Context. The cluster 47 Tuc is among the most metal-rich Galactic globular clusters and its metallicity is similar to that of metal-poor disc stars and open clusters. Like other globular clusters, it displays variations in the abundances of elements lighter than Si, which is generally interpreted as evidence of the presence of multiple stellar populations. Aims. We aim to determine abundances of Li, O, and Na in a sample of of 110 turn-off (TO) stars, in order to study the evolution of light elements in this cluster and to put our results in perspective with observations of other globular and open clusters, as well as with field stars. Methods. We use medium resolution spectra obtained with the GIRAFFE spectrograph at the ESO 8.2 m Kueyen VLT telescope and use state of the art 1D model atmospheres and NLTE line transfer to determine the abundances. We also employ CO 5 BOLD hydrodynamical simulations to assess the impact of stellar granulation on the line formation and inferred abundances. Results. Our results confirm the existence of Na-O abundance anti-correlation and hint towards a possible Li-O anti-correlation in the TO stars of 47 Tuc. At the same time, we find no convincing evidence supporting the existence of Li-Na correlation. The obtained 3D NLTE mean lithium abundance in a sample of 94 TO stars where Li lines were detected reliably, A(Li) 3D NLTE = 1.78 ± 0.18 dex, appears to be significantly lower than what is observed in other globular clusters. At the same time, star-to-star spread in Li abundance is also larger than seen in other clusters. The highest Li abundance observed in 47 Tuc is about 0.1 dex lower than the lowest Li abundance observed among the un-depleted stars of the metal-poor open cluster NGC 2243. Conclusions. The correlations/anti-correlations among light element abundances confirm that chemical enrichment history of 47 Tuc was similar to that of other globular clusters, despite the higher metallicity of 47 Tuc. The lithium abundances in 47 Tuc, when put into context with observations in other clusters and field stars, suggest that stars that are more metal-rich than [Fe/H] ∼ −1.0 experience significant lithium depletion during their lifetime on the main sequence, while the more metal-poor stars do not. Rather strikingly, our results suggest that initial lithium abundance with which the star was created may only depend on its age (the younger the star, the higher its Li content) and not on its metallicity.

Aims. We utilize state-of-the-art three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamical and classical 1D stellar model atmospheres to study the influence of convection on the formation properties of various atomic and molecular spectral lines in the atmospheres of four red giant stars, located close to the base of the red giant branch, RGB (T eff ≈ 5000 K, log g = 2.5), and characterized by four different metallicities, [M/H] = 0.0, −1.0, −2.0, −3.0. Methods. The role of convection in the spectral line formation is assessed with the aid of abundance corrections, i.e., the differences in abundances predicted for a given equivalent width of a particular spectral line with the 3D and 1D model atmospheres. The 3D hydrodynamical and classical 1D model atmospheres used in this study were calculated with the CO 5 BOLD and 1D LHD codes, respectively. Identical atmospheric parameters, chemical composition, equation of state, and opacities were used with both codes, therefore allowing a strictly differential analysis of the line formation properties in the 3D and 1D models.Results. We find that for lines of certain neutral atoms, such as Mg i, Ti i, Fe i, and Ni i, the abundance corrections strongly depend both on the metallicity of a given model atmosphere and the line excitation potential, χ. While abundance corrections for all lines of both neutral and ionized elements tend to be small at solar metallicity (≤±0.1 dex), for lines of neutral elements with low ionization potential and low-to-intermediate χ they quickly increase with decreasing metallicity, reaching in their extremes −0.6 to −0.8 dex. In all such cases the large abundance corrections are due to horizontal temperature fluctuations in the 3D hydrodynamical models. Lines of neutral elements with higher ionization potentials (E ion 10 eV) generally behave very similarly to lines of ionized elements characterized by low ionization potentials (E ion 6 eV). In the latter case, the abundance corrections are small (generally, ≤±0.1 dex) and are caused by approximately equal contributions from the horizontal temperature fluctuations and differences between the temperature profiles in the 3D and 1D model atmospheres. Abundance corrections of molecular lines are very sensitive to the metallicity of the underlying model atmosphere and may be larger (in absolute value) than ∼−0.5 dex at [M/H] = −3.0 (∼−1.5 dex in the case of CO). At fixed metallicity and excitation potential, the abundance corrections show little variation within the wavelength range studied here, 400−1600 nm. We also find that an approximate treatment of scattering in the 3D model calculations (i.e., ignoring the scattering opacity in the outer, optically thin, atmosphere) leads to abundance corrections that are altered by less than ∼0.1 dex, both for atomic and molecular (CO) lines, with respect to the model where scattering is treated as true absorption throughout the entire atmosphere, with the largest differences for the resonance and low-excitation lines.

