Issue |
A&A
Volume 470, Number 1, July IV 2007
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 153 - 159 | |
Section | Galactic structure, stellar clusters, and populations | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20077227 | |
Published online | 10 May 2007 |
Variations in the lithium abundances of turn off stars in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae*
1
CIFIST Marie Curie Excellence Team
2
GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, Place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France e-mail: Piercarlo.Bonifacio@obspm.fr
3
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via Tiepolo 11, 34131 Trieste, Italy
4
European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
5
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy
6
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
7
Department of Astronomy, Pontificia Universidad Catolica, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago 22, Chile
Received:
2
February
2007
Accepted:
17
April
2007
Aims. Our aim is to determine Li abundances in turn off stars of the globular cluster 47 Tuc and test theories about Li variations among turn off stars.
Methods.
We make use of high resolution (),
high signal-to-noise ratio (
–70)
spectra of 4 turn off (TO) stars
obtained with the UVES spectrograph at the
8.2 m VLT Kueyen telescope.
Results.
The four stars observed span the range
, providing
a mean A(Li) = 1.84 with a standard deviation
of 0.25 dex. When coupled with data of other
two TO stars of the cluster, available in the literature,
the full range in Li abundances
observed in this cluster is
.
The variation in A(Li) is at least
0.6 dex (0.7 dex considering also
the data available in the literature)
and the scatter is six times
larger than what is expected from the
observational error. We
claim that these variations are real.
A(Li) seems to be anti-correlated with A(Na) exactly
as observed in NGC 6752.
No systematic error in our analysis could produce such
an anti-correlation.
Conclusions.
Na production through p captures on 22Ne
at temperatures in excess of K and the
contemporary Li destruction could result in this
anti-correlation. However, such nuclear processing
cannot have taken place in the stars themselves,
which do not reach such high temperatures, even at their
centre. This points towards the processing
in a previous generation of stars.
The low N/O ratios in the observed
stars
and the apparent lack of correlation
between N an Li abundances, place a strong
constraint on the properties of this previous
generation.
Our results indicate a different behaviour among the
globular clusters so far studied, as
far as the abundance patterns are concerned.
Key words: diffusion / stars: abundances / stars: atmospheres / stars: Population II / Galaxy: globular clusters: 47 Tuc
© ESO, 2007
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.