193 research outputs found
La celebraciĂłn del centenario de la ConstituciĂłn de 1812: una fiesta de las Ă©lites entre la nostalgia y el regeneracionismo
Este artículo analiza los fastos del recuerdo agridulce de un acontecimiento local, que no tuvo la repercusión nacional que por aquel entonces merecía. Es muy posible que en ello tuviera que ver el contexto político y social del momento. Las discrepanciasveladas y no tan veladas que hubo entre el gobierno de Madrid y el local a la hora de la organización o la sonada negativa de Alfonso XIII a asistir a los actos del Centenario, marcaron la efeméride. Las instituciones y la élite política y burguesa gaditana no sospechaban, en principio, los oscuros intereses y la desidia gubernamental, al no existir una línea consensuada sobre cómo habría que enfocar la celebración para que no hiriera susceptibilidades ideológicas. Así, hemos tratado de averiguar el papel de los diferentesgrupos sociales y, como su colaboración o no, influyó en el devenir de los festejos
Age Estimations of M31 Globular Clusters from Their Spectral Energy Distributions
This paper presents accurate spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 16 M31
globular clusters (GCs) confirmed by spectroscopy and/or high
spatial-resolution imaging, as well as 30 M31 globular cluster candidates
detected by Mochejska et al. Most of these candidates have m_V > 18, deeper
than previous searches, and these candidates have not yet been confirmed to be
globular clusters. The SEDs of these clusters and candidates are obtained as
part of the BATC Multicolor Survey of the Sky, in which the
spectrophotometrically-calibrated CCD images of M31 in 13 intermediate-band
filters from 4000 to 10000 A were observed. These filters are specifically
designed to exclude most of the bright and variable night-sky emission lines
including the OH forest. In comparison to the SEDs of true GCs, we find that
some of the candidate objects are not GCs in M31. SED fits show that
theoretical simple stellar population (SSP) models can fit the true GCs very
well. We estimate the ages of these GCs by comparing with SSP models. We find
that, the M31 clusters range in age from a few ten Myr to a few Gyr old, as
well as old GCs, confirming the conclusion that has been found by Barmby et a,
Williams & Hodge, Beasley et al., Burstein et al. and Puzia et al. in their
investigations of the SEDs of M31 globular clusters.Comment: Accepted for Publication in A&Ap, 13 pages, 6 figure
The ubiquitous nature of the Horizontal Branch second U-jump: A link with the Blue Hook scenario?
In a previous paper we reported on a discontinuity in the extreme horizontal
branch (EHB) of the Galactic globular cluster NGC6752, which we called the
second U-jump. This feature was attributed to a combination of post zero-age
horizontal branch evolution and diffusion effects. In this follow-up study we
analyze other EHB clusters and show that the second U-jump is a common feature
among EHB clusters reaching T_{eff}\ge 23,000K, and that its onset in different
clusters converges around T_{eff}\sim 21,000\pm3,000K. We also present
near-ultraviolet diagrams of \omega Cen and NGC2808, the only two objects with
spectroscopically confirmed ``blue hook'' stars (T_{eff}\ge 35,000K). We
confirm predictions of a photometric discontinuity separating late from
early-helium flashers. Moreover, we present empirical evidence that the second
U-jump population might be mainly composed by early-helium flashers. Lastly, we
revisit the discussion on the ubiquitous nature of the gaps and jumps so far
identified in the blue HB tails, suggesting a possible discrete nature of the
distribution in temperature of the HB stars.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures. Higher resolution version available via ftp at
ftp://ftp.pd.astro.it/pub/momany/momany.tar A&A accepte
V, J, H and K Imaging of the Metal Rich Globular Cluster NGC 6528
New near-infrared observations of NGC6528 are presented. The JHK observations
complement a previous HST/NICMOS data set by Ortolani et al. (2001), in that
they sample a larger area, contain a more numerous sample of red giant stars,
and include the K band. Also, archival HST data sets (separated by 6.093 years)
were used to proper-motion decontaminate the near-infrared sample and extract a
clean VJHK catalogue. Using the present wide colour baseline, we compared the
cleaned colour-magnitude diagrams of NGC6528 with those of NGC 6553 and NGC104
and derived new estimates of reddening and distance, E(B-V)=0.55 and
(m-M)o=14.44 (7.7 kpc). Moreover, the morphology and location of the cleaned
red giant branch were used to derive a photometric estimate of the cluster
metallicity. The average of 10 metallicity indicators yields a mean value of
[M/H] ~ 0.0, and [Fe/H] ~-0.20 and +0.08 on the Zinn & West (1984) and Carretta
& Gratton (1997) revised metallicity scale, respectively. The best isochrone
fit to the cleaned K,V-K diagram is obtained for a 12.6 Gyr and Z=0.02
isochrone, i.e. the derived metallicity of NGC6528 turns out to be very close
to the mean of stars in the Baade's Window. Five AGB variable star candidates,
whose membership has to be confirmed spectroscopically, are bolometrically as
