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# THE FREQUENCY AND RADIO PROPERTIES OF BROAD ABSORPTION LINE QUASARSObservations reported here were obtained in part at the MMT Observatory, a joint facility of the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Arizona

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Virtually every paper written in the last decade describing the phenomenology of the broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs) contains the word “enigmatic”. Long thought to be a rare sub–class of quasars relegated to an esoteric sub–discipline of active galactic nuclei (AGN) studies, these objects have garnered new attention in recent years. It has become clear that the BALQSOs, while a minority class of quasars, are not rare. Furthermore, the evidence is strong that the absorbing gas responsible for the prominent, blueward–displaced absorption troughs from species covering a range of ionization from Mg II and Fe II through O VI may also be responsible for the “warm absorbers” seen at X-ray wavelengths (Brandt, Laor & Wills 2000). The BAL phenomenon is also almost certainly related to the ultraviolet absorption seen at low ejection velocities in a number of low luminosity AGN and to the “associated absorbers” seen in quasars at higher redshifts. A summary of the state of understanding mass outflows in AGN and the links between the BAL phenomena and other manifestations of outflows can be found in contributions included in Crenshaw, Kramer & George (2002).

While some progress has been made in understanding the link between the presence of broad absorption and the properties of quasar spectral energy distributions at other wavelengths, there is still no consensus concerning the origin and acceleration mechanism of the absorbing gas in BALQSOs. Indeed, the fundamental relation between BALQSOs and the quasar population as a whole remains open. Two broad classes of models have been proposed; what can be termed the “unified” and “evolutionary” schemes. In the former, whether a quasar is observed to have broad absorption troughs depends on our viewing angle to the quasar with respect to some preferred axis (Weymann et al. 1991; hereafter WMFH). In the evolutionary scheme, the broad absorption troughs are produced during some specific period in the evolution of the quasar, perhaps as it transforms itself from a fully–enshrouded object with a large infrared luminosity, through a BAL phase, into a normal quasar (e.g. Briggs, Turnshek & Wolfe 1984; Sanders 2002).

Independent of which general model holds (or if indeed neither obtains), the frequency of occurrence of the BAL phenomenon provides direct constraints on key physical parameters (e.g. Morris 1988). In the unified–scheme, the frequency bears on the covering factor of the BAL gas and, in the evolutionary–scheme, the frequency is related to the time spent in the BAL quasar phase relative to that spent as a normal quasar. Determining the frequency of the BAL phenomena as a function of redshift and strength of the absorption features would provide further constraints on the competing models. Notwithstanding the importance of establishing the frequency of the BAL phenomenon, there are very few such quantitative estimates in the literature. Few estimates that have been published contain both a detailed description of the calculation and are based on well–defined samples of quasars with numbers of objects sufficient to reduce the errors to an interesting level. For example, Foltz et al. (1992) provide few details of their calculation, Chartas (2000) employs a novel method but has very few objects and the recent determination by Tolea, Krolik & Tsvetanov (2002), based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Early Data Release (EDR), uses a large number of BALQSOs but the selection function, for quasars with different spectral energy distributions included in the EDR, is yet to be determined.

The difficulty in determining the frequency of BALQSOs is tied to their selection via the effect of the absorbing material along the line–of–sight on the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the quasars. Over extended ranges in frequency, such as the X–ray portion of the spectrum, BALQSOs may be under–represented in flux–limited samples due to the effects of the absorbing column. Within narrower frequency intervals, particularly in the rest–frame ultraviolet and optical portions of the SED, the extreme absorption equivalent widths of the BAL troughs can suppress the broad–band magnitudes well below those of a non–BALQSO of comparable luminosity and redshift to the extent that the BALQSO is excluded from a magnitude–limited sample. This effect is strongly dependent on both redshift, since most of the strong troughs occur in the rest–frame ultraviolet, and on ionization level, where some of the most extreme low–ionization BALQSOs show very strong depressions shortward of 2800Å.

It is still common practice to quote a figure of $`10\%`$ for the observed frequency of BALQSOs in the quasar population. The Large Bright Quasar Survey (Hewett, Foltz & Chaffee 1995, 2001) is cited as one of the main surveys from which the $`10\%`$ is derived (e.g. Stocke et al. 1992) and current observations of samples of BALQSOs using Chandra (Green et al. 2001; Gallagher et al. 2002) are based on samples drawn from the LBQS. Recently, Becker et al. (2000) used a figure of $`10\%`$ for the BALQSO frequency in the LBQS, in conjunction with quasars from the FIRST Bright Quasar Survey (FBQS), to conclude that BALQSOs were in fact significantly more common in the FBQS than in optically–selected samples. This latter conclusion is at first sight inconsistent with the long–standing belief that BALQSOs are extremely rare amongst the population of quasars that are also luminous radio sources (Stocke et al. 1992).

Weymann (2002) has stressed the need to ensure that investigation of outflow phenomena in quasars does not become handicapped by placing great significance on precise definitions of classes of object. Rather, attention should be paid to trends that may provide insight into the underlying physics. Indeed, Weymann cites the potential limitations inherent in the original quantitative definition of the strength of BALs in spectra, the BALnicity Index (WMFH), given the subsequent recognition that outflows may also be responsible for many narrow absorption lines with much lower ejection velocities. However, clearly defined and reproducible schemes for the identification of BALQSO samples are a prerequisite if quantitative comparisons between the incidence of BALQSOs as a function of the properties of quasar SEDs are to be performed. For example, given the availability of spectra from the SDSS, Hall et al. (2002) have sensibly extended the original definition of the WMFH BALnicity Index to incorporate BAL troughs associated with low–ionization species, spectacular examples of which are included among the SDSS quasar sample.

Substantial progress in understanding the relation between BALQSOs and the quasar population as a whole has already been made given the availability of large samples of quasars from the SDSS (Hall et al. 2002; Tolea et al. 2002) and the FBQS (Becker et al. 2000). Further progress can be expected from these and other surveys, particularly those undertaken at near–infrared wavelengths, in the next few years. However, the lack of a well–determined fraction of BAL quasars from existing surveys, the continued use of samples from the Palomar–Green (Schmidt & Green 1983) and LBQS surveys for follow–up studies at other wavelengths (e.g. Green et al. 2001), combined with the seemingly contradictory conclusions regarding the radio–properties of BALQSOs argue for a reconsideration of the incidence of BALQSOs derived from apparently bright, optically–selected quasar surveys.

In §2 a sample of 67 candidate BALQSOs from the full LBQS sample is presented. A subset of 42 objects form a well–defined sample with redshifts $`1.5z3.0`$. Section 3 presents calculations of the observed fraction of BALQSOs in the LBQS. A two–dimensional BALQSO $`k`$–correction is developed to account for the under–representation of BALQSOs in the flux–limited LBQS and an estimate of the intrinsic fraction of BALQSOs is presented. Synthetic photometry applied to composite quasar spectra is used in §4 to calculate the fraction of optically–selected quasars predicted to be present in a sample of quasars with the same photometric selection criteria as the FBQS. Very different conclusions from those of Becker et al. (2000), regarding the probability a BALQSO is detected in the FIRST survey, are reached. The paper concludes with a discussion of the constraints on the demographics of BALQSOs from the LBQS, FBQS and SDSS surveys in §5.

## 2 THE BROAD ABSORPTION LINE QUASAR SAMPLE

The incidence of BALQSOs in the LBQS has been determined from a re–examination of the discovery spectra (Foltz et al. 1987, Foltz et al. 1989, Hewett et al. 1991, Chaffee et al. 1991, Morris et al. 1991, Hewett et al. 2001) of the current LBQS sample, comprising the 1055 objects from Hewett et al. (1995) and the 12 additional objects listed in Table 1 of Hewett et al. (2001). In practice, the objects of interest are predominantly those flagged in the discovery papers as “b”, “b?” or “b??”, corresponding to definite, probable or possible BALQSOs. A significant number of these objects possess additional spectra of higher quality from the investigations of WMFH and Korista et al. (1993).

Classification of a quasar as a BALQSO was based on the BALnicity index of WMFH applied to the C IV $`\lambda `$1549 emission line. The BALnicity index attempts to characterize the absorption by measuring essentially the equivalent width of the absorption feature, expressed in $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, with the additional constraints that the absorption must be contiguous over $`2000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and must lie more than $`3000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ blueward of the broad emission line redshift. The C IV $`\lambda `$1549 emission line and any associated absorption lie within the atmospheric window only for redshifts $`z1.3`$. Furthermore, to determine a BALnicity for an object it is necessary to be able to define a reliable continuum level. For quasars with redshifts $`z1.4`$ the proximity of C IV $`\lambda `$1549 absorption to the atmospheric edge, combined with the only moderate quality of some of the spectra, means that a reliable continuum level could not always be defined, precluding the measurement of the BALnicity for a small number of objects. There are six such quasars included in Table 1, five of which are assigned to the “possible” BAL category. Only one candidate BALQSO, B2210-1751, among the sub–sample of 42 candidate BALQSOs used in subsequent sections is without a measured BALnicity Index. A modest value of BALnicity$`=1000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ has been adopted for B2210-1751 for the purposes of the calculations in §3 onwards.

For quasars with redshifts $`z<1.2`$, identification of (low–ionization) BALQSOs, was based on the presence of absorption associated with the Mg II $`\lambda `$2798 emission line. The WMFH procedure for measuring BALnicity was developed for application to C IV $`\lambda `$1549 which is not available in the spectra of the low–redshift quasars. Application of a modified WMFH BALnicity procedure to the Mg II $`\lambda `$2798 is possible (e.g. Hall et al. 2002) but the continuum placement is particularly problematic in this spectral region where Fe II emission can vary dramatically from object to object. Given a significant number of spectra with both C IV $`\lambda `$1549 and Mg II $`\lambda `$2798 BAL troughs present, an assessment of the relation between BALnicity defined using both lines would be possible. However, given the small number of low–ionization BALs identified from their Mg II $`\lambda `$2798 line properties, none of which possess spectra including C IV $`\lambda `$1549, we have chosen not to derive BALnicity indices for these quasars.

