Inconsistent metallicity spreads in first-generation stars of globular clusters from high-resolution spectroscopy and HST photometry

INAF-Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Via P. Gobetti 93/3, 40129 Bologna, Italy

^★ Corresponding author; eugenio.carretta@inaf.it

Received: 14 January 2025
Accepted: 17 February 2025

Abstract

An open issue about multiple stellar populations in globular clusters (GCs) is the possible existence of metallicity spreads in first-generation (FG) stars. Recent estimates based on the HST pseudo-colour map (PCM) derived unlikely large spreads in [Fe/H] from spreads in the colour col = m_F275W − m_F814W. The inferred metallicity spreads for many GCs are comparable to or even larger than the ones observed in dwarf galaxies. This result is clearly unexpected and at odds with the birth time of stars in dwarf galaxies, spanning several billion years, as opposed to the very short formation times of the stellar component in GCs (a few million years). The contradiction is corroborated by a comparison of the widths of red giant branches in both classes of objects. Moreover, the so-called spreads in FG stars estimated from the PCMs are always larger than the intrinsic metallicity spreads derived from spectroscopy. We used 30 pairs of FG stars with similar parameters in 12 GCs to highlight that a constant displacement in Δcol corresponds to variable differences in [Fe/H] up to 0.2 dex, depending on the GC. Providing for the first time quantitative measurements of the extension in Δcol of the sequences of FG and SG stars, we find no relation between the metallicity spreads previously derived and extension of FG stars. We find that the length of the FG region correlates with the average global metallicity of GCs, and not with the observed metallicity spreads. The extension of FG stars also correlates with the extension of SG stars, and the global mass of the GCs. Our findings seriously challenge the scenario claiming more inhomogeneous mixing among FG stars, invalidating previous speculations in the literature.