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DOE OSTI2023

How the dynamical properties of globular clusters impact their $γ$-ray and X-ray emission

The X-ray and $γ$-ray emission of globular clusters (GCs) is attributed to their large fraction of compact binary systems, especially those with millisecond pulsars (MSPs). We analyse a population of 124 Galactic GCs to investigate how their dynamical properties affect the formation and evolution of compact binary systems and how this can be translated into the clusters’ observed X-ray and γ-ray emission. We use mainly Chandra X-ray Observatory and Fermi Large Area Telescope observations to achieve our goals and start by detecting 39 GCs in γ rays, seven of which are not listed in previous Fermi -LAT catalogs. Additionally, we find that the total number of X-ray sources within a GC and its γ-ray luminosity are linearly correlated with the stellar encounter rate, indicating that compact binary systems are mainly formed via close stellar encounters. We also find an unexpected rise in the number of X-ray sources for GCs with low rates of stellar encounters, suggesting that there is a dynamical threshold where the formation of X-ray sources is dominated by stellar encounters. Furthermore, we use the Heggie-Hills law to find that subsequent stellar encounters in these compact binaries will, on average, make the binaries even harder, with basically no possibility of binary ionization. Finally, we find that all GCs are point-like sources in γ rays, indicating that the MSPs are concentrated in the clusters’ cores, likely due to dynamical friction.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Evidence for a high-energy tail in the gamma-ray spectra of globular clusters

Millisecond pulsars are very likely the main source of gamma-ray emission from globular clusters. However, the relative contributions of two separate emission processes – curvature radiation from millisecond pulsar magnetospheres versus inverse Compton emission from relativistic pairs launched into the globular cluster environment by millisecond pulsars – have long been unclear. To address this, we search for evidence of inverse Compton emission in 8-yr Fermi–LAT data from the directions of 157 Milky Way globular clusters. We find a mildly statistically significant (3.8σ) correlation between the measured globular cluster gamma-ray luminosities and their photon field energy densities. However, this may also be explained by a hidden correlation between the photon field densities and the stellar encounter rates of globular clusters. Analysed in toto, we demonstrate that the gamma-ray emission of globular clusters can be resolved spectrally into two components: (i) an exponentially cut-off power law and (ii) a pure power law. The latter component – which we uncover at a significance of 8.2σ – has a power index of 2.79 ± 0.25. It is most naturally interpreted as inverse Compton emission by cosmic-ray electrons and positrons injected by millisecond pulsars. Here, we find the luminosity of this power-law component is comparable to, or slightly smaller than, the luminosity of the curved component, suggesting the fraction of millisecond pulsar spin-down luminosity into relativistic leptons is similar to the fraction of the spin-down luminosity into prompt magnetospheric radiation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2022

On the physical size of the Milky Way globular cluster NGC 7089 (M2)

ABSTRACT We study the outer regions of the Milky Way globular cluster NGC 7089 based on new Dark Energy Camera observations. The resulting background-cleaned stellar density profile reveals the existence of an extended envelope. We confirm previous results that cluster stars are found out up to ∼1° from the cluster’s centre, which is nearly three times the value of the most robust tidal radii estimations. We also used results from direct N-body simulations in order to compare with the observations. We found a fairly good agreement between the observed and numerically generated stellar density profiles. Because of the existence of gaps and substructures along globular cluster tidal tails, we closely examined the structure of the outer cluster region beyond the Jacobi radius. We extended the analysis to a sample of 35 globular clusters, 20 of them with observed tidal tails. We found that if the stellar density profile follows a power law ∝ r−α, the α slope correlates with the globular cluster present mass, in the sense that, the more massive the globular cluster, the smaller the α value. This trend is not found in globular clusters without observed tidal tails. The origin of such a phenomenon could be related, among other reasons, to the proposed so-called potential escapers or to the formation of globular clusters within dark matter minihaloes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

On the gamma-ray emission from the core of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy

ABSTRACT We use Fermi-LAT data to analyse the faint gamma-ray source located at the centre of the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf spheroidal galaxy. In the 4FGL-DR3 catalogue, this source is associated with the globular cluster, M54. We investigate the spectral energy distribution and spatial extension of this source, with the goal of testing two hypotheses: (1) the emission is due to millisecond pulsars within M54, or (2) the emission is due to annihilating dark matter from the Sgr halo. For the pulsar interpretation, we consider a two-component model which describes both the lower-energy magnetospheric emission and possible high-energy emission arising from inverse Compton scattering. We find that this source has a point-like morphology at low energies, consistent with magnetospheric emission, and find no evidence for a higher-energy component. For the dark matter interpretation, we find the signal favours a dark matter mass of mχ = 29.6 ± 5.8 GeV and an annihilation cross section of $\sigma v = (2.1 \pm 0.59) \times 10^{-26} \, \text{cm}^3$ s−1 for the $b \bar{b}$ channel (or mχ = 8.3 ± 3.8 GeV and $\sigma v = (0.90 \pm 0.25) \times 10^{-26} \, \text{cm}^3$ s−1 for the τ+τ− channel), when adopting a J-factor of $J=10^{19.6} \, \text{GeV}^2 \, \text{cm}^{-5}$. This parameter space is consistent with gamma-ray constraints from other dwarf galaxies and with dark matter interpretations of the Galactic Centre Gamma-Ray Excess.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Constraining the masses of high-redshift clusters with weak lensing: Revised shape calibration testing for the impact of stronger shears and increased blending

Weak lensing measurements suffer from well-known shear estimation biases, which can be partially corrected for with the use of image simulations. Here we present an analysis of simulated images that mimic Hubble Space Telescope/Advance Camera for Surveys observations of high-redshift galaxy clusters, including cluster specific issues such as non-weak shear and increased blending. Our synthetic galaxies have been generated to have similar observed properties as the background-selected source samples studied in the real images. First, we used simulations with galaxies placed on a grid to determine a revised signal-to-noise-dependent (S/N KSB ) correction for multiplicative shear measurement bias, and to quantify the sensitivity of our KSB+ bias calibration to mismatches of galaxy or PSF properties between the real data and the simulations. Next, we studied the impact of increased blending and light contamination from cluster and foreground galaxies, finding it to be negligible for high-redshift (z > 0.7) clusters, whereas shear measurements can be affected at the ~1% level for lower redshift clusters given their brighter member galaxies. Finally, we studied the impact of fainter neighbours and selection bias using a set of simulated images that mimic the positions and magnitudes of galaxies in Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) data, thereby including realistic clustering. While the initial SExtractor object detection causes a multiplicative shear selection bias of –0.028 ± 0.002, this is reduced to –0.016 ± 0.002 by further cuts applied in our pipeline. Given the limited depth of the CANDELS data, we compared our CANDELS-based estimate for the impact of faint neighbours on the multiplicative shear measurement bias to a grid-based analysis, to which we added clustered galaxies to even fainter magnitudes based on Hubble Ultra Deep Field data, yielding a refined estimate of ~ –0.013. Our sensitivity analysis suggests that our pipeline is calibrated to an accuracy of ~0.015 once all corrections are applied, which is fully sufficient for current and near-future weak lensing studies of high-redshift clusters. As an application, we used it for a refined analysis of three highly relaxed clusters from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zeldovich survey, where we now included measurements down to the cluster core (r > 200 kpc) as enabled by our work. Compared to previously employed scales (r > 500 kpc), this tightens the cluster mass constraints by a factor 1.38 on average.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Galactic ArchaeoLogIcaL ExcavatiOns (GALILEO): I. An updated census of APOGEE N-rich giants across the Milky Way

We use the 17th data release of the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2) to provide a homogenous census of N-rich red giant stars across the Milky Way (MW). We report a total of 149 newly identified N-rich field giants toward the bulge, metal-poor disk, and halo of our Galaxy. They exhibit significant enrichment in their nitrogen abundance ratios ([N/Fe] ≳ +0.5), along with simultaneous depletions in their [C/Fe] abundance ratios ([C/Fe] < +0.15), and they cover a wide range of metallicities (-1.8 < [Fe/H] < -0.7). The final sample of candidate N-rich red giant stars with globular-cluster-like (GC-like) abundance patterns from the APOGEE survey includes a grand total of ~412 unique objects. These strongly N-enhanced stars are speculated to have been stripped from GCs based on their chemical similarities with these systems. Even though we have not found any strong evidence for binary companions or signatures of pulsating variability yet, we cannot rule out the possibility that some of these objects were members of binary systems in the past and/or are currently part of a variable system. In particular, the fact that we identify such stars among the field stars in our Galaxy provides strong evidence that the nucleosynthetic process(es) producing the anomalous [N/Fe] abundance ratios occurs over a wide range of metallicities. This may provide evidence either for or against the uniqueness of the progenitor stars to GCs and/or the existence of chemical anomalies associated with likely tidally shredded clusters in massive dwarf galaxies such as “Kraken/Koala”, Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage, among others, before or during their accretion by the MW. In conclusion, a dynamical analysis reveals that the newly identified N-rich stars exhibit a wide range of dynamical characteristics throughout the MW, indicating that they were produced in a variety of Galactic environments.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2020