For the majority of candidate BALQSOs, visual inspection coupled, where appropriate, with the application of the BALnicity determination, produces an unambiguous classification of an object as a BAL. Exceptions, as discussed above, include some quasars with $`z1.2`$. Similarly, given the complex nature of quasar SEDs in the region of Mg II it is not always clear whether apparent absorption features do indicate the presence of broad absorption as opposed to local minima in the Fe II emission complexes. As a consequence we have assigned a probability ($`P(\mathrm{BAL})=`$ 1.0, 0.7, 0.3), essentially equivalent to “definite”, “probable” or “possible” BAL categories, to each quasar identified as a potential BAL. Table 1 summarises the properties of the 67 candidate BALQSOs identified in the LBQS. Column 1 gives the LBQS name, derived from the B1950.0 coordinates; columns 2–3, the J2000.0 right ascension and declination; column 4, redshift; column 5, $`B_J`$ magnitude; column 6; probability quasar is a BAL; column 7, BALnicity index, where available; column 8, classification as a low– or high–ionization BAL (L or H) for those objects where spectral coverage of the Mg II $`\lambda `$2798 line is available; column 9, reference to source of the BALnicity measures. The BALnicity measures in column 7 have been taken from WMFH and Korista et al. (1993) with the average value adopted for objects appearing in both papers. The source of the BALnicity measure is denoted in column 9 as “K” for Korista et al. and “W” for WMFH. Additional BALnicity measures come from application of the WMFH BALnicity estimation procedure to the LBQS spectra. The probabilities adopted by WMFH for the “L” classifications of two quasars are included in brackets in column 8. Comparison of the BALnicity indices for the objects in common between WMFH and Korista et al. (1993) indicate that the uncertainty in the BALnicity values is $`30\%`$. However, larger errors can result due to the constraint in the definition of BALnicity that the absorption be contiguous over $`2000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ or more. Uncertainty in the placement of the continuum in objects with complex absorption troughs can lead to discrepant estimates due to the resetting of the integral when the flux rises above $`90\%`$ of the continuum level (see WFHM for details). Extreme examples of differences in the measured BALnicity values are B1231+1320, with BALnicity $`=5772\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (WMFH) and BALnicity $`=1174\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (Korista et al.), and B1138–0126 for which we derive BALnicity $`=3523\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, whereas Brotherton et al. (2002) obtain BALnicity $`=900\pm 300\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

## 3 THE FRACTION OF BROAD ABSORPTION LINE QUASARS IN THE LBQS

### 3.1 The Observed Fraction of Broad Absorption Line Quasars

Straightforward estimates of the observed fraction of BALQSOs in the LBQS can be derived using the sample presented in Table 1 together with the statistics of the full LBQS. The predicted number of LBQS quasars within a specified redshift and magnitude range can be calculated by summing the factors

$$N_{quasar}=\underset{n=1}{\overset{1067}{}}\frac{1}{z_{comp}}\frac{1}{m_{comp}}P$$
(1)
for all quasars within specified redshift and apparent magnitude limits. The redshift completeness factors $`z_{comp}`$ for each quasar are given in Table 7 of Hewett et al. (2001) and the fraction of the LBQS survey area extending faint enough to include a quasar of a specified magnitude, $`m_{comp}`$, is calculated using the magnitude limits and associated areas of sky given in Table 2 of Hewett et al. (1995). To calculate the total number of quasars within a specified redshift and magnitude range the probabilities, $`P`$, are set to unity. The associated number of BALQSOs is calculated using the probabilities given for each quasar in column 6 of Table 1. Table 2 summarizes the statistics of the fraction of BALQSOs for different redshift and magnitude ranges. Section A of the table relates to estimates of the fraction of BALQSOs calculated from equation (1). Section B of the table provides information concerning the intrinsic fraction of BALQSOs, calculated using equation (1) with the addition of the multiplicative weighting term defined in equation (3) (see §3.2). Column 1 specifies the redshift range; column 2 specifies the magnitude range; column 3 lists the total number of quasars satisfying the redshift and magnitude limits; column 4 gives the number of non–BALQSOs calculated using equation (1); column 5 specifies the number of BALQSOs used in the calculations; column 6 gives the number of BALQSOs calculated using equation (1) (Section A), or, using equation (1) with the addition of the weighting term defined in equation (3) (Section B); column 7 gives the fraction of BALQSOs, calculated from columns 4 and 6.

The observed fraction of BALQSOs exhibiting high–ionization troughs has been calculated for redshift ranges where C IV $`\lambda `$1549 is present in the spectra, i.e. $`z1.3`$. To be absolutely confident that the presence of the atmospheric cutoff does not affect the identification of BALs a lower limit of $`z=1.5`$ has also been employed. The statistics employing the $`z=1.5`$ redshift limit are also directly comparable to a sample of BALQSOs taken from the FIRST survey (Becker et al. 2000) – see §4. An upper redshift limit of $`z=3.0`$ has been adopted due to the increasingly small fraction of the $`B_J`$ passband occupied by the quasar SED longward of Lyman $`\alpha `$ $`\lambda `$1216 and the corresponding increased uncertainty in the BAL $`k`$–correction due to the presence of N V $`\lambda `$1240 and Lyman $`\alpha `$ $`\lambda `$1216 absorption troughs. In fact there are only 9 quasars with $`z>3.0`$ in the LBQS sample, none of which is a BAL, and their inclusion would make no significant difference to the statistics. The straightforward calculation of the observed frequency yields $`0.14\pm 0.03`$ and $`0.15\pm 0.03\%`$ for lower redshift bounds of 1.3 and 1.5, respectively (Table 2).

To identify a low–ionization BALQSO from the LBQS discovery spectra it is necessary that Mg II $`\lambda `$2798 is present longward of the atmospheric cutoff and shortward of $`5600`$Å, where the signal–to–noise ratio (S/N) of the discovery spectra has declined significantly from the target of S/N $`10`$ at $`4500`$Å. The redshift range over which the probability of identification of low–ionization BALQSOs in the LBQS is relatively constant is thus $`0.3z1.0`$. There are 379 LBQS quasars in this redshift range with magnitudes $`B_J16.5`$. Only 5 quasars are candidate BALQSOs (2 definite; 2 probable; 1 possible), leading to an estimate of the observed frequency of low–ionization BALQSOs of $`1\%`$ with a large associated error.

Given the relatively small number of BALQSOs in the sample, it is important to verify that a few objects with large weighting factors are not contributing disproportionately to the statistics. In fact, the redshift completeness factors are small and independent of redshift within the range $`1.3z3.0`$ and vary only by $`10\%`$ for $`0.3z1.0`$. Thus, the deductions concerning the observed frequency of BALQSOs are virtually independent of any reasonable change to the redshift completeness factors employed. The magnitude correction factors are defined accurately by the fraction of the LBQS that extends to a given magnitude limit. As the entire LBQS extends to $`B_J=18.41`$ the area completeness factors are unity brighter than this limit and the completeness correction remains less than a factor two for all quasars with $`B_J18.64`$. However, the LBQS extends fainter than $`B_J=18.77`$ in only a few of the 18 fields making up the survey. The completeness correction is $`10`$ for $`18.77<B_J18.80`$ and reaches $`20`$ for $`18.80<B_J18.85`$ where only a single field reaches $`B_J=18.85`$. Sixty–five of the 67 candidate BALQSOs in Table 1 possess magnitude completeness factors $`2.6`$ but two objects, 1231+1320 and 1240+1607, both of which have magnitudes $`B_J=18.84`$, just brighter than the magnitude limit of the deepest LBQS field, have completeness factors of $`21.6`$! Nonetheless, splitting the LBQS into a bright and faint sample, with the boundary set at $`B_J=18.41`$, demonstrates that the inferred fraction of BALQSOs is not unduly sensitive to the details of the magnitude range employed (see Table 2).

### 3.2 The Intrinsic Fraction of Broad Absorption Line Quasars

To estimate the intrinsic fraction of BALQSOs, it is necessary to account for the effect of the BAL troughs on the definition of the flux–limited LBQS sample; effectively the BALQSO $`k`$–correction. Specifically, the broad–band magnitudes of BALQSOs appear fainter than equivalent non–BALQSOs for redshifts where the BAL troughs fall within the passband defining the broad–band magnitude. For objects with high values of BALnicity, the size of the effect can be significant. Quantitative corrections for this effect have been applied when comparing the properties of BALQSO and non–BALQSOs (e.g., Stocke et al. 1992). There is also some evidence that the shapes of the restframe ultraviolet to optical spectral energy distribution of BALQSOs and non–BALQSOs differ, although the effect may be significant only for the subset of low–ionization BALQSOs (Sprayberry & Foltz (1992), Hall et al. (2002), Yamamoto & Vansevičius (1999)).

The $`B_J`$ passband that defines the LBQS flux–limited sample has an effective wavelength of $`4600`$Å and extends from $`3850`$Å to $`5300`$Å. The BAL trough associated with C IV $`\lambda `$1549 enters the passband at $`z1.5`$ and one or more BAL troughs associated with C IV $`\lambda `$1549, Si IV $`\lambda `$1400, N V $`\lambda `$1240 and Lyman $`\alpha `$ $`\lambda `$1216 fall within the $`B_J`$ passband for the entire redshift range, $`1.5z3.0`$, used to estimate the frequency of BAL quasars in §2.2. Thus, there is a potentially significant BALQSO $`k`$–correction that affects the fraction of BALQSOs included in the LBQS.

