Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Globular Clusters with Central Density Cusps

Details Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Globular Clusters with Central Density Cusps Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Globular Clusters with Central Density Cusps

Jul 1997

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997phdt........20s&link_type=abstract

Thesis (PHD). UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY , Source DAI-B 58/08, p. 4279, Feb 1998, 161 pages.

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Scientific paper

We use the Hubble Space Telescope to observe crowded fields in globular clusters with central density cusps, and use the observed stellar distributions to study the internal dynamics of clusters in advanced stages of evolution. We begin by discussing images of the cusp of NGC 6624. From the positions of individual stars, we measure the logarithmic slope of the central density cusp, but do not resolve the cluster core. We also detect a central population of blue stragglers, and compare the frequencies of such stars in several clusters. NGC 6397, as well as photometric techniques for use with diffraction-limited HST images. We measure logarithmic cusp slopes for various groups of main-sequence stars in each cluster; we also set upper limits on the core radii of M15 and M30, and measure a radius of ~5' for the NGC 6397 core. We compare mass functions (MFs) measured at several radii in each cluster, and find substantial mass segregation. In M30, the observed segregation is well matched by the predictions of a King-Michie model, but similar models of M15 and NGC 6397 predict more mass segregation than we observe. We then use the Jeans equation and our MFs to investigate the degree of equipartition of energy between stellar species in each cluster. We find that M30 is very close to equipartition over the observed radial range between the cusp and the envelope, while M15 and NGC 6397 are not. The difference between M30 and M15 might be explained by the difference in relaxation times at the observed radii, but this scenario fails to explain the NGC 6397 data. We discuss the possibility that post-collapse clusters remain subject to the Spitzer instability, and the possibility that the tidal shocks suffered by NGC 6397 have affected its degree of mass segregation. We also propose that the observed differences between the central cusps of the clusters could be due to gravothermal oscillations, to differences in binary populations, or to the presence of a ~103Msolar black hole in one or more clusters.

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