The White Dwarf Cooling Sequence of the Globular Cluster Messier 4

By Brad M. S. Hansen, J. Brewer, G. Fahlman, Brad K. Gibson, R. Ibata, M. Limongi, R. Rich, H. Richer, M. Shara, P. Stetson. 2002

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We present the white dwarf sequence of the globular cluster M4, based on a 123 orbit Hubble Space Telescope exposure, with a limiting magnitude of V ~ 30 and I ~ 28. The white dwarf luminosity function rises sharply for I > 25.5, consistent with the behavior expected for a burst population. The white dwarfs of M4 extend to approximately 2.5 mag fainter than the peak of the local Galactic disk white dwarf luminosity function. This demonstrates a clear and significant age difference between the Galactic disk and the halo globular cluster M4. Using the same standard white dwarf models to fit each luminosity function yields ages of 7.3 ± 1.5 Gyr for the disk and 12.7 ± 0.7 Gyr for M4 (2 σ statistical errors).

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/dae65d5625620a493f58519c7b4b5f28bfccd046

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Distances and ages of NGC 6397, NGC 6752 and 47 Tuc (2003, background): “It agrees also fairly well with the age determined for M 4 by Hansen et al. (2002).”
The Initial-Final Mass Relation: Direct Constraints at the Low-Mass End (2007, background): “This therefore provides an estimate of the age of the Galactic disk, which has now been measured to be ∼7 – 9 Gyrs (Winget et al. 1987; Wood 1992; Oswalt et al. 1996; Leggett, Ruiz, & Bergeron 1998; Hansen et al. 2002).”
Constraints on the Equation of State of Dark Energy and the Hubble Constant from Stellar Ages and the Cosmic Microwave Background (2003, methodology): “Hansen et al. (2002), using very deepHST images, find the white dwarf cooling sequence for M4 and estimate its age to be 12:7 0:7 Gyr at the 95% confidence level.”
Evolutionary and pulsational properties of white dwarf stars (2010, background): “…the disk (Winget et al. 1987; Garcı́a–Berro et al. 1988a,b; Hernanz et al. 1994; Torres et al. 2002) and globular and open clusters (Richer et al. 1997; Von Hippel & Gilmore 2000; Hansen et al. 2002; VonHippel et al. 2006; Hansen et al. 2007; Winget et al. 2009; Garcı́a–Berro et al. 2010).”
Co-formation of the disc and the stellar halo (2018, background): “For example, it has been determined that the halo’s globular clusters range in age from ∼10 to ∼13 Gyr depending on metallicity (see e.g. Hansen et al. 2002, 2007; VandenBerg et al. 2013).”
The White Dwarf Cooling Sequence of NGC 6397 (2005, background): “For clusters older than 3 Gyr this kind of age estimate has previously been attempted only in the ∼4-Gyr-old open cluster M67 (Richer et al. 1998), and the globular cluster M4 (Hansen et al. 2002, 2004).”
NEW COOLING SEQUENCES FOR OLD WHITE DWARFS (2010, background): “…clocks to infer the age of a wide variety of stellar populations, such as the Galactic disk and halo (Winget et al. 1987; Garcı́a–Berro et al. 1988a, 1988b, 1999; Isern et al. 1998; Torres et al. 2002), and the system of globular and open clusters (Kalirai et al. 2001; Hansen et al. 2002, 2007).”
Pulsating White Dwarf Stars and Precision Asteroseismology (2008, background): “Also, starting with Hansen et al. (2002), white dwarf cooling sequences for the closest globular cluster have become available, and the ages of halo white dwarf stars indicate an age for the halo of our galaxy, halo 12 1.5Gyrτ = ± .”
Is there supernova evidence for dark energy metamorphosis (2003, result): “…globular clusters suggest t 0 = 12.5 ± 2.5 Gyr, at the 95 per cent confidence level (Krauss 2001; Krauss & Chaboyer 2001; Gnedin, Lahav & Rees 2001; Hansen et al. 2002; Gratton et al. 2003; De Marchi et al. 2004) and this age estimate is consistent with several other measurements including…”