Hot Stars in Globular Clusters: A Spectroscopist’s View

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Abstract
Globular clusters are ideal laboratories to study the evolution of low‐mass stars. In this work we concentrate on three types of hot stars observed in globular clusters: horizontal branch stars, UV‐bright stars, and white dwarfs. After providing some historical background and information on gaps and blue tails, we discuss extensively hot horizontal branch stars in metal‐poor globular clusters, especially their abundance anomalies and the consequences for the determination of their atmospheric parameters and evolutionary status. Hot horizontal branch stars in metal‐rich globular clusters are found to form a small but rather inhomogeneous group that cannot be explained by one evolutionary scenario. Hot UV‐bright stars show a lack of classic post–asymptotic giant branch stars that may explain the lack of planetary nebulae in globular clusters. Finally, we discuss first results of spectroscopic observations of white dwarfs in globular clusters.
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