Model computations of blue stragglers and W UMa-type stars in globular clusters

It was recently demonstrated that contact binaries occur in globular clusters (GCs) only immediately below turn-off point and in the region of blue straggler stars (BSs). In addition, observations indicate that at least a significant fraction of BSs in these clusters was formed by the binary mass-transfer mechanism. The aim of our present investigation is to obtain and analyze a set of evolutionary models of cool, close detached binaries with a low metal abundance, which are characteristic of GC. We computed the evolution of 975 models of initially detached, cool close binaries with different initial parameters. The models include mass exchange between components as well as mass and angular momentum loss due to the magnetized winds for very low-metallicity binaries with Z = 0.001. The models are interpreted in the context of existing data on contact binary and blue straggler members of GCs. The model parameters agree well with the observed positions of the GC contact binaries in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Contact binaries in the lower part of the cluster main sequence are absent because there are no binaries with initial orbital periods shorter than 1.5 d. Contact binaries end their evolution as mergers that appear in the BS region. Binary-formed BSs populate the whole observed BS region in a GC, but a gap is visible between low-mass mergers that are concentrated along the zero-age main sequence and binary BSs occupying the red part of the BS region. Very few binary mergers are expected to rotate rapidly and/or possess chemical peculiarities resulting from the exposure of the layers processed by CNO nuclear reactions. All other binary mergers are indistinguishable from the collisionally formed mergers. The results show that binary-formed BSs may constitute at least a substantial fraction of all BSs in a GC.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Deep inside low-mass stars

Low-mass stars exhibit, at all stages of their evolution, the signatures of complex physical processes that require challenging modeling beyond standard stellar theory. In this review, we recall the most striking observational evidences that probe the interaction and interdependence of various transport processes of chemicals and angular momentum in these objects. We then focus on the impact of atomic diffusion, large scale mixing due to rotation, and internal gravity waves on stellar properties on the main sequence and slightly beyond.Comment: Invited Review to be published in the proceedings of the IAU Symposium 252 "The Art of Modelling stars in the 21st Century" - Sanya - China - April 200

Meridional flow and differential rotation by gravity darkening in fast rotating solar-type stars

An explanation is presented for the rather strong total surface differential rotation of the observed very young solar-type stars like AB Dor and PZ Tel. Due to its rapid rotation a nonuniform energy flux leaves the stellar core so that the outer convection zone is nonuniformly heated from below. Due to this `gravity darkening' of the equator a meridional flow is created flowing equatorwards at the surface and thus accelerating the equatorial rotation. The effect linearly grows with the normalized pole-equator difference, \epsilon, of the heat-flux at the bottom of the convection zone. A rotation rate of about 9 h leads to \epsilon=0.1 for a solar-type star. In this case the resulting equator-pole differences of the angular velocity at the stellar surface, \delta\Omega, varies from unobservable 0.005/day to the (desired) value of 0.03 day$^{-1}$ when the dimensionless diffusivity factors $c_\nu$ and c_\chi vary between 1 and 0.1 (standard value c_\nu \simeq c_\chi \simeq 0.3, see Table 1.) In all cases the related temperature differences between pole and equator at the surface are unobservably small. The (clockwise) meridional circulation which we obtain flows opposite to the (counterclockwise) circulation appearing as a byproduct in the \Lambda-theory of the nonuniform rotation in outer convection zones. The consequences of this situation for those dynamo theories of stellar activity are discussed which work with the meridional circulation as the dominant magnetic-advection effect in latitude to produce the solar-like form of the butterfly diagram. Key words: Hydrodynamics, Star: rotation, Stars: pre-main sequence, Stellar activityComment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Astronomy and Astrophysics (subm.

Effect of Binary Source Companions on the Microlensing Optical Depth Determination toward the Galactic Bulge Field

