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M. Salaris

Publications and source records attributed to M. Salaris.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
arXiv2013

The Role of Dust in Models of Population Synthesis

We have employed state-of-the-art evolutionary models of low and intermediate-mass AGB stars, and included the effect of circumstellar dust shells on the spectral energy distribution (SED) of AGB stars, to revise the Padua library of isochrones (Bertelli et al. 1994). The major revision involves the thermally pulsing AGB phase, that is now taken from fully evolutionary calculations by Weiss & Ferguson (2009). Two libraries of about 600 AGB dust-enshrouded SEDs each have also been calculated, one for oxygen-rich M-stars and one for carbon-rich C-stars. Each library accounts for different values of input parameters like the optical depth τ, dust composition, and temperature of the inner boundary of the dust shell. These libraries of dusty AGB spectra have been implemented into a large composite library of theoretical stellar spectra, to cover all regions of the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (HRD) crossed by the isochrones. With the aid of the above isochrones and libraries of stellar SEDs, we have calculated the spectro-photometric properties (SEDs, magnitudes, and colours) of single-generation stellar populations (SSPs) for six metallicities, more than fifty ages (from 3 Myr to 15 Gyr), and nine choices of the Initial Mass Function. The new isochrones and SSPs have been compared to the colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of field populations in the LMC and SMC, with particular emphasis on AGB stars, and the integrated colours of star clusters in the same galaxies, using data from the SAGE (Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution) catalogues. We have also examined the integrated colours of a small sample of star clusters located in the outskirts of M31. The agreement between theory and observations is generally good. In particular, the new SSPs reproduce the red tails of the AGB star distribution in the CMDs of field stars in the Magellanic Clouds.

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arXiv2013

The white dwarf cooling sequence of the Galactic bulge

We collected F606W- and F814W-band time-series data of the Sagittarius low-reddening window in the Galactic bulge with the Advanced Camera far Surveys mounted on the Hubble Space Telescope. We sampled the region approximately every two weeks for one year, with the principal aim to detect a hidden population of isolated black holes and neutron stars in the Galactic disk through astrometric microlensing. We present preliminary results here based on a photometric catalog including ~3*10^5 stars down to F606W ~ 31 mag. Proper motions were also measured, with an accuracy of better than ~ 0.5 mas/yr at F606W ~ 28 mag in both coordinates. We were then able to separate disk and bulge stars and to obtain a clean bulge color-magnitude diagram. Together with a dozen candidate extreme horizontal branch stars we were able to identify for the first time a clearly defined white dwarf (WD) cooling sequence in the bulge. The comparison between theory and observations shows that a substantial fraction of the WDs (~40%) is systematically redder than the canonical cooling tracks for CO-core DA WDs. This evidence would suggest the presence of a significant number of He-core WDs in the bulge, formed in close binaries, as has been found in some Galactic globular and open clusters. The presence of close binaries in the bulge population is further supported by the finding of a candidate dwarf nova in outburst and a few candidate cataclysmic variables in quiescence in the same field.

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arXiv2013

New clues on the nature of the companion to PSR~J1740-5340 in NGC6397 from XSHOOTER spectroscopy

By using XSHOOTER spectra acquired at the ESO Very Large Telescope, we have studied the surface chemical composition of the companion star to the binary millisecond pulsar PSR J1740-5340 in the globular cluster NGC 6397. The measured abundances of Fe, Mg, Al and Na confirm that the star belongs to the cluster. On the other hand, the measured surface abundance of nitrogen ([N/Fe]=+0.53 +- 0.15 dex) combined with the carbon upper limit ([C/Fe] <-2 dex) previously obtained from UVES spectra allow us to put severe constraints on its nature, strongly suggesting that the pulsar companion is a deeply peeled star. In fact, the comparison with theoretical stellar models indicates that the matter currently observed at the surface of this star has been processed by the hydrogen-burning CN-cycle at equilibrium. In turn, this evidence suggests that the pulsar companion is a low mass (~0.2 Msun) remnant star, descending from a ~0.8 Msun progenitor which lost ~70-80 % of its original material because of mass transfer activity onto the pulsar.