WMFH presented 54 high–quality spectra of BALQSO and non–BALQSOs from the LBQS, augmented by 17 spectra of BALQSOs from other surveys. The spectra have good relative spectrophotometry over a wide wavelength range and so can be employed to quantify the relative fluxes that would be observed at specified continuum wavelengths or through particular broad–band filters. The WMFH spectra can be employed individually or combined to produce composite spectra. Two–dimensional BAL $`k`$–corrections, as a function of redshift and BALnicity, were constructed using composite BALQSO spectra, as specified in Table 3, compared to the composite of the WMFH non–BALQSO LBQS quasars. The selection of the BALnicity index boundaries was made so that approximately equal numbers of objects contribute to each composite. For the most extreme objects, BALnicity $`>6000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, it was also possible to generate separate composite spectra using just the high–ionization and low–ionization objects. The new composite spectra were generated using the same procedures as described in WMFH. Information relating to the composite spectra is summarized in Table 3. Column 1 is a name, with “H” and “L” denoting composites constructed from just high– and low–ionization BALQSO spectra respectively; column 2 gives the number of spectra contributing to each composite; column 3 specifies the range of BALnicity values of the spectra used to generate the composite; column 4 lists the BALnicity of the composite spectrum.

The non–BALQSO and BALQSO composite spectra are extremely similar at wavelengths $`>1600`$Å. Normalising the spectra using the average flux over the interval $`16002600`$Å produces $`B_J`$ magnitudes all within $`0.01`$mag of each other at redshift $`z=1.3`$. The BAL $`k`$–corrections are calculated from the difference in the $`B_J`$ magnitudes of each BALQSO composite compared to the non–BALQSO composite at a specified redshift. The $`k`$–correction for a particular BALnicity was derived by interpolating between the loci defined by the non–BALQSO and the BALQSO composite spectra. Linear extrapolation was used for quasars with BALnicity exceeding the BALnicity of the strongest BALQSO composite used. The two–dimensional $`k`$–corrections for the composite spectra are plotted in Figure 1. Notwithstanding the substantial range in the appearance of individual BALQSOs, the $`k`$–correction calculated from these composite spectra varies smoothly and is extremely well–behaved, both as a function of redshift and BALnicity. It might be supposed that the use of composite spectra made up of only high–ionization or low–ionization BALQSOs would result in significantly different $`k`$–corrections for a specified BALnicity. Certainly, the larger the BALnicity index, the greater the probability that an object shows evidence for low–ionization BALs. The separate high– and low–ionization composite spectra for the objects with BALnicity $`>6000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ do have very different mean BALnicity values, $`7990\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and $`9689\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ respectively, but the results described in this section are completely insensitive to which of the three BALnicity $`>6000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ composites (All, High, Low) is used to generate the $`k`$–corrections. In other words, although the loci used to define the $`k`$–corrections differ (Figure 1), the interpolated values for a specified BALnicity and redshift are very similar for objects with BALnicity $`10000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. The results of the application of the $`k`$–corrections calculated according to this prescription are also not sensitive to the details of the interpolation.

The reference non–BALQSO spectrum used is the WMFH non–BALQSO composite spectrum, based on 29 quasars, which is slightly redder than the composite spectra derived from larger fractions of the LBQS employed in Hewett et al. (2001). However, the much closer match in redshift to the sample of BALQSOs under consideration make the WMFH–composite the reference of choice. Use of the composite from Hewett et al. (2001) produces small increases in the the inferred intrinsic fractions of BALQSOs compared to the values given in Table 2.

Making the assumption that the fraction of BALQSOs does not change significantly close to the LBQS flux limit, an estimate of the true fraction of BALQSOs that would be included in the survey, correcting for the depressed apparent magnitudes due to the presence of the BAL troughs, can be made. For the 42 LBQS BALQSOs, an additional, multiplicative, weighting factor

$$W_{c1}=\frac{N_{quasar}(18.85)}{N_{quasar}(18.85\mathrm{\Delta }m_k)}$$
(2)
is included in equation (1). $`N_{quasar}(18.85)`$ is the number of quasars, within some specified redshift range, to the original LBQS flux limits, $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_k`$ is the BAL $`k`$–correction in magnitudes for the quasar and $`N_{quasar}(18.85\mathrm{\Delta }m_k)`$ is the number of quasars, within the same specified redshift range, to the revised (brighter) LBQS flux limits for the BAL quasar. The result of this procedure is an estimated BALQSO fraction of $`19\pm 3\%`$. To ensure that the calculation is not sensitive to the exact values of the BAL $`k`$–corrections, the calculation was repeated using individual BAL $`k`$–corrections for 23 of the BALQSOs derived directly from the WMFH spectra. Essentially identical results were obtained.

A somewhat more sophisticated calculation can be performed to allow for the strong dependence of the BALQSO $`k`$–correction on redshift. The importance of allowing for a redshift–dependence can be gauged by noting that all 5 BALQSOs with BALnicity $`>6000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ have redshifts $`1.5<z<1.9`$, where the effect of the BAL–troughs on the broad–band $`B_J`$ magnitudes is smallest.

Assuming that the fraction of BALQSOs is constant over the redshift interval $`1.5z3.0`$, the weighting factor included in equation (1) becomes

$$W_{c2}=\frac{N_{quasar}(18.85)}{N_{quasar}(18.85\mathrm{\Delta }m_k(z))}$$
(3)
where the quantities are as defined for equation (2), except that $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_k(z)`$ is now a function of redshift. Figure 2 illustrates the nature of the calculation graphically. The use of the two–dimensional $`k`$–correction is effectively the best that can be achieved given the information available. Applying the weighting factors calculated using equation (3), the estimated intrinsic BALQSO fraction over the full LBQS magnitude range with $`1.5z3.0`$ rises to $`22\pm 4\%`$, with one–quarter of the population of BALQSOs possessing BALnicity $`>4000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. The calculated intrinsic fractions are presented for three magnitude ranges in Table 2.

The resulting estimate of the intrinsic fraction of BALQSOs is still in practice a lower limit because it has been assumed that the sample of 42 LBQS BALQSOs is a fair representation of the parent BALQSO population. This is manifestly not the case because the direct relation between BALnicity and the size of the BAL $`k`$–correction means that quasars with larger BALnicity values are increasingly under–represented among the sample of 42 LBQS BALQSOs. The procedure described above corrects for the systematic under–representation, providing that quasars of a given BALnicity appear in the sample. For the most extreme objects, those with $`10000<\mathrm{BALnicity}<20000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, this is not the case. The extreme BALQSO B1232+1325, with redshift $`z=2.364`$ and BALnicity $`=12792\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, provides a direct example. B1232+1325 lies within the LBQS survey area and possesses an objective–prism spectrum that would make it one of the most readily detectable quasars in the entire survey. However, the broad–band magnitude, $`B_J=18.77`$, means the quasar falls just below the LBQS flux–limit in the field. The BAL $`k`$–correction, determined directly from the WMFH–spectrum as described above, is $`1.01`$mag, giving a corrected magnitude of $`B_J=17.76`$. Assuming the fraction of BALQSOs does not vary over the redshift interval $`1.5z3.0`$, the effective depth of the LBQS for a quasar with BALnicity $`=12792\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ is reduced by a factor of 4.5 compared to a non–BALQSO. For BALnicity $`=15000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ the effective depth of the survey is reduced by a factor of $`7`$, equivalent to only $`55`$ quasars, and thus the LBQS sample has essentially no sensitivity to BALQSOs with BALnicity $`15000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

The conclusion that, using the well–defined BALnicity criterion of WMFH, the proportion of BALQSOs in the redshift range $`1.5<z<3.0`$, with corrected magnitudes $`16.5<B_J<18.75`$, is at least one in five ($`22\pm 4\%`$) is one of the main results of this work. The proportion is essentially twice the figure generally quoted.

## 4 FREQUENCY OF BROAD ABSORPTION LINE QUASARS IN THE FBQS

The application of the $`k`$–correction described in §3.2 leads to a predicted fraction of BALQSOs of $`22\pm 4\%`$ for samples of quasars with redshifts $`1.5z3.0`$ selected according to a continuum flux–limit at restframe wavelengths $`2100`$Å. Assuming that the intrinsic SEDs of non–BALQSO and BALQSOs are similar over larger wavelength ranges, then the corrected fraction of BALQSOs in samples defined at other wavelengths is predicted to be the same. While there is clear evidence at X–ray wavelengths for the presence of additional absorbing material (Green et al. 1995, 2001), more observations of larger samples are required before a meaningful comparison of the fraction of BALQSOs determined at restframe X–ray and ultraviolet wavelengths is possible. At the opposite wavelength extreme, the lack of BALQSOs detected as strong radio–sources led to suggestions that the SEDs of non–BALQSO and BALQSOs at radio wavelengths were intrinsically different (Stocke et al. 1992). The existence of this potentially important difference in the SEDs of the two classes of quasars has been challenged by Becker et al. (2001) who discuss the incidence of BALQSOs in the FBQS survey (White et al. 2000), concluding that “The frequency of BALQSOs in the FBQS is significantly greater, perhaps by as much as a factor of 2, than that inferred from optically–selected samples.”

The conclusion of Becker et al. relies on the adoption of a BALQSO fraction for optically–selected samples of only $`10\%`$, combined with an extended definition of “BAL” quasars in the FBQS that differs from that applied in the optical samples. Employing a consistent definition for the identification of BALQSOs in both samples and incorporating the revised estimate for the incidence of BALQSOs from §3.2 leads to a very different conclusion.

Of the 29 quasars presented in Becker et al., 17 have redshifts $`1.5z3.0`$ and magnitudes $`16.0E17.8`$. Four of these objects possess a BALnicity index of zero and should not be included when comparing to samples which, by definition, require BALnicity $`>0`$. Therefore, Becker et al.’s sample contains 13 objects with positive BALnicity that could have been identified from the LBQS discovery spectra. There are 142 quasars, of all types, in the FBQS within the same redshift and magnitude range, leading to an estimate of the fraction of BALQSOs of $`9\pm 3\%`$. In contrast to the $`B_J`$ passband, that defines the LBQS selection, the Palomar $`E`$ passband ($`\lambda _{eff}6400`$Å, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda 400`$Å) samples the same restframe wavelengths ($`16002600`$Å) at redshifts $`z2`$ used to match the SEDs of non–BALQSO and BALQSO SEDs in §3. The $`E`$ passband is also unaffected by the presence of both high–ionization and low–ionization BAL troughs for redshifts $`1.5z3.0`$, so the BAL $`k`$–correction is essentially zero and the observed fraction is equivalent to the intrinsic fraction of BALQSOs.

