Role of host galaxy in the formation of multiple stellar populations: Analysis of NGC 1786 and NGC 1898

TL;DR

This study compares two Large Magellanic Cloud globular clusters with Galactic ones to investigate the influence of galaxy environment on the formation of multiple stellar populations, finding minimal environmental impact.

Contribution

It provides evidence that galaxy environment has a limited role in the formation of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters.

Findings

Clusters follow similar trends as Galactic globular clusters.

Galaxy environment plays a minor role in stellar population formation.

No significant systematic differences found between clusters from different galaxies.

Abstract

Even after decades of research, the origin of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters remains enigmatic. The question as to whether the galaxy environment plays a role in their formation remains unanswered. To that extent, we analysed two classical (> 10 Gyr old) Large Magellanic Cloud globular clusters namely, NGC 1786 and NGC 1898, using imaging data from Hubble Space Telescope to compare and contrast them with ancient Galactic globular clusters to assess systematic differences that might exist between their abundance variations. We calculated their Red Giant Branch width, subtracted the effect of metallicity and compared it with the available data on Galactic globular clusters by plotting them against initial and current cluster mass. We see that the two clusters follow the same general trend as that of the Galactic globular clusters and Galactic globular clusters from different progenitors follow the same general trend as one another, indicating that the galaxy environment may only play a minor role in the formation of multiple stellar populations within globular clusters.