The metallicity range of variables in M3

Abstract

The recently published spectroscopic metallicities of RR Lyrae stars in M3 (Sandstrom, K., Pilachowski, C. A., and Saha, A. 2001, AJ 122, 3212) though show a relatively wide range of the [Fe/H] values, the conclusion that no metallicity spread is real has been drawn, as no dependence on either minimum temperature or period was detected. Comparing these spectroscopic metallicities with [Fe/H] calculated from the Fourier parameters of the light curves of the variables a correlation between the [Fe/H] values appears. As a consequence of the independence of the spectroscopic and photometric metallicities, this correlation points to the reality of a metallicity spread. The absolute magnitudes of these stars follow a similar trend along both the spectroscopic and photometric metallicities as the general ${\mathrm{M}}_{\mathrm{V}}-[Fe/H]$ relation predicts, which strengthens that the detected metallicity range is real.

5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

References in corpus (2)

• A Globular Cluster Metallicity Scale Based on the Abundance of Fe II
• Helium variation due to self-pollution among Globular Cluster stars: consequences on the horizontal branch morphology

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• The Evolutionary Status of M3 RR Lyrae Variables: Breakdown of the Canonical Framework?
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• Calibration of the convective parameters in stellar pulsation hydrocodes
• Palomar Transient Factory and RR Lyrae: Metallicity-Light Curve Relation Based on ab-Type RR Lyrae in Kepler Field
• Bayesian Analysis of Two Stellar Populations in Galactic Globular Clusters II: NGC 5024, NGC 5272, and NGC 6352