Two contact binaries at different evolutionary stages in the globular cluster NGC 6397

Li, K.; Qian, S.‐B.

doi:10.1016/j.newast.2013.03.012

Cited by 10 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 43 publications

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“…The main differences of the current analysis from most previous works are as follows: (1) the latter presented observational evidence verifying or disproving possible correlations between blue straggler properties and some dynamically important cluster property, such as, the collision rate estimate or the total cluster mass, of an individual cluster hosting blue stragglers, particularly of a globular cluster (e.g., Fusi Pecci et al 1992;Piotto et al 2002Piotto et al , 2004Sollima et al 2008;Li et al 2013). The reason selecting an individual globular cluster for the study is partly because it is more difficult to study blue stragglers in open clusters than in globular clusters in a systematic manners, as the observed blue stragglers in younger clusters are generally limited by the small number of more massive stars than the turnoff.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Properties of Open Clusters Containing Blue Stragglers

Lee¹,

Chang²

2017

Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society

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Abstract:The presence of blue stragglers pose challenges to standard stellar evolution theory, in the sense that explaining their presence demands a complex interplay between stellar evolution and cluster dynamics. In the meantime, mass transfer in binary systems and stellar collisions are widely studied as a blue straggler formation channel. We explore properties of the Galactic open clusters where blue stragglers are found, in attempting to estimate the relative importance of these two favored processes, by comparing them with those resulting from open clusters in which blue stragglers are absent as of now. Unlike previous studies which require a sophisticated process in understanding the implication of the results, this approach is straightforward and has resulted in a supplementary supporting evidence for the current view on the blue straggler formation mechanism. Our main findings are as follows: (1) Open clusters in which blue stragglers are present have a broader distribution with respect to the Z-axis pointing towards the North Galactic Pole than those in which blue stragglers are absent. The probability that two distributions with respect to the Z-axis are drawn from the same distribution is 0.2%. (2) Average values of log 10 (t) of the clusters with blue stragglers and those without blue stragglers are 8.58 ± 0.232 and 7.52 ± 0.285, respectively. (3) The clusters with blue stragglers tend to be relatively redder than the others, and are distributed broader in colors. (4) The clusters with blue stragglers are likely brighter than those without blue stragglers. (5) Finally, blue stragglers seem to form in condensed clusters rather than simply dense clusters. Hence, we conclude that mass transfer in binaries seems to be a relatively important physical mechanism of the generation of blue stragglers in open clusters, provided they are sufficiently old.

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