Lithium abundances of Main Sequence and Sub-Giant stars in the Globular Cluster NGC 6397

TL;DR

This study measures lithium abundances in Main Sequence and Sub-Giant stars in NGC 6397, revealing differences linked to stellar evolution and raising questions about lithium depletion mechanisms.

Contribution

First detection of Li I doublet in Main Sequence stars of a globular cluster and analysis showing Li abundance varies with stellar evolution and temperature.

Findings

SG stars have higher Li content than MS stars.

Li abundance increases with effective temperature.

Li abundance varies with evolutionary status, challenging existing models.

Abstract

We present FLAMES/GIRAFFE spectroscopy obtained at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). Using these observations we have been able for the first time to observe the Li I doublet in the Main Sequence stars of a Globular Cluster. We also observed Li in a sample of Sub-Giant stars of the same B-V colour. Our final sample is composed of 84 SG stars and 79 MS stars. In spite of the fact that SG and MS span the same temperature range we find that the equivalent widths of the Li I doublet in SG stars are systematically larger than those in MS stars, suggesting a higher Li content among SG stars. This is confirmed by our quantitative analysis which makes use of both 1D and 3D model atmospheres. We find that SG stars show, on average, a Li abundance higher by 0.1 dex than MS stars. We also detect a positive slope of Li abundance with effective temperature, the higher the temperature the higher the Li abundance, both for SG and MS stars, although the slope is slightly steeper for MS stars. These results provide an unambigous evidence that the Li abundance changes with evolutionary status. The physical mechanisms that contribute to this are not yet clear, since none of the proposed models seem to describe accurately the observations. Whether such mechanism can explain the cosmological lithium problem, is still an open question.