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arXiv2013

The optical companion to the intermediate mass millisecond pulsar J1439-5501 in the Galactic field

We present the identification of the companion star to the intermediate mass binary pulsar J1439-5501 obtained by means of ground-based deep images in the B, V and I bands, acquired with FORS2 mounted at the ESO-VLT. The companion is a massive white dwarf (WD) with B=23.57+-0.02, V=23.21+-0.01 and I=22.96+-0.01, located at only ~0.05" from the pulsar radio position. Comparing the WD location in the (B, B-V) and (V, V-I) Color-Magnitude diagrams with theoretical cooling sequences we derived a range of plausible combinations of companion masses (1<~Mcom<~1.3 Msun), distances (d<~1200 pc), radii (<~7.8 10^3 Rsun) and temperatures (T=31350^{+21500}_{-7400}). From the PSR mass function and the estimated mass range we also constrained the inclination angle i >~ 55 degrees and the pulsar mass (Mpsr <~2.2 Msun). The comparison between the WD cooling age and the spin down age suggests that the latter is overestimated by a factor of about ten.

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arXiv2013

A Double White-Dwarf Cooling Sequence in ω Centauri

We have applied our empirical-PSF-based photometric techniques on a large number of calibration-related WFC3/UVIS UV-B exposures of the core of ω Cen, and found a well-defined split in the right part of the white-dwarf cooling sequence (WDCS). The redder sequence is more populated by a factor of ~2. We can explain the separation of the two sequences and their number ratio in terms of the He-normal and He-rich subpopulations that had been previously identified along the cluster main sequence. The blue WDCS is populated by the evolved stars of the He-normal component (~0.55 Msun CO-core DA objects) while the red WDCS hosts the end-products of the He-rich population (~0.46 Msun objects, ~10% CO-core and ~90% He-core WDs). The He-core WDs correspond to He-rich stars that missed the central He-ignition, and we estimate their fraction by analyzing the population ratios along the cluster horizontal branch.

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arXiv2013

Axion cooling of white dwarfs

The evolution of white dwarfs is a simple gravothermal process. This process can be tested in two ways, through the luminosity function of these stars and through the secular variation of the period of pulsation of those stars that are variable. Here we show how the mass of the axion can be constrained using the white dwarf luminosity function.

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arXiv2013

The SUMO project I. A survey of multiple populations in globular clusters

We present a general overview and the first results of the SUMO project (a SUrvey of Multiple pOpulations in Globular Clusters). The objective of this survey is the study of multiple stellar populations in the largest sample of globular clusters homogeneously analysed to date. To this aim we obtained high signal-to-noise (S/N>50) photometry for main sequence stars with mass down to ~0.5 M_SUN in a large sample of clusters using both archival and proprietary U, B, V, and I data from ground-based telescopes. In this paper, we focus on the occurrence of multiple stellar populations in twenty three clusters. We have defined a new photometric index cubi= (U-B)-(B-I), that turns out to be very effective for identifying multiple sequences along the red giant branch (RGB). We found that in the V-cubi diagram all clusters presented in this paper show broadened or multimodal RGBs, with the presence of two or more components. We found a direct connection with the chemical properties of different sequences, that display different abundances of light elements (O, Na, C, N, and Al). The cubi index is also a powerful tool to identify distinct sequences of stars along the horizontal branch and, for the first time in the case of NGC104 (47 Tuc), along the asymptotic giant branch. Our results demonstrate that i) the presence of more than two stellar populations is a common feature among globular clusters, as already highlighted in previous work; ii) multiple sequences with different chemical contents can be easily identified by using standard Johnson photometry obtained with ground-based facilities; iii) in the study of GC multiple stellar populations the cubi index is alternative to spectroscopy, and has the advantage of larger statistics.

