New halo stars of the Galactic globular clusters M3 and M13 in the LAMOST DR1 Catalog

TL;DR

This study identifies candidate halo stars around the globular clusters M3 and M13 using LAMOST DR1 data, providing evidence for extended stellar halos and suggesting higher mass loss rates than previously predicted.

Contribution

First identification of extratidal halo stars around M3 and M13 using LAMOST data, supporting the existence of extended stellar halos.

Findings

Detected 7 cluster members within tidal radii.

Identified 8 and 12 extratidal halo stars for M3 and M13 respectively.

Observed mass loss rates higher than theoretical predictions.

Abstract

M3 and M13 are Galactic globular clusters with previous reports of surrounding stellar halos. We present the results of a search for members and extratidal cluster halo stars within and outside of the tidal radius of these clusters in the LAMOST Data Release 1. We find seven candidate cluster members (inside the tidal radius) of both M3 and M13 respectively. In M3 we also identify eight candidate extratidal cluster halo stars at distances up to ~9.8 times the tidal radius, and in M13 we identify 12 candidate extratidal cluster halo stars at distances up to ~13.8 times the tidal radius. These results support previous indications that both M3 and M13 are surrounded by extended stellar halos, and we find that the GC destruction rates corresponding to the observed mass loss are generally significantly higher than theoretical studies predict.