The predicted properties of helium-enriched globular cluster progenitors at high redshift

Globular cluster progenitors may have been detected by Hubble Space Telescope, and are predicted to be observable with James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and ground-based extremely large telescopes with adaptive optics. This has the potential to elucidate the issue of globular cluster formation and the origins of significantly helium-enriched subpopulations, a problem in Galactic astronomy with no satisfactory theoretical solution. Given this context, we use model stellar tracks and isochrones to investigate the predicted observational properties of helium-enriched stellar populations in globular cluster progenitors. We find that, relative to helium-normal populations, helium-enriched (ΔY = +0.12) stellar populations similar to those inferred in the most massive globular clusters, are expected, modulo some rapid fluctuations in the first ~30 Myr, to be brighter and redder in the rest frame. At fixed age, stellar mass, and metallicity, a helium-enriched population is predicted to converge to being ~0.40 mag brighter at $\lambda \approx 2.0\, {\mu \rm m}$, and to be 0.30-mag redder in the JWST–NIRCam colour (F070W - F200W), and to actually be fainter for $\lambda \lesssim 0.50 \, {\mu \rm m}$. Separately, we find that the time-integrated shift in ionizing radiation is a negligible $\sim \!5{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$, though we show that the Lyman-α escape fraction could end up higher for helium-enriched stars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

NASA NTRS2016

Demonstrating the Likely Neutron Star Nature of Five M31 Globular Cluster Sources with Swift-NuSTAR Spectroscopy

We present the results of a joint Swift-NuSTAR spectroscopy campaign on M31. We focus on the five brightest globular cluster X-ray sources in our fields. Two of these had previously been argued to be black hole candidates on the basis of apparent hard-state spectra at luminosities above those for which neutron stars are in hard states. We show that these two sources are likely to be Z-sources (i.e. low magnetic field neutron stars accreting near their Eddington limits), or perhaps bright atoll sources (low magnetic field neutron stars which are just a bit fainter than this level) on the basis of simultaneous Swift and NuSTAR spectra which cover a broader range of energies. These new observations reveal spectral curvature above 6-8 keV that would be hard to detect without the broader energy coverage the NuSTAR data provide relative to Chandra and XMM-Newton. We show that the other three sources are also likely to be bright neutron star X-ray binaries, rather than black hole X-ray binaries. We discuss why it should already have been realized that it was unlikely that these objects were black holes on the basis of their being persistent sources, and we re-examine past work which suggested that tidal capture products would be persistently bright X-ray emitters. We discuss how this problem is likely due to neglecting disc winds in older work that predict which systems will be persistent and which will be transient.

globular clusters: general↗

DOE OSTI2024

Measuring M31 globular cluster ages and metallicities using both photometry and spectroscopy

ABSTRACT The ages and metallicities of globular clusters play an important role not just in testing models for their formation and evolution but also in understanding the assembly history of their host galaxies. Here, we use a combination of imaging and spectroscopy to measure the ages and metallicities of globular clusters in M31, the closest massive galaxy to our own. We use the strength of the near-infrared calcium triplet spectral feature to provide a relatively age-insensitive prior on the metallicity when fitting stellar population models to the observed photometry. While the age–extinction degeneracy is an issue for globular clusters projected on to the disc of M31, we find generally old ages for globular clusters in the halo of M31 and in its satellite galaxy NGC 205 in line with previous studies. We measure ages for a number of outer halo globular clusters for the first time, finding that globular clusters associated with halo substructure extend to younger ages and higher metallicities than those associated with the smooth halo. This is in line with the expectation that the smooth halo was accreted earlier than the substructured halo.

