Blue Straggler Stars in Globular Clusters: a powerful tool to probe the internal dynamical evolution of stellar systems

Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of the main observational results obtained to date about Blue Straggler Stars (BSSs) in Galactic Globular Clusters (GCs). The BSS specific frequency, radial distribution, chemical composition and rotational properties are presented and discussed in the framework of using this stellar population as probe of GC internal dynamics. In particular, the shape of the BSS radial distribution has been found to be a powerful tracer of the dynamical age of stellar systems, thus allowing the definition of the first empirical "dynamical clock".

arXiv commentChapter 5, in Ecology of Blue Straggler Stars, H.M.J. Boffin, G. Carraro & G. Beccari (Eds), Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springer

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• A Hubble Space Telescope Study of the Enigmatic Milky Way Halo Globular Cluster Crater
• Metal-Rich SX Phe stars in the Kepler Field
• Blue Straggler Star Populations in Globular Clusters: II. Proper-Motion Cleaned HST Catalogs of BSSs in 38 Galactic GCs
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• Model computations of blue stragglers and W UMa-type stars in globular clusters
• A fast-rotating blue straggler star in the tidal tail of the open cluster NGC 752
• Evolutionary history of four binary blue stragglers from the globular clusters ωCen, M55, 47 Tuc and NGC 6752