A Measurement of Diffusion in 47 Tucanae
Jeremy Heyl, Harvey B. Richer, Elisa Antolini, Ryan Goldsbury, Jason, Kalirai, Javiera Parada, Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay

TL;DR
This study directly measures the diffusion rate of stars in the core of 47 Tucanae using Hubble data, confirming theoretical predictions of gravitational relaxation times in a globular cluster.
Contribution
First direct measurement of stellar diffusion due to gravitational relaxation in a globular cluster core.
Findings
Diffusion rate κ ≈ 10-13 arcsecond² Myr⁻¹
Measured relaxation time ~70 Myr
Results align with theoretical estimates
Abstract
Using images from the Hubble Space Telescope Wide-Field Camera 3, we measure the rate of diffusion of stars through the core of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae using a sample of young white dwarfs identified in these observations. This is the first direct measurement of diffusion due to gravitational relaxation. We find that the diffusion rate arcsecond Myr is consistent with theoretical estimates of the relaxation time in the core of 47 Tucanae of about 70 Myr.
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