First evidence of multiple populations along the AGB from Strömgren photometry

Spectroscopic studies have demonstrated that nearly all Galactic globular clusters (GCs) harbour multiple stellar populations with different chemical compositions. Moreover, colour-magnitude diagrams based exclusively on Strömgrem photometry have allowed us to identify and characterise multiple populations along the RGB of a large number of clusters. In this paper we show for the first time that Strömgren photometry is also very efficient at identifying multiple populations along the AGB, and demonstrate that the AGB of M 3, M 92, NGC 362, NGC 1851, and NGC 6752 are not consistent with a single stellar population. We also provide a catalogue of RGB and AGB stars photometrically identified in these clusters for further spectroscopic follow-up studies. We combined photometry and elemental abundances from the literature for RGB and AGB stars in NGC 6752 where the presence of multiple populations along the AGB has been widely debated. We find that, while the MS, SGB, and RGB host three stellar populations with different helium and light element abundances, only two populations of AGB stars are present in the cluster. These results are consistent with standard evolutionary theory.P.G. acknowledges support from grant No. 2011- 5042 from the Swedish Research Council. S.F acknowledge the grant The New Milky Way from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. P.G. and S.F. acknowledges support from the Swedish National Space Board. AS acknowledges support from MINECO (ESP2015-66134-R) and Generalitat de Catalunya (SGR2014-1458). L.C gratefully acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council (grants DP150100250, FT160100402). A. P. M. acknowledges support by the Australian Research Council through Discovery Early Career Researcher Award DE150101816

The LUMBA UVES stellar parameter pipeline

Context. The Gaia-ESO Survey has taken high-quality spectra of a subset of 100 000 stars observed with the Gaia spacecraft. The goal for this subset is to derive chemical abundances for these stars that will complement the astrometric data collected by Gaia. Deriving the chemical abundances requires that the stellar parameters be determined. Aims. We present a pipeline for deriving stellar parameters from spectra observed with the FLAMES-UVES spectrograph in its standard fibre-fed mode centred on 580 nm, as used in the Gaia-ESO Survey. We quantify the performance of the pipeline in terms of systematic offsets and scatter. In doing so, we present a general method for benchmarking stellar parameter determination pipelines. Methods. Assuming a general model of the errors in stellar parameter pipelines, together with a sample of spectra of stars whose stellar parameters are known from fundamental measurements and relations, we use a Markov chain Monte Carlo method to quantitatively test the pipeline. Results. We find that the pipeline provides parameter estimates with systematic errors on effective temperature below 100 K, on surface gravity below 0.1 dex, and on metallicity below 0.05 dex for the main spectral types of star observed in the Gaia-ESO Survey and tested here. The performance on red giants is somewhat lower. Conclusions. The pipeline performs well enough to fulfil its intended purpose within the Gaia-ESO Survey. It is also general enough that it can be put to use on spectra from other surveys or other spectrographs similar to FLAMES-UVES.Parts of this research were conducted by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), through project number CE170100013. PG thanks the European Science Foundation (ESF) for support in the framework of EuroGENESIS. KL acknowledges funds from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in the framework of the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award endowed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and funds from the Swedish Research Council (Grant no. 2015-00415_3) and Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions (Cofund Project INCA 600398). This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France

