Metallicity is the first parameter to influence the horizontal branch (HB)
morphology of globular clusters (GCs). It has been found, however, that some
other parameters may also play an important role in affecting the morphology.
While the nature of these important parameters remains unclear, they are
believed to be likely correlated with wind mass-loss of red giants, since this
mass loss determines their subsequent locations on the HB. Unfortunately, the
mass loss during the red giant stages of the stellar evolution is poorly
understood at present. The stellar winds of red giants may be tidally enhanced
by companion stars if they are in binary systems. We investigate evolutionary
consequences of red giants in binaries by including tidally enhanced stellar
winds, and examine the effects on the HB morphology of GCs. We find that red,
blue, and extreme horizontal branch stars are all produced under the effects of
tidally enhanced stellar wind without any additional assumptions on the
mass-loss dispersion. Furthermore, the horizontal branch morphology is found to
be insensitive to the tidal enhancement parameter, Bw. We compare our
theoretical results with the observed horizontal branch morphology of globular
cluster NGC 2808, and find that the basic morphology of the horizontal branch
can be well reproduced. The number of blue horizontal branch stars in our
calculations, however, is lower than that of NGC 2808.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