As a consistency check, it is possible to construct directly a Palomar $`E`$–band–limited quasar sample, an optically–selected equivalent to the FBQS, using the LBQS sample. The procedure is described in detail in Hewett et al. (2001) but an outline is included here. Broadband colours were calculated using the Palomar $`O`$ and $`E`$ sensitivity curves of Minkowski & Abell (1963) and our own determination of the $`B_J`$ sensitivity. The filter plus emulsion sensitivity curves were combined with one reflection off aluminum and atmospheric absorption and extinction appropriate for observations made at an airmass of 1.3 for a relatively low–altitude site such as Siding Spring or Mount Palomar. Synthetic photometry was performed using the synphot package in the Space Telescope Science Data Analysis System.

The measured $`B_JE`$ and $`OE`$ colours for the WMFH non–BALQSO composite spectrum, as a function of redshift, can be used to estimate an $`E`$–magnitude and $`OE`$ colour for each non-BALQSO in the LBQS. For the BALQSOs a directly analogous procedure to that employed to produce the two–dimensional $`k`$–correction in §3.2 is used. The $`B_JE`$ and $`OE`$ colours for the BALQSO composite spectra are calculated as a function of redshift. The resulting loci in the $`B_JE`$ and $`OE`$ versus $`z`$ planes are then used to provide an $`E`$–magnitude and $`OE`$ colour for each of the 42 BALQSOs, with given BALnicity and $`z`$, via interpolation. The pseudo–$`E`$–limited sample is then derived by requiring the quasars to have magnitudes in the range $`16.0E17.8`$ and $`OE2.0`$, i.e., the magnitude selection limits of the FBQS, excluding the very brightest objects. A limit of $`E<16.0`$ is used because the majority of quasars brighter than this limit would not satisfy the $`B_J16.5`$ limit of the LBQS. The result of the procedure applied to the 375 LBQS quasars is a sample of 225 quasars, of which 45 are BALQSOs, giving a predicted BALQSO fraction of $`20\pm 3\%`$. The result is insensitive to which of the BALnicity $`>6000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ composite spectra are used because whether the few objects with large BALnicity fall within the $`E`$ flux limits does not change as different composite spectra are used to calculate the $`B_JE`$ colours. The proportion of BALQSOs predicted for an optically-selected sample equivalent to the FBQS derived using this direct procedure is expected to be very similar to the $`22\%`$ derived in §3.2 because the $`E`$–band flux limit is equivalent to the $`16002600`$Å restframe region used to normalise the SEDs of the non–BALQSO and BALQSO spectra.

The results of the comparison do not apply to BALQSOs with extreme BALnicities, BALnicity $`15000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, because of the lack of sensitivity of the LBQS to such BALQSOs. The $`E`$–band flux limit that defines the FBQS is not so affected but the requirement that objects have $`OE2.0`$ will result in the exclusion of BALQSOs with BALnicity $`15000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ at redshifts $`2.6`$. However, the results of a like for like comparison between the fraction of BAL quasars in the LBQS and the FBQS is that the BALQSOs are only half as common in the FBQS. While larger samples of objects, from SDSS, will improve the accuracy of this figure, the result is statistically significant and produces a very different interpretation to that of Becker et al.

## 5 DISCUSSION

### 5.1 The Fraction of BALQSOs in the LBQS

A primary conclusion of this paper is that over the redshift range $`1.5z3.0`$ the observed fraction of BALQSOs in the LBQS is $`15\pm 3\%`$. This result involves no correction for differences in the SEDs between non–BALQSO and BALQSOs. Application of a well–determined BAL $`k`$–correction to allow for the differences in the SED shortward of $`2000`$Å results in an estimate of the intrinsic fraction of BALQSOs of $`22\pm 4\%`$. These results supersede those given in Foltz et al. (1990) which were based on a preliminary version of the LBQS catalogue. The higher fraction of BALQSOs, both observed and inferred, in a bright optically–selected sample has significant implications for the interpretation of recent results concerning the fraction of BALQSOs in the FBQS (Becker et al. 2001) and the SDSS EDR (Tolea et al. 2002) since both papers use an estimate of $`10\%`$ for the fraction of BALQSOs in the LBQS.

### 5.2 Redshift Dependence of the BALQSO Fraction

There are insufficient objects in the LBQS sample to place useful constraints on any redshift dependence of the BALQSO fraction. However, the distribution of objects with redshift is consistent with no $`z`$dependence. This contrasts with the results of Tolea et al., who present evidence in their Figure 1 for a significant variation in the BALQSO fraction with redshift. Tolea et al. note specifically that selection effects in the construction of the SDSS EDR sample may be important. It is noteworthy that the systematic rise in the BAL fraction, from $`10\%`$ at $`z=2.0`$ to a peak of $`30\%`$ at $`z=2.7`$, followed by a decline to $`15\%`$ at $`z=3.2`$, coincides with the strong change in the effectiveness of the SDSS quasar colour–selection algorithm (Richards et al. 2002; Figures 10 & 15). If the presence of BAL troughs moves quasars further (closer) from the stellar locus in colour–space then the apparent BALQSO fraction will rise (fall). Detailed simulations to quantify the effectiveness of the final quasar–selection algorithm as a function of redshift and quasar SED will no doubt be undertaken as part of the SDSS. We conclude that there is no strong evidence favouring a significant change in the fraction of BALQSOs over the redshift range $`1.5z3.5`$ but that forthcoming investigations utilising the quasar catalogue from the SDSS will resolve the issue.

### 5.3 The BALQSO Fraction in the SDSS EDR and FBQS

The inferred incidence of BALQSOs from the LBQS, $`22\pm 4\%`$, is somewhat higher than the average value of $`15\pm 1\%`$ from Tolea et al. Given the smaller number of objects in the LBQS sample and the unquantified selection effects in the SDSS EDR sample, a figure of $`20\%`$ for the intrinsic fraction of BAL quasars in a flux limited sample at a restframe wavelength of $`2100`$Å over the redshift range $`z1.53.5`$ is consistent with both surveys. The doubling of the inferred fraction of BALQSOs also reduces the apparent significance of the anomalously high fraction (7 out of 20 quasars) of BALQSOs among gravitational lenses to which Chartas (2000) draws attention.

The calculation of the intrinsic fraction of BALQSOs in both investigations is predicated on the restframe wavelengths used to define the flux–limited samples of non–BALQSO and BALQSOs. In the case of the LBQS investigation this restframe wavelength is $`2100`$Å. For the Tolea et al. investigation the wavelength is very similar, $`2000`$Å (from the effective wavelength of the SDSS $`i`$–band and the typical redshift of the Tolea et al. quasars). If, in fact the SEDs of BALQSOs are redder than their non–BAL counterparts longward of $`2100`$Å then the intrinsic fraction of BALQSOs increases. It should be stressed that the two–dimensional $`k`$–correction employed in §3.2 incorporates any differences in the SEDs of non–BALQSO and BALQSOs shortward of $`2100`$Å but that it is extremely unlikely that even the continuum SEDs are identical at longer wavelengths. Sprayberry & Foltz (1992) and Yamamoto & Vansevičius (1999) both find that the differences between the SEDs of luminous non–BALQSO and BALQSOs selected in optical surveys can be explained by the presence of relatively small amounts of reddening by dust with properties similar to that in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds. If such modest levels of reddening are representative of the BALQSO population as a whole then the differences in SEDs at longer wavelengths are relatively small. On the other hand, there are individual examples of reddened non–BALQSO and BALQSOs in the SDSS (e.g. Gregg et al. 2002; Hall et al. 2002) and even in the LBQS (B0059–2735; see §5.4). Compared to the LBQS, the SDSS, with its object selection, based on the $`i`$–band, at slightly longer restframe wavelength, combined with increased depth (the $`i19.1`$ limit reaches $`0.5`$mag fainter down the luminosity function for typical quasars with redshifts $`z23`$) is more sensitive to quasars experiencing small amounts of reddening. However, both the LBQS and SDSS are largely insensitive to quasars with even moderate amounts of reddening. For example, the presence of dust producing an $`E(BV)`$ of only $`0.25`$mag, acting as a screen close to the quasar, results in a bright, $`i=17.0`$, redshift $`z=2.5`$, quasar falling below the SDSS $`i`$–band flux limit. Quantifying the space density of objects suffering even modest amounts of reddening will likely require a wide–field quasar sample defined at near–infrared wavelengths.

One can ask whether the numbers of BALQSOs found in the LBQS, that are also detected in the FIRST survey, are consistent with the proportion of BALQSOs found in the FBQS. Table 4 provides summary information for the 5 LBQS BAL quasars with counterparts in the FIRST catalogue. Column 1 is the LBQS name; column 2, redshift; column 3, $`B_J`$ magnitude; column 4, probability the object is a BALQSO; column 5, separation, in arcseconds, between the optical position and the FIRST radio source; column 6, the integrated flux taken from the FIRST catalogue. The information in columns 1–4 is identical to the corresponding entries in Table 1.

Hewett et al. (2001) showed that the fraction of LBQS quasars included in the FIRST catalogue is $`12\%`$. Of the 42 candidate BAL quasars, with $`1.5z3.0`$, 28 lie within the boundaries of the currently available FIRST survey. If the probability an LBQS quasar is detected as a FIRST source is independent of the BAL properties then the expected number of BALQSOs detected as FIRST sources is 3.4. From the comparison presented in §3.2 the probability a BALQSO is also a FIRST source is somewhat under half that for a non–BALQSO, leading to a predicted number of BALQSOs detected as FIRST sources of $`2`$. In fact, one quasar, the low–ionization object B1331–0108 (Table 4), is detected in the FIRST survey. The numbers are extremely small, illustrating the difficulty of establishing the distribution of radio–properties of BALQSOs, even with quite substantial sample sizes, but are consistent with the conclusions of §3.2, that BALQSOs are approximately half as likely to be detected as FIRST sources compared to their non–BALQSO counterparts.

