Atmospheric parameters of M4 stars

For 322 red giant branch (RGB) stars with V<=14.7, we obtain a nearly constant metallicity, <[Fe/H]>=-1.07 ({sigma}=0.02). No difference in the metallicity at the level of 0.01 dex is observed between the two RGB sequences identified by Monelli et al. (2013MNRAS.431.2126M). For 1869 subgiant and main-sequence stars with V>14.7, we obtain <[Fe/H]>=-1.16 ({sigma}=0.09) after fixing the microturbulent velocity.

These values are consistent with previous studies that have performed detailed analyses of brighter RGB stars at higher spectroscopic resolution and wavelength coverage. It is not clear if the small mean metallicity difference between brighter and fainter M4 members is real or is the result of the low signal-to-noise characteristics of the fainter stars. The strength of our approach is shown by recovering a metallicity close to a single value for more than 2000 stars, using a data set that is non-optimal for atmospheric analyses.

This technique is particularly suitable for noisy data taken in difficult observing conditions.