The discovery of an anomalous RGB in M 2

Using UV images taken with the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, we discovered an anomalous sequence in the color-magnitude diagram of M 2. This feature appears as a narrow poor-populated red giant branch, which extends down to the sub giant branch region. We speculate that this new feature could be the extension of the faint component of the split sub giant branch recently discovered by Piotto et al. We identified in our UV images two CH stars detected in previous studies. These stars, which are both cluster members, fall on this redder sequence, suggesting indeed that the anomalous RGB should have a peculiar chemical pattern. Unfortunately, no additional spectra were obtained for stars in this previously unknown substructur

THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE UV LEGACY SURVEY of GALACTIC GLOBULAR CLUSTERS. VII. IMPLICATIONS from the NEARLY UNIVERSAL NATURE of HORIZONTAL BRANCH DISCONTINUITIES

© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. The UV-initiative Hubble Space Telescope Treasury survey of Galactic globular clusters provides a new window into the phenomena that shape the morphological features of the horizontal branch (HB). Using this large and homogeneous catalog of UV and blue photometry, we demonstrate that the HB exhibits discontinuities that are remarkably consistent in color (effective temperature). This consistency is apparent even among some of the most massive clusters hosting multiple distinct sub-populations (such as NGC 2808, ω Cen, and NGC 6715), demonstrating that these phenomena are primarily driven by atmospheric physics that is independent of the underlying population properties. However, inconsistencies arise in the metal-rich clusters NGC 6388 and NGC 6441, where the discontinuity within the blue HB (BHB) distribution shifts ∼1000-2000 K hotter. We demonstrate that this shift is likely due to a large helium enhancement in the BHB stars of these clusters, which in turn affects the surface convection and evolution of such stars. Our survey also increases the number of Galactic globular clusters known to host blue-hook stars (also known as late hot flashers) from 6 to 23 clusters. These clusters are biased toward the bright end of the globular cluster luminosity function, confirming that blue-hook stars tend to form in the most massive clusters with significant self-enrichment

Multiple populations in globular clusters. Lessons learned from the Milky Way globular clusters

Recent progress in studies of globular clusters has shown that they are not simple stellar populations, being rather made of multiple generations. Evidence stems both from photometry and spectroscopy. A new paradigm is then arising for the formation of massive star clusters, which includes several episodes of star formation. While this provides an explanation for several features of globular clusters, including the second parameter problem, it also opens new perspectives about the relation between globular clusters and the halo of our Galaxy, and by extension of all populations with a high specific frequency of globular clusters, such as, e.g., giant elliptical galaxies. We review progress in this area, focusing on the most recent studies. Several points remain to be properly understood, in particular those concerning the nature of the polluters producing the abundance pattern in the clusters and the typical timescale, the range of cluster masses where this phenomenon is active, and the relation between globular clusters and other satellites of our Galaxy.Comment: In press (The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review

The Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters - XII. The RGB bumps of multiple stellar populations

The Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters is providing a major breakthrough in our knowledge of globular clusters (GCs) and their stellar populations. Among the main results, we discovered that all the studied GCs host two main discrete groups consisting of first generation (1G) and second generation (2G) stars. We exploit the multiwavelength photometry from this project to investigate, for the first time, the Red Giant Branch Bump (RGBB) of the two generations in a large sample of GCs. We identified, with high statistical significance, the RGBB of 1G and 2G stars in 26 GCs and found that their magnitude separation as a function of the filter wavelength follows comparable trends. The comparison of observations to synthetic spectra reveals that the RGBB luminosity depends on the stellar chemical composition and that the 2G RGBB is consistent with stars enhanced in He and N and depleted in C and O with respect to 1G stars. For metal-poor GCs the 1G and 2G RGBB relative luminosity in optical bands mostly depends on helium content, Y. We used the RGBB observations in F606W and F814W bands to infer the relative helium abundance of 1G and 2G stars in 18 GCs, finding an average helium enhancement ΔY = 0.011 ± 0.002 of 2G stars with respect to 1G stars. This is the first determination of the average difference in helium abundance of multiple populations in a large number of clusters and provides a lower limit to the maximum internal variation of helium in GCs. © 2017 The Authors

CAR-T cell. the long and winding road to solid tumors

Adoptive cell therapy of solid tumors with reprogrammed T cells can be considered the "next generation" of cancer hallmarks. CAR-T cells fail to be as effective as in liquid tumors for the inability to reach and survive in the microenvironment surrounding the neoplastic foci. The intricate net of cross-interactions occurring between tumor components, stromal and immune cells leads to an ineffective anergic status favoring the evasion from the host's defenses. Our goal is hereby to trace the road imposed by solid tumors to CAR-T cells, highlighting pitfalls and strategies to be developed and refined to possibly overcome these hurdles

The HST large programme on NGC 6752 – III. Detection of the peak of the white dwarf luminosity function

We report on the white dwarf (WD) cooling sequence of the old globular cluster NGC 6752, which is chemically complex and hosts a blue horizontal branch. This is one of the last globular cluster WD cooling sequences accessible to imaging by the Hubble Space Telescope. Our photometry and completeness tests show that we have reached the peak of the luminosity function of the WD cooling sequence, at a magnitude mF606W = 29.4 ± 0.1, which is consistent with a formal age of ∼14 Gyr. This age is also consistent with the age from fits to the main-sequence turn-off (13–14 Gyr), reinforcing our conclusion that we observe the expected accumulation of WDs along the cooling sequence. © 2019 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Societ

oMEGACat III. Multi-band photometry and metallicities reveal spatially well-mixed populations within ω Centauri's half-light radius