Small numbers also limit what can be concluded from Tolea et al.’s analysis of their SDSS sample but their relative fraction, $`5/1165\%`$, of BALQSOs detected as FIRST sources is in good agreement with our results. In their discussion of the SDSS BALQSOs that are also FIRST sources, Menou et al. (2001) have already pointed out that the observed fraction of radio–detected BALQSOs is inconsistent with the claim of Becker et al. (2000) that BALQSOs are more common in the FBQS than in optically–selected samples. Our results, together with those of Tolea et al., based on samples defined using the BALnicity criterion, strengthen this conclusion, producing a consistent picture in which BALQSOs are approximately half as likely as non–BALQSOs to possess detections in FIRST.

A further important consistency check, to verify that the relation between the BALQSOs with $`z>1.5`$ in the LBQS and FBQS is well understood, would be to verify that the SEDs of the BALQSOs in the FBQS are not significantly different from the optically–selected objects used to derive the two–dimensional $`k`$–correction of §3.2. Unfortunately, the relatively long wavelength ($`4000`$Å) of the blue edge of the FBQS spectra, combined with the low redshift of many of the $`z>1.5`$ BALQSOs means there is insufficient restframe wavelength coverage to perform a useful comparison.

### 5.4 LoBALs and FeLoBALs

Following the identification of the prototype object, B0059–2735 (Hazard et al. 1987), a key finding of the FBQS survey (Becker et al. 1997) and more recently of the SDSS survey (Hall et al. 2002) has been the definition of a subset of the low–ionization BALQSOs (“LoBALs”) that show strong and complex absorption from low–ionization species including excited states of Fe+. Extreme examples of these objects, often referred to as FeLoBALs are given by Hall et al. (2002). Notwithstanding the inclusion of the prototype FeLoBAL, B0059-2735, in the LBQS, optical surveys with relatively bright flux–limits at blue wavelengths are largely insensitive to the detection of such objects because of their very large BAL $`k`$–corrections in blue passbands.

Given the tiny number of objects, analysis of the statistics of BALQSOs in the redshift interval, $`0.3z1.0`$, where Mg II $`\lambda 2798`$Å broad absorption is detectable, has been confined to the calculation of the observed fraction in the LBQS (§3.1). There is little more quantitative that can be said, although, of the 4 LBQS candidate BALQSOs with $`0.3z1.0`$ within the FIRST survey boundaries, 2 are detected as FIRST sources, B1016–0248 and B1235+1807B (Table 4). Extending the redshift range, to include all 25 LBQS candidate BALQSOs not in the redshift range $`1.5z3.0`$, produces 4 detections out of the 21 objects within the FIRST survey boundaries. The 4 quasars are B1016–0248, B1235+1807B, B0059—0205 and B1138–0126 (Table 4). The quasar B1138–0126, also a low–ionization BALQSO, is in fact a Fanaroff–Riley class II, radio–loud source, that has been discussed by Brotherton et al. (2002). Thus, 4 of 21 objects are detected in FIRST and the 3 objects with reliable ionization classifications are all low–ionization BALQSOs. The statistics suggest that there may be an affinity between the presence of low–ionization BALQSOs and radio emission at intermediate radio power. However, much larger samples are required to establish such a relationship.

### 5.5 A Radio/BALQSO Dichotomy?

One very important result of the FBQS has been to question and indeed break the apparent dichotomy between the presence of BAL troughs and strong radio emission. In this paper the phrase “FIRST detection” has been used instead of “radio loud” since the former does not necessarily imply the latter. Clearly, samples of objects satisfying any classical definition of “radio loud” do contain unambiguous examples of BALQSOs (e.g., Gregg et al. 2000; Brotherton et al 2002). However, the statistics of samples defined according to positive values of BALnicity in the redshift range $`1.5z3.5`$ show that the frequency of BALQSOs with $`S_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}1`$mJy is approximately half that for non–BALQSOs. This conclusion is consistent with previous studies of the incidence of BALQSOs detectable at radio wavelengths (e.g., Brotherton et al. 1998), given the very small number of detections involved.

As noted above, the issue of the “radio avoidance” of BALQSOs is not a simple binary question, i.e., it is clear that some bona fide BAL quasars are radio loud. Furthermore, evidence is also mounting that the “associated absorbers” often seen in the rest ultraviolet spectra of radio loud quasars may be signaling the presence of outflows that are related to those of BAL flows (see papers in Crenshaw et al. 2002). As noted by Weymann (2002), it is no longer profitable to argue over whether a specific absorption system is truly a BAL trough or whether a specific BALQSO is radio loud. Instead, efforts should be concentrated on understanding the connection between radio power and the character of the outflows. One strategy for this line of research would be to examine the ultraviolet absorption properties of very powerful radio quasars. To that end, we are currently analyzing a moderately large sample of extremely radio loud quasars in hopes of shedding some light on this issue (Weymann et al., in preparation).

We thank our friend and longtime collaborator, Ray Weymann, for his frequent words of encouragement. We are grateful to Xiaohui Fan for providing digital versions of the SDSS passbands. We are grateful to an anonymous referee for a careful reading of the manuscript. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We are pleased to acknowledge the continued support provided for the LBQS through NSF grant AST 98–03072. Data and analysis facilities at the Institute of Astronomy were provided in part by the Starlink Project which is run by CCLRC on behalf of PPARC.

FIGURE CAPTIONS


text:
# Blue Straggler Stars: a direct comparison of Star counts and population ratios in six Galactic Globular Clusters1footnote 11footnote 1Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555

## 1 Introduction

Stellar collisions are thought to be the dominant channels for the formation and evolution of various types of unusual stellar objects and binary systems in the dense stellar environments, such as the central regions of Galactic Globular Clusters (GGCs). Among the possible collisionally induced populations, Blue Stragglers Stars (BSS) are surely the most studied. BSS were first discovered by Sandage (1953) in M3. In recent years the realization that BSS are the ideal diagnostic for a quantitative evaluation of the effects of dynamical interactions inside star clusters has led to a remarkable burst of activity in the search for and the systematic study of BSS in clusters. In addition, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), with its high angular resolution and UV imaging capabilities, has made it possible to search for candidates BSS in the cores of highly concentrated GGCs.

Within this framework we are performing an extensive HST-UV survey in the cores of a selected sample of GGCs searching for various products of binary evolution. In particular, we are constructing an homogeneous database of BSS in the UV-bands. Some results have been already published in a series of papers presenting the BSS content in individual clusters (see Ferraro et al. 1997a, 1999a, 2001 and Paltrinieri et al. 1998, Bellazzini et al. 2002, Ferraro, Paltrinieri & Cacciari, 1999, for a review). In this series of papers we empirically demonstrated that UV-CMDs are the most appropriate planes for the study of BSS.

In this paper, we present a direct comparison of the BSS content in six intermediate to high density ($`\mathrm{log}\rho _02`$–5.4) GGCs with intermediate to low metallicity: M13 (NGC 6205), M10 (NGC 6254), M80 (NGC 6093), M3 (NGC 5272), M92(NGC 6341) and NGC 288. In §3 we present the BSS samples discovered in each cluster on the basis of the UV-CMDs, and we discuss the properties and the radial distributions of BSS with respect to normal cluster stars. In §4 we present the comparison of the BSS distribution in the UV-CMDs with that expected from theoretical collisional models.

## 2 Observations and data analysis

The data-set used in this work consist of a series of HST-WFPC2 exposures covering the central regions of six GGCs: M3, M10, M13, M80, M92 and NGC 288. In Table 1 we summarized the main characteristics of each cluster: metallicity ($`[\mathrm{Fe}/\mathrm{H}]`$) from Zinn & West (1984), central density ($`\rho _0`$ and mass (from Trager & Meylan 1993), distance ($`d`$) (from Ferraro et al. 1999b), and central dispersion velocity ($`\sigma _0`$) (from Trager & Meylan 1993). For each cluster, the Planetary Camera (PC) was roughly centered on the cluster center (in the case of NGC 288 the cluster center was outside the field of view of the PC - see Figure 1 by Bellazzini et al. 2002). By adopting this observational strategy a significant fraction of the cluster luminosity has been sampled with a single HST pointing, In Table 3 (column 2) the fraction of the cluster luminosity sampled ($`L_S/L_T`$) in each cluster is reported. Here we present the results obtained using the mid-UV (F255W) and near-UV (F336W) filters, those best suited for picking out BSS. Table 2 lists the total duration of the exposures in each filter for the six clusters.

All the photometric reductions (with the exception of NGC 288; see Bellazzini et al. 2002) have been carried out using ROMAFOT (Buonanno et al. 1983), a package specifically developed to perform accurate photometry in crowded fields. The standard procedure described in Ferraro et al. (1997a) was adopted. More details on the reduction procedure and the entire dataset secured in these clusters can be found in some specific papers already published (see for example Ferraro et al. 1997a for M3 and Ferraro et al. 1999a for M80). Briefly, the images in the same filter were aligned and combined in order to obtain a median image in each filter. We used the combined F255W image as reference frame for searching the objects in each field. Then the PSF fitting procedure was separately performed on each individual frame, and an average magnitude was computed for each star. The instrumental magnitudes were finally transformed into the STMAG system, using Table 9 of Holtzmann et al. (1995).

## 3 Results

In the UV cluster light is dominated by hot stars, specifically the blue HB stars and the BSS. (see for example Figure 1 by Ferraro, Paltrinieri & Cacciari 1999). Since the BSS are one of the hottest sub-populations in the cluster, they are easily separated from the cooler Turn-Off and SGB stars. Indeed, in previous papers (Ferraro et al. 1997a, 1999a, 2001 and Paltrinieri et al. 1998, Ferraro, Paltrinieri & Cacciari, 1999) we have shown that UV-CMDs, in particular the $`(m_{255},m_{255}m_{336})`$ plane, are ideal for selecting BSS.

