Modeling the Radial Distribution of Blue Stragglers in M3

Abstract

Recent surveys of the blue straggler (BS) population in the galactic globular cluster M3 (NGC 5272) give the first complete characterization of the number density of BSs as a function of radius over an entire globular cluster. The BSs in M3 are overabundant at large radii, and significantly underabundant at intermediate radii. Here we present the result of a simulation of the dynamical evolution of a population of BSs in a multi--mass model of M3. Assuming the BSs were formed in the core through binary interactions (Hut \&\ Verbunt 1983, Leonard 1989, Sigurdsson \&\ Phinney 1993, Hut \etal 1992, Davies, Benz and Hills 1994), and given some very general assumptions about the recoil that occurs during stellar mergers in interacting binaries; we find an excellent fit to the observed radial distribution of BSs, suggesting strongly that most of the BSs in M3 were formed through binary collisions in the core.

14 pages, uuencoded postscript including 1 figure. Lick Observatory Preprint Series No. 27. To appear in the Astrophysical Journal, Letters

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