Cyanogen in NGC 1851 RGB and AGB Stars: Quadrimodal Distributions

TL;DR

This study reveals a quadrimodal distribution of cyanogen in NGC 1851's RGB and AGB stars, supporting a merger origin and linking CN variations to elemental abundances like oxygen, sodium, and barium.

Contribution

First detection of quadrimodal CN distribution in NGC 1851's RGB and AGB stars, supporting the merger formation scenario with implications for chemical subpopulations.

Findings

NGC 1851 exhibits quadrimodal CN distribution in RGB and AGB stars.

A correlation exists between CN strength and [O/Na] abundances.

CN-weak AGB populations are more common in both NGC 1851 and NGC 288.

Abstract

The Galactic globular cluster NGC 1851 has raised much interest since HST photometry revealed that it hosts a double subgiant branch. Here we report on our homogeneous study into the cyanogen (CN) bandstrengths in the RGB population (17 stars) and AGB population (21 stars) using AAOmega/2dF spectra with R $\sim 3000$. We discover that NGC 1851 hosts a quadrimodal distribution of CN bandstrengths in its RGB and AGB populations. This result supports the merger formation scenario proposed for this cluster, such that the CN quadrimodality could be explained by the superposition of two `normal' bimodal populations. A small sample overlap with an abundance catalogue allowed us to tentatively explore the relationship between our CN populations and a range of elemental abundances. We found a striking correlation between CN and [O/Na]. We also found that the four CN peaks may be paired -- the two CN-weaker populations being associated with low Ba and the two CN-stronger populations with high Ba. If true then s-process abundances would be a good diagnostic for disentangling the two original clusters in the merger scenario. More observations are needed to confirm the quadrimodality, and also the relationship between the subpopulations. We also report CN results for NGC 288 as a comparison. Our relatively large samples of AGB stars show that both clusters have a bias towards CN-weak AGB populations.