Can globular clusters be as young as 10 Gyr?--The Uncertainties in the Age of Globular Clusters from Their Helium Abundance and Mass Loss

Abstract

The age of globular clusters inferred from observations depends sensitively on assumptions such as the initial helium abundance and the mass loss rate. A high helium abundance (e.g., $Y\approx$0.28), as well as an inclusion of helium diffusion and oxygen-enhancement in stellar models, can lower the current age estimate for metal-poor globular clusters from 14$\pm 1.5$ Gyr to about 11$\pm 1$ Gyr, significantly relaxing the constraints on the Hubble constant, allowing values as high as 60km/sec/Mpc for a universe with the critical density and 90km/sec/Mpc for a baryon-only universe. The uncertainties of a high helium abundance and an instability strip induced mass loss near the turn-off in globular clusters are discussed. Ages lower than 10 Gyr are not possible even with the operation of both of these mechanisms unless the initial helium abundance in globular clusters is $>0.28$, which can hardly be accomodated by indirect inferences of helium abundances in globular clusters.