Near-infrared properties of 12 globular clusters towards the inner bulge of the Galaxy

Abstract

We present near-infrared colour-magnitude diagrams and physical parameters for a sample of 12 galactic globular clusters located towards the inner bulge region. For each cluster we provide measurements of the reddening, distance and photometric metallicity and of the luminosity of the horizontal branch red clump and the red giant branch bump and tip. The sample discussed here, together with that presented in Valenti, Ferraro & Origlia (2007), represents the largest homogeneous catalogue of bulge globular clusters (comprising ∼80 per cent of the entire bulge cluster population) ever studied.The compilation is available in electronic form on the World Wide Web (http://www.bo.astro.it/~GC/ir_archive). © 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2009 RAS.