The Gaia-ESO Survey. Mg-Al anti-correlation in iDR4 globular clusters

We use Gaia-ESO Survey iDR4 data to explore the Mg-Al anti-correlation in globular clusters, that were observed as calibrators, as a demonstration of the quality of Gaia-ESO Survey data and analysis. The results compare well with the available literature, within 0.1 dex or less, after a small (compared to the internal spreads) offset between the UVES and the GIRAFFE data of 0.10-0.15 dex was taken into account. In particular, we present for the first time data for NGC 5927, one of the most metal-rich globular clusters studied in the literature so far with [Fe/H]=–0.49 dex, that was included to connect with the open cluster regime in the Gaia-ESO Survey internal calibration. The extent and shape of the Mg-Al anti-correlation provide strong constraints on the multiple population phenomenon in globular clusters. In particular, we studied the dependency of the Mg-Al anti-correlation extension with metallicity, present-day mass, and age of the clusters, using GES data in combination with a large set of homogenized literature measurements. We find a dependency with both metallicity and mass, that is evident when fitting for the two parameters simultaneously, but no significant dependency with age. We confirm that the Mg-Al anti-correlation is not seen in all clusters, but disappears for the less massive or most metal-rich ones. We also use our dataset to see whether a normal anti-correlation would explain the low [Mg/α] observed in some extragalactic globular clusters, but find that none of the clusters in our sample can reproduce it, and more extreme chemical compositions (like the one of NGC 2419) would be required. We conclude that GES iDR4 data already meet the requirements set by the main survey goals, and can be used to study in detail globular clusters even if the analysis procedures were not specifically designed for them.l. This work was partly supported by the European Union FP7 programme through ERC grant number 320360 and by the Leverhulme Trust through grant RPG-2012-541. We acknowledge the support from INAF and Ministero dell’ Istruzione, dell’ Università e della Ricerca (MIUR) in the form of the grant "Premiale VLT 2012". The results presented here benefit from discussions held during the Gaia-ESO workshops and conferences supported by the ESF (European Science Foundation) through the GREAT Research Network Programme. M.T.C. acknowledges the financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, through grant AYA2013-40611-P. E.P. and D.R. benefited from the International Space Science Institute (ISSI, Bern, CH), through funding of the International Team “The Formation and Evolution of the Galactic Halo". S.G.S acknowledges the support by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) through national funds and a research grant (project ref. UID/FIS/04434/2013, and PTDC/FISAST/7073/2014). S.G.S. also acknowledge the support from FCT through Investigador FCT contract of reference IF/00028/2014 and POPH/FSE (EC) by FEDER funding through the program “Programa Operacional de Factores de Competitividade – COMPETE". D.G., B.T., and S.V. gratefully acknowledge support from the Chilean BASAL Centro de Excelencia en Astrofísica y Tecnologías Afines (CATA) grant PFB-06/2007. L.M. acknowledges support from Proyecto Interno of the Universidad Andres Bello. E.J.A was supported by Spanish MINECO under grant AYA2016-75931-C2-1-P with FEDER funds. R.S. acknowledges support from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (660/E-60/STYP/10/2015)

Exchange bias effect in alloys and compounds

The phenomenology of exchange bias effects observed in structurally single-phase alloys and compounds but composed of a variety of coexisting magnetic phases such as ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic, ferrimagnetic, spin-glass, cluster-glass and disordered magnetic states are reviewed. The investigations on exchange bias effects are discussed in diverse types of alloys and compounds where qualitative and quantitative aspects of magnetism are focused based on macroscopic experimental tools such as magnetization and magnetoresistance measurements. Here, we focus on improvement of fundamental issues of the exchange bias effects rather than on their technological importance

The Gaia-ESO Survey : The analysis of high-resolution UVES spectra of FGK-type stars

Date of Acceptance: 01/09/2014Context. The ongoing Gaia-ESO Public Spectroscopic Survey is using FLAMES at the VLT to obtain high-quality medium-resolution Giraffe spectra for about 105 stars and high-resolution UVES spectra for about 5000 stars. With UVES, the Survey has already observed 1447 FGK-type stars. Aims. These UVES spectra are analyzed in parallel by several state-of-the-art methodologies. Our aim is to present how these analyses were implemented, to discuss their results, and to describe how a final recommended parameter scale is defined. We also discuss the precision (method-to-method dispersion) and accuracy (biases with respect to the reference values) of the final parameters. These results are part of the Gaia-ESO second internal release and will be part of its first public release of advanced data products. Methods. The final parameter scale is tied to the scale defined by the Gaia benchmark stars, a set of stars with fundamental atmospheric parameters. In addition, a set of open and globular clusters is used to evaluate the physical soundness of the results. Each of the implemented methodologies is judged against the benchmark stars to define weights in three different regions of the parameter space. The final recommended results are the weighted medians of those from the individual methods. Results. The recommended results successfully reproduce the atmospheric parameters of the benchmark stars and the expected Teff-log g relation of the calibrating clusters. Atmospheric parameters and abundances have been determined for 1301 FGK-type stars observed with UVES. The median of the method-to-method dispersion of the atmospheric parameters is 55 K for Teff, 0.13 dex for log g and 0.07 dex for [Fe/H]. Systematic biases are estimated to be between 50-100 K for Teff, 0.10-0.25 dex for log g and 0.05-0.10 dex for [Fe/H]. Abundances for 24 elements were derived: C, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Y, Zr, Mo, Ba, Nd, and Eu. The typical method-to-method dispersion of the abundances varies between 0.10 and 0.20 dex. Conclusions. The Gaia-ESO sample of high-resolution spectra of FGK-type stars will be among the largest of its kind analyzed in a homogeneous way. The extensive list of elemental abundances derived in these stars will enable significant advances in the areas of stellar evolution and Milky Way formation and evolution.Peer reviewe

