# A catalog of helium abundance indicators from globular cluster photometry

## 1 Introduction

The determination of helium abundances in stars has been a long-standing problem in astronomy. For the old stars in globular clusters and in the Galactic halo, it is only possible to spectroscopically measure the helium abundance in a direct way for hot horizontal branch (HB) stars. Studies of this kind (e.g. Moehler, Heber, & Durell 1997; Moehler, Heber, & Rupprecht 1997) have found abundances significantly higher and lower than the primordial helium abundance determined from observations of low-metallicity extragalactic H II regions (e.g. $`Y_P=0.234\pm 0.002`$ from Olive, Skillman, & Steigman 1997). The interpretation typically given for the low helium abundances is that gravitational settling has acted preferentially on helium atoms in the atmospheres of these stars, rendering the measurements unusable for determining the initial helium abundance of the stars. High helium abundances may be the result of mass loss before the HB phase, which could remove most of the hydrogen-rich envelope of the stars.

Indirect methods must be used to measure the helium abundance in earlier phases of stellar evolution. The most useful methods are applied to globular clusters because individual clusters provide us with large samples of stars with seemingly identical compositions and ages. Globular cluster stars also seem to be among the oldest that can be found in the Galaxy, so that if the helium abundance could be determined, it would give us a hint of the primordial helium abundance.

There are two other reasons for examining the helium abundances of globular clusters. First, it is important to look at the overall trend in the helium abundance as a function of the cluster metal content. This provides a check of our understanding of nucleosynthesis and Galactic evolution. In addition, previous studies of RR Lyrae stars have indicated that an anticorrelation of helium abundance with metal content can explain the Sandage period-shift effect (Sandage 1982).

Second, it is important to see if it is possible to detect helium variations among clusters of similar metallicity, since helium remains a plausible candidate for the “second parameter” determining the morphology of the HB. While age seems to play a role in some clusters, it appears to be inadequate to explain all of the variations seen. In the past, clusters have been marked as possibly having high helium abundances (e.g., Dickens 1972), but to date there has not been definitive evidence of a relative helium abundance difference.

We will examine three different helium abundance indicators that can be measured from cluster photometry. We do this in the hopes that anomalous clusters will appear with unusual values in two or more of the parameters, so as to provide better evidence for variations. A cursory examination of older tabulations of data reveals an additional reason for recomputing values for these indicators: the trend of helium abundance with metallicity appears to depend on the method used (Caputo & Castellani 1983).

The three indicators have been discussed to varying degrees in earlier studies: $`R`$ (Iben 1968; Buzzoni et al 1983; Caputo, Martinez Roger, & Paez 1987), $`A`$ (Caputo, Cayrel, & Cayrel de Strobel 1983; hereafter, CCC), and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ (Carney 1980; CCC). Photometric studies of globular clusters have become rather numerous in the past decade, so that the size and quality of the dataset for each parameter can be considerably increased. Where it has been possible, we have also analyzed data for old globular clusters in the Magellanic Clouds, and for stars in Local Group dwarf spheroidals with old populations.

In the following sections, we discuss each parameter in turn – their definitions, the datasets, potential errors in measurement, and calibration. In the final two sections, we compare helium abundance values derived from the different indicators, and examine the evidence for trends as a function of \[Fe/H\].

## 2 Helium Abundance Indicators

For all three of the indicators discussed below, higher values imply higher helium abundances.

### 2.1 The Population Ratio $`R`$

This indicator is simply defined as the ratio $`R=N_{HB}/N_{RGB}`$, where $`N_{HB}`$ is the number of horizontal branch stars, and $`N_{RGB}`$ is the number of RGB stars brighter than the luminosity level of the HB. This primarily reflects the dependence of the hydrogen-burning shell’s progress on the hydrogen content of the envelope material being fed into it (and to a lesser extent, the change of helium core mass at helium flash, which affects the HB luminosity, and hence, the HB lifetime).

Because the ratio is computed using the brightest stars in each cluster, it can be calculated for any cluster having deep enough photometry. However, because these stars are relatively scarce in globular clusters, it usually requires wide-field data, or accurate photometry of the cluster core. We have restricted our sample to those clusters with photometric samples of at least a total of 100 HB and RGB stars. In addition, we require photometry of sufficient quality to separate the HB, RGB, and AGB populations readily, and to eliminate field stars from the sample when proper motion data is not available.

We have chosen to use the ratio $`R`$ rather than the similar ratio $`R^{}=N_{HB}/(N_{RGB}+N_{AGB})`$, which would be more easily measured in most cases, because $`R`$ is more straightforward to calculate theoretically. For this reason, the stellar sample was sometimes restricted in radius in order to remove portions of the cluster center where image blending made identifications of HB, RGB, and HB stars difficult.

