Near Infrared properties of 12 Globular Clusters toward the inner Bulge of the Galaxy

TL;DR

This study provides near-infrared color-magnitude diagrams and physical parameters for 12 globular clusters in the inner Galactic Bulge, forming the largest homogeneous catalog of Bulge clusters with detailed measurements.

Contribution

It offers the first comprehensive near-IR analysis of a large, homogeneous sample of Bulge globular clusters, including measurements of key physical parameters.

Findings

Largest homogeneous catalog of Bulge globular clusters to date.

Provides detailed measurements of reddening, distance, and metallicity.

Data available online for further research.

Abstract

We present near-IR Colour-Magnitude diagrams and physical parameters for a sample of 12 galactic globular clusters located toward the inner Bulge region. For each cluster we provide measurements of the reddening, distance, photometric metallicity, luminosity of the horizontal branch red clump, and of the red giant branch bump and tip. The sample discussed here together with that presented in Valenti, Ferraro & Origlia (2007) represent the largest homogeneous catalog of Bulge globular clusters (comprising ~ 80% of the entire Bulge cluster population) ever studied. The compilation is available in electronic form on the World Wide Web (http://www.bo.astro.it/~GC/ir_archive)