I. Ferraro

On the fine structure of the Cepheid metallicity gradient in the Galactic thin disk

We present homogeneous and accurate iron abundances for 42 Galactic Cepheids based on high resolution (R ~ 38 000) high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ≥ 100) optical spectra collected with UVES at VLT (128 spectra). The above abundances were complemented with high-quality iron abundances provided either by our group (86) or available in the literature. We were careful to derive a common metallicity scale and ended up with a sample of 450 Cepheids. We also estimated accurate individual distances for the entire sample by using homogeneous near-infrared photometry and the reddening free period-Wesenheit relations. The new metallicity gradient is linear over a broad range of Galactocentric distances (RG ~ 5-19 kpc) and agrees quite well with similar estimates available in the literature (-0.060 ± 0.002 dex/kpc). We also uncover evidence that suggests that the residuals of the metallicity gradient are tightly correlated with candidate Cepheid groups (CGs). The candidate CGs have been identified as spatial overdensities of Cepheids located across the thin disk. They account for a significant fraction of the residual fluctuations, and also for the large intrinsic dispersion of the metallicity gradient. We performed a detailed comparison with metallicity gradients based on different tracers: OB stars and open clusters. We found very similar metallicity gradients for ages younger than 3 Gyr, while for older ages we found a shallower slope and an increase in the intrinsic spread. The above findings rely on homogeneous age, metallicity, and distance scales. Finally, by using a large sample of Galactic and Magellanic Cepheids for which accurate iron abundances are available, we found that the dependence of the luminosity amplitude on metallicity is vanishing.

A Pulsational Distance to ω Centauri Based on Near-Infrared Period-Luminosity Relations of RR Lyrae Stars*

We present new near-infrared (J and K) magnitudes for 114 RR Lyrae stars in the globular cluster ω Centauri (NGC 5139), which we combine with data from the literature to construct a sample of 180 RR Lyrae stars with J and K mean magnitudes on a common photometric system. This is currently the largest such sample in any stellar system. We also present updated predictions for J- and K-band period-luminosity relations for both fundamental and first-overtone RR Lyrae stars, based on synthetic horizontal branch models with metal abundance ranging from Z = 0.0001 to 0.004. By adopting for the ω Cen variables with measured metal abundances an α-element enhancement of a factor of 3 (≈0.5 dex) with respect to iron, we find a true distance modulus μ0 = 13.70 ± 0.06 ± 0.06 (random and systematic errors, respectively), corresponding to a distance d = 5.5 ± 0.03 ± 0.03 kpc. Our estimate is in excellent agreement with the distance inferred for the eclipsing binary OGLEGC 17, but differ significantly from the recent distance estimates based on cluster dynamics and on high-amplitude δ Scuti stars.

ON A NEW NEAR-INFRARED METHOD TO ESTIMATE THE ABSOLUTE AGES OF STAR CLUSTERS: NGC 3201 AS A FIRST TEST CASE*

We present a new method to estimate the absolute ages of stellar systems. This method is based on the difference in magnitude between the main-sequence turnoff (MSTO) and a well-defined knee located along the lower main sequence (MSK). This feature is caused by the collisionally induced absorption of molecular hydrogen, and it can easily be identified in near-infrared (NIR) and in optical-NIR color-magnitude diagrams of stellar systems. We took advantage of deep and accurate NIR images collected with the Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics Demonstrator temporarily available on the Very Large Telescope and of optical images collected with the Advanced Camera for Surveys Wide Field Camera on the Hubble Space Telescope and with ground-based telescopes to estimate the absolute age of the globular NGC 3201 using both the MSTO and the ?(MSTO-MSK). We have adopted a new set of cluster isochrones, and we found that the absolute ages based on the two methods agree to within 1?. However, the errors of the ages based on the ?(MSTO-MSK) method are potentially more than a factor of 2 smaller, since they are not affected by uncertainties in cluster distance or reddening. Current isochrones appear to predict slightly bluer (0.05 mag) NIR and optical-NIR colors than observed for magnitudes fainter than the MSK.

STROMGREN PHOTOMETRY OF GALACTIC GLOBULAR CLUSTERS. II. METALLICITY DISTRIBUTION OF RED GIANTS IN ω CENTAURI

We present new intermediate-band Str?mgren photometry based on more than 300 u, v, b, y images of the Galactic globular cluster ? Cen. Optical data were supplemented with new multiband near-infrared (NIR) photometry (350 J, H, Ks images). The final optical-NIR catalog covers a region of more than 20 ? 20 arcmin squared across the cluster center. We use different optical-NIR color-color planes together with proper-motion data available in the literature to identify candidate cluster red-giant (RG) stars. By adopting different Str?mgren metallicity indices, we estimate the photometric metallicity for 4000 RGs, the largest sample ever collected. The metallicity distributions show multiple peaks ([Fe/H]phot = ?1.73 ? 0.08, ?1.29 ? 0.03, ?1.05 ? 0.02, ?0.80 ? 0.04, ?0.42 ? 0.12, and ?0.07 ? 0.08 dex) and a sharp cutoff in the metal-poor (MP) tail ([Fe/H]phot ?2 dex) that agree quite well with spectroscopic measurements. We identify four distinct subpopulations, namely, MP ([Fe/H] ? ?1.49), metal-intermediate (MI; ?1.49 < [Fe/H] ? ?0.93), metal-rich (MR; ?0.95 < [Fe/H] ? ?0.15), and solar metallicity ([Fe/H] 0). The last group includes only a small fraction of stars (~8% ? 5%) and should be confirmed spectroscopically. Moreover, using the difference in metallicity based on different photometric indices, we find that the 19% ? 1% of RGs are candidate CN-strong stars. This fraction agrees quite well with recent spectroscopic estimates and could imply a large fraction of binary stars. The Str?mgren metallicity indices display a robust correlation with ?-elements ([Ca+Si/H]) when moving from the MI to the MR regime ([Fe/H] ?1.7 dex).