Usher, Christopher (ORCID:0000000273837106)↗

NASA NTRS1990

Neutron stars and millisecond pulsars from accretion-induced collapse in globular clusters

This paper examines the limits on the number of millisecond pulsars which could be formed in globular clusters by the generally accepted scenario (in which a neutron star is created by the supernova of an initially massive star and subsequently captures a companion to form a low-mass X-ray binary which eventually becomes a millisecond pulsar). It is found that, while the number of observed low-mass X-ray binaries can be adequately explained in this way, the reasonable assumption that the pulsar luminosity function in clusters extends below the current observational limits down to the luminosity of the faintest millisecond pulsars in the field suggests a cluster population of millisecond pulsars which is substantially larger than the standard model can produce. Alleviating this problem by postulating much shorter lifetimes for the X-ray binaries requires massive star populations sufficiently large that the mass loss resulting from their evolution would be likely to unbind the cluster. It is argued that neutron star formation in globular clusters by accretion-induced collapse of white dwarfs may resolve the discrepancy in birthrates.

Bailyn, Charles D.↗

DOE OSTI2023

On the Origins of Extreme Velocity Stars as Revealed by Large-scale Galactic Surveys

We assemble a large sample of 12,784 high-velocity stars with total velocity V GSR ≥ 300 km s -1 , selected from RAVE DR5, SDSS DR12, LAMOST DR8, APOGEE DR16, GALAH DR2, and Gaia EDR3. In this sample, 52 are marginally hypervelocity star (HVS) candidates that have VGSR exceeding their local escape velocities within 2σ confidence levels, 40 of which are discovered for the first time. All of the candidates are metal-poor, late-type halo stars, which are significantly different from the previously identified HVSs, which are largely massive early-type stars, discovered by extreme radial velocity. This finding suggests that our newly identified HVS candidates are ejected by different mechanisms from the previous population. To investigate their origins, for 547 extreme velocity stars with V GSR ≥ 0.8V esc , we reconstruct their backward-integrated trajectories in the Galactic potential. According to the orbital analysis, no candidates are found to be definitely ejected from the Galactic-center (GC), while eight metal-poor extreme velocity stars are found to have a closest distance to the GC within 1 kpc. Intriguingly, 15 extreme velocity stars (including 2 HVS candidates) are found to have experienced close encounters with the Sagittarius dSph, suggesting that they originated from this dSph. This hypothesis is supported by an analysis of the [α/Fe]–[Fe/H] diagram. From a preliminary analysis of all of the 547 extreme velocity stars, we propose a general picture–star ejection from Galactic subsystems such as dwarf galaxies and globular clusters can be an important channel to produce extreme velocity stars or even HVSs, particularly the metal-poor late-type halo population.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

NASA NTRS1995

Catalogue of Galactic globular-cluster surface-brightness profiles

We present a catalogue of surface-brightness profiles (SBPs) of 125 Galactic globular clusters, the largest such collection ever gathered. The SPBs are constructed from generally inhomogeneous data, but are based heavily on the Berkeley Global Cluster Survey of Djorgovski & King. All but four of the SBPs have photometric zero points. We derive central surface brightness, King-model concentrations, core radii, half-light, and other fraction-of-light radii where data permit, and we briefly discuss their use.

Trager, S. C.↗

NASA NTRS1978

General-relativistic astrophysics

The overall relevance of general relativity to astrophysics is considered, and some of the knowledge about the ways in which general relativity should influence astrophysical systems is reviewed. Attention is focused primarily on finite-sized astrophysical systems, such as stars, globular clusters, galactic nuclei, and primordial black holes. Stages in the evolution of such systems and tools for studying the effects of relativistic gravity in these systems are examined. Gravitational-wave astronomy is discussed in detail, with emphasis placed on estimates of the strongest gravitational waves that bathe earth, present obstacles and future prospects for detection of the predicted waves, the theory of small perturbations of relativistic stars and black holes, and the gravitational waves such objects generate. Characteristics of waves produced by black-hole events in general, pregalactic black-hole events, black-hole events in galactic nuclei and quasars, black-hole events in globular clusters, the collapse of normal stars to form black holes or neutron stars, and corequakes in neutron stars are analyzed. The state of the art in gravitational-wave detection and characteristics of various types of detector are described.

