scholarly journals Revisiting nucleosynthesis in globular clusters

2017 ◽  
Vol 608 ◽  
pp. A28 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Prantzos ◽  
C. Charbonnel ◽  
C. Iliadis

Context. Motivated by recent reports concerning the observation of limited enrichment in He but excess K in stars of globular clusters, we revisit the H-burning conditions that lead to the chemical properties of multiple stellar populations in these systems. Aims. In particular, we are interested in correlations of He and K with other elements, such as O, Na, Al, Mg and Si, reported in stars of NGC 2808. Methods. We performed calculations of nucleosynthesis at constant temperature and density, exploring the temperature range of 25 to 200 × 106 K (25 to 200 MK), using a detailed nuclear reaction network and the most up-to-date nuclear reaction rates. Results. We find that Mg is the most sensitive “thermometer” of hydrostatic H-burning conditions, pointing to a temperature range of 70–80 MK for NGC 2808, while He is a lesser – but not negligible – constraint. Potassium can be produced at the levels reported for NGC 2808 at temperatures >180 MK and Si at T > 80 MK. However, in the former temperature range Al and Na are totally destroyed and no correlation can be obtained, in contrast to the reported observations. None of the putative polluter sources proposed so far seem to satisfy the ensemble of nucleosynthesis constraints.

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (S316) ◽  
pp. 328-333
Author(s):  
W. Chantereau ◽  
C. Charbonnel ◽  
G. Meynet

AbstractOur knowledge of the formation and early evolution of globular clusters (GCs) has been totally shaken with the discovery of the peculiar chemical properties of their long-lived host stars. Therefore, the interpretation of the observed Colour Magnitude Diagrams (CMD) and of the properties of the GC stellar populations requires the use of new stellar models computed with relevant chemical compositions. In this paper we use the grid of evolution models for low-mass stars computed by Chantereau et al. (2015) with the initial compositions of second-generation stars as predicted by the fast rotating massive stars scenario to build synthesis models of GCs. We discuss the implications of the assumed initial chemical distribution on 13 Gyr isochrones. We build population synthesis models to predict the fraction of stars born with various helium abundances in present day globular clusters (assuming an age of 13 Gyr). With the current assumptions, 61 % of stars on the main sequence are predicted to be born with a helium abundance in mass fraction, Yini, smaller than 0.3 and only 11 % have a Yini larger than 0.4. Along the horizontal branch, the fraction of stars with Yini inferior to 0.3 is similar to that obtained along the main sequence band (63 %), while the fraction of very He-enriched stars is significantly decreased (only 3 % with Yini larger than 0.38).


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
P. Demetriou

Nuclear reaction rates play a crucial role in nuclear astrophysics. In the last decades there has been an enormous effort to measure reaction cross sections and extensive experimental databases have been compiled as a result. In spite of these efforts, most nuclear reaction network calculations still have to rely on theoretical predic- tions of experimentally unknown rates. In particular, in astrophysics applications such as the s-, r- and p-process nucleosynthesis involving a large number of nuclei and nuclear reactions (thousands). Moreover, most of the ingredients of the cal- culations of reaction rates have to be extrapolated to energy and/or mass regions that cannot be explored experimentally. For this reason it is important to develop global microscopic or semi-microscopic models of nuclear properties that give an accurate description of existing data and are reliable for predictions far away from the stability line. The need for more microscopic input parameters has led to new devel- opments within the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov method, some of which are presented in this paper.


2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (H16) ◽  
pp. 234-236
Author(s):  
A. F. Marino

AbstractAn intriguing discovery in the field of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters is that some of them show internal variations in the bulk of the heavy-element content. I summarize the chemical properties of one of these clusters, M22, in comparison with the most extreme ω Centauri, underlying the analogies and differences between the two objects.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (S351) ◽  
pp. 261-266
Author(s):  
Anna F. Marino

AbstractI present the latest results from our group about the multiple stellar populations in the old Milky Way globular clusters (GCs) and in the young systems both in the Magellanic Clouds and in the Milky Way. For the ancient GCs in our Galaxy I summarize the chemical properties of the stellar populations as observed on the chromosome map. Both Type I and Type II GCs are discussed. For the youngest clusters I will briefly report our latest spectroscopic analysis on the Large Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC 1818 and the Galactic open cluster M 11, which supports the co-existence of stellar populations with different rotation rates.