Currently, gravitational microlensing survey experiments toward the Galactic bulge field utilize two different methods of minimizing blending effect for the accurate determination of the optical depth \tau. One is measuring \tau based on clump giant (CG) source stars and the other is using `Difference Image Analysis (DIA)' photometry to measure the unblended source flux variation. Despite the expectation that the two estimates should be the same assuming that blending is properly considered, the estimates based on CG stars systematically fall below the DIA results based on all events with source stars down to the detection limit. Prompted by the gap, we investigate the previously unconsidered effect of companion-associated events on $\tau$ determination. Although the image of a companion is blended with that of its primary star and thus not resolved, the event associated with the companion can be detected if the companion flux is highly magnified. Therefore, companions work effectively as source stars to microlensing and thus neglect of them in the source star count could result in wrong \tau estimation. By carrying out simulations based on the assumption that companions follow the same luminosity function of primary stars, we estimate that the contribution of the companion-associated events to the total event rate is ~5f_{bi}% for current surveys and can reach up to ~6f_{bi}% for future surveys monitoring fainter stars, where f_{bi} is the binary frequency. Therefore, we conclude that the companion-associated events comprise a non-negligible fraction of all events. However, their contribution to the optical depth is not large enough to explain the systematic difference between the optical depth estimates based on the two different methods.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, ApJ, submitte

Probing the Galactic Dark Matter Mass Funtion Using Microlensing and Direct Searches

If compact baryonic objects contribute significantly to the dark matter in our Galaxy, their mass function will present vital clues for galaxy formation theories and star formation processes in the early Universe. Here we discuss what one might expect to learn about the mass function of Galactic dark matter from microlensing and from direct searches in the infrared and optical wavebands. Current microlensing results from the \eros\/ collaboration already constrain halo mass functions which extend below 10^{-4}~\sm, whilst recent \hst\/ observations place strong constraints on disc and halo dark matter mass functions extending above 0.1~\sm. Infrared observations should either detect or constrain objects larger than 0.01~\sm in the near future. Objects below 0.01~\sm should be detectable through microlensing, although the prospects of determining their mass function depend critically on a number of factors.Comment: uuencoded, gzipped postscript file (4 pages). Postscript file (massfunc.ps) can also be obtained via anonymous ftp to 138.37.48.101 in dir /pub/ejk/ir+lens. Based on a talk presented at the conference "Trends in Astroparticle Physics", Stockholm, Sweden, 22-25 September. To be published in Nucl. Phys. B Proceedings Supplemen

Source blending effects on microlensing time-histograms and optical depth determination

Source blending in microlensing experiments is known to modify the Einstein time of the observed events. In this paper, we have conducted Monte-Carlo calculations, using the analytical relationships derived by Han (1999) to quantify the effect of blending on the observed event time distribution and optical depth. We show that short-time events are affected significantly by source blending and that, for moderately blended sources, the optical depth $\tau$ is globally overestimated, because of an underestimation of the exposure. For high blending situations, on the opposite, blending leads to an {\it under}estimation of the optical depth. Our results are in agreement with the most recent optical depth determinations toward the Galactic Center of the MACHO collaboration (Popowski et al. 2004) and the OGLE-II collaboration (Sumi et al. 2005) that use clump giants (less affected by the blending effect) as sources. The blending-corrected, lower optical depth toward the Galactic Bulge is now in good agreement with the value inferred from galactic models, reconciling theoretical and observational determinations.Comment: Accepted in Astronomy Astrophysics. Note that these calculations were conducted in 2001, prior to the recent DIA analyses mentioned in the references (see Alibert, Y. SF2A-conference, 2001

A Volume-limited Sample of 63 M7-M9.5 Dwarfs II. Activity, magnetism, and the fade of the rotation-dominated dynamo

In a volume-limited sample of 63 ultracool dwarfs of spectral type M7-M9.5, we have obtained high-resolution spectroscopy with UVES at the Very Large Telescope and HIRES at Keck Observatory. In this second paper, we present projected rotation velocities, average magnetic field strengths, and chromospheric emission from the Halpha line. We confirm earlier results that the mean level of normalized Halpha luminosity decreases with lower temperature, and we find that the scatter among Halpha luminosities is larger at lower temperature. We measure average magnetic fields between 0 and 4kG with no indication for a dependence on temperature between M7 and M9.5. For a given temperature, Halpha luminosity is related to magnetic field strength, consistent with results in earlier stars. A few very slowly rotating stars show very weak magnetic fields and Halpha emission, all stars rotating faster than our detection limit show magnetic fields of at least a few hundred Gauss. In contrast to earlier-type stars, we observe magnetic fields weaker than 1kG in stars rotating faster than ~3km/s, but we find no correlation between rotation and magnetic flux generation among them. We interpret this as a fundamental change in the dynamo mechanism; in ultracool dwarfs, magnetic field generation is predominantly achieved by a turbulent dynamo, while other mechanisms can operate more efficiently at earlier spectral type.Comment: accepted by Ap