Isochrone fitting of Galactic globular clusters -- II. NGC6205 (M13)

TL;DR

This study performs comprehensive isochrone fitting of NGC 6205 (M13) using multi-band photometry from ultraviolet to mid-infrared, comparing various models to derive cluster parameters and analyze systematic differences.

Contribution

It provides new, multi-band isochrone fits for M13 using several theoretical models, highlighting dataset and model systematic differences and refining cluster parameter estimates.

Findings

Derived distance of 7.4 kpc consistent with recent estimates

Estimated age range from 12.3 to 14.4 Gyr depending on models

Confirmed empirical extinction law matches Cardelli law with R_V≈3.1

Abstract

We present new isochrone fits to colour-magnitude diagrams of the Galactic globular cluster NGC\,6205 (M13). We utilise 34 photometric bands from the ultraviolet to mid-infrared by use of data from the {\it HST}, {\it Gaia} DR2, SDSS, unWISE, Pan-STARRS DR1, and other photometric sources. In our isochrone fitting we use the PARSEC, MIST, DSEP, BaSTI, and IAC-BaSTI theoretical models and isochrones, both for the solar-scaled and He-$\alpha$-enhanced abundances, with a metallicity of about [Fe/H]$=-1.58$ adopted from the literature. The colour-magnitude diagrams, obtained with pairs of filters from different datasets but of similar effective wavelengths, show some colour offsets up to 0.04 mag between the fiducial sequences and isochrones. We attribute these offsets to systematic differences of the datasets. Some intrinsic systematic differences of the models/isochrones remain in our results: the derived distances and ages are different for the ultraviolet, optical and infrared photometry used, while the derived ages are different for the different models/isochrones, e.g. in the optical range from $12.3\pm0.7$ Gyr for He-$\alpha$-enhanced DSEP to $14.4\pm0.7$ Gyr for MIST. Despite the presence of multiple stellar populations, we obtain convergent estimates for the dominant population: best-fitting distance $7.4\pm0.2$ kpc, true distance modulus $14.35\pm0.06$ mag, parallax $0.135\pm0.004$ mas, extinction $A_\mathrm{V}=0.12\pm0.02$, and reddening $E(B-V)=0.04\pm0.01$. These estimates agree with other recent estimates, however, the extinction and reddening are twice as high as generally accepted. The derived empirical extinction law agrees with the Cardelli-Clayton-Mathis extinction law with the best-fitting $R_\mathrm{V}=3.1^{+1.6}_{-1.1}$.