Heavy element abundances in galactic globular clusters

Abstract

Context. Globular clusters are considered key objects for understanding the formation and evolution of the Milky Way. In this sense, the characterisation of their chemical and orbital parameters can provide constraints on chemical evolution models of the Galaxy. Aims. We use the heavy element abundances of globular clusters to trace their overall behaviour in the Galaxy, with the aim to analyse potential relations between the hot H-burning and s-process elements. Methods. We measured the content of Cu I and s- and r-process elements (Y II, Ba II, La II, and Eu II) in a sample of 210 giant stars in 18 galactic globular clusters from high-quality UVES spectra. These clusters span a broad metallicity range and the sample is the largest that has been uniformly analysed to date, with respect to heavy elements in globular clusters. Results. The Cu abundances did not show a considerable spread in the sample, nor any correlation with Na, indicating that the Na nucleosynthesis process does not affect the Cu abundance. Most GCs closely follow the Cu, Y, Ba, La, and Eu field stars’ distribution, revealing a similar chemical evolution. The Y abundances in mid-metallicity regime GCs (−1.10 dex < −1.80 dex) display a mildly significant correlation with the Na abundance, which ought to be further investigated. Finally, we do not find any significant difference between the n-capture abundances among GCs with either Galactic and extragalactic origins.