In re-examining the determinations of $`R`$, we found that the vast majority of earlier calculations used the “average” differential bolometric correction $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{BC}V_{RGB}V_{HB}`$ of 0.15 mag to determine the faint end of the RGB sample. This value was used in the original Buzzoni et al. (1983) paper, but only because uncertainties of various sorts made the correction unimportant. However, the correction is actually a function of metallicity, and it is applied to the faint end of the RGB sample, which means it can be the source of significant systematic error.

To update $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{BC}`$, we have examined the HB models of Dorman (1992) in conjunction with the isochrones of Bergbusch & VandenBerg (1992; hereafter BV92). These stellar models were computed with a consistent set of physics and compositions. Although the composition is somewhat out of date (it does not include full $`\alpha `$-element enhancement), the differential bolometric corrections should be satisfactory because they are differential in nature, and the oxygen abundance does not affect the color of the giant branch relative to the instability strip. We have determined the corrections as a function of \[Fe/H\], and have derived the following fitting formula:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }V_{BC}=0.709+0.548\text{[M/H]}+0.229\text{[M/H]}^2+0.034\text{[M/H]}^3.$$

Because $`\alpha `$-element enhancements influence the position of the HB and RGB in the CMD like a change in \[Fe/H\] (Salaris, Chieffi, & Straniero 1993), they must be taken into account when computing \[M/H\]. To do so, we assumed a constant $`\alpha `$-element enhancement of 0.3 dex for all of the globular clusters examined (Carney 1996). \[The halo field population is believed to show a different abundance pattern as a function of metallicity (Wheeler, Sneden, & Truran 1989).\] The $`\alpha `$-element abundance was taken to contribute to the effective metal content of the cluster as 0.7 \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] (Salaris, Chieffi, & Straniero 1993). The contribution does not go directly as \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] because oxygen, the most abundant $`\alpha `$ element, has a relatively high ionization potential. As a result, it does not contribute as significantly to the opacity in the envelope of RGB stars as it does for higher temperature HB stars.

Error in observed $`R`$ values comes from two sources: error in the numbers of HB and RGB stars due to misidentification or Poisson fluctuations, and error in the determination of the faint limit for the RGB sample (resulting from the determination of the magnitude level of the HB, or the metallicity uncertainty that affects the size of the differential bolometric correction).

The magnitude level of the HB was taken to be the average magnitude of stars in the instability strip. For clusters with many well-studied RR Lyrae stars, this could be taken from the average magnitude of the variables. Often though the RR Lyrae stars were not observed frequently enough to derive good average magnitudes. If the cluster had populated red and blue edges of the intability strip, a linear interpolation between the edges was made. In cases where the cluster had only a populated red or blue HB, a theoretical correction was made using the models of Dorman (1992) to $`\mathrm{log}_{10}T_{eff}=3.85`$ using the cluster reddening and a well-determined point on the populated portion of the HB. Dorman’s scaled-solar abundance HB models were used with a correction for enhanced $`\alpha `$-element abundances as described above.

An examination of the table indicates that the quoted errors for the HB magnitudes for the clusters are in general less than 0.05 mag. This is because we are not interested in the absolute value of $`V_{HB}`$ for any of the clusters – only the value for the sample used. It is clearly unnecessary for the photometric calibration of the sample to be perfect, since we only require that the relative photometry of the HB and RGB be good enough that the faint limit of the RGB sample can be determined well. For this reason, the tabulated values of $`V_{HB}`$ should not be taken as being good absolute values. This column is provided to make verification of the results easier.

The error due to the differential bolometric correction is illustrative, so we present a semi-analytic model for its contribution to the error. The important quantity to compute is $`N_{RGB}/V_{RGB}`$. This can be derived assuming that i) the differential luminosity function (LF) of the RGB has a constant slope $`\alpha =d(\mathrm{log}_{10}N)/dV`$, and ii) the number of red giant branch stars goes to zero at the tip of the RGB (TRGB). So, we use $`\mathrm{log}_{10}(N)=\alpha (VV_{TRGB})`$, and find

$$N_{RGB}=\frac{N_o}{\mathrm{ln}10}(10^{\alpha (V_{RGB}V_{TRGB})}1),$$

where $`N_o`$ is the normalization of the luminosity function. From this we find

$$\frac{N_{RGB}}{V_{RGB}}=\alpha \mathrm{ln}10\left[\frac{10^{\alpha (V_{RGB}V_{TRGB})}}{10^{\alpha (V_{RGB}V_{TRGB})}1}\right]N_{RGB}.$$

The fraction in brackets is close to one, and from Bergbusch & VandenBerg (1992) LFs we find $`\alpha =0.33`$ nearly independent of composition. From this we find that for each tenth of a magnitude added to the faint limit of the RGB sample, the number of RGB stars increases by about 9%. (Alternately, making the faint limit fainter by one magnitude for a given cluster area increases the total number of red giants by approximately 85%.) This demonstrates the importance of accurate values for the differential bolometric correction $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{BC}`$.

