Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Galaxy Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2010-01-07
Nature 462 (2009) 1028-1031
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Galaxy Astrophysics
Published on the 24th December 2009 issue of Nature
Scientific paper
10.1038/nature08607
Stars in globular clusters are generally believed to have all formed at the same time, early in the Galaxy's history. 'Blue stragglers' are stars massive enough that they should have evolved into white dwarfs long ago. Two possible mechanisms have been proposed for their formation: mass transfer between binary companions and stellar mergers resulting from direct collisions between two stars. Recently, the binary explanation was claimed to be dominant. Here we report that there are two distinct parallel sequences of blue stragglers in M30. This globular cluster is thought to have undergone 'core collapse', during which both the collision rate and the mass transfer activity in binary systems would have been enhanced. We suggest that the two observed sequences arise from the cluster core collapse, with the bluer population arising from direct stellar collisions and the redder one arising from the evolution of close binaries that are probably still experiencing an active phase of mass transfer.
Beccari Giacomo
Bovinelli S.
Dalessandro Emanuele
Ferraro Francesco R.
Fusi Pecci Flavio
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