Figure 1 shows the ($`m_{255},m_{255}m_{336}`$) CMDs for the six clusters. More than 50,000 stars are plotted in the six panels of Figure 1. As can be seen, in this plane, the BSS populations define a clean and well-defined sequence spanning $`3`$ mag in $`m_{255}`$. Further, they are clearly distinguishable from SGB-TO stars. In order to select the BSS samples we followed the same criteria that we adopted for M3. In Ferraro et al. (1997a), the global population of BSS was divided in two sub-samples: (a) bright BSS with $`m_{255}<19`$ and (b) faint BSS with $`19.0<m_{255}<19.4`$. To apply the same criteria to the other clusters shown in Figure 1, the CMD of each cluster has been shifted to match that of M3 by using the brightest portion of the HB as the normalization region. Figure 1 shows the UV-CMD after the alignment. Thus, the solid horizontal line (at $`m_{255}=19`$) in the figure shows the cut-off magnitude for the bBSS sample. In this paper we are comparing the BSS content in clusters with quite different structural parameters. The level of difficulty in the detecting and the measuring of (especially faint) BSS varies from cluster to cluster. Thus, we decided to compare the samples by using only the bright BSS samples (hereafter bBSS). The number of bright BSS ($`N_{bBSS}`$) identified in each cluster is listed in Table 3.

### 3.1 bBSS radial distribution

As pointed out by many authors most BSS in GGCs are found to be centrally concentrated with respect to normal stars. Since the central relaxation time in these systems is much less than the cluster age, this result is generally ascribed to dynamical mass segregation and can be interpreted as an evidence that BSS are more massive than the comparison stars.

We have determined the radial distributions of the bBSS of the six GGCs using the RGB stars (from the tip down to the SGB ) as a “reference” population. The RGB stars have been selected in the $`(m_{555},m_{336}m_{555})`$ CMD, i.e. roughly a $`(V,UV)`$ CMD in order to reduce any bias which might be introduced by the poor photometry for the very red stars in the UV bands. The cumulative radial distributions for the bBSS and the RGB stars are plotted in Figure 2 as a function of the projected distance ($`r`$) from the cluster center. It is evident from the plots that the BSS (solid line) are significantly more centrally concentrated than RGB stars (dotted line) in M3, M92 and M80. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov test has been applied to the two distributions, in each cluster, to check the statistical significance of the detected differences. The test yields the probability that the bBSS population and the RGB stars are extracted from the same parent distribution. The probability values obtained in each cluster are reported in Figure 2. The effect is strongly statistically significant in the case of M3, M92 and M80. For NGC 288 and M10 the BSS are more concentrated that the RGB but the results are significant at only roughly the $`2\sigma `$ and $`1\sigma `$ levels respectively.

At first glance the radial distribution of the BSS in M13 appears to be indistinguishable from the other cluster stars. Since it is difficult to imagine any BSS formation scenario in which the BSS are not at least somewhat centrally condensed, we have more carefully examined the role of the small M13 bBSS sample. A series of Monte Carlo simulations have been performed in which $`10^3`$ subsamples of the same number of the bBSS population found in M13 (16) have been randomly extracted from the M3 bBSS population (72). Then, the radial distribution of each subsample was compared with that of the RGB stars of M3. A KS test has been applied to quantify the significance of the differences. In these simulations drawn from a sample in which the central concentration of the BSS has been convinvingly shown, 40% of the M13-like samples have $`p>20\%`$ that the BSS and RGB have the same distribution. Less than 10% have as a convincing a case for different distributions as in M3. About $`6\%`$ of the M13-like samples have $`p`$ as large as for the true M13 comparison. In another test, two M13 BSS were arbitrary moved from the middle of the distribution to the inner part and $`p`$ dropped from 0.77 to 0.34. We conclude that the M13 bBSS sample is too small to make a definitive statement about its central concentration. Our M13 results are consistent with no central concentration, but they are not inconsistent with a central concentration even as large as that of M3.

The case of NGC 288 deserves a short comment since the location of the center in this cluster is quite uncertain. The radial distribution plotted above could be affected by large uncertanties. In accordance with Bellazzini et al. (2002) we adopted the coordinates listed by Webbink (1985), and the cluster center turns out to be located just outside the field-of-view of the PC (see their Figure 1).

We can make an additional quantitative comparison by using the parameters $`r_{1/2}^{\mathrm{BSS}}`$ (the radius containing half the bBSS sample) and $`f_{\mathrm{RGB}}`$(the fraction of the total RGB sample contained within $`r_{1/2}^{\mathrm{BSS}}`$). Values for $`r_{1/2}^{\mathrm{BSS}}`$ and $`f_{\mathrm{RGB}}`$ are listed in Table 3 along with the core radius ($`r_c`$). With the exception of NGC 288 (for which we took the value from Trager, Djorgovski & King, 1993), the $`r_c`$ was independently determined in each cluster by fitting a King model to the observed density profile (see for example Figure 4 in Ferraro et al. 1999a). These values confirm the general impression from Figure 2,that the BSS are much more concentrated than the RGB in M80, M3 and M92. Thus, even considering the brightest part of the BSS distribution in M80, we have fully confirmed the previous results by Ferraro et al. 1999a, who suggested that the BSS in M80 are the most concentrated population observed in a GGCs.

In Figure 3 the magnitude distributions (equivalent to a luminosity function—LF) of bBSS for the six clusters are compared. In doing this we use the parameter $`\delta m_{255}`$ defined as the magnitude of each bBSS (after the alignment showed in Figure 1) with respect to the magnitude threshold (assumed at $`m_{255}=19`$ \- see Figure 1). Then $`\delta m_{255}=m_{255}^{bBSS}19.0`$. From the comparison shown in Figure 3 (panel(a)) the bBSS magnitude distributions for M3 and M92 appear to be quite similar and both significantly different from those obtained in the other clusters. This is essentially because in both these two clusters the bBSS magnitude distribution seems to have a tail extending to brighter magnitudes (the bBSS magnitude tip reaches $`\delta m_{255}2.5`$). A KS test applied to these two distributions yields a probability of $`93\%`$ that they are extracted from the same distribution. In panel(b) we see that the bBSS magnitude distribution of M13, M10 and M80 are essentially indistinguishable from each other and significantly different from M3 and M92. A KS test applied to the three LFs confirms that they are extracted from the same parent distribution. Moreover, a KS test applied to the total LFs obtained by combining the data for the two groups: M3 and M92 (group(a)), and M13, M80 and M10 (group(b)) shows that the the bBSS-LFs of group(a) and group(b) are not compatible (at $`3\sigma `$ level).

It is interesting to note that the clusters grouped on the basis of bBSS-LFs have some similarities in their HB morphology. The three clusters of group(b) have an extended HB blue tail; the two clusters of group(a) have no HB extention. Could there be a connection between the bBSS photometric properties and the HB morphology? This possibility needs to be further investigated.

Finally we note that the magnitude function for the bBSS in NGC 288 (solid line in panel (b)) is significantly different than that of all the other clusters.

### 3.2 Specific Frequency

In order to properly compare the BSS populations in different clusters, the BSS number must be normalized to account for the size of the total cluster population. For this reason we have defined various specific frequencies. In Ferraro, Fusi Pecci & Bellazzini (1995) we used $`S4_{\mathrm{BSS}}`$ (the BSS number normalized to the integrated bolometric luminosity of the surveyed region in units of $`10^4L_{}`$). Analogously, in Ferraro et al. (1999a) we defined a more appropriate specific frequency:

$$F_{\mathrm{HB}}^{\mathrm{BSS}}=\frac{N_{\mathrm{BSS}}}{N_{\mathrm{HB}}}$$

where $`N_{\mathrm{BSS}}`$ is the number of BSS and $`N_{\mathrm{HB}}`$ is the number of HB stars in the same area. The two ratios are similar, since in absence of any special segregation of HB stars with respect to the ”normal” cluster-star, the observed number of HB stars $`N_{\mathrm{HB}}`$ is an excellent indicator of the sampled cluster luminosity. In fact, the simple relation by Renzini & Buzzoni (1986):

$$N_j=B(t)L_St_j$$

easily links the number of stars sampled in any post main sequence stage ($`N_j`$) with the sampled cluster luminosity ($`L_S`$) and the duration of the phase ($`t_j`$). $`B(t)`$ is the specific flux of the population. Following Renzini & Buzzoni (1986) we assume $`B(t)2\times 10^{11}\mathrm{stars}L_{}^1\mathrm{yr}^1`$ for an old population of $`10^{10}\mathrm{yr}`$.

Thus, assuming $`t_{\mathrm{HB}}10^8\mathrm{yr}`$, we can expect to sample $`2\times 10^3`$ HB stars for each solar luminosity sampled in a given stellar population.

The $`F_{\mathrm{HB}}^{\mathrm{BSS}}`$ ratio has the advantage that it is a purely observative quantity and it can be easily computed in the UV-CMDs since the HB population is quite bright in these planes and the HB sequence is well separated from the other branches. However, while in the following discussion we will mainly use the $`F_{\mathrm{HB}}^{\mathrm{BSS}}`$ ratio, the $`S4_{\mathrm{BSS}}`$ is also computed for each cluster and the values are listed in Table 3 for sake of comparison.

As discussed in Section 3 we consider only the bright BSS, hence $`N_{\mathrm{bBSS}}`$ is the number of bright bBSS (according to the original definition by Ferraro et al. (1997a)). The values of $`F_{\mathrm{HB}}^{\mathrm{bBSS}}`$ are listed in Table 3. As can be seen $`F_{\mathrm{HB}}^{\mathrm{bBSS}}`$ varies by a factor 13 from M13 to NGC 288. Interesting enough NGC 288, the cluster with the lowest central density, shows the largest bBSS specific frequency. As already noted by Bellazzini et al. (2002) this cluster turns out to have as many bBSS as HB stars over the sampled area. Though the number of bBSS detected in the cluster is intrinsically small ($`30`$) the result is surprising: $`F_{\mathrm{HB}}^{\mathrm{bBSS}}`$ is comparable with what found in the central region of the core-collapsing cluster M80 by Ferraro et al. (1999a). If we consider only the PC field of view, the $`F_{\mathrm{HB}}^{\mathrm{bBSS}}`$ in M80 rises up to 0.7.