Thorne, K. S.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Space Observations of Starburst Galaxies

Led by JHU postdoc Gerhardt Meurer, we completed our analysis of far-UV HST FOC images of nine nearby starbursts. We have been able to delineate the structure of the regions in which the unusually vigorous star-formation is occurring (Meurer et al 1995). At 0.1 arcsec (2 to 20 pc) resolution, the starbursts are resolved into multiple clumps and bright star clusters distributed over a region several hundred pc to a few kpc in size. This suggests that compact sites of star-formation may propagate from place to place within a larger central gas reservoir over the duration of the burst. The UV and optical properties of these clusters suggest that they may correspond to newly 'minted' globular clusters. These clusters typically produce about 10% to 50% of the far-UV light, and are preferentially located in the heart of the starburst, where the background UV surface brightness is highest. Thus, massive star cluster (globular cluster?) formation is a fundamental part of the starburst phenomenon. This confirms and generalizes the results of Whitmore et al (1993). Our starburst images are also being compared to our recent analysis of the HST FOC image of R136 in the LMC (De Marchi et al 1993). We have also extended our results on the UV photometric structure of starbursts to star-forming galaxies in the early universe (Meurer et al 1997). We show that the most actively- star-forming galaxies at all redshifts seem to have approximately the same bolometric surface-brightness, and that the high redshift galaxies may be larger and more luminous versions of local starbursts.

Heckman, Timothy M.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Stellar populations in local group dwarf elliptical galaxies. I - NGC 147

A color-magnitude diagram of NGC 147 to an I magnitude of 23 is presented. The stellar population in the outer parts of this elliptical galaxy resembles that of the globular clusters of the Milky Way. Quantitative comparison of the giant branch with those of globular clusters yields a mean metallicity of -1.2 + or - 0.2, making NGC 147 a part of the general correlation between mass and metallicity seen in ellipticals. The giant branch appears to be broad, which suggests a metallicity dispersion. The absence of asymptotic giant branch stars at luminosities above that of the red giant branch tip sets an upper limit of 10 percent for the fraction of stars in this NGC 147 field that have ages less than 12 Gyr. This result contrasts with the situation in some of the related, but less massive, dwarf spheroidal systems. If the choice is made to assume, rather than determine the stellar content of NGC 147, a distance of 630 + or - 50 kpc is derived, similar to that of M31.

Mould, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Globular cluster origin of X-ray bursters

X-ray bursters and galactic bulge X-ray sources, or the most luminous X-ray sources in the Galaxy, are reasonably well constrained in their basic nature but not in their origin. It is suggested they may all have been produced by tidal capture in high density cores of globular clusters, which have now largely been disrupted by tidal stripping and shocking in the galactic plane. General arguments are presented for cluster disruption by the possible ring of giant molecular clouds in the Galaxy. Tests of the cluster disruption hypothesis are in progress and preliminary results are summarized here. The G-K star 'companions' previously noted for at least four bursters have spectra (in the two cases observed) consistent with metal-rich cluster giants. Several possibilities are discussed, including the formation of hierarchical triples in the dissolving cluster or in the galactic plane.

Grindlay, J. E.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Don't cross the streams: caustics from fuzzy dark matter

Here we study how tidal streams from globular clusters may be used to constrain the mass of ultra-light dark matter particles, called `fuzzy' dark matter (FDM). A general feature of FDM models is the presence of ubiquitous density fluctuations in bound, virialized dark matter structures, on the scale of the de Broglie wavelength, arising from wave interference in the evolving dark matter distribution. These time-varying fluctuations can disturb the motions of stars, leading to potentially observable signatures in cold thin tidal streams in our own Galaxy. The study of this effect has been hindered by the difficulty in simulating the FDM wavefunction in Milky Way-sized systems. We present a simple method to evolve realistic wavefunctions in nearly static potentials, that should provide an accurate estimate of this granulation effect. We quantify the impact of FDM perturbations on tidal streams, and show that initially, while stream perturbations are small in amplitude, their power spectra exhibit a sharp cutoff corresponding to the de Broglie wavelength of the FDM potential fluctuations. Eventually, when stream perturbations become nonlinear, fold caustics generically arise that lead to density fluctuations with universal behavior. This erases the signature of the de Broglie wavelength in the stream density power spectrum, but we show that it will still be possible to determine the FDM mass in this regime, by considering the fluctuations in quantities like angular momenta or actions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

NASA NTRS1979

Thermonuclear flashes on accreting neutron stars

Observations of X-ray bursts from binary pulsars and globular clusters are reviewed. The previously proposed hypothesis is considered that such X-ray bursts result from thermonuclear flashes on accreting neutron stars. A general scenario for this mechanism is outlined, and numerical computations of the evolution of the surface layers of an accreting neutron star are discussed. The relation of these calculations to X-ray bursts and other phenomena is examined. Possible improvements in the numerical calculations are suggested.

Joss, P. C.↗