticorrelate with [C/Fe], [O/Fe], and [Na/Fe] within GCs in our models. (3) Although our model can much better explain the observed C-N and Mg-Al anticorrelations than previous theoretical models, it is in strong disagreement with the observed O-Na anticorrelation. (4) This model naturally provides an explanation for the large fraction of CNstrong stars without recourse to an implausible IMF. Based on these results for the above external pollution scenario, we discuss the long-standing problem of the CN-bimodality prevalent in the Galactic GCs, the possible helium abundance inhomogeneity in these systems, and their horizontal branch morphologies.

On the Carbon and Nitrogen Abundances of 47 Tucanae's Main-Sequence Stars

We report the results of an analysis of CN and CH band strengths among a large sample of 47 Tucanae main-sequence and turn-off stars presented earlier by Harbeck et al. The resulting C and N abundances derived from synthetic spectra demonstrate: 1) A strongly anti-correlated relationship between [C/Fe] and [N/Fe] with the CN-strong stars exhibiting depleted carbon and enhanced nitrogen. 2) The abundances of both elements agree remarkably well with those found among the evolved red giants of the cluster implying little change in surface abundances from at least Mv ~ +6.5 to the tip of the red giant branch. 3) The pattern of C-depletions and N-enhancements are quite similar to those seen among the turn-off stars of M71, a cluster of almost identical metallicity but lower central concentration and escape velocity. At the same time, similar if not smaller N-enhancements and larger C-depletions are evident among like stars in the more metal-poor cluster M5. We interpret these results, as did Harbeck et al., as evidence of the operation of some pollution/accretion event early in the cluster history - the most likely source being AGB ejecta. However, the present results rule out simple surface pollution and suggest that a substantial fraction of the present stars' masses must be involved.

CN variations in NGC 7006

Rotationally induced mixing with subsequent dredge-up of nucleosynthesized material is discussed as a second parameter of the horizontal branch morphology in globular clusters. CNO abundances have been proposed as tracers of the dredge up of processed material. \ngc is a prominent example of a second parameter GC: Its HB morphology is too red for its metallicity. We present spectroscopic measurements of CN molecular band strengths S(3839) and CH band CH(4300) strengths for 12 giants in \ngc to test rotationally-driven mixing as a second parameter in this cluster. Our observations reveal (i) a scatter in star-to-star CN absorption strengths with the same amplitude as seen in other GCs of the same metallicity, but different HB morphologies; (ii) a possible continuous distribution of CN absorption strength with a preference for CN-enriched stars, and (iii) a possible weak radial gradient in the number ratio of CN-strong and CN-weak stars. We argue against the hypothesis that CN-variations are directly correlated with the second parameter effect of the HB morphology. However, the small sample of stars measured in \ngc prevents us from drawing firm conclusions. Finally, we identify one star of our sample as a foreground dwarf carbon star.

Population Synthesis in the Blue. I. Synthesis of the Integrated Spectrum of 47 Tucanae from Its Color‐Magnitude Diagram

We perform an empirical synthesis of the blue integrated spectrum of the metal-rich globular cluster 47 Tucanae, based directly on the color-magnitude diagram of the cluster coupled to a moderately high resolution spectral library. Freed from any significant dependence on theory, we are able to perform a fundamental test of the adequacy of the spectral library and its associated stellar parameters. Excellent fits are achieved for almost all absorption-line indices studied, provided the computations are corrected for two limitations of the spectral library, namely, the lack of a representative set of metal-poor giants and the absence of CN-strong stars. The latter effect is corrected by means of spectrum synthesis from model photospheres, considering the abundance pattern of CN-strong and CN-normal stars. We also need to perform a slight correction of the metallicity of the cluster (by -0.05 dex in relation to the standard value [Fe/H] = -0.7) in order to match the metal line index measurements in the cluster spectrum. After these relatively small adjustments, the overall spectral agreement is good. Good fits are achieved for Hβ, Hγ, Mg b, , Ca λ4227, and Fe λ4383, and only HδF is overpredicted. Thus, ages inferred from HδF are slightly older than the ages based on the other Balmer lines, by ~3 Gyr. The success of this exercise suggests that previous failures to synthesize the spectrum of 47 Tuc must have arisen from inadequacies in the theoretical evolutionary isochrones and/or luminosity functions. Such a possibility is considered in a companion paper.