On the Absolute Age of the Globular Cluster M92

di Cecco, A.; Becucci, R.; Bono, G.; Monelli, M.; Stetson, P. B.; Degl'Innocenti, S.; Prada Moroni, P. G.; Nonino, M.; Weiss, A.; Buonanno, R.; Calamida, A.; Caputo, F.; Corsi, C. E.; Ferraro, I.; Iannicola, G.; Pulone, L.; Romaniello, M.; Walker, A. R.
Bibliographical reference

Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Volume 122, issue 895, pp.991-999

Advertised on:
9
2010
Number of authors
18
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
27
Refereed citations
20
Description
We present precise and deep optical photometry of the globular M92. Data were collected in three different photometric systems: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (g ', r ', i ', and z '; MegaCam at CFHT), Johnson-Kron-Cousins ( B , V , and I ; various ground-based telescopes), and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) Vegamag (F475W, F555W, and F814W; Hubble Space Telescope). Special attention was given to the photometric calibration, and the precision of the ground-based data is generally better than 0.01 mag. We computed a new set of α-enhanced evolutionary models accounting for the gravitational settling of heavy elements at fixed chemical composition ( [ α / Fe ] = + 0.3 , [ Fe / H ] = - 2.32 dex , and Y = 0.248 ). The isochrones-assuming the same true distance modulus ( μ = 14.74 mag ), the same reddening [ E ( B - V ) = 0.025 ± 0.010 mag ], and the same reddening law-account for the stellar distribution along the main sequence and the red giant branch in different color-magnitude diagrams (i ', g ' - i '; i ', and g ' - r '; i ', g ' - z '; I , and B - I ; and F814W and F475W-F814W). The same outcome applies to the comparison between the predicted zero-age horizontal-branch (ZAHB) and the HB stars. We also found a cluster age of 11 ± 1.5 Gyr , in good agreement with previous estimates. The error budget accounts for uncertainties in the input physics and the photometry. To test the possible occurrence of CNO-enhanced stars, we also computed two sets of α- and CNO-enhanced (by a factor of 3) models, both at fixed total metallicity ( [ M / H ] = - 2.10 dex ) and at fixed iron abundance. We found that the isochrones based on the former set give the same cluster age ( 11 ± 1.5 Gyr ) as the canonical α-enhanced isochrones. The isochrones based on the latter set also give a similar cluster age ( 10 ± 1.5 Gyr ). These findings support previous results concerning the weak sensitivity of cluster isochrones to CNO-enhanced chemical mixtures.
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NGC 2808 Globular Cluster
Milky Way and Nearby Galaxies
The general aim of the project is to research the structure, evolutionary history and formation of galaxies through the study of their resolved stellar populations, both from photometry and spectroscopy. The group research concentrates in the most nearby objects, namely the Local Group galaxies including the Milky Way and M33 under the hypothesis
Martín
López Corredoira