Blue Straggler Stars: Setting up a Dynamical Clock for Open Clusters
Khushboo Kunwar Rao,
Department of Physics, Birla Institute of Technology and Science-Pilani, 333031 Rajasthan, India. Corresponding author: p20170419@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in
Kaushar Vaidya,
Department of Physics, Birla Institute of Technology and Science-Pilani, 333031 Rajasthan, India
Manan Agarwal,
Anton Pannekoek Institute Universiteit van Amsterdam, Netherlands
Shanmugha Balan,
Department of Physics, Birla Institute of Technology and Science-Pilani, 333031 Rajasthan, India
Souradeep Bhattacharya,
Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Ganeshkhind, Post Bag 4, Pune 411007, India
Abstract
Blue straggler stars are late bloomers that are bluer and brighter than the main sequence turnoff stars on a color-magnitude diagram of a cluster. Being a massive population compared to their other cluster siblings, their sedimentation level has been used to probe the dynamical evolution of globular clusters. In a series of studies, we explored the dynamical evolution of old open clusters, for the first time, making use of this same trait of the BSS that they settle quicker in the cluster core than any other cluster population. In these works, we have compared the theoretical estimation of dynamical ages, Nrelax, with the observed signatures of blue straggler stars segregation either by placing open clusters in Family I/II/III classification of dynamical ages defined in globular clusters or by estimating the area enclosed between the cumulative radial distributions of BSS and another reference population in 23 open clusters.
Keywords : Blue Straggler Stars, Open Clusters, Dynamics
Pour citer cet article
Khushboo Kunwar Rao, Kaushar Vaidya, Manan Agarwal, Shanmugha Balan & Souradeep Bhattacharya, «Blue Straggler Stars: Setting up a Dynamical Clock for Open Clusters», Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège [En ligne], Volume 93 - Année 2024, No 2 - Proceeedings of the 3rd BINA Workshop on the Scientific Potential of the Indo-Belgian Cooperation, 273-284 URL : https://popups.uliege.be/0037-9565/index.php?id=11676.