ω Centauri, the most massive globular cluster in the Milky Way, has long been suspected to be the stripped nucleus of a dwarf galaxy that fell into the Galaxy a long time ago. There is considerable evidence for this scenario including a large spread in metallicity and an unusually large number of distinct sub-populations seen in photometric studies. In this work, we use new MUSE spectroscopic and HST photometric catalogs to investigate the underlying metallicity distributions as well as the spatial variations of the populations within the cluster up to its half-light radius. Based on 11,050 member stars, the [M/H] distribution has a median of (−1.614±0.003) dex and a large spread of ∼ 1.37 dex reaching from −0.67 dex to −2.04 dex for 99.7 % of the stars. In addition, we show the chromosome map of the cluster, which separates the red giant branch stars into different sub-populations, and analyze the sub-populations of the metal-poorest component. Finally, we do not find any metallicity gradient within the half-light radius, and the different sub-populations are well mixe

oMEGACat I: MUSE spectroscopy of 300,000 stars within the half-light radius of ω Centauri

Omega Centauri (ω Cen) is the most massive globular cluster of the Milky Way and has been the focus of many studies that reveal the complexity of its stellar populations and kinematics. However, most previous studies have used photometric and spectroscopic datasets with limited spatial or magnitude coverage, while we aim to investigate it having full spatial coverage out to its half-light radius and stars ranging from the main sequence to the tip of the red giant branch. This is the first paper in a new survey of ω Cen that combines uniform imaging and spectroscopic data out to its half-light radius to study its stellar populations, kinematics, and formation history. In this paper, we present an unprecedented MUSE spectroscopic dataset combining 87 new MUSE pointings with previous observations collected from guaranteed time observations. We extract spectra of more than 300,000 stars reaching more than two magnitudes below the main sequence turn-off. We use these spectra to derive metallicity and line-of-sight velocity measurements and determine robust uncertainties on these quantities using repeat measurements. Applying quality cuts we achieve signal-to-noise ratios of 16.47/73.51 and mean metallicity errors of 0.174/0.031 dex for the main sequence stars (18 mag < magF625W < 22 mag) and red giant branch stars (16 mag < magF625W <10 mag), respectively. We correct the metallicities for atomic diffusion and identify foreground stars. This massive spectroscopic dataset will enable future studies that will transform our understanding of ω Cen, allowing us to investigate the stellar populations, ages, and kinematics in great detail

oMEGACat. II. Photometry and Proper Motions for 1.4 Million Stars in Omega Centauri and Its Rotation in the Plane of the Sky

Omega Centauri (ω Cen) is the most massive globular cluster of the Milky Way. It is thought to be the nucleus of an accreted dwarf galaxy because of its high mass and its complex stellar populations. To decipher its formation history and study its dynamics, we created the most comprehensive kinematic catalog for its inner region, by analyzing both archival and new Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data. Our catalog contains 1,395,781 proper-motion measurements out to the half-light radius of the cluster ( ∼ 5.0 ′ ) and down to m F625W ≈ 25 mag. The typical baseline for our proper-motion measurements is 20 yr, leading to a median 1D proper motion precision of ∼11 μas yr−1 for stars with m F625W ≈ 18 mag, with even better precision (∼6.6 μas yr−1) achieved in the extensively observed centermost ( r < 1.5 ′ ) region. In addition to our astrometric measurements, we also obtained precise HST photometry in seven filters spanning from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared. This allows detailed color-magnitude diagram studies and separation of the multiple stellar populations of the cluster. In this work, we describe the data reduction used to obtain both the photometric and the proper-motion measurements. We also illustrate the creation and the content of our catalog, which is made publicly available. Finally, we present measurements of the plane-of-sky rotation of ω Cen in the previously unprobed inner few arcminutes and a precise measurement of the inclination, i = 43.°9 ± 1.°3

Relativistic Binaries in Globular Clusters

Galactic globular clusters are old, dense star systems typically containing 10\super{4}--10\super{7} stars. As an old population of stars, globular clusters contain many collapsed and degenerate objects. As a dense population of stars, globular clusters are the scene of many interesting close dynamical interactions between stars. These dynamical interactions can alter the evolution of individual stars and can produce tight binary systems containing one or two compact objects. In this review, we discuss theoretical models of globular cluster evolution and binary evolution, techniques for simulating this evolution that leads to relativistic binaries, and current and possible future observational evidence for this population. Our discussion of globular cluster evolution will focus on the processes that boost the production of hard binary systems and the subsequent interaction of these binaries that can alter the properties of both bodies and can lead to exotic objects. Direct {\it N}-body integrations and Fokker--Planck simulations of the evolution of globular clusters that incorporate tidal interactions and lead to predictions of relativistic binary populations are also discussed. We discuss the current observational evidence for cataclysmic variables, millisecond pulsars, and low-mass X-ray binaries as well as possible future detection of relativistic binaries with gravitational radiation.Comment: 88 pages, 13 figures. Submitted update of Living Reviews articl