Fast rotating blue stragglers prefer loose clusters.
- Resource Type
- Academic Journal
- Authors
- Ferraro FR; Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia 'Augusto Righi', Alma Mater Studiorum Universita' di Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/2, I-40129, Bologna, Italy. francesco.ferraro3@unibo.it.; INAF-Astrophysics and Space Science Observatory Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/3, I-40129, Bologna, Italy. francesco.ferraro3@unibo.it.; Mucciarelli A; Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia 'Augusto Righi', Alma Mater Studiorum Universita' di Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/2, I-40129, Bologna, Italy.; INAF-Astrophysics and Space Science Observatory Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/3, I-40129, Bologna, Italy.; Lanzoni B; Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia 'Augusto Righi', Alma Mater Studiorum Universita' di Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/2, I-40129, Bologna, Italy.; INAF-Astrophysics and Space Science Observatory Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/3, I-40129, Bologna, Italy.; Pallanca C; Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia 'Augusto Righi', Alma Mater Studiorum Universita' di Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/2, I-40129, Bologna, Italy.; INAF-Astrophysics and Space Science Observatory Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/3, I-40129, Bologna, Italy.; Cadelano M; Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia 'Augusto Righi', Alma Mater Studiorum Universita' di Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/2, I-40129, Bologna, Italy.; INAF-Astrophysics and Space Science Observatory Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/3, I-40129, Bologna, Italy.; Billi A; Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia 'Augusto Righi', Alma Mater Studiorum Universita' di Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/2, I-40129, Bologna, Italy.; INAF-Astrophysics and Space Science Observatory Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/3, I-40129, Bologna, Italy.; Sills A; Department of Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4M1, Canada.; Vesperini E; Department of Astronomy, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47401, USA.; Dalessandro E; INAF-Astrophysics and Space Science Observatory Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/3, I-40129, Bologna, Italy.; Beccari G; European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, 85748, Garching bei Munchen, Germany.; Monaco L; Instituto de Astrofísica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, Sede Concepcion, Talcahuano, Chile.; Mateo M; Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 1085 S. University, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
- Source
- Publisher: Nature Pub. Group Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101528555 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2041-1723 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20411723 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Nat Commun Subsets: PubMed not MEDLINE; MEDLINE
- Subject
- Language
- English
Blue stragglers are anomalously luminous core hydrogen-burning stars formed through mass-transfer in binary/triple systems and stellar collisions. Their physical and evolutionary properties are largely unknown and unconstrained. Here we analyze 320 high-resolution spectra of blue stragglers collected in eight galactic globular clusters with different structural characteristics and show evidence that the fraction of fast rotating blue stragglers (with rotational velocities larger than 40 km/s) increases for decreasing central density of the host system. This trend suggests that fast spinning blue stragglers prefer low-density environments and promises to open an unexplored route towards understanding the evolutionary processes of these stars. Since large rotation rates are expected in the early stages of both formation channels, our results provide direct evidence for recent blue straggler formation activity in low-density environments and put strong constraints on the timescale of the collisional blue straggler slow-down processes.
(© 2023. The Author(s).)