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arXiv2012

On the white dwarf cooling sequence with extremely large telescopes

We present new diagnostics of white dwarf (WD) cooling sequences and luminosity functions (LFs) in the near-infrared (NIR) bands that will exploit the sensitivity and resolution of future extremely large telescopes. The collision-induced absorption (CIA) of molecular hydrogen causes a clearly defined blue turn-off along the WD (WDBTO) cooling sequences and a bright secondary maximum in the WD LFs. These features are independent of age over a broad age range and are minimally affected by metal abundance. This means that the NIR magnitudes of the WDBTO are very promising distance indicators. The interplay between the cooling time of progressively more massive WDs and the onset of CIA causes a red turn-off along the WD (WDRTO) cooling sequences and a well defined faint peak in the WD LFs. These features are very sensitive to the cluster age, and indeed the K-band magnitude of the faint peak increases by 0.2--0.25 mag/Gyr for ages between 10 and 14 Gyr. On the other hand, the faint peak in the optical WD LF increases in the same age range by 0.17 (V band) and 0.15 (I band) mag/Gyr. Moreover, we also suggest to use the difference in magnitude between the main sequence turn-off and either the WDBTO (optical) or the WDRTO (NIR). This age diagnostic is also independent of distance and reddening. Once again the sensitivity in the K band (0.15-0.20 mag/Gyr) is on average a factor of two higher than in the optical bands (0.10 [V band], 0.07 [I band] mag/Gyr). Finally, we also outline the use of the new diagnostics to constrain the CO phase separation upon crystallization.

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arXiv2012

The Na-O anticorrelation in horizontal branch stars. III. 47 Tuc and M 5

To check the impact of the multiple population scenario for globular clusters on their HB, we present an analysis of the composition of 110 red HB (RHB) stars in 47 Tucanae and of 61 blue HB (BHB) and 30 RHB stars in M5. In 47 Tuc we found tight relations between the colours of the stars and their abundances of p-capture elements. This strongly supports the idea that the He content - which is expected to be closely correlated with the abundances of p-capture elements - is the third parameter (after overall metallicity and age) that determines the colour of HB stars. However, the range in He abundance must be small (Delta Y<0.03) in 47 Tuc to reproduce our observations; this agrees with previous analyses. There is possibly a correlation between the abundances of p- and n-capture elements in 47 Tuc. If confirmed, this might suggest that AGB stars of moderate mass contributed to the gas from which second-generation stars formed. Considering the selection effects in our sample (which does not include stars warmer than 11000 K and RR Lyrae variables) is important to understand our results for M5. In this case, we find that, as expected, RHB stars are Na-poor and O-rich, and likely belong to the primordial population. There is a clear correlation of the [Na/O] ratio and N abundance with colour along the BHB. A derivation of the He abundance for these stars yields a low value of Y=0.22\pm 0.03. This is expected because HB stars of a putative He-rich population in this cluster should be warmer than 11000 K, and would accordingly not have been sampled by our analysis. However, we need some additional source of scatter in the total mass loss of stars climbing up the RGB to reproduce our results for M5. Finally, we found a C-star on the HB of 47 Tuc and a Ba-rich, fast-rotating, likely binary star on the HB of M5. These stars are among the brightest and coolest HB stars.

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arXiv2012

The primordial Li abundance derived from giant stars

In this contribution we discuss the use of the surface Li abundance in lower RGB stars as alternative diagnostic of the primordial Li abundance. These stars are located in the portion of the RGB after the completion of the First Dredge-Up and before the extra-mixing episode occurring at the RGB Bump magnitude level. They are sensitive to the total Li content left at the end of the Main Sequence phase and are significantly less sensitive to the efficiency of atomic diffusion when compared with dwarf stars. We analysed lower RGB stars in the Galactic Halo and in the globular clusters NGC 6397, NGC 6752 and M4. The final estimates of initial A(Li) span a narrow range of values (between 2.28 and 2.46 dex), in good agreement with the Spite Plateau and confirming the discrepancy with the values obtained from the standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis calculations.

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arXiv2012

White dwarfs as physics laboratories: the case of axions

White dwarfs are almost completely degenerate objects that cannot obtain energy from thermonuclear sources, so their evolution is just a gravothermal cooling process. Recent improvements in the accuracy and precision of the luminosity function and in pulsational data of variable white dwarfs suggest that they are cooling faster than expected from conventional theory. In this contribution we show that the inclusion of an additional cooling term due to axions able to interact with electrons with a coupling constant g_ae ~(2-7)x10^{-13} allows to fit better the observations.