bright as the known long period variable stars in NGC6553. As discussed in
Guarnieri et al. (1997) for NGC6553, this may indicate that an `intermediate
age' population is not needed to account for the brightest stars in external
galaxies such as M32.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, A&A accepte
Globular Cluster Distance Determinations
The present status of the distance scale to Galactic globular clusters is
reviewed. Six distance determination techniques which are deemed to be most
reliable are discussed in depth. These different techniques are used to
calibrate the absolute magnitude of the RR Lyrae stars. The various
calibrations fall into three groups. Main sequence fitting using Hipparcos
parallaxes, theoretical HB models and the RR Lyrae in the LMC all favor a
bright calibration, implying a `long' globular cluster distance scale. White
dwarf fitting and the astrometric distances yield a somewhat fainter RR Lyrae
calibration, while the statistical parallax solution yields faint RR Lyrae
stars implying a `short' distance scale to globular clusters. Various secondary
distance indicators discussed all favor the long distance scale. The `long' and
`short' distance scales differ by (0.31+/-0.16) mag. Averaging together all of
the different distance determinations yields Mv(RR) = (0.23+/-0.04)([Fe/H] +
1.6) + (0.56+/-0.12) mag.Comment: Invited review article to appear in: `Post-Hipparcos Cosmic Candles',
A. Heck & F. Caputo (Eds), Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht, in pres
Near-Infrared Properties of Metal-poor Globular Clusters in the Galactic Bulge Direction
Aims. J, H, and K' images obtained from the near-infrared imager CFHTIR on
the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope are used to derive the morphological
parameters of the red giant branch (RGB) in the near-infrared color-magnitude
diagrams for 12 metal-poor globular clusters in the Galactic bulge direction.
Using the compiled data set of the RGB parameters for the observed 12 clusters,
in addition to the previously studied 5 clusters, we discuss the properties of
the RGB morphology for the clusters and compare them with the calibration
relations for the metal-rich bulge clusters and the metal-poor halo clusters.
Methods. The photometric RGB shape indices such as colors at fixed magnitudes
of MK = MH = (-5.5, -5, -4, and -3), magnitudes at fixed colors of (J - K)o =
(J - H)o = 0.7, and the RGB slope are measured from the fiducial normal points
defined in the near- infrared color-magnitude diagrams for each cluster. The
magnitudes of RGB bump and tip are also estimated from the differential and
cumulative luminosity functions of the selected RGB stars. The derived RGB
parameters have been used to examine the overall behaviors of the RGB
morphology as a function of cluster metallicity. Results. The correlations
between the near-infrared photometric RGB shape indices and the cluster
metallicity for the programme clusters compare favorably with the previous
observational calibration relations for metal-rich clusters in the Galactic
bulge and the metal-poor halo clusters. The observed near-infrared magnitudes
of the RGB bump and tip for the investigated clusters are also in accordance
with the previous calibration relations for the Galactic bulge clusters.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
A lack of close binaries among hot horizontal branch stars in globular clusters. II. NGC\,2808
Models based on their binary origin have been very successful in reproducing
the properties of field subdwarf-B stars, but the observations of their
analogues in globular clusters has posed new problems, while the discovery of
multiple populations offered an appealing alternative scenario for the
formation of these stars. We search for binaries of period P<200 days among a
sample of blue horizontal branch stars (Teff=12000-22000 K) in NGC2808, a
cluster known to host three distinct stellar populations and a multimodal
horizontal branch. The final sample consists of 64 targets. The radial velocity
of the targets was measured in fourteen epochs, spanning a temporal interval of
about 75 days. We detect no RV variable object among stars cooler than the
photometric G1 gap at 17000 K, while two close (P<10 days) and two
intermediate-period (P=10-50 days) systems are found among hotter targets. The
close and intermediate-period binary fraction for stars cooler than the gap are
fc<5% and fip<10%, respectively, with 95% confidence. The most probable values
among hotter stars are fc~20% and fip~30%, but the 90%- confidence level
intervals are large (6-42% and 11-72%, respectively). The G1 gap appears as a
discontinuity in the binary faction, with a higher incidence of binaries among
hotter stars, but a constant increase in f with temperature rather than a
discontinuity cannot be excluded from our observations. We find that
intermediate-period binaries, never investigated before among cluster HB stars,
could play an important role, being more than ~15-20% of the hottest stars of
our sample. Our results indicate that fc among hot HB stars is most probably
higher for younger clusters, confirming the recently proposed age-fc relation.
