2020/02/28 by N. Sanna, Sanna, N., E. Franciosini +5
Materials Science · Mathematics · #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #Finite Group Theory Research #Holomorphic and Operator Theory #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Solid-state spectroscopy and crystallography
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2002.12866
openalex publication_date 2020/02/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Lithium is created during the Big Bang nucleosynthesis and it is destroyed in stellar interiors at relatively low temperatures. However, it should be preserved in the stellar envelopes of unevolved stars and progressively diluted during mixing processes. In particular, after the first dredge-up along the RGB, lithium should be completely destroyed, but this is not what we observe today in globular clusters. This element allows to test stellar evolutionary models, as well as different types of polluters for second population stars in the multiple population scenarios. Due to the difficulty in the measurement of the small available lithium line, few GCs have been studied in details so far. Literature results are not homogeneous for what concerns type of stars, sample sizes, and chemical analysis methods. The Gaia-ESO survey allows us to study the largest sample of GCs stars (about 2000, both dwarfs and giants) for which the lithium has been analysed homogeneously.