The above derivative affects the error in $`N_{RGB}`$ through errors in metallicity and in the determination of the HB magnitude. Because of the metallicity dependence of the differential bolometric correction, helium determinations for high metallicity clusters will be relatively more uncertain. A polynomial fit to the derivative gives

$$\frac{\mathrm{ln}N_{RGB}}{V_{RGB}}=0.9469+0.1084\text{[M/H]}+0.0257\text{[M/H]}^2.$$

We note that the error from this source goes as $`N_{RGB}`$, whereas the Poisson counting errors go as $`N_{RGB}^{1/2}`$.

We have used \[Fe/H\] values from the tabulation of Djorgovski (1993) in computing the values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{BC}`$ for the clusters. Djorgovski’s values fairly closely follow the values of Zinn & West (1984; hereafter, ZW). We have also considered an alternative metallicity scale since this affects the differential bolometric corrections. Using metallicities from Carretta & Gratton (1996), we recomputed the $`R`$ values for 16 clusters from their sample. The results are shown in Fig. 1. For the most part, the values were little affected by the changes in the scale.

Computed $`R`$ values are insensitive to factors that merely shift the RGB in temperature or color (age, for example). Factors that cause changes in the absolute brightness of the HB (such as mean mass of the helium cores of stars, and CNO abundances) will cause systematic errors in measured values for individual clusters.

Our sample is composed of 42 Galactic globular clusters (GGCs) and 5 globulars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), and is presented in Table 1. The listings are grouped in bins of approximately 0.2 in \[Fe/H\]. References carrying a “(PM)” designation were used to remove field stars from the sample using proper motion information. There tend to be few clusters at the very metal-rich end due to a combination of substantial field star contamination and confusion between RGB and red HB cluster stars.

The variation of the $`R`$ values as a function of HB type is shown in Fig. 2. There may be a slight decrease in the average $`R`$ for clusters with bluer HB type. Several clusters with the bluest morphologies have unusually high $`R`$ values: NGC 6752, NGC 7099 (M30), NGC 6341 (M92), NGC 6218 (M12), and NGC 6681 (M70). However, this is not universal — there are more clusters in the same range of $`R_{HB}`$ having $`R`$ values that are closer to the Galactic average. There is not a clear reason for this difference: well-measured clusters are found in both groups, and a metallicity difference does not appear to be present.

An important effect of the inclusion of the metallicity dependence of $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{BC}`$ is the improved agreement between the $`R`$ values of several of the most metal-rich clusters and the metal-poor clusters. In a similar fashion, the increased $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{BC}`$ values will also significantly reduce the estimates of the helium abundances of Galactic bulge fields ($`Y=0.28\pm 0.02`$ according to Minniti 1995) because of the high mean metallicity of those stars.

### 2.2 The MS–HB Magnitude Difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$

The indicator $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ (CCC) is defined simply as the magnitude difference between the MS at $`(BV)_0=0.7`$ and the HB at the instability strip. CCC originally defined the HB point to be at the blue edge of the instability strip, but we have chosen to revise this definition to make it more easily calculable theoretically and observationally. This also reduces the color difference between the HB and MS points, reducing possible systematic effects from photometric calibration. The various sensitivities of the indicator are not significantly changed by the revision to the definition.

Increases in envelope helium abundance influence this indicator by increasing the luminosity of the HB (via the strength of hydrogen shell-burning during that phase) and by increasing the effective temperature and the luminosity of the MS through a decrease in the envelope opacity. The net effect of the luminosity and temperature changes on the MS is to make it fainter at a given color. As an indicator, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ has the advantage of being sensitive to the helium abundance ($`\mathrm{\Delta }/Y=5.8`$ mag; CCC), and the disadvantages of having a definite metallicity dependence ($`\mathrm{\Delta }/\text{[Fe/H]}0.5`$ mag / dex) and of requiring photometry from the HB to well below the MS turnoff. There is an additional disadvantage in requiring the knowledge of the cluster’s reddening to determine $`V_{0.7}`$. However, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ has no dependence on age, since the chosen MS point reaches unevolved stars. We can calculate theoretical values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ using a self-consistent set of isochrones (BV92) and HB models (Dorman 1992) having $`Y0.236`$. We have fitted the following polynomial to the data after making small corrections for different initial helium content in the theoretical models:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=4.2682.1295\text{[M/H]}0.7938(\text{[M/H]})^2$$