The central density of a cluster is not the only factor which determines the number of collision products we expect to see. Collisions involving binary star systems are more likely than collisions between single stars and have a significant probability of producing a stellar merger. We used equation 14 from Leonard (1989) in order to estimate the number of binary-binary (bb) encounters occuring per Gyr ($`N_{bb}`$) in the core of each cluster listed in Table 1. Adopting the distance modulus listed in Table 1, the $`r_c`$ listed in Table 3, $`\sigma _0`$ and the central density $`Log(\rho _0)`$ listed in Table 1 (from Pryor & Meylan (1993)), assuming an average mass of 0.2$`M_{}`$ (Kroupa 2001), we computed $`t_{bb}`$ (the mean interval between collisions) from equation (14) by Leonard (1989) and derived the expected number of encounters, per Gyr, as a function of the binary fraction ($`f_b`$) in the core.

In doing this, the semimajor axis which separates hard from soft binaries ($`a_{hs}`$) has been computed for each cluster according to the following relation:

$$a_{hs}=\frac{GM}{9\sigma _0^2}$$

derived by combining equation 4 of Leonard & Linnell (1992) with the Kepler’s third law. The semimajor axes computed for each cluster and expressed in AU are listed in Table 4.

Following Leonard (1989) we multiplied $`t_{bb}`$ by a factor of two in order to take into account the fact that not all encounters lead to a physical collision. The rate of single-binary collisions can also be estimated from Leonard’s results. In his equation 8 if one assumes that the pericenter distance is proportional to binary semimajor axis, like in binary-binary collisions, and that $`M_1=M_{}`$, $`M_2(binary)=1.5M_{}`$, one finds a factor of 5 instead of his 6 in the cross section. Thus the number of single-binary encounters is roughly the 5/6 the number of binary-binary encounters.

In Table 4 we list the results with three different $`f_b`$ values, respectively 0.2 and 1.00. These values should be considered as indications of the effectiveness of physical collisions in the cluster cores. It is clear that the bb (or sb) collision channel is more than one order of magnitude more efficient in a dense cluster like M80 than in a low density cluster like NGC 288. Therefore, the high specific frequency of blue stragglers in NGC 288 suggests that the binary fraction in NGC 288 is much higher than the binary fraction in M80. Only then would one expect a similar encounter frequency in the two clusters. Note that a cluster like M80 may have originally had a higher binary fraction but because of the efficiency of encounters, those primordial binaries were “used up” early in the history of the cluster, producing some collisional BSS which have evolved away from the MS (see for example the evolved E-BSS population found in M3 and M80 by Ferraro 1997a, 1999a).

We should note that on the basis of the simulation results shown in Figure 8 and in Table 4 the binary-binary channel can still account for the number of the BSS observed in NGC288 if a large enough percentage of binary fraction is assumed to reside in the core.

However, without invoking ad hoc binary content, a more natural explanation for the origin of BSS in NGC 288 (as discussed in Bellazzini et al. (2002)) is the mass transfer process in primordial binary systems (Carney et al 2001). Here we probably have another confirmation of the scenario suggested by Fusi Pecci et al. (1992, and references therein): BSS living in different environments have different origins.

## 4 Collisional Models

From our sample of six clusters with rather diverse bBSS populations we can select pairs with similarities in parameters like density, metallicity, velocity dispersion, or we can search for trends in bBSS populations as some parameter varies. There are two quite striking and unsuspected results. First, the two clusters at the high and low density extremes, M80 and NGC 288, have the largest bBSS specific frequencies. Second, two clusters which are in most ways quite similar, M3 and M13, have very different bBSS populations.

To aid our understanding of the BSS populations in these clusters, we present a comparison of the photometric characteristics of the BSS observed in the selected clusters with some collisional models. The models we used in this paper are described in detail in Sills & Bailyn (1999), and have been applied to 47 Tucanae (Sills et al. 2000). We assume that the blue stragglers in the central regions of the six clusters are all formed through stellar collisions between single stars during an encounter between a single star and a binary system. While binary-binary collisions may well be important, we do not currently have the capability of modeling the BSS they might produce. The trajectories of the stars during the collision are modeled using the STARLAB software package (McMillan & Hut 1996). The masses of the stars involved are chosen randomly from a mass function for the current cluster and a different mass function which governs the mass distribution within the binary system. A binary fraction, and a distribution of semi-major axes must also be assumed. The output of these simulations is the probability that a collision between stars of specific masses will occur. We have chosen standard values for the mass functions ($`dN(M)m^{(1+x)}dM`$) and binary distribution. The current mass function has an index $`x=2`$, and the mass distribution within the binary systems are drawn from a Salpeter mass function ($`x=1.35`$). We chose a binary fraction of 20% and a binary period distribution which is flat in $`\mathrm{log}P`$. The total stellar density was taken from the central density of each cluster. The effect of changing these values is explored in Sills & Bailyn (1999). The collision products are modeled by entropy ordering of gas from colliding stars (Sills & Lombardi 1997) and evolved from these initial conditions using the Yale stellar evolution code YREC (Guenther et al. 1992). The models reported here used a metallicity of $`[\mathrm{Fe}/\mathrm{H}]=1.6`$, which is approximately correct for 4 of the clusters investigated in this paper. BSS populations should not be strongly dependent on metallicity. By weighting the resulting evolutionary tracks by the probability that the specific collision will occur, we obtain a predicted distribution of BSS in the color-magnitude diagram.

In order to explore the effects of non-constant BSS formation rates, we considered a series of truncated rates. In these models we assumed that the BSS formation rate was constant for some portion of the cluster lifetime, and zero otherwise. This assumption is obviously unphysical—the relevant encounter rates would presumably change smoothly on timescales comparable to the relaxation time. However these models do demonstrate how the distribution of BSS in the color-magnitude diagram depends on when the BSS were created, and thus provide a basis for understanding more complicated and realistic formation rates.

### 4.1 Comparisons with data

Some comparisons between the models and the HST observations are shown in figures 48. In figures 4, 5 and 6, we compare our theoretical predictions to the BSS population of M80. The theoretical predictions have been normalized by the total number of predicted blue stragglers for each cluster; this allows us to more easily compare the shapes of the distributions. Figure 4 is an example of the predicted distribution of BSS in the $`m_{255},m_{255}m_{336}`$ color-magnitude diagram for M80. The theoretical predictions are shown as greyscale contours, with the darker colors indicating more BSS in that region of the CMD. The observed blue stragglers are shown as crosses. Each of the panels is a different assumption for the BSS formation rate, as indicated on the top of the panel. The differences between the models can be understood in terms of lifetimes of the individual collision products which make up the distributions. For example, if BSS production stopped 5 Gyr ago (center panel), we predict that there should be no observed bBSS at present because all the massive BSS would have had time to evolve off to the giant branch. At the other extreme, if all the BSS were formed in the last Gyr (panel marked “1 Gyr to now”), only a few of the very brightest (i.e. most massive) would have even started moving towards the subgiant branch. It is worth pointing out that the brightest BSS shown in these predictions are not on the standard zero age main sequence, but begin their lives to the red. These are stars which were formed from the merger of two fairly evolved main sequence stars, and so they do not have enough hydrogen fuel left at their cores after the merger to return to the ZAMS (Sills et al. 1997).

Figure 5 gives the luminosity function for each of the model distributions for M80. The data are shown as the solid line, while the dotted line is the theoretical prediction for the formation times shown on the top of each panel. The luminosity functions are good probes of the mass distribution of blue stragglers, since the correlation between mass and luminosity is quite tight. The luminosity functions show, as do the CMD distributions, that bright BSS require recent formation. They also show that the relative numbers of brighter and fainter bBSS is not correct in our models. If we model the fainter bBSS very well (as in the panel marked “stopped 2 Gyr ago”), then our models under-predict the number of blue stragglers between $`m_{255}=17`$ and 18.

Figure 6 gives the equivalent “temperature function” for M80. This is the cumulative number of stars in each color (i.e. temperature) bin, in direct analogy to the luminosity function. The distribution of blue stragglers in color can be used to study the age or age spread of the BSS. Evolutionary tracks for stars of these masses are confined to a fairly narrow range in luminosity between the main sequence and the base of the giant branch, so the luminosity function does not give the entire picture. The temperature function is useful for distinguishing between populations which have lots of main sequence stars and populations with many subgiants. As in figure 5, the data are shown as the solid line, while the dotted line is the theoretical prediction for the formation times shown on the top of each box.

We performed KS tests on the luminosity and temperature functions for each cluster and each theoretical distribution. Figures 7 and 8 gives the best fit model distribution for each cluster, its luminosity function, and its temperature function. We will comment on each cluster individually here, and then draw some general conclusions in the next section.

M80: The fainter bBSS are very well fit by a distribution in which formation was truncated about 2 Gyr ago. However, there is a significant population of BSS which extends up to 2.5 magnitudes above the turnoff, which is not predicted by such a model and which suggests that some BSS formation continues until the present. Ferraro et al. (1999a) suggested that the large BSS population in M80 is due to the stellar interactions which are delaying the core collapse process. Now we add the evidence that many of these BSS are relatively old ($`t>2`$ Gyr). These results together suggest that the process of holding off the core collapse can be rather extended.

M10: The BSS in this cluster are fit by different formation models in the temperature and luminosity planes. However, the difference between the KS probability for the best fit to luminosity function (BSS formation ended 2 Gyr ago) and the best fit for temperature function (BSS formation ended 1 Gyr ago) is small. The luminosity function has a 16% probability of being drawn from the first distribution, and a 10% probability of being drawn from the second distribution.

M13: Of all the clusters in this paper, this one is the most believable for showing a truncated BSS distribution. There is no evidence for very bright BSSs close to the main sequence. The only BSS brighter than $`\delta m_{255}=2.5`$ is very red, consistent with an evolved object.

M3: None of the collisional models fit this cluster very well. The best fit for the luminosity function, as shown in figure 8, is a model in which the BSS stopped forming about 1 Gyr ago (3% KS probability). However, the temperature function for the same model has almost zero probability of being drawn from the same distribution as the data, and the best fit temperature function is the scenario in which the BSS stopped forming 2 Gyr ago. In all cases, including the models which predict BSS formation right up to the present day, we under-predict the number of very bright blue stragglers.

