An empirical tool to derive metallicity, reddening and distance for old stellar populations from near IR Color Magnitude Diagrams

Abstract

We present an empirical method to derive photometric metallicity, reddening and distance to old stellar populations by using a few major features of the Red Giant Branch (RGB) in near IR color magnitude diagrams. We combine the observed RGB features with a set of equations linking the global metallicity [M/H] to suitable RGB parameters (colors, magnitudes and slope), as calibrated from a homogeneous sample of Galactic Globular Clusters with different metallicities. This technique can be applied to efficiently derive the main population parameters of old stellar systems, in the view of using ground-based adaptive optics and space facilities to probe the stellar content of remote galaxies.

arXiv comment16 pages, 4 figures, accepted for pubblication on ApJ

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• Near-IR properties of 24 Globular Clusters in the Galactic Bulge
• Near Infrared properties of 12 Globular Clusters toward the inner Bulge of the Galaxy
• Resolved Near-Infrared Stellar Populations in Nearby Galaxies
• Three Galactic globular cluster candidates
• Proper Motions in the Galactic Bulge: Plaut's Window
• Ultra-deep GEMINI near-infrared observations of the bulge globular cluster NGC 6624
• Deriving Metallicities from Calcium Triplet Spectroscopy in combination with Near Infrared Photometry
• Reddening and Distance of the Local Group Starburst Galaxy IC 10
• Deep Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of Globular Clusters Towards the Galactic Bulge: Observations, Data Reduction and Color-Magnitude Diagrams
• Hipparcos calibration of the tip of the Red Giant Branch
• Chemical Abundances of the Highly Obscured Galactic Globular Clusters 2MASS GC02 and Mercer 5
• Discovery of Two Galaxies Deeply Embedded in the Great Attractor Wall
• Constraints on blue straggler formation mechanisms in Galactic globular clusters from proper motion velocity distributions