Evidence of Supernova Between Formation of Stellar Populations in a Globular Cluster

Globular clusters do not undergo conventional chemical evolution driven by supernova enrichment. Instead, they exhibit unique abundance patterns of the light elements, which cannot be fully explained by any of the proposed enrichment mechanisms. "Normal" stars of low sodium abundances comprise the first population of cluster stars, and "enriched" stars of high sodium abundances, which are found only in globular clusters, comprise the second population. Here we show from a differential line-by-line analysis of stars that span a small range of effective temperature that the globular cluster M92 has higher Fe abundances in second-population (sodium-enhanced) stars than first-population stars. The two populations are well separated in Na, Al, and Fe abundances. The rise in Fe abundance between the first and second stellar populations suggests that M92 was able to retain at least some supernova ejecta, all of which exploded after the first population finished forming. This result provides a lower limit for the time delay between populations.

Evan N. Kirby, Roman Gerasimov, Alice Cai, Benjamin Coco, Pranav Nalamwar, Lauren Henderson · 2026