The Effects of Nitrogen Abundance Variations on the Evolutionary Tracks of Low-Mass Stars with Various Metallicities and Helium Contents

  • Published : 2013.10.08

Abstract

As more spectroscopic observations accumulate, it becomes evident that there are variations in light elements, such as C, N, O, and Na, between the sub-populations in most globular clusters (GC) in the Milky Way. We have constructed a new set of isochrones and horizontal branch evolutionary tracks with enhanced Nitrogen and depleted Oxygen to study their effects on the evolution of stars in GCs. From these results, we found that their effects on the evolution in color-magnitude diagram are significant in determining the age of GCs. In order to reflect these effects in the construction of population models for GCs, we have expanded the parameter space of Yonsei-Yale Isochrones and HB evolutionary tracks by introducing abundance enhancements of N for various global metal abundances and helium contents. In this paper, we will present our preliminary results from these calculations.

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