Aims. We investigate the role of convection in the formation of atomic and molecular lines in the atmosphere of a red giant star. For this purpose we study the formation properties of spectral lines that belong to a number of astrophysically important tracer elements, including neutral and singly ionized atoms (Li Ba ii, and Eu ii), and molecules (CH, CO, C 2 , NH, CN, and OH).Methods. We focus our investigation on a prototypical red giant located close to the red giant branch (RGB) tip (T eff = 3660 K, log g = 1.0, [M/H] = 0.0). We used two types of model atmospheres, 3D hydrodynamical and classical 1D, calculated with the CO 5 BOLD and LHD stellar atmosphere codes, respectively. Both codes share the same atmospheric parameters, chemical composition, equation of state, and opacities, which allowed us to make a strictly differential comparison between the line formation properties predicted in 3D and 1D. The influence of convection on the spectral line formation was assessed with the aid of 3D-1D abundance corrections, which measure the difference between the abundances of chemical species derived with the 3D hydrodynamical and 1D classical model atmospheres. Results. We find that convection plays a significant role in the spectral line formation in this particular red giant. The derived 3D-1D abundance corrections rarely exceed ±0.1 dex when lines of neutral atoms and molecules are considered, which is in line with the previous findings for solar-metallicity red giants located on the lower RGB. The situation is different with lines that belong to ionized atoms, or to neutral atoms with high ionization potential. In both cases, the corrections for high-excitation lines (χ > 8 eV) may amount to Δ 3D−1D ∼ −0.4 dex. The 3D-1D abundance corrections generally show a significant wavelength dependence; in most cases they are smaller in the near-infrared, at 1600-2500 nm.

Context. Although oxygen is an important tracer of Galactic chemical evolution, measurements of its abundance in the atmospheres of the oldest Galactic stars are still scarce and rather imprecise. This is mainly because only a few spectral lines are available for the abundance diagnostics. At the lowest end of the metallicity scale, oxygen can only be measured in giant stars and in most of cases in the atmospheres of extremely metal-poor (EMP) red giant stars. Our ultimate goal is to clarify whether a realistic treatment of convection with state-of-the-art 3D hydrodynamical model atmospheres may help to bring the oxygen abundances obtained using the two indicators into closer agreement. Methods. We used high-resolution (R = 50 000) and high signal-to-noise ratio (S /N ≈ 200−600) spectra of four EMP red giant stars obtained with the VLT CRIRES spectrograph. For each EMP star, 4-14 IR OH vibrational-rotational lines located in the spectral range of 1514−1548 and 1595−1632 nm were used to determine oxygen abundances by employing standard 1D local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) abundance analysis methodology. We then corrected the 1D LTE abundances obtained from each individual OH line for the 3D hydrodynamical effects, which was done by applying 3D-1D LTE abundance corrections that were determined using 3D hydrodynamical CO 5 BOLD and 1D hydrostatic LHD model atmospheres.

Context. It is generally accepted today that Galactic globular clusters (GGCs) consist of at least two generations of stars that are different in their chemical composition and perhaps age. However, knowledge about the kinematical properties of these stellar generations, which may provide important information for constraining evolutionary scenarios of the GGCs, is still limited. Aims. We study the connections between chemical and kinematical properties of different stellar generations in the Galactic globular cluster 47 Tuc. Methods. To achieve this goal, we used abundances of Li, O, and Na determined in 101 main sequence turn-off (TO) stars with the aid of 3D hydrodynamical model atmospheres and NLTE abundance analysis methodology. We divided our sample TO stars into three groups according to their position in the [Li/Na] -[Na/O] plane to study their spatial distribution and kinematical properties. Results. We find that there are statistically significant radial dependencies of lithium and oxygen abundances, A(Li) and A(O), as well as that of [Li/Na] abundance ratio. Our results show that first-generation stars are less centrally concentrated and dynamically hotter than stars belonging to subsequent generations. We also find a significant correlation between the velocity dispersion and O and Na abundance, and between the velocity dispersion and the [Na/O] abundance ratio.