Browsing by Subject "rich open cluster"
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Item Searching For Chemical Signatures Of Multiple Stellar Populations In The Old, Massive Open Cluster NGC 6791(2014-11) Bragaglia, Angela; Sneden, Christopher; Carretta, Eugenio; Gratton, Raffaele G.; Lucatello, Sara; Bernath, Peter F.; Brooke, James S. A.; Ram, Ram S.; Sneden, ChristopherGalactic open and globular clusters (OCs, GCs) appear to inhabit separate regions of the age-mass plane. However, the transition between them is not easily defined because there is some overlap between high-mass, old OCs and low-mass, young GCs. We are exploring the possibility of a clear-cut separation between OCs and GCs using an abundance feature that has been found so far only in GCs: (anti) correlations between light elements. Among the coupled abundance trends, the Na-O anticorrelation is the most widely studied. These anticorrelations are the signature of self-enrichment, i.e., of a formation mechanism that implies multiple generations of stars. Here we concentrate on the old, massive, metal-rich OC NGC 6791. We analyzed archival Keck/HIRES spectra of 15 NGC 6791 main-sequence turnoff and evolved stars, concentrating on the derivation of C, N, O, and Na abundances. We also used WIYN/Hydra spectra of 21 evolved stars (one is in common). Given the spectral complexity of the very metal-rich NGC 6791 stars, we employed spectrum synthesis to measure most of the abundances. We confirmed the cluster super-solar metallicity and abundances of Ca and Ni that have been derived in past studies. More importantly, we did not detect any significant star-to-star abundance dispersion in C, N, O, and Na. Based on the absence of a clear Na-O anticorrelation, NGC 6791 can still be considered a true OC, hosting a single generation of stars and not a low-mass GC.Item Sodium and Oxygen Abundances in the Open Cluster NGC 6791 from APOGEE H-Band Spectroscopy(2015-01) Cunha, Katia; Smith, Verne V.; Johnson, Jennifer A.; Bergemann, Maria; Meszaros, Szabolcs; Shetrone, Matthew D.; Souto, Diogo; Allende Prieto, Carlos; Schiavon, Ricardo P.; Frinchaboy, Peter; Zasowski, Gail; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Holtzman, Jon; Perez, Ana E. Garcia; Majewski, Steven R.; Nidever, David; Beers, Timothy; Carrera, Ricardo; Geisler, Doug; Gunn, James; Hearty, Fred; Ivans, Inese; Martell, Sarah; Pinsonneault, Marc; Schneider, Donald P.; Sobeck, Jennifer; Stello, Dennis; Stassun, Keivan G.; Shetrone, Matthew D.The open cluster NGC 6791 is among the oldest, most massive, and metal-rich open clusters in the Galaxy. High-resolution H-band spectra from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) of 11 red giants in NGC 6791 are analyzed for their chemical abundances of iron, oxygen, and sodium. The abundances of these three elements are found to be homogeneous (with abundance dispersions at the level of similar to 0.05-0.07 dex) in these cluster red giants, which span much of the red-giant branch (T-eff similar to 3500-4600 K), and include two red clump giants. From the infrared spectra, this cluster is confirmed to be among the most metal-rich clusters in the Galaxy (<[Fe/H]> = 0.34 +/- 0.06) and is found to have a roughly solar value of [O/Fe] and slightly enhanced [Na/Fe]. Our non-LTE calculations for the studied Na I lines in the APOGEE spectral region (16373.86 angstrom and 16388.85 angstrom) indicate only small departures from LTE (<= 0.04 dex) for the parameter range and metallicity of the studied stars. The previously reported double population of cluster members with different Na abundances is not found among the studied sample.