Constraints on Helium Enhancement in the Globular Cluster M3 (NGC 5272): The Horizontal Branch Test

TL;DR

This study tests the helium enhancement hypothesis in the globular cluster M3 by analyzing photometry and spectroscopy, finding that helium enhancements are likely below 0.01, challenging previous claims of higher helium levels.

Contribution

It provides observational constraints on helium enhancement in M3, refuting the higher levels proposed by earlier studies.

Findings

Helium enhancement in M3's blue HB stars is likely less than 0.01.

High-precision photometry and spectroscopy do not support large helium enhancements.

Results challenge the idea that multiple populations with high helium are common in globular clusters.

Abstract

It has recently been suggested that the presence of multiple populations showing various amounts of helium enhancement is the rule, rather than the exception, among globular star clusters. An important prediction of this helium enhancement scenario is that the helium-enhanced blue horizontal branch (HB) stars should be brighter than the red HB stars which are not helium-enhanced. In this Letter, we test this prediction in the case of the Galactic globular cluster M3 (NGC 5272), for which the helium-enhancement scenario predicts helium enhancements of > 0.02 in virtually all blue HB stars. Using high-precision Stroemgren photometry and spectroscopic gravities for blue HB stars, we find that any helium enhancement among most of the cluster's blue HB stars is very likely less than 0.01, thus ruling out the much higher helium enhancements that have been proposed in the literature.