globular cluster

Accretion of sub-stellar companions as the origin of chemical abundance inhomogeneities in globular clusters

Andrew J. Winter Globular clusters exhibit abundance variations, defining `multiple populations', which have prompted a protracted search for their origin. Properties requiring explanation include: the high fraction of polluted stars ($\sim 40{-}90$~percent, correlated with cluster mass), the absence of pollution in young clusters and the lower pollution rate with binarity and distance from the cluster centre. We present a novel mechanism for late delivery of pollutants into stars via accretion of sub-stellar companions.

GMultimass modelling of Milky Way globular clusters -- I. Implications on their stellar initial mass function above 1 M⊙

Nolan Dickson The distribution of stars and stellar remnants (white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes) within globular clusters holds clues about their formation and long-term evolution, with important implications for their initial mass function (IMF) and the formation of black hole mergers. In this work, we present best-fitting multimass models for 37 Milky Way globular clusters, which were inferred from various datasets, including proper motions from Gaia EDR3 and HST, line-of-sight velocities from ground-based spectroscopy and deep stellar mass functions from HST.

A comparison of millisecond pulsar populations between globular clusters and the Galactic field

Jongsu Lee We have performed a systematic study of the rotational, orbital and X-ray properties of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) in globular clusters (GCs) and compared their nature with those of the MSPs in the Galactic field (GF). We found that GC MSPs generally rotate slower than their counterparts in the GF. Different from the expectation of a simple recycling scenario, no evidence for the correlation between the orbital period and the rotation period can be found from the MSP binaries in GCs.

Evidence for globular clusters collapse after a dwarf-dwarf merger: A nuclear star-cluster in formation?

J. Román Direct observational evidence for the creation of nuclear star clusters (NSCs) is needed to support the proposed scenarios for their formation. We have analyzed the dwarf galaxy UGC 7346, located in the peripheral regions of the Virgo Cluster, to highlight a series of properties that indicate the formation of a NSC caught in its earlier stages. First, we report remnants of a past interaction in the form of diffuse streams or shells, suggesting a recent merge of two dwarf galaxies with a 1:5 stellar mass ratio.

Peeking beneath the precision floor -- II. Probing the chemo-dynamical histories of the potential globular cluster siblings, NGC 288 and NGC 362

Stephanie Monty The assembly history of the Milky Way (MW) is a rapidly evolving subject, with numerous small accretion events and at least one major merger proposed in the MW's history. Accreted alongside these dwarf galaxies are globular clusters (GCs), which act as spatially coherent remnants of these past events. Using high precision differential abundance measurements from our recently published study, we investigate the likelihood that the MW clusters NGC 362 and NGC 288 are galactic siblings, accreted as part of the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE) merger.

Dynamics of intermediate mass black holes in globular cluster. Wander radius and anisotropy profiles

Pierfrancesco Di Cintio We recently introduced a new method for simulating collisional gravitational N-body systems with approximately linear time scaling with $N$, based on the Multi-Particle Collision (MPC) scheme, previously applied in Plasma Physics. We simulate globular clusters with a realistic number of stellar particles (at least up to several times $10^6$) on a standard workstation. We simulate clusters hosting an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH), probing a broad range of BH-cluster and BH-average-star mass ratios, unrestricted by the computational constraints affecting direct N-body codes.

Stellar collisions in globular clusters: Constraints on the initial mass function of the first generation of stars

Sami Dib Globular clusters display an anticorrelation between the fraction of the first generation of stars ($N({\rm G1})/N({\rm tot})$) and the slope of the present-day mass function of the clusters ($α_{pd}$), which is particularly significant for massive clusters. In the framework of the binary-mediated collision scenario for the formation of the second-generation stars in globular clusters, we test the effect of a varying stellar initial mass function (IMF) of the G1 stars on the $(N({\rm G1})/N({\rm tot}))-α_{pd}$ anticorrelation.

Probability of forming gaps in the GD-1 stream by close encounters of globular clusters

Yuka Doke One of the most intriguing properties of the GD-1 stellar stream is the existence of three gaps. If these gaps were formed by close encounters with dark matter subhalos, the GD-1 stream opens an exciting window through which we can see the size, mass, and velocity distributions of the dark matter subhalos in the Milky Way. However, in order to use the GD-1 stream as a probe of the dark matter substructure, we need to disprove that these gaps are not due to the perturbations from baryonic components of the Milky Way.

Constraining Co-Varying Coupling Constants from Globular Cluster Age

Rajendra P. Gupta Equations governing the evolution of a star involve multiple coupling constants. Thus, the time it spends as a main-sequence star can be expected to depend on whether or not such constants vary over the time scale of stellar evolution. When the star belongs to a globular cluster, the star's age cannot exceed that of the globular cluster, and the latter cannot exceed the age of the Universe.

Likely detection of gamma-ray pulsations of PSR~J1717+4308A in NGC~6341 and implication of the gamma-ray millisecond pulsars in globular clusters

P. Zhang We report our analysis results for the globular cluster (GC) NGC~6341 (M92), as a millisecond pulsar (MSP) J1717$+$4308A has recently been reported found in this GC. The data used are from the Large Area Telescope onboard the {\it Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi)}. We detect $γ$-ray pulsations of the MSP at a $4.4σ$ confidence level (the corresponding weighted H-test value is $\sim$28.4). This MSP, the fourth $γ$-ray pulsar found in a GC, does not have significant off-pulse emission and has $γ$-ray luminosity and efficiency $1.