TY - JOUR
T1 - Terzan 8
T2 - A Sagittarius-flavoured globular cluster
AU - Carretta, E.
AU - Bragaglia, A.
AU - Gratton, R. G.
AU - D'Orazi, V.
AU - Lucatello, S.
AU - Sollima, A.
N1 - Copyright ESO 2014. First published in Astronomy and astrophysics 561, A87, 2014, published by EDP Sciences. The original publication is available at http://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201322676
PY - 2014/1
Y1 - 2014/1
N2 - Massive globular clusters (GCs) contain at least two generations of stars with slightly different ages and clearly distinct light element abundances. The Na-O anticorrelation is the best studied chemical signature of multiple stellar generations. Instead, low-mass clusters usually appear to be chemically homogeneous. We are investigating low-mass GCs to understand what the lower mass limit is where multiple populations can form, mainly using the Na and O abundance distribution. We used VLT/FLAMES spectra of giants in the low-mass, metal-poor GC Terzan 8 that belongs to the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy to determine abundances of Fe, O, Na, α-, Fe-peak, and neutron-capture elements in six stars observed with UVES and 14 observed with GIRAFFE. The average metallicity is [Fe/H] =-2.27 ± 0.03 (rms = 0.08), based on the six high-resolution UVES spectra. Only one star, observed with GIRAFFE, shows an enhanced abundance of Na and we tentatively assign it to the second generation. In this cluster, unlike what happens in more massive GCs, the second generation seems to represent at most a minority fraction. We discuss the implications of our findings, comparing Terzan 8 with the other Sgr dSph GCs, and to GCs and field stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, Fornax, and in other dwarfs galaxies.
AB - Massive globular clusters (GCs) contain at least two generations of stars with slightly different ages and clearly distinct light element abundances. The Na-O anticorrelation is the best studied chemical signature of multiple stellar generations. Instead, low-mass clusters usually appear to be chemically homogeneous. We are investigating low-mass GCs to understand what the lower mass limit is where multiple populations can form, mainly using the Na and O abundance distribution. We used VLT/FLAMES spectra of giants in the low-mass, metal-poor GC Terzan 8 that belongs to the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy to determine abundances of Fe, O, Na, α-, Fe-peak, and neutron-capture elements in six stars observed with UVES and 14 observed with GIRAFFE. The average metallicity is [Fe/H] =-2.27 ± 0.03 (rms = 0.08), based on the six high-resolution UVES spectra. Only one star, observed with GIRAFFE, shows an enhanced abundance of Na and we tentatively assign it to the second generation. In this cluster, unlike what happens in more massive GCs, the second generation seems to represent at most a minority fraction. We discuss the implications of our findings, comparing Terzan 8 with the other Sgr dSph GCs, and to GCs and field stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, Fornax, and in other dwarfs galaxies.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84891863504&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1051/0004-6361/201322676
DO - 10.1051/0004-6361/201322676
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84891863504
VL - 561
SP - 1
EP - 16
JO - Astronomy and Astrophysics
JF - Astronomy and Astrophysics
SN - 0004-6361
M1 - A87
ER -