A VLT VIMOS IFU study of the ionisation nebula surrounding the supersoft X-ray source CAL 83

Context: CAL 83 is a prototype of the class of Super Soft X-ray Sources (SXS). It is a binary consisting of a low mass secondary that is transferring mass onto a white dwarf primary and is the only known SXS surrounded by an ionisation nebula, made up of the interstellar medium (ISM) ionised by the source itself. We study this nebula using integral field spectroscopy. Aims: The study of ionised material can inform us about the source that is responsible for the ionisation, in a way that is complementary to studying the source directly. Since CAL 83 is the only SXS known with an ionisation nebula, we have an opportunity to see if such studies are as useful for SXSs as they have been for other X-ray ionised nebulae. We can use these data to compare to models of how CAL 83 should ionise its surroundings, based on what we know about the source emission spectrum and the physical conditions of the surrounding ISM. Methods: With the VIMOS integral field spectrograph we obtained spectra over a 25 × 25′′ field of view, encompassing one quarter of the nebula. Emission line maps – H i, He II λ4686, [OIII] λλ4959,5007, [NII] λλ6548,5683, and [SII] λλ6716,6731 – are produced in order to study the morphology of the ionised gas. We include CAL 83 on diagrams of various diagnostic ion ratios to compare it to other X-ray ionised sources. Finally we computed some simple models of the ionised gas around CAL 83 and compare the predicted to the observed spectra. Results: CAL 83 appears to have a fairly standard ionisation nebula as far as the morphology goes: the edges where H is recombining are strong in the low stage ionisation lines and the central, clumpy regions are stronger in the higher stage ionisation lines. But the He ii emission is unusual in being confined to one side of CAL 83 rather than being homogeneously distributed as with the other ions. We model the CAL 83 nebula with cloudy using model parameters for SXSs found in the literature. The He ii emission does not fit in with model predictions; in fact none of the models is able to fit the observed spectrum very well. Conclusions: The spectral line images of the region surrounding CAL 83 are revealing and instructive. However, more work on modelling the spectrum of the ionised gas is necessary, and especially for the high-ionisation level emission from CAL 83. In particular, we wish to know if the He ii emission and the other nebular lines are powered by the same ionising source

The LUMBA UVES stellar parameter pipeline

Context. The Gaia-ESO Survey has taken high-quality spectra of a subset of 100 000 stars observed with the Gaia spacecraft. The goal for this subset is to derive chemical abundances for these stars that will complement the astrometric data collected by Gaia. Deriving the chemical abundances requires that the stellar parameters be determined. Aims: We present a pipeline for deriving stellar parameters from spectra observed with the FLAMES-UVES spectrograph in its standard fibre-fed mode centred on 580 nm, as used in the Gaia-ESO Survey. We quantify the performance of the pipeline in terms of systematic offsets and scatter. In doing so, we present a general method for benchmarking stellar parameter determination pipelines. Methods: Assuming a general model of the errors in stellar parameter pipelines, together with a sample of spectra of stars whose stellar parameters are known from fundamental measurements and relations, we use a Markov chain Monte Carlo method to quantitatively test the pipeline. Results: We find that the pipeline provides parameter estimates with systematic errors on effective temperature below 100 K, on surface gravity below 0.1 dex, and on metallicity below 0.05 dex for the main spectral types of star observed in the Gaia-ESO Survey and tested here. The performance on red giants is somewhat lower. Conclusions: The pipeline performs well enough to fulfil its intended purpose within the Gaia-ESO Survey. It is also general enough that it can be put to use on spectra from other surveys or other spectrographs similar to FLAMES-UVES