Bibcode
DOI
Rosenberg, Alfred; Recio-Blanco, Alejandra; García-Marín, Macarena
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 603, Issue 1, pp. 135-138.
Advertised on:
3
2004
Journal
Citations
36
Refereed citations
29
Description
We present BV photometry centered on the globular cluster M54 (NGC
6715). The color-magnitude diagram clearly shows a blue horizontal
branch extending anomalously beyond the zero-age horizontal-branch
theoretical models. These kinds of horizontal-branch stars (also called
``blue hook'' stars), which go beyond the lower limit of the envelope
mass of canonical horizontal-branch hot stars, have so far been known to
exist in only a few globular clusters: NGC 2808, ω Centauri (NGC
5139), NGC 6273, and NGC 6388. Those clusters, like M54, are among the
most luminous in our Galaxy, indicating a possible correlation between
the existence of these types of horizontal-branch stars and the total
mass of the cluster. A gap in the observed horizontal branch of M54
around Teff=27,000 K could be interpreted within the late
helium flash theoretical scenario, which is a possible explanation for
the origin of blue hook stars.