Chemical Abundances in the Metal-Poor Globular Cluster ESO 280-SC06: A Formerly Massive, Tidally Disrupted Globular Cluster

TL;DR

This study provides the first high-resolution chemical abundance analysis of the metal-poor globular cluster ESO 280-SC06, revealing its low metallicity, multiple stellar populations, and implications for its initial mass and evolutionary history.

Contribution

It offers new detailed chemical abundance data for ESO 280-SC06, highlighting its high second-population star fraction and estimating its initial mass, thus informing globular cluster evolution models.

Findings

Confirmed low metallicity of [Fe/H] = -2.54

Detected a nitrogen-enhanced star from binary transfer

No neutron-capture element spread among stars

Abstract

We present the first high-resolution abundance study of ESO 280-SC06, one of the least luminous and most metal-poor gravitationally bound Milky Way globular clusters. Using Magellan/MIKE spectroscopy for ten stars, we confirm the cluster's low metallicity as [Fe/H] = $-2.54 \pm 0.06$ and the presence of a nitrogen-enhanced star enriched by binary mass transfer. We determine abundances or abundance upper limits for 21 additional elements from the light, alpha, odd-Z, iron peak, and neutron-capture groups for all ten stars. We find no spread in neutron-capture elements, unlike previous trends identified in some metal-poor globular clusters such as M15 and M92. Eight of the ten stars have light-element abundance patterns consistent with second-population globular cluster stars, which is a significantly larger second-population fraction than would be expected from the low present-day mass of $10^{4.1}$ Msun. We estimate the initial mass of the cluster as $10^{5.4 - 5.7}$ Msun based on its orbit in the Milky Way. A preferential loss of first-population stars could explain the high fraction of second-population stars at the present time. Our results emphasize the importance of considering mass loss when studying globular clusters and their enrichment patterns.