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arXiv2012

The Na-O anticorrelation in horizontal branch stars. II. NGC1851

We studied the Na-O anti-correlation from moderately high resolution spectra for 35 stars on the blue HB (BHB), one RR Lyrae, and 55 stars are on the red HB (RHB) of NGC1851. We also derived abundances for He and N in BHB stars, and Ba and upper limits for N in RHB stars. The RHB stars clearly separate into two groups: the vast majority are O-rich and Na-poor, while about 10-15% are Na-rich and moderately O-poor. Most Na-rich RHB stars are also Ba-rich and there is an overall correlation between Na and Ba abundances within the RHB. The group of Ba-rich RHB stars resides on the warmer edge and includes ~10% of the RHB stars. We propose that they are the descendant of the stars on the RGB sequence with very red v-y colour. This sequence is known also to consist of Ba and perhaps CNO-rich stars. However, the upper limit we obtain for N ([N/Fe]<1.55) for one of the Ba-rich stars coupled with the low C-abundances for RGB Ba-rich stars from the literature suggests that the total CNO might not be particularly high ([(C+N+O)/Fe]<=0.15). The other Na-rich RHB stars are also at the warm edge of the RHB and the only RR Lyrae is Na-rich and moderately O-poor. We also find a Na-O anticorrelation among BHB stars, partially overlapping that found among RHB stars, though generally BHB stars are more Na-rich and O-poor. However, there is no clear correlation between temperature and Na and O abundances within the BHB. The average He abundance in BHB stars is Y=0.29+/-0.05. N abundances are quite uniform at [N/Fe]=1.16+/-0.14 among BHB stars, with a small trend with temperature. This value is consistent with normal CNO abundance and excludes that BHB stars are very CNO-rich: this leaves an age spread of ~1.5 Gyr as the only viable explanation for the split of the SGB. [Abridged]

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arXiv2011

Giants reveal what dwarfs conceal: Li abundance in lower RGB stars as diagnostic of the primordial Li

The discrepancy between cosmological Li abundance inferred from Population II dwarf stars and that derived from WMAP/BBNS is still far from being solved.We investigated, as an alternative route, the use of Li abundances in Population II lower RGB stars as empirical diagnostic of the cosmological Li. Both theory and observations suggest that the surface A(Li) in red giants after the completion of the first dredge-up and before the RGB bump, are significantly less sensitive to the efficiency of atomic diffusion, compared with dwarf stars. Standard stellar models computed under different physical assumptions show that the inclusion of the atomic diffusion has an impact of 0.07dex in the determination of A(Li)0 (much smaller than the case of MS stars) and it is basically unaffected by reasonable variations of other parameters (overshooting, age,initial Y, mixing length). We have determined the surface Li content of 17 Halo lower RGB stars,in the metallicity range [Fe/H]=-3.4 /-1.4 dex. The initial Li has then been inferred by accounting for the difference between initial and post-dredge up A(Li) in the appropriate stellar models. It depends mainly on the used T(eff) scale and is only weakly sensitive to the efficiency of atomic diffusion,so long as one neglects Li destruction caused by the process competing with atomic diffusion. Final A(Li)0 span a relatively narrow range (2.28 /2.46 dex), and is 0.3-0.4 dex lower the WMAP/BBNS predictions. These values of A(Li)0 are corroborated by the analysis of the GCs NGC6397, NGC6752 and M4. Our result provides an independent quantitative estimate of the difference with the Big Bang value and sets a very robust constraint for the physical processes invoked to resolve this discrepancy.

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arXiv2011

The white dwarf cooling sequence of NGC 6791: a unique tool for stellar evolution