$$0.1173(\text{[M/H]})^3.$$

As can be seen from Table 3, there are only 20 clusters with enough information to compute a value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. We included clusters for which $`V_{HB}`$ and $`V_{0.7}`$ were derived from different studies, in spite of the possibility of zero point differences. The error budget for $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ was computed using:

$$\sigma ^2(\mathrm{\Delta })=\sigma ^2(V_{HB})+\sigma ^2(V_{0.7})$$

$$+(\frac{dV_{MS}}{d(BV)})^2\sigma ^2(E(BV))+\sigma ^2(\mathrm{})$$

where the last two terms account for reddening and zero point uncertainties respectively. As was discussed in § 2.1, we do not need to worry about how well calibrated the data are in an absolute sense, as long as there are not significant systematic errors in the relative photometry for the MS and HB (for instance, a nonlinearity in one of the CCDs).

In a global sense, the degree of agreement between the observed values and theoretical expectations is primarily a function of the metallicity scale chosen. In Fig. 3, we show the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ values using metallicities from three different studies: ZW, Carretta & Gratton (1996; hereafter CG), and Rutledge, Hesser, & Stetson (1997; hereafter RSD). The ZW comparison agrees well with the theory, although the scatter in values at a given metallicity is large. The high-resolution spectroscopy study of CG reduces the scatter considerably, although there seems to be a constant offset between the observed and theoretical values. RSD calibrated their Ca II triplet measurements to both the ZW and CG scales. In Fig. 3, we plot the values using RSD’s CG scale. Again, the scatter is fairly low, but the shape of the curve traced by the observed values is very different from theoretical expectations. The situation is almost identical for their ZW-calibrated values.

How are we to judge the merits of the different comparisons? First we must keep in mind that the absolute metallicity scale is uncertain at the 0.2 dex level (RSD), as has been assumed throughout the paper. The relative rankings are to be trusted more ($`\sigma 0.1`$ dex), making the shape of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ comparison most reliable. So, horizontal shifts of the curve by 0.2 dex should not be considered unreasonable. This means that the comparisons using both the ZW and CG metallicity data are consistent with the theoretical values. The RSD scales result in large discrepancies, particularly at the metal-rich end. The fact that the shape is different in both their ZW and CG calibrations implies that it probably results from details or assumptions of their technique. RSD discuss the issue of their Ca measurements as indicators of \[Fe/H\] at length, and we refer readers to their § 6.

Because the absolute metallicity scale remains uncertain at about the 0.2 dex level, it is currently impossible to determine low-error absolute helium abundances using $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. At the metal-rich end in particular, the absolute metallicity uncertainty causes large uncertainties in absolute helium abundance. The relative rankings are to be trusted more if the relative metal abundances for the globular clusters are good. This is not as much the case for the ZW scale (since it was a weighted average of determinations by different methods) as it is for the CG and RSD studies since they both applied a single method in a uniform way. We have chosen to use the CG scale because of the general agreement of the observational and theoretical curve shapes. The helium abundance for each of the clusters was computed relative to the theoretical values given the derivative $`\mathrm{\Delta }/Y`$ (CCC). In Figs. 10 and 4, we plot the calculated $`\delta Y`$ values as a function of metallicity and HB morphology, respectively. It is unsettling that the clusters with $`\left|R_{HB}\right|<0.8`$ (and well-defined blue and red edges to the instability strip) tend to have higher $`\delta Y`$ values. NGC 288 and M30 stand out slightly as having high values among the clusters with the bluest morphologies, and NGC 362, M71, and 47 Tuc stand out as high for clusters with red morphologies. This may indicate that the level of the horizontal branch is not being measured properly. However, the magnitude error would have to be between about 0.1 and 0.25 mag to bring them back into agreement, which seems overly large. If the reddest HB clusters can be explained via errors in their metallicities, there might be slight evidence for increased helium abundance with bluer HB type. We will discuss discrepant individual clusters in § 3.

### 2.3 The RR Lyrae Mass-Luminosity Exponent $`A`$

The indicator $`A`$ (CCC) is related to the mass-luminosity relationship for stars inside the instability strip:

$$A=\mathrm{log}(L/L_{})0.81\mathrm{log}(M/M_{}).$$

$`A`$ is dependent on helium because increased helium can both increase the luminosity of an RR Lyrae, as well as the mean mass of stars occupying the instability strip. While $`A`$ has a relatively small sensitivity to helium abundance ($`A/Y=1.4`$; Sandage 1990b, Bencivenni et al. 1991), statistical errors are generally small for clusters with a fair number of RR Lyraes ($`\sigma _A0.01`$). Potentially $`A`$ could provide helium abundances with the best precision ($`\sigma _Y0.007`$) of the three indicators we have considered.

