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Direct Evidence for an Enhancement of Helium in Giant Stars in Omega Centauri

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arxiv 1012.4802 v1 pith:FEPVTIJM submitted 2010-12-21 astro-ph.SR astro-ph.GA

classification astro-ph.SRastro-ph.GA
keywords heliumcentauriomegastarsenhancementabundancesclusterdirect
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The double main sequence identified in the globular cluster Omega Centauri has been interpreted using isochrones to indicate a large variation in the abundance of helium. If true, a helium enhancement carries strong implications for the chemical and stellar evolutionary history of this cluster. However, only indirect measures currently support this conjecture. We report the discovery of a variation in the line strength of the near-infrared He I 10830 A transition in twelve similar red giants in Omega Centauri observed with PHOENIX on Gemini-S. Abundances of these stars derived from Magellan/MIKE spectra taken at Las Campanas Observatory show that the helium transition is not detected in the most metal-poor population ([Fe/H] < -1.8), yet is present in the majority of stars with [Fe/H] >= -1.8. These observations give the first direct evidence for an enhancement of helium in Omega Centauri. The appearance of helium appears better correlated with increased [Al/Fe] and [Na/Fe] abundances than as a function of [Fe/H], giving observational support to the presence of high-temperature H-burning in a prior generation of stars.

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  1. Something new under the Sun: A magnetically driven CH/CN anti-correlation

    astro-ph.SR 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    The solar magnetic cycle produces a CH/CN anti-correlation in the integrated solar spectrum, which the authors scale up to argue that surface magnetism could mimic globular cluster multi-population signatures.

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