M92: The best fit to both the luminosity and temperature functions is a model in which the BSS formation was truncated 1 Gyr ago. However, there are also very bright blue stragglers in this cluster, suggesting that blue straggler formation has continued to the present day or that the blue stragglers produced in this cluster are not well modeled by collisions between two stars.

NGC 288: This cluster is significantly different from the previous 5, in that we do not expect that the BSS formed in this cluster are the products of stellar collisions. The density is simply too low. We also know that the binary fraction in the core is measured to be $`10`$ to 38% (Bellazzini et al. 2002), so BSS formed in this low density cluster should be the result of binary evolution rather than stellar collisions. By assuming that binary merger BSS are similar to collisional BSS we can still expore the BSS formation history in NGC 288. The best fit distribution for this cluster, at the 65% level, is achieved when the BSS were formed at a constant rate over the entire lifetime of the cluster, right up to the present day. This result is significantly different from the other five clusters investigated in this paper. Perhaps, it could be an indication of the different formation histories of binary mergers and collisions. It is also possible that the difference between this cluster and the other 5 could be a result of different evolutionary tracks for binary merger and collision products.

### 4.2 Indications and Trends

The first conclusion that we draw from the models is that since we are limiting our study to BSS brighter than the limit of $`m_{255}=19.0`$, we have no information about BSS formation earlier than about 5 Gyr ago. On the other hand, we can state with certainty that BSS have been formed in all these clusters during the last 5 Gyr. In all clusters, this formation is not confined to the very recent past; rather, it has lasted over the entire time that we can probe, and in fact seems to be concentrated at earlier epochs.

The KS tests on the luminosity and temperature functions give the best results for distributions in which BSS stopped forming 1–2 Gyr ago in all clusters except NGC 288. These “best” fits are clearly not good fits, however. In most of the clusters, there is a population of bright BSS that was formed more recently. Our models consistently under-predict the number of bright BSS compared to the number of fainter, redder BSS. There are a number of possible reasons.

The first, and most likely, discrepancy is in the formation rate of blue stragglers. We have assumed a constant formation rate over the some times, and zero otherwise. If, instead, blue stragglers were formed at some (more or less) constant rate between 5 and 2 Gyr ago, and then experienced a reduced (but not zero) blue straggler formation rate to the present day, the predicted distribution would match the observations better. It is very unlikely that the blue straggler formation rate changes sharply between zero and a constant value. Rather, the formation rate is going to be smoother function of central density, velocity dispersion, single star mass function and the number and nature of binary systems in the cluster. The simple models used in this paper should be taken as indications of formation eras only.

It is also possible that the stellar evolutionary models which go into these blue straggler distributions are not accurate. If we were overestimating the lifetimes of the faint blue stragglers or underestimating the lifetimes of the bright blue stragglers, we would see this kind of mismatch between observations and data. It is difficult to understand how the evolutionary tracks would be overestimating the lifetimes of the faint blue stragglers. The lower the mass of the collision product, in general, the more similar it is to a normal star of the same mass, and so its evolutionary track is very much like normal stars—something we understand quite well. In order to underestimate the lifetimes of the brighter blue stragglers, the collision products would have to mix more hydrogen into their cores than is currently predicted. Rapid rotation is a plausible mechanism for this mixing, although we would have to have some process by which the lower mass BSS were not rotating as rapidly. It is also possible that the bright blue stragglers could actually be the merger of three stars rather than two (as is expected to happen in binary-mediated collisions), and so our evolutionary models will not be applicable. The merger product of three $`0.4M_{}`$ stars will have a higher percentage of hydrogen in its core than the product of two $`0.6M_{}`$ stars, but approximately the same mass.

The difference between M3 and M92 on one hand, and M10, M13 and M80 on the other is primarily the existence of a few very bright blue stragglers in the first group of clusters. In all 5 clusters, the blue stragglers fainter than about $`m_{255}=18.5`$ are very well modeled by the same distribution (a truncated formation scenario, suggesting that blue straggler formation rates should be weighted towards 3–5 Gyr ago). The fact that M3 and M92 are better fit by a formation scenario in which BSS formation ended more recently is simply a reflection of the number of very bright BSS in these clusters. These bright blue stragglers could be an indication of continued BSS formation, or of a different binary distribution (which produced more triple collisions). M3 does have a significant population of BSS in the outer part of the cluster which are thought to be the result of binary mergers (Ferraro et al. 1997a). This fact does set M3 apart from M13, M10, & M80, which have few exterior BSS. Unfortunately M92 also has few exterior BSS so they cannot be invoked to explain the M3/M92 similarity.

As noted in Section 3.1, another very interesting point is that M10, M13 and M80 (which share a common BSS Luminosity function) all have blue tail components to their horizontal branches, while M3, M92 and NGC 288 do not. M3 and M13 are also a classic second-parameter pair (see Ferraro et al. 1997c), referring to the difference in their horizontal branch morphology without an obvious difference in any other cluster parameter: they have the same metallicity, central density, total mass, and very similar velocity dispersions. (The two clusters may have slightly different ages, which may or may not affect horizontal branch morphology—see Rey et al. 2001, Davidge & Courteau 1999, Ferraro et al. 1997c). From these data, there is certainly a suggestion that BSS population could be connected to the second parameter. From the comparisons in this paper, it seems that it is not the total number of BSS or their specific frequency, but rather the kind of BSS which are produced in “blue tail” clusters which is different from those produced in non-blue tail clusters. If this link between BSS and horizontal branch morphology is real, then it suggests that the second parameter could be related to either stellar collisions and encounters, or to binary evolution.

## 5 Conclusions

In this paper, we have compared the blue straggler distribution in six galactic globular clusters: M3, M10, M13, M80, M92 and NGC 288. The blue stragglers were observed in the HST UV filters F255W and F336W. The clusters have similar total masses, and velocity dispersions; have intermediate to low metallicities and span a range in central density. We studied the properties of the blue stragglers relative to other cluster populations; and we compared the observed blue straggler distributions with theoretical models of collision products in globular clusters.

Whether they formed via a collisional channel or a merged primoridial binary channel, BSS are the most massive stars in GGCs other than neutron stars or possibly some white dwarfs. Since dynamical relaxation times are typically shorter than BSS lifetimes they should settle toward the cluster center. BSS formed from merged primordial binaries have the entire cluster lifetime to settle. Collisions occur most often in high density regions and most often involve binaries providing yet another reason to expect BSS to be found near cluster centers. Indeed, it is difficult to image a BSS formation scenario which would not lead to a centrally condensed BSS distribution. Our results are consistent with this expectation: M3, M92, & M80 show strong central concentrations; the BSS in M10 and NGC 288 are most likely centrally condensed; while the BSS in M13 could have the same distribution as the RGB, they could also have a central concentration similar to that of M3. The small sample size is not adequate to definitively determine the radial distribution.

The specific frequency of blue stragglers compared to the number of horizontal branch stars varies from 0.07 to 0.92 for these six clusters, and does not seem to be correlated with central density, total mass, velocity dispersion, or any other obvious cluster property. We do not have measurements of the binary fraction in most of these clusters. Binary stars impact the blue straggler populations in a number of ways. BSS can be formed from binary evolution in any environment, although binary systems in dense environments will be different from those in sparse environments—close binaries will be hardened by encounters (increasing the number of “binary merger” BSS), but wide binaries are also disrupted (decreasing the number of “binary merger” BSS). The relative rates of these events is an important factor in looking at blue stragglers in clusters. Binary systems also facilitate close interactions between stars because they have a large cross section compared to single stars, so we expect that clusters with a large binary fraction to have both more collisional and binary merger blue stragglers.

Fusi Pecci et al. (1992, and references therein) presented a qualitative interpretative scenario concerning the possible origin of BSS in GGCs. They suggest that BSS in loose clusters might be produced from coalescence of primordial binaries. In high density GGCs (depending on survival-destruction rate of primordial binaries) BSS might mostly arise from stellar interactions, particularly those which involve binaries (Ferraro, Fusi Pecci & Bellazzini, 1995). In this scenario one could find clusters where more than one mechanism is at work in generating BSS. In fact Ferraro et al. (1993, 1997a) found that the radial distribution and the luminosity functions of BSS in the center of M3 are consistent with a collisional origin, while in the outer regions they are consistent with a primordial binary origin. The paucity of BSS in M13 suggests that either the primordial population of binaries in M13 was poor or that most of them were destroyed. Alternatively, as suggested by Ferraro et al. (1997b), the mechanism producing BSS in the central region of M3 is more efficient than M13 because M3 and M13 are in different dynamical evolutionary phases.

The evidence shown above suggests that different channels of BSS formation should be at work and/or a large difference in the binary fraction should be present in NGC 288 in order to produce such a large BSS frequency in a cluster with such different structural parameters. Bellazzini et al. (2002) measured the binary fraction in the core of NGC 288 to be between 10% and 38%. Similar measurements for M3, M13, and M80 will be extremely helpful in solving this mystery.

According to simple models, BSS formation occured in all clusters over last 5 Gyr at least, and more were formed 2–5 Gyr ago than in the recent past. This result needs to be tested using models of globular cluster evolution in which the feedback between stellar collisions and cluster evolution is modeled explicitly. Our assumption of a BSS formation rate which is either constant or zero is unphysical, and more complicated models are clearly required.

Finally, we note the possible connection between horizontal branch morphology and blue straggler population characteristics. Of our six clusters, three have HB blue tails (M10, M13, M80), and three do not. The three with blue tails have the same blue straggler luminosity function, which spans about 1.5 magnitudes compared to 2.5 magnitudes in M3 and M92. This suggests that blue straggler populations and the horizontal branch second parameter may be linked in some way, perhaps through the complicated world of binary systems and their effect on cluster evolution and populations.

We warmly thank Michele Bellazzini for useful discussions and the referee, Peter Leonard, for the many helpful suggestions which significantly improved the presentation of the paper. The financial support of the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) and of the Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (MIUR) is kindly acknowledged. RTR is partially supported by grant GO-8709 from STScI.