$`A`$ can be computed using the period relation of van Albada & Baker (1971):

$$\mathrm{log}P=11.497+0.84A3.481\mathrm{log}T_{eff}.$$

One of the difficulties in using this relation is the computation of realistic effective temperatures for the cluster variables from readily observable quantities. As will be shown below, the uncertainty in the absolute temperature values results primarily in systematic shifts in $`A`$ values. As a result, $`A`$ can only be realistically considered a relative indicator of helium abundance at this time.

One source of uncertainty in the temperature scale relates to the calibration samples of field RR Lyraes. Aside from uncertainty in the model atmospheres used to calibrate the colors, the optimal choice of color continues to be debated. $`(VK)`$ has been recommended by many authors (Liu & Janes 1990; Jones et al. 1992; Carney, Storm, & Jones 1992a; Fernley 1993) over $`(BV)`$ due to evidence of shock-wave effects on $`B`$ magnitudes near maximum light. However, McNamara (1997) showed that the temperature calibration from $`(VK)`$ disagreed systematically as a function of period with those from $`(BV),(by),(VR)`$, and $`(VI)`$ when 1994 Kurucz model atmospheres were used.

In recent years, studies of globular cluster RR Lyraes have turned to the use of quantities like the period $`\mathrm{log}P`$ and blue amplitude $`A_B`$ to derive temperatures so as to avoid systematic errors resulting from reddenings. However, there is still uncertainty in the temperature zero-point from the model atmospheres used to calibrate the temperature of field RR Lyraes, and from the differences in temperatures derived from colors using different filter combinations.

We have chosen to recalibrate the temperature relation of Catelan (1998) for RR Lyrae stars of type ab (with $`A_B`$ and \[Fe/H\] the only variables) to temperatures derived using $`(BV)`$ colors. Catelan, Sweigart, & Borissova (1998a) point out that the use of a $`\mathrm{log}P`$ term in the determination of effective temperatures (as in equation 16 of Carney et al. (1992a)) tends to cause luminosity differences among RR Lyraes to be translated into temperature differences, erroneously reducing the scatter in the $`PT_{eq}`$ plane.

Our decision to use $`(BV)`$ color temperatures for the calibrating sample of field RR Lyraes is based on the findings of McNamara (1997), and Kovács & Jurcsik (1997). As mentioned above, McNamara found that temperatures derived from $`(VK)`$ deviated systematically from several other commonly-used colors as a function of period. It has been known for a long time that $`M_K`$ correlates strongly with $`\mathrm{log}P`$ (e.g. Longmore et al. 1990). Because the $`K`$ band is on the Rayleigh-Jeans portion of the blackbody curve for RR Lyraes, it is not very sensitive to temperature ($`B`$ and $`V`$ fall near the maximum). Kovács & Jurcsik’s examination of $`M_V,M_{I_c}`$, and $`M_K`$ as a function of Fourier light curve parameters for globular cluster variables indicates that the period dependence is important for each of the filters, but is larger for redder filters. As a result, filter combinations with longer wavelength baselines have larger period dependences. In particular, $`(VK)`$ is predicted to have a period dependence that can explain the trend McNamara sees, while $`(VI_c)`$ has a dependence that is over twice as small, and the dependence for $`(BV)`$ is over ten times smaller. Because period depends significantly on the stellar luminosity in addition to temperature (see van Albada & Baker’s pulsation equation), a large period dependence in the color is likely to be a systematic problem, in agreement with the assertion of Catelan et al. (1998a).

So, using temperatures from McNamara (1997), pulsational amplitudes from Blanco (1992), and metallicities from Layden et al. (1996) for field RR Lyraes, we found the relation:

$$\mathrm{\Theta }_{eq}=(0.776\pm 0.012)(0.030\pm 0.008)A_B$$

$$(0.008\pm 0.003)\text{[Fe/H]}.$$

The fit has a multiple correlation coefficient $`r=0.925`$, and an rms deviation of 40 K from the fit. In addition, the residuals show no correlation with $`\mathrm{log}P`$. To check the effect that different compositions for field and cluster RR Lyraes could have, we redid the fit using only variables with \[Fe/H\] $`<1.0`$. The fit (using 15 stars) was

$$\mathrm{\Theta }_{eq}=(0.786\pm 0.020)(0.039\pm 0.011)A_B$$

$$(0.008\pm 0.009)\text{[Fe/H]}.$$

We have chosen to use this second calculation for the calculations in this paper, though it makes only small changes to the $`A`$ values.

