MUSE crowded field 3D spectroscopy of over 12,000 stars in the globular cluster NGC 6397 – I. The first spectroscopic HRD of a globular cluster [SSA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.01649


Aims. We demonstrate the high multiplex advantage of crowded field 3D spectroscopy using the new integral field spectrograph MUSE by means of a spectroscopic analysis of more than 12,000 individual stars in the globular cluster NGC 6397. Methods. The stars are deblended with a PSF fitting technique, using a photometric reference catalogue from HST as prior, including relative positions and brightnesses. This catalogue is also used for a first analysis of the extracted spectra, followed by an automatic in-depth analysis using a full-spectrum fitting method based on a large grid of PHOENIX spectra. Results. With 18,932 spectra from 12,307 stars in NGC 6397 we have analysed the largest sample so far available for a single globular cluster. We derived a mean radial velocity of vrad=17.84+-0.07 km/s and a mean metallicity of [Fe/H]=-2.120+-0.002, with the latter seemingly varying with temperature for stars on the RGB. We determine T_eff and [Fe/H] from the spectra, and log g from HST photometry. This is the first very comprehensive HRD for a globular cluster based on the analysis of several thousands of stellar spectra. Furthermore, two interesting objects were identified with one being a post-AGB star and the other a possible millisecond-pulsar companion.

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T. Husser, S. Kamann, S. Dreizler, et. al.
Fri, 5 Feb 16
26/47

Comments: 14 pages, 16 figures, 3 tables, resubmitted to A&A after all referee comments have been addressed, data available on this http URL