Star counts in the globular cluster ω centauri. I. Bright stellar components

We present a photometric investigation on HB, RGB, and MSTO stars in ω Cen=NGC 5139. The center of the cluster was covered with a mosaic of F435W, F625W, and F658N band data collected with HST ACS. The outer reaches were covered with a mosaic of U-, B-, V-, and I-band data collected with the 2.2 m ESO/MPI telescope. The final catalog includes ~1.7 million stars. We identified more than 3200 likely HB stars, the largest sample ever collected in a globular cluster. We found that the HB morphology changes with the radial distance from the cluster center. The relative number of extreme HB stars decreases from ~30% to ~21% when moving from the center toward the outer reaches of the cluster, while the fraction of less hot HB stars increases from ~62% to ~72%. The comparison between theory and observations indicates that the empirical star counts of HB stars are on average larger (30%-40%) than predicted by canonical evolutionary models. Moreover, the rate of HB stars is ~43% larger than the MSTO rate. We also compared theory and observations by assuming a mix of stellar populations made with 70% of canonical He (Y = 0.23) stars and 30% of He-enhanced (Y = 0.33, 0.42) stars. We found that the observed RG/MSTO ratio agrees with the predicted lifetimes of He-mixed stellar populations. The discrepancy between theory and observations decreases by a factor of 2 when compared with rates predicted by canonical He content models, but still 15%-25% (Y = 0.42) and 15%-20% (Y = 0.33) higher than observed. Furthermore, the ratios between HB and MSTO star counts are ~24% (Y = 0.42) and 30% (Y = 0.33) larger than predicted lifetime ratios.

On the Delta V_HB_bump parameter in Globular Clusters

We present new empirical estimates of the DELTAV {sup bump}{sub HB} parameter for 15 Galactic globular clusters (GGCs) using accurate and homogeneous ground-based optical data. Together with similar evaluations available in the literature, we ended up with a sample of 62 GGCs covering a very broad range in metal content (-2.16 dex = 0), might be systematically smaller than predicted.

On the Stellar Content of the Carina Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

We present deep, accurate, and homogeneous multiband optical (U, B, V, I) photometry of the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy, based on more than 4000 individual CCD images from three different ground-based telescopes. Special attention was given to the photometric calibration, and the precision for the B, V, and I bands is generally better than 0.01 mag. We have performed detailed comparisons in the V, B - V, and V, B - I color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) between Carina and three old, metal-poor Galactic globular clusters (GGCs, M53, M55, M79). We find that only the more metal-poor GCs (M55, [Fe/H] = -1.85; M53, [Fe/H] = -2.02 dex) provide a good match with the Carina giant branch. We have performed a similar comparison in the V, V - I CMD with three intermediate-age clusters (IACs) of the Small Magellanic Cloud (Kron 3, NGC 339, Lindsay 38). We find that the color extent of the subgiant branch (SGB) of the two more metal-rich IACs (Kron 3, [Fe/H] = -1.08; NGC339, [Fe/H] = -1.36 dex) is smaller than the range among Carinas intermediate-age stars. Moreover, the slope of the RGB of these two IACs is shallower than the slope of the Carina RGB. However, the ridge line of the more metal-poor IAC (Lindsay 38, [Fe/H] = -1.59 dex) agrees quite well with the Carina intermediate-age stars. These findings indicate that Carinas old stellar population is metal-poor and appears to have a limited spread in metallicity (Δ[Fe/H] = 0.2-0.3 dex). The Carinas intermediate-age stellar population can hardly be more metal-rich than Lindsay 38, and its spread in metallicity also appears modest. We also find that the synthetic CMD constructed assuming a metallicity spread of 0.5 dex for the intermediate-age stellar component predicts evolutionary features not supported by observations. In particular, red clump stars should attain colors that are redder than red giant stars, but this is not seen. These results are at odds with recent spectroscopic investigations suggesting that Carina stars cover a broad range in metallicity (Δ[Fe/H] ~ 1-2 dex). We also present a new method to estimate the metallicity of complex stellar systems using the difference in color between the red clump and the middle of the RR Lyrae instability strip. The observed colors of Carinas evolved stars indicate a metallicity of [Fe/H] = -1.70 ± 0.19 dex, which agrees quite well with spectroscopic measurements.

Reddening Distribution across the Center of the Globular Cluster ω Centauri

We present new medium-band uvby Stromgren and broadband VI photometry for the central regions of the globular cluster ω Cen. From this photometry we have obtained differential reddening estimates relative to two other globular clusters (M13 and NGC 288) using a metallicity-independent, reddening-free temperature index, [c] ≡ (u-v) - (v-b) - 0.2(b-y), for hot horizontal-branch (HB) stars (Teff ≥ 8500 K). We estimate color excesses of these hot HB stars using optical and near-infrared colors, and we find clumpy extinction variations of almost a factor of 2 within the area of the cluster core. In particular, the greatest density of more highly reddened objects appears to be shifted along the right ascension axis when compared with less reddened ones. These findings complicate photometric efforts to investigate the star formation history of ω Cen.

NEW INSIGHTS ON THE GALACTIC BULGE INITIAL MASS FUNCTION

We have derived the Galactic bulge initial mass function of the SWEEPS field in the mass range 0.15

On the α-element gradients of the Galactic thin disk using Cepheids

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