Some Systematics of Galactic Globular Clusters

The global properties of all known Galactic globular clusters are examined. The relationship between the luminosities and the metallicities of Galactic globular clusters is found to be complex. Among luminous clusters there is a correlation in the sense that the oldest clusters are slightly more metal deficient than are younger clusters. However, no such clear-cut relationship is found among the faintest globular clusters. The central concentration index C of globular clusters is seen to be independent of metallicity. The dependence of the half-light radii of globular clusters on their Galactocentric distances can be approximated by the relation $R_h \alpha R^{2/3}_{gc}$. Clusters with collapsed cores are mostly situated close to the Galactic nucleus. For $R_{gc} < 10$ kpc the luminosities and the radii of clusters appear to be uncorrelated. The Galaxy differs from the LMC and the SMC in that it appears to lack highly flattened luminous clusters. Galactic globular clusters with ages $\geq$ 13.0 Gyr are all of Oosterhoff type II, whereas almost all of those with ages $<$ 13.0 Gyr have been assigned to Oosterhoff type I. Globular clusters with ages $<$11.5 Gyr are all located in the outer Galactic halo, have below-average luminosities and above-average radii. On the other hand the very old globular cluster NGC 6522 is situated close to the Galactic nucleus.Comment: PASP, in pres

Variable Stars in the Field of the Globular Cluster NGC 3201

We report on the discovery and analysis of 14 short-period variable stars in the field of the southern globular cluster NGC 3201, located within roughly two magnitudes on either side of the main-sequence turnoff. 11 of these variable stars are eclipsing binaries, one is an RR Lyrae, and two are thus far unclassified systems. Among the eclipsing binary stars, nine are of the W Ursa Majoris (W UMa) type, one an Algol (EA) system, and one a detached system. Using spectroscopic follow-up observations as well as analysis of the variables' locations in the color-magnitude diagram of the cluster, we find that only one variable star (a W UMa type blue straggler) is actually a member of NGC 3201. We present the phased photometry lightcurves for all the variable star systems as well as their locations in the field-of-view and in the color-magnitude diagram.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables; accepted for the January 2002 issue of AJ. For full resolution versions of this paper, go to: http://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu/users/kaspar/html/vars3201.ps.gz or http://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu/users/kaspar/html/vars3201.pd

Variable Stars in the Globular Cluster M5. Application of the Image Subtraction Method

We present $V$-band light curves of 61 variables from the core of the globular cluster M5 obtained using a newly developed image subtraction method (ISM). Four of these variables were previously unknown. Only 26 variables were found in the same field using photometry obtained with DoPHOT software. Fourier parameters of the ISM light curves have relative errors up to 20 times smaller than parameters measured from DoPHOT photometry. We conclude that the new method is very promising for searching for variable stars in the cores of the globular clusters and gives very accurate relative photometry with quality comparable to photometry obtained by HST. We also show that the variable V104 is not an eclipsing star as has been suggested, but is an RRc star showing non-radial pulsations.Comment: submitted to MNRAS, 9 pages, 4 figure

Variable stars in the globular cluster M13

Results of a search for variable stars in the central region of the globular cluster M13 are presented. Prior to this study, 36 variable and suspected variable stars were known in this cluster (Osborn 2000; Clement et al. 2001). Of these stars, five were not observed by us. We find v3, v4, v10, v12, and v13 to be constant in light. Surprisingly, only two out of the ten variable star candidates of Kadla et al. (1980) appear to be variable. Both are RRc variables. Additionally, three RR Lyrae stars and one SX Phoenicis variable are discovered. Three close frequencies are detected for an RRc star v36. It appears that this variable is another multi-periodic RR Lyrae star pulsating in non-radial modes. Light curves of the three known BL Herculis stars and all known RR Lyrae stars are presented. The total number of known RR Lyrae stars in M13 is now nine. Only one is an RRab star. The mean period of RRc variables amounts to 0.36 +/- 0.05 d, suggesting that M13 should be included in the group of Oosterhoff type II globular clusters. Mean V magnitudes and ranges of variation are derived for seven RR Lyrae and three BL Herculis variables. Almost all observed bright giants show some degree of variability. In particular, we confirm the variability of two red giants announced to be variable by Osborn (2000) and in addition find five new cases.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in AA

BVI Photometric Variability Survey of M3

We have conducted a three band (BVI) variability survey of the globular cluster M3. This is the first three band survey of the cluster using modern image subtraction techniques. Observations were made over 9 nights in 1998 on the 1.2m telescope at the F.L. Whipple Observatory in Arizona. We present photometry for 180 variable stars in the M3 field, of which 12 are newly discovered. New discoveries include six SX Phe type variables which all lie in the blue straggler region of the color magnitude diagram, two new first overtone RR Lyrae, a candidate multi-mode RR Lyrae, a detached eclipsing binary, and two unclassified variables. We also provide revised periods for 52 of the 168 previously known variables that we observe. The catalog and photometry for the variable stars are available via anonymous ftp at ftp://cfa-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/kstanek/M3/Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures. Movies associated with this paper at http://www-cfa.harvard.edu/~jhartman/M3_movies.html Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. This replacement contains a few minor revision

Diameters of Open Star Clusters

The present paper presents a tabulation of data on all 600 Galactic open clusters for which it is presently possible to calculate linear diameters. As expected, the youngest `clusters' with ages < 15 Myr, contain a significant (greater than or equal to 20%) admixture of associations. Among intermediate-age clusters, with ages in the range 15 Myr to 1.5 Gyr, the median cluster diameter is found to increase with age. Small compact clusters are rare among objects with ages > 1.5 Gyr. Open clusters with ages > 1 Gyr appear to form what might be termed a `cluster thick disk', part of which consistst of objects that were probably captured gravitationally by the main body of the Galaxy.Comment: Astronomical Journal, in pres

