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Hot HB Stars in Globular Clusters: Physical Parameters and Consequences for TheoryWe present the results of spectroscopic analyses of hot horizontal branch (HB) stars in M 13 and M 3, which form a famous "second parameter" pair. F rom the spectra and Stromgren photometry we derived - for the first time in M 13 - atmospheric parameters (effective temperature and surface gravity). For stars with Stromgren temperatures between 10,000 and 12,000 K we found excellent agreement between the atmospheric parameters derived from Stromgren photometry and those derived from Balmer line profile fits. However, for cooler stars there is a disagreement in the parameters derived by the two methods, for which we have no satisfactory explanation. Stars hotter than 12,000 K show evidence for helium depletion and iron enrichment, both in M 3 and M 13. Accounting for the iron enrichment substantially improves the agreement with canonical evolutionary models, although the derived gravities and masses are still somewhat too low. This remaining discrepancy may be an indication that scaled-solar metal-rich model atmospheres do not adequately represent the highly non-solar abundance ratios found in blue HB stars affected by diffusion. We discuss the effects of an enhancement in the envelope helium abundance on the atmospheric parameters of the blue HB stars, as might be caused by deep mixing on the red giant branch or primordial pollution from an earlier generation of intermediate mass asymptotic giant branch stars. Key words. Stars: atmospheres - Stars: evolution - Stars: horizontal branch - Globular clusters: individual: M 3 - Globular clusters: individual: M 13
Document ID
20040034838
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Moehler, S.
(Institut fuer Theoretische Astrophysik Kiel, Germany)
Landsman, W. B.
(Science Systems and Applications, Inc. Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Sweigart, A. V.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Grundahl, F.
(Aarhus Univ. Denmark)
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2003
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
astro-ph/0304475v1
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: DLR-50-OR-96029-ZA
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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