NGC 6791 is a well-studied, metal-rich open cluster that is so close to us that can be imaged down to luminosities fainter than that of the termination of its white dwarf cooling sequence, thus allowing for an in-depth study of its white dwarf population. We use a Monte Carlo simulator that employs up-to-date evolutionary cooling sequences for white dwarfs with hydrogen-rich and hydrogen-deficient atmospheres, with carbon-oxygen and helium cores. The cooling sequences for carbon-oxygen cores account for the delays introduced by both Ne^22 sedimentation in the liquid phase and by carbon-oxygen phase separation upon crystallization. We do not find evidence for a substantial fraction of helium-core white dwarfs, and hence our results support the suggestion that the origin of the bright peak of the white dwarf luminosity function can only be attributed to a population of unresolved binary white dwarfs. Moreover, our results indicate that the number distribution of secondary masses of the population of unresolved binaries has to increase with increasing mass ratio between the secondary and primary components of the progenitor system. We also find that the observed cooling sequence appears to be able to constrain the presence of progenitor sub-populations with different chemical compositions and the fraction of non-DA white dwarfs. Our simulations place interesting constraints on important characteristics of the stellar populations of NGC 6791. In particular, we find that the fraction of single helium-core white dwarfs must be smaller than 5%, that a sub-population of stars with zero metallicity must be <12%, while if the adopted metallicity of the sub-population is solar the upper limit is ~8%. Finally, we also find that the fraction of non-DA white dwarfs in this particular cluster is surprinsingly small <6%.

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arXiv2011

Chemical abundance anticorrelations in globular cluster stars: The effect on cluster integrated spectra

It is widely accepted that individual Galactic globular clusters harbor two coeval generations of stars, the first one born with the `standard' $α$-enhanced metal mixture observed in field Halo objects, the second one characterized by an anticorrelated CN-ONa abundance pattern overimposed on the first generation, $α$-enhanced metal mixture. We have investigated with appropriate stellar population synthesis models how this second generation of stars affects the integrated spectrum of a typical metal rich Galactic globular cluster, like 47\,Tuc, focusing our analysis on the widely used Lick-type indices. We find that the only indices appreciably affected by the abundance anticorrelations are Ca4227, G4300, ${\rm CN_1}$, ${\rm CN_2}$ and NaD. The age-sensitive Balmer line, Fe line and the [MgFe] indices widely used to determine age, Fe and total metallicity of extragalactic systems are largely insensitive to the second generation population. Enhanced He in second generation stars affects also the Balmer line indices of the integrated spectra, through the change of the turn off temperature and -- in the assumption that the mass loss history of both stellar generations is the same -- the horizontal branch morphology of the underlying isochrones.

astro-ph.GA↗
arXiv2011

Photometric signatures of multiple stellar populations in Galactic globular clusters

We have calculated synthetic spectra for typical chemical element mixtures (i.e., a standard alpha-enhanced distribution, and distributions displaying CN and ONa anticorrelations) found in the various subpopulations harboured by Galactic globular clusters. From the spectra we have determined bolometric corrections to the standard Johnson-Cousins and Stroemgren filters, and finally predicted colours. These bolometric corrections and colour-transformations, coupled to our theoretical isochrones with the appropriate chemical composition, provide a complete and self-consistent set of theoretical predictions for the effect of abundance variations on the observed cluster CMD. CNO abundance variations affect mainly wavelengths shorter than 400 nm, due to the arise of molecular absorption bands in cooler atmospheres. As a consequence, colour and magnitude changes are largest in the blue filters, independently of using broad or intermediate bandpasses. Colour-magnitude diagrams involving uvy and UB filters (and their various possible colour combinations) are thus the ones best suited to infer photometrically the presence of multiple stellar generations in individual clusters. They are particularly sensitive to variations in the N abundance, with the largest variations affecting the Red Giant Branch (RGB) and lower Main Sequence (MS). BVI diagrams are expected to display multiple sequences only if the different populations are characterized by variations of the C+N+O sum and helium abundance, that lead to changes in luminosity and effective temperature, but leave the flux distribution above 400 nm practically unaffected. A variation of just the helium abundance, up to the level we investigate here, affects exclusively the interior structure of stars, and is largely irrelevant for the atmospheric structure and the resulting flux distribution in the whole wavelength range spanned by our analysis.

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arXiv2010

Axions and White Dwarfs

White dwarfs are almost completely degenerate objects that cannot obtain energy from the thermonuclear sources and their evolution is just a gravothermal process of cooling. The simplicity of these objects, the fact that the physical inputs necessary to understand them are well identified, although not always well understood, and the impressive observational background about white dwarfs make them the most well studied Galactic population. These characteristics allow to use them as laboratories to test new ideas of physics. In this contribution we discuss the robustness of the method and its application to the axion case.

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