Nucleosynthesis in the Stellar Systems omega Cen and M22

TL;DR

This study compares element-to-iron ratios in omega Centauri and M22 to understand their nucleosynthetic histories, revealing similar enrichment processes despite differences in their total mass.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of abundance patterns in omega Cen and M22, highlighting their similar nucleosynthetic processes.

Findings

Similar nucleosynthetic enrichment processes in both systems

Omega Cen shows a larger abundance range than M22

Element-to-iron ratios vary with [Fe/H] in both systems

Abstract

The stellar system omega Centauri is well known for the large range in abundance among its member stars. Recent work has indicated that the globular cluster M22 (NGC 6656) also possesses an internal abundance range, albeit substantially smaller than that in omega Cen. Here we compare, as a function of [Fe/H], element-to-iron ratios in the two systems for a number of different elements using data from abundance analyses of red giant branch stars. It appears that the nucleosynthetic enrichment processes were very similar in these two systems despite the substantial difference in total mass.