In computing $`A`$ values for cluster variables, we have chosen not to include variables which are known to exhibit the Blashko effect, as this causes changes in pulsation amplitude (and in our computed temperatures) from cycle to cycle. Those variables were included in calculations of the average period though, since the period of pulsation is not affected. Error analysis was carried out on $`A`$ values for each variable. However, we find that the error in individual $`A`$ values is not very significant compared with the scatter in $`A`$ values for variables within a cluster. From an examination of histograms of $`A`$ values for the most populated clusters, the distributions appear to be Gaussian.

We have found 50 Milky Way globular clusters having good data on at least 2 RRab variables, for a total of 974 stars. We have also analyzed 8 old Magellanic Cloud clusters (108 variables), and 4 Local Group dwarf spheroidal galaxies (214 variables), as shown in Table 4. Only 25 of the Milky Way clusters (and 5 in the Magellanic Clouds) have 10 or more RRab stars with good data. The table includes only those clusters for which there is at least one RRab star with period and amplitude measurements. For the clusters examined, we give the mean period of the RRab stars in column (3), along with the error in the mean. The average mass-luminosity exponent $`A`$ is computed from the average of the values for the stars that have $`A_B`$ values. When this is different from the number that have periods, the number is given in parentheses in column (2). Fig. 5 plots our data against those calculated according to the method of Caputo & De Santis (1992), which employed a different (but also reddening-independent) method for computing $`A`$. The primary difference between the studies is in zero-points, which is probably due to the differences in the temperature calibrations. There may also be a slope difference at high values of $`A`$ .

Caputo & De Santis found that their $`A`$ values showed sensitivity to the HB type — clusters with blue HBs ($`(BR)/(B+V+R)>0.7`$) tended to have significantly higher values for $`A`$ . Synthetic HB models predict that only very evolved HB stars are found in the instability strip for clusters with very blue HB populations. In Fig. 6, we plot our $`A`$ values versus horizontal branch type $`R_{HB}`$. As Caputo & De Santis found, there is little scatter among Oosterhoff group I clusters with a few exceptions (most notably NGC 6229 on the low end). None of the Oosterhoff group II clusters have $`A`$ values consistent with the overwhelming majority of Oo I clusters. (Although Ruprecht 106 has a $`P_{ab}`$ closer to those of the Oosterhoff II group, its lack of RRc variables and its low $`A`$ value indicate that it could be an Oo I cluster.) M14 and M28, the two Oo I clusters with the bluest HB morphologies, have $`A`$ values that place them at the low end of the range populated by Oosterhoff II clusters.

There are a number of systems that have $`A`$ values that are consistent with being in the Oosterhoff II group and HB types that are redder than the majority of Oo II clusters. This is partly an incarnation of the second parameter effect in HB morphology. However, it seems to rule out the possibility that Oo II RR Lyraes are simply the result of the instability strip being populated solely by stars that are evolving toward the AGB. The instability strip is too well populated in systems like the Ursa Minor dSph and Galactic globular clusters like M68 and NGC 5466, all of which have populations of red HB stars in addition to the variables.

For this reason, we have re-examined the dependence of $`A`$ with \[Fe/H\] in Fig. 7. Many previous studies (e.g. Sandage 1990b, Caputo & De Santis 1992) have noted the apparent linear correlation within the total globular cluster sample. If this is truly the case, then the two Oosterhoff groups should also show the same linear relation separately. We derive the following relations:

$$A=(0.032\pm 0.008)\text{[Fe/H]}+(1.821\pm 0.012)$$

for the 21 Oo I clusters having 7 or more RRab stars (excluding NGC 6229 as an extreme outlier) having $`1.69\text{[Fe/H]}0.99`$, and

$$A=(0.001\pm 0.018)\text{[Fe/H]}+(1.929\pm 0.036)$$

for 12 Oo II clusters with 7 or more RRab stars (excluding $`\omega `$ Cen due to its metallicity spread) having $`2.22<\text{[Fe/H]}<1.58`$. If Ruprecht 106 is removed from the Oo I sample (it appears to be a young cluster, and it has an unusually low dispersion in the $`A`$ values of its variables), we find

$$A=(0.003\pm 0.010)\text{[Fe/H]}+(1.868\pm 0.015).$$

The two groups individually have slopes that are significantly shallower than derived from the union of the two samples ($`0.088\pm 0.006`$), and both are consistent with zero. Both slopes are also significantly smaller than predictions from synthetic HB computations ($`0.027`$; Lee, Demarque, & Zinn 1990). For the Oo I clusters the small slope is not surprising since the $`A`$ values are not predicted to have a dependence on HB type for $`R_{HB}<0.7`$. The Oo I clusters M14 and M28 are the only Galactic globular clusters (with 40 and 9 RRab variables respectively) that can be said to fall in the gap between the two groups. Both have very blue HB morphologies, indicating that the relatively high temperatures of the variables are affecting the $`A`$ values (Caputo et al. 1993). More unexpected is the essentially constant value found for the Oo II clusters which are expected to be much more sensitive to HB type (Caputo & De Santis 1992).