RR Lyrae Variables in the Globular Cluster M55. The First Evidence for Non Radial Pulsations in RR Lyr Stars

We present the results of a photometric study of RR Lyrae variables in the field of the globular cluster M55. We have discovered nine new RR Lyrae stars, increasing the number of known variables in this cluster to 15 objects. Five of the newly discovered variables belong to Bailey type RRc and two to type RRab. Two background RRab stars are probable members of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. Fourier decomposition of the light curves was used to derive basic properties of the present sample of RR Lyrae variables. From an analysis of the RRc variables we obtain a mean mass of $M=0.53\pm0.03 M_\odot$, luminosity $\log L=1.75\pm0.01$, effective temperature $T_{eff}=7193\pm27$ K, and helium abundance $Y=0.27\pm0.01$. Based on the $B-V$ colors, periods and metallicities of the RRab stars we estimate the value of the color excess for M55 to be equal to $E(B-V)=0.11\pm0.03$. Using this value we derive the colors of the blue and red edges of the instability strip in M55. The blue edge lies at $(B-V)_0=0.20$ mag and the red edge lies at $(B-V)_0=0.38$ mag. We estimate the values of the visual apparent and dereddened distance moduli to be $13.65\pm0.11$ and $13.31\pm0.11$, respectively. The light curves of three of the RRc variables exhibit changes in amplitude of over 0.1 mag on the time scale of less than a week, rather short for the Blazhko effect, but with no evidence for another radial pulsational frequency. However we do detect other periodicities which are clearly visible in the light curve after removing variations with the first overtone radial frequency. This is strong evidence for the presence of non-radial pulsations, a behavior common for $\delta$ Scuti stars but not yet observed among RR Lyr variables.Comment: submitted to Astronomical Journal, 33 pages with 11 figure

The unusually large population of Blazhko variables in the globular cluster NGC 5024 (M53)

We report the discovery of amplitude and phase modulations typical of the Blazhko effect in 22 RRc and 9 RRab type RR Lyrae stars in NGC 5024 (M53). This brings the confirmed Blazhko variables in this cluster to 23 RRc and 11 RRab, that represent 66% and 37% of the total population of RRc and RRab stars in the cluster respectively, making NGC 5024 the globular cluster with the largest presently known population of Blazhko RRc stars. We place a lower limit on the overall incidence rate of the Blazhko effect among the RR Lyrae population in this cluster of 52%. New data have allowed us to refine the pulsation periods. The limitations imposed by the time span and sampling of our data prevents reliable estimations of the modulation periods. The amplitudes of the modulations range between 0.02 and 0.39 mag. The RRab and RRc are neatly separated in the CMD, and the RRc Blazhko variables are on averge redder than their stable couterparts; these two facts may support the hypothesis that the HB evolution in this cluster is towards the red and that the Blazhko modulations in the RRc stars are connected with the pulsation mode switch.Comment: ACCEPTED IN MNRAS 14 pages, 9 figures and 6 table

UBV stellar photometry of bright stars in GC M5. I. UV colour-magnitude and colour-colour diagrams and some peculiarities in the HB stellar distribution

We present stellar photometry in the UBV passbands for the globular cluster M5 = NGC5904. The observations, short-exposured photographic plates and CCD frames, were obtained in the RC-focus of the 2m telescope of the Natl. Astron. Obs. 'Rozhen'. All stars in an annulus with radius 1 < r < 5.5 arcmin were measured. We show that the UV CMDs describe different evolutionary stages in a better manner than the 'classical' (V, B-V) diagram. We use HB stars, with known spectroscopic Teff, to check the validity of the colour zero-point. A review of all known UV-bright star candidates in M5 is made and some of their parameters are catalogued. Six new stars of this kind are suspected on the basis of their position on the CMD. New assessment of the cluster reddening and metallicity is done using the (U-B, B-V) diagram. We find [Fe/H]= -1.38, which confirms the Zinn & West (1984) value contrasting with recent spectroscopic estimates. In an effort to clarify the question of the gap in the BHB stellar distribution and to investigate some other peculiarities, we use the relatively long-base colour index U-V. A comparison of the unreddened (V, U-V) distribution of HB stars with a canonical ZAHB model (Dorman et al. 1993) reveals that the hottest stars rise above the model line. We find this similar to the 'u-jump' found in the Stroemgren photometry (Grundahl et al. 1998, 1999). (U-B)o indeces of 18 BHB stars with (B-V)o in [-0.02, 0.18] were used to estimate their ultraviolet deficiency. It is shown that low gravity log g < 2 Kurucz's atmospheric models fit well the observed distribution of these stars along the two-colour diagram.Comment: 9 pages, 7 EPS figures. MNRAS accepte

The Globular Cluster M15. I. Identification, Discovery, and Period Determination of Variable Stars

We present new $BVI$ CCD photometry for variables in the globular cluster M15. Our photometry was obtained using both the image subtraction package ISIS and DAOPHOT/ALLFRAME. The data were acquired in 2001 on two observing runs on 11 observing nights using the 2-m telescope of the Bulgarian National Astronomical Observatory ``Rozhen'' with a Photometrics CCD camera. For 40 previously known variables, we present a period for the first time, and improved periods were obtained for many previously known variables. Fourteen new variables are reported. We present updated Bailey diagrams for the cluster and discuss its Oosterhoff classification. Although many of M15's RRab pulsators fall at an intermediate locus between Oosterhoff types I and II in the Bailey diagram, we argue that M15 is indeed a bona-fide Oosterhoff type IIComment: 48 pages, 7 figures, 3 table