The Distribution of Blue Straggler Stars in the Color-Magnitude Diagrams of Old Open Clusters

TL;DR

This study analyzes blue straggler stars in six old open clusters, revealing their formation histories, evolutionary stages, and the role of binary interactions, especially mass transfer, in their development.

Contribution

It provides new insights into BSS formation mechanisms, their evolutionary stages, and the influence of binary mass transfer in old open clusters.

Findings

50% of BSSs are near the terminal-age main sequence.

Mass transfer during the AGB accounts for at least half of BSSs.

Only 30-40% of interacting binaries produce BSSs.

Abstract

We examine the blue straggler star (BSS) populations of six old ($\geq$4 Gyr) open clusters: M67, NGC 188, NGC 6791, Berkeley 32, Berkeley 39, and Trumpler 19. We find that 50% of BSSs have color-magnitude diagram (CMD) locations corresponding to single stars in the final third of their main-sequence lifetimes. This build-up of BSSs near the terminal-age main sequence (TAMS) is primarily, but not solely, driven by more massive BSSs. Eleven of the BSSs have white dwarf companions with measured cooling ages; their evolution age distributions indicate that more massive BSSs typically form far from the zero-age main sequence, whereas lower mass BSSs can form at every evolutionary age. We show that inferred core helium amounts (above primordial) of late-evolution-age BSSs correspond to the core helium fused by cluster main-sequence stars near the turnoffs. We also find that the masses of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) mass-transfer BSSs require evolved main-sequence accretors and conservative mass transfer. These findings indicate that helium enrichment of progenitor accretors leads to the prevalence of BSSs near the TAMS. We further classify the evolutionary stages of the progenitor donors in M67 and NGC 188 and find mass transfer during the AGB accounts for at least half of the BSSs. We trace how the main-sequence binary population of NGC 188 evolves, and find that only 30-40% of interacting binaries create BSSs and that progenitor orbits must change to match current BSS periods.