An examination of the average periods in Fig. 7 also indicates that while there does seem to be a linear relation in the total sample, if the Oosterhoff groups are considered separately the slope is significantly smaller. We have included only those clusters having 7 or more RRab stars. We find

$$\mathrm{log}P=(0.019\pm 0.010)\text{[Fe/H]}+(0.281\pm 0.015)$$

for 20 Oosterhoff I clusters, and

$$\mathrm{log}P=(0.028\pm 0.015)\text{[Fe/H]}+(0.251\pm 0.031)$$

for 13 Oosterhoff II clusters. The slopes are consistent with each other, and somewhat shallower than predicted by evolutionary models ($`0.05`$; Lee, Demarque, & Zinn 1990). For the two groups, we find average periods of 0.556 and 0.643 days, respectively. The offset in periods between the two Oosterhoff groups almost exactly corresponds to the difference between the average $`A`$ values, and so is probably not due to differences in mean temperature of the variables. From van Albada & Baker’s relation, this indicates that there is likely to be a difference in the mean mass and/or luminosity of the RR Lyraes in the two groups.

While the Oo II clusters with the bluest HBs show large scatter in $`A`$ as expected for small samples of RR Lyraes, the clusters with redder HBs (and generally, with larger numbers of HB stars) – most notably M68, but also M15, M53, NGC 5053, NGC 5466, and possibly NGC 2419 – have the same value to within the errors. What also makes these clusters unusual is that if they indeed had high helium abundances as their higher $`A`$ values might indicate (whether primordial or due to the action of a deep mixing mechanism), all of their HB star distributions would be expected to be bluer. For these clusters we are left with the possibilities that either high helium is acting against an even stronger third parameter, or that helium does not vary and there is a different second parameter.

In short, it would be wise to discard most of the Oo II clusters since they are prone to small number statistics, and so are overly sensitive to the HB type, making them useless as helium abundance tracers. However, the variable-rich Oo II clusters stand out in the constancy of their $`A`$ values as a group. Based on these data alone a high helium abundance could be a possible explanation. However, the data from other indicators show no evidence to support this. It is clear that some other factor is necessary to completely explain the large numbers (a total of 104 known for the 6 clusters) of RR Lyraes in these clusters, but the question is beyond the scope of this paper. One result of this discussion is that there appears to be no relationship between the Oosterhoff dichotomy and the second parameter problem, given the lack of variation in $`A`$ with HB type.

In the range $`1.8<\text{[Fe/H]}<1.55`$, there are clusters of both Oosterhoff types with at least moderate numbers of variables. Three of the Oo I clusters (M3, NGC 3201, and NGC 7006) are among the most populated with RR Lyraes, and have moderately blue HB types. The Oo II clusters (M2, M9, M22, and NGC 5286) are among the bluest HB types in the group. The four Magellanic Cloud clusters that have $`A`$ between the two Oosterhoff groups also have \[Fe/H\] $`1.8`$ and have HB types falling between the majority of the clusters in the the two groups.

The difference of 0.06 in $`A`$ between Oosterhoff I and II clusters would require a difference of 0.05 in initial helium abundance. A sudden change of that magnitude is unlikely to have occurred in Galactic chemical evolution. Enrichment of the envelopes of the RR Lyraes by deep mixing on the upper RGB could potentially be invoked to explain the $`A`$ measurements. In order to explain observed variations in the abundances of species of aluminum and magnesium in several clusters, surface material must have mixed through regions where hydrogen has at least partly burned to helium in the shell source. Sweigart (1997) finds that an increase in envelope helium abundance by 0.04 could explain the period shift difference between M3 and M15. (Period shifts go like 0.84 times the difference in $`A`$.) If so, the Oosterhoff dichotomy would imply that the driving mechanism only existed in one group or the other (in the case of stellar rotation driving circulation, Oo II clusters would be required to have higher average rotation). However, significant variations in oxygen abundance are seen in giants in clusters of both Oo I (M3, Kraft et al. 1992; M5, Sneden et al. 1992) and Oo II (M15, Sneden et al. 1997; M92, Sneden et al. 1991) groups, making this explanation unlikely. Among the Oo I clusters, the $`A`$ indicator shows no evidence of significant helium abundance variations.