2020 ◽  
Vol 500 (3) ◽  
pp. 2958-2968
Author(s):  
Grant Merz ◽  
Zach Meisel

ABSTRACT The thermal structure of accreting neutron stars is affected by the presence of urca nuclei in the neutron star crust. Nuclear isobars harbouring urca nuclides can be produced in the ashes of Type I X-ray bursts, but the details of their production have not yet been explored. Using the code MESA, we investigate urca nuclide production in a one-dimensional model of Type I X-ray bursts using astrophysical conditions thought to resemble the source GS 1826-24. We find that high-mass (A ≥ 55) urca nuclei are primarily produced late in the X-ray burst, during hydrogen-burning freeze-out that corresponds to the tail of the burst light curve. The ∼0.4–0.6 GK temperature relevant for the nucleosynthesis of these urca nuclides is much lower than the ∼1 GK temperature most relevant for X-ray burst light curve impacts by nuclear reaction rates involving high-mass nuclides. The latter temperature is often assumed for nuclear physics studies. Therefore, our findings alter the excitation energy range of interest in compound nuclei for nuclear physics studies of urca nuclide production. We demonstrate that for some cases this will need to be considered in planning for nuclear physics experiments. Additionally, we show that the lower temperature range for urca nuclide production explains why variations of some nuclear reaction rates in model calculations impacts the burst light curve but not local features of the burst ashes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (S351) ◽  
pp. 524-527
Author(s):  
Maria A. Tiongco ◽  
Enrico Vesperini ◽  
Anna Lisa Varri

AbstractWe present several results of the study of the evolution of globular clusters’ internal kinematics, as driven by two-body relaxation and the interplay between internal angular momentum and the external Galactic tidal field. Via a large suite of N-body simulations, we explored the three-dimensional velocity space of tidally perturbed clusters, by characterizing their degree of velocity dispersion anisotropy and their rotational properties. These studies have shown that a cluster’s kinematical properties contain distinct imprints of the cluster’s initial structural properties, dynamical history, and tidal environment. Building on this fundamental understanding, we then studied the dynamics of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters, with attention to the largely unexplored role of angular momentum.


2021 ◽  
Vol 130 ◽  
pp. 102584
Author(s):  
Fred C. Adams ◽  
Alex R. Howe ◽  
Evan Grohs ◽  
George M. Fuller

1967 ◽  
Vol 45 (10) ◽  
pp. 3275-3296 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Brancazio ◽  
A. Gilbert ◽  
A. G. W. Cameron

A preliminary investigation of the effects on abundances in stellar surfaces of extensive nuclear bombardment required the calculation of more than 105 nuclear-reaction cross sections. It was necessary to develop simplified methods for using the statistical theory of nuclear reactions to make these calculations in order that the computer time should not be prohibitive. These methods are described here and the results are compared with experiment. The accuracy of the calculations is, in general, about as good as, or somewhat better than, that obtained in previous applications of the statistical theory, probably because the use of an accurate level density formula outweighed the crudity of other approximations.


Author(s):  
Sheng Wei ◽  
Brandon Sforzo ◽  
Jerry Seitzman

In gas turbine combustors, ignition is achieved by using sparks from igniters to start a flame. The process of sparks interacting with fuel/air mixture and creating self-sustained flames is termed forced ignition. Physical and chemical properties of a liquid fuel can influence forced ignition. The physical effects manifest through processes such as droplet atomization, spray distribution, and vaporization rate. The chemical effects impact reaction rates and heat release. This study focuses on the effect of fuel composition on forced ignition of fuel sprays in a well-controlled flow with a commercial style igniter. A facility previously used to examine prevaporized, premixed liquid fuel-air mixtures is modified and employed to study forced ignition of liquid fuel sprays. In our experiments, a wall-mounted, high energy, recessed cavity discharge igniter operating at 15 Hz with average spark energy of 1.25 J is used to ignite liquid fuel spray produced by a pressure atomizer located in a uniform air coflow. The successful outcome of each ignition events is characterized by the (continued) presence of chemiluminescence 2 ms after spark discharge, as detected by a high-speed camera. The ignition probability is defined as the fraction of successful sparks at a fixed condition, with the number of events evaluated for each fuel typically in the range 600–1200. Ten fuels were tested, including standard distillate jet fuels (e.g., JP-8 and Jet-A), as well as many distillate and alternative fuel blends, technical grade n-dodecane, and surrogates composed of a small number of components. During the experiments, the air temperature is controlled at 27 C and the fuel temperature is controlled at 21 C. Experiments are conducted at a global equivalence ratio of 0.55. Results show that ignition probabilities correlate strongly to liquid fuel viscosity (presumably through droplet atomization) and vapor pressure (or recovery temperature), as smaller droplets of a more volatile fuel would lead to increased vaporization rates. This allows the kernel to transition to a self-sustained flame before entrainment reduces its temperature to a point where chemical rates are too slow. Chemical properties of the fuel showed little influence, except when the fuels had similar physical properties. This result demonstrates that physical properties of liquid fuels have dominating effects on forced ignition of liquid fuel spray in coflow air.


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