However, the large observed difference in binary fraction between clusters
(e.g. NGC2808 and NGC6752) is still not reproduced by binary population
synthesis models
The Blue Straggler Population in Dwarf Galaxies
In this chapter I review the recent developments regarding the study of Blue
Stragglers (BSS) in dwarf galaxies. The loose density environment of dwarf
galaxies resembles that of the Galactic Halo, hence it is natural to compare
their common BSS properties. At the same time, it is unescapable to compare
with the BSS properties in Galactic Globular clusters, which constitute the
reference point for BSS studies. Admittedly, the literature on BSS in dwarf
galaxies is not plentiful. The limitation is mostly due to the large distance
to even the closest dwarf galaxies. Nevertheless, recent studies have allowed a
deeper insight on the BSS photometric properties that are worth examining.Comment: Chapter 6, in Ecology of Blue Straggler Stars, H.M.J. Boffin, G.
Carraro & G. Beccari (Eds), Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springe
The RR Lyrae Distance Scale
We review seven methods of measuring the absolute magnitude M_V of RR Lyrae
stars in light of the Hipparcos mission and other recent developments. We focus
on identifying possible systematic errors and rank the methods by relative
immunity to such errors. For the three most robust methods, statistical
parallax, trigonometric parallax, and cluster kinematics, we find M_V (at
[Fe/H] = -1.6) of 0.77 +/- 0.13, 0.71 +/- 0.15, 0.67 +/- 0.10. These methods
cluster consistently around 0.71 +/- 0.07. We find that Baade-Wesselink and
theoretical models both yield a broad range of possible values (0.45-0.70 and
0.45-0.65) due to systematic uncertainties in the temperature scale and input
physics. Main-sequence fitting gives a much brighter M_V = 0.45 +/- 0.04 but
this may be due to a difference in the metallicity scales of the cluster giants
and the calibrating subdwarfs. White-dwarf cooling-sequence fitting gives 0.67
+/- 0.13 and is potentially very robust, but at present is too new to be fully
tested for systematics. If the three most robust methods are combined with
Walker's mean measurement for 6 LMC clusters, V_{0,LMC} = 18.98 +/- 0.03 at
[Fe/H] = -1.9, then mu_{LMC} = 18.33 +/- 0.08.Comment: Invited review article to appear in: `Post-Hipparcos Cosmic Candles',
A. Heck & F. Caputo (Eds), Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht, in press. 21
pages including 1 table; uses Kluwer's crckapb.sty LaTeX style file, enclose
Blue Straggler Stars: Early Observations that Failed to Solve the Problem
In this chapter, I describe early ideas on blue stragglers, and various
observations (some published, some not) that promised but failed to resolve the
question of their origin. I review the data and ideas that were circulating
from Allan Sandage's original discovery in 1953 of "anomalous blue stars" in
the globular cluster M3, up until about 1992, when what seems to have been the
only previous meeting devoted to Blue Straggler Stars (BSSs) was held at the
Space Telescope Science Institute.Comment: Chapter 2, in Ecology of Blue Straggler Stars, H.M.J. Boffin, G.
Carraro & G. Beccari (Eds), Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springe
- …