2008MNRAS.384.1263C

We have constructed some main-sequence mergers from case A binary evolution and we have studied their characteristics using the stellar evolution code written by Eggleton. The values of both total mass and orbital angular momentum are conservative in our binary evolutions. Assuming that the matter from the secondary homogeneously mixes with the envelope of the primary and that no mass is lost from the system during the merger process, we found that some mergers might be on the left of the zero-age main sequence as defined by normal surface composition (i.e. helium content Y = 0.28 with metallicity Z = 0.02 for Population I) on a colour-magnitude diagram because of enhanced surface helium content. The study also shows that the central hydrogen content of the mergers is independent of mass. Our simple models can possibly explain a few blue stragglers observed on the left of zero-age main sequence in some clusters. However, the concentration towards the blue side of the main sequence with decreasing mass, as predicted by Sandquist et al., will not appear in our models. The products with little central hydrogen in our models are probably subgiants when they are formed, as the primaries in the progenitors also have little central hydrogen and will likely leave the main sequence during the merger process. As a consequence, we fit the formula of magnitude M_v and B-V of the mergers when they return to thermal equilibrium with maximum errors 0.29 and 0.037, respectively.

Taking the above into account, we performed Monte Carlo simulations to examine our models in an old open cluster NGC 2682 and an intermediate-age cluster NGC 2660. The angular momentum loss (AML) of low-mass binaries is very important in NGC 2682, and its effect can be estimated in a simple way. In NGC 2682, binary mergers from our models cover the region with high luminosity and those from the AML are located in the region with low luminosity, which has a certain width. The blue stragglers from the AML are much more numerous than those from our models, indicating that the AML of low-mass binaries makes a major contribution to blue stragglers in this old cluster. Our models can account for several blue stragglers in NGC 2660. For the most likely region on the colour-magnitude diagram, however, no blue stragglers have yet been observed. Our results are well matched with the observations if there is ∼0.5 M_☉ of mass loss in the merger process; however, it is difficult to find a physical mechanism for this much mass loss.