Chemically Self-Consistent Modeling of the Globular Cluster NGC 2808 and its Effects on the Inferred Helium Abundance of Multiple Stellar Populations

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Main Authors: Boudreaux, Emily M., Chaboyer, Brian C., Ash, Amanda, Hoh, Renata Edaes, Feiden, Gregory
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Boudreaux, Emily M.
Chaboyer, Brian C.
Ash, Amanda
Hoh, Renata Edaes
Feiden, Gregory
author_facet Boudreaux, Emily M.
Chaboyer, Brian C.
Ash, Amanda
Hoh, Renata Edaes
Feiden, Gregory
contents The helium abundances in the multiple populations that are now known to comprise all closely studied Milky Way globular clusters are often inferred by fitting isochrones generated from stellar evolutionary models to globular cluster photometry. It is therefore important to build stellar models that are chemically self-consistent in terms of their structure, atmosphere, and opacity. In this work we present the first chemically self-consistent stellar models of the Milky Way globular cluster NGC 2808 using MARCS model atmospheres, OPLIB high-temperature radiative opacities, and AESOPUS low-temperature radiative opacities. These stellar models were fit to the NGC 2808 photometry using Fidanka , a new software tool that was developed to optimally fit cluster photometry to isochrones and for population synthesis. Fidanka can determine, in a relatively unbiased way, the ideal number of distinct populations that exist within a dataset and then fit isochrones to each population. We achieve this outcome through a combination of Bayesian Gaussian Mixture Modeling and a novel number density estimation algorithm. Using Fidanka and F275W-F814W photometry from the Hubble UV Globular Cluster Survey we find that the helium abundance of the second generation of stars in NGC 2808 is higher than the first generation by $15\pm3\%$. This is in agreement with previous studies of NGC 2808. This work, along with previous work by Dotter et al. (2015) focused on NGC 6752, demonstrates that chemically self-consistent models of globular clusters do not significantly alter inferred helium abundances, and are therefore unlikely to be worth the significant additional time investment.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_17562
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Chemically Self-Consistent Modeling of the Globular Cluster NGC 2808 and its Effects on the Inferred Helium Abundance of Multiple Stellar Populations
Boudreaux, Emily M.
Chaboyer, Brian C.
Ash, Amanda
Hoh, Renata Edaes
Feiden, Gregory
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
The helium abundances in the multiple populations that are now known to comprise all closely studied Milky Way globular clusters are often inferred by fitting isochrones generated from stellar evolutionary models to globular cluster photometry. It is therefore important to build stellar models that are chemically self-consistent in terms of their structure, atmosphere, and opacity. In this work we present the first chemically self-consistent stellar models of the Milky Way globular cluster NGC 2808 using MARCS model atmospheres, OPLIB high-temperature radiative opacities, and AESOPUS low-temperature radiative opacities. These stellar models were fit to the NGC 2808 photometry using Fidanka , a new software tool that was developed to optimally fit cluster photometry to isochrones and for population synthesis. Fidanka can determine, in a relatively unbiased way, the ideal number of distinct populations that exist within a dataset and then fit isochrones to each population. We achieve this outcome through a combination of Bayesian Gaussian Mixture Modeling and a novel number density estimation algorithm. Using Fidanka and F275W-F814W photometry from the Hubble UV Globular Cluster Survey we find that the helium abundance of the second generation of stars in NGC 2808 is higher than the first generation by $15\pm3\%$. This is in agreement with previous studies of NGC 2808. This work, along with previous work by Dotter et al. (2015) focused on NGC 6752, demonstrates that chemically self-consistent models of globular clusters do not significantly alter inferred helium abundances, and are therefore unlikely to be worth the significant additional time investment.
title Chemically Self-Consistent Modeling of the Globular Cluster NGC 2808 and its Effects on the Inferred Helium Abundance of Multiple Stellar Populations
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.17562