We have also examined old Magellanic Cloud globular clusters and Local Group dwarf spheroidals (dSph) having RR Lyrae observations in the literature. Several of the dSph galaxies have populations that are old enough to make a comparison with globular clusters useful, though composition variations have been seen in Draco (Lehnert et al. 1992; Shetrone, Bolte, & Stetson 1998) and Sextans (Suntzeff et al. 1993). In spite of the composition variations, Draco’s variables have $`A`$ values that are strongly peaked near its $`A`$ , giving additional evidence for lack of a significant metallicity dependence in A.

Ursa Minor, the dSph with the largest mean period of those we have data for, falls unequivocally among Oo II clusters. Carina, Draco, and Sextans have mean periods that put them just on the Oo II side of the period gap between the Oosterhoff groups. However, only Carina and Ursa Minor have $`A`$ values consistent with Oo II clusters. (Our estimated $`R_{HB}`$ value for Carina is uncertain to probably $`\pm 0.2`$, but this does not impact the analysis. The value was estimated from the appearance of the old population HB in the CMD of Smecker Hane et al. 1994.) Draco and Sextans have $`A`$ values slightly higher than the average for Oo I clusters. Draco is unusual due to being very metal poor with an unusually red morphology. To check if this affected the derived $`A`$ values, we derived the following relation from the sample of 39 globular clusters (Milky Way and LMC) having more than 7 RR Lyrae stars:

$$\mathrm{log}T_{eff}=(3.8394\pm 0.0012)+(0.0100\pm 0.0008)\text{[Fe/H]}$$

$$+(0.0032\pm 0.0005)R_{HB}.$$

The rms residual for the globular clusters was 0.0025. The dwarf spheroidals do not show good evidence for deviating from this rough relation, as shown in Fig. 8. Thus, the metallicity and HB morphology seem to be able to account for the low temperatures of the RR Lyraes, with no obvious distiinction between Oosterhoff groups. As was found for the reddest Galactic Oo II clusters, helium cannot be the main factor determining the HB morphology since increased envelope helium would drive the morphology much bluer.

The slope derived from the 5 RR Lyrae-rich Magellanic cloud clusters is

$$A/\text{[Fe/H]}=0.141\pm 0.019.$$

This is significantly higher than the slope of the (Oo I + Oo II) Galactic samples, but these clusters might also be more profitably put into separate Oosterhoff classes. According to the mean periods, the SMC cluster NGC 121 and the LMC cluster Reticulum are Oo I clusters, and NGC 1786 and 1841 are Oo II. (We have estimated $`R_{HB}=0.9\pm 0.1`$ for NGC 1786 from the statistically subtracted CMD of Brocato et al. 1996c.) The remaining four LMC clusters (NGC 1466, 1835, 2210, and 2257) fall between the two groups in Figs. 7, while having mean periods at the high end of the Oo I group. It may be suggestive that all four of these clusters have \[Fe/H\]$`1.8`$, which appears to be at the metal-poor end of the metallicity distribution for Oo I clusters in the Milky Way. A high helium abundance could be the cause only if helium enrichment occurs by a process that did not enrich the heavy elements in these clusters.

## 3 Comparisons

As stated previously, we have examined these three helium indicators in an attempt to see if we could determine with greater confidence whether any of the Galactic globular clusters have abnormal helium abundances. It is also clear that we are unlikely to derive useful absolute helium abundances. We will now see if we can find anomalous relative abundances under the assumption that abnormal indicator values reflect abnormal helium abundances (which may not be the case, given the factors that can affect each indicator).

For $`R`$, helium abundances can be computed from equation 11 of Buzzoni et al. (1983). For $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, we compute a relative helium abundance value $`\delta Y(\mathrm{\Delta })`$ using the theoretical values in § 2.2 and the derivative $`\mathrm{\Delta }/Y=5.8`$ mag (CCC). Here, the uncertainties in the absolute metallicity scale prevent the computation of good absolute helium abundances. We have chosen to use CG abundances from high-dispersion spectroscopy, supplementing with abundances from RSD for NGC 1261, 1851, and 6218 (M12). For $`A`$ , we compute relative helium abundances $`\delta Y(A)`$ by computing the difference from the average $`A`$ value for the corresponding Oosterhoff group, and then applying the derivative $`A/Y=1.4`$ (Sandage 1990b; Bencivenni et al. 1991). Because the $`A`$ values do not show significant dependences on metallicity, we believe this is the best choice. We have chosen not to compute $`\delta Y`$ for clusters having fewer than 7 RRab stars with $`B`$ amplitudes. For the Oo I clusters, the average value is $`1.8629\pm 0.0017`$, and $`1.9271\pm 0.0028`$ for Oo II clusters. The helium values are given in Table 6, and the comparison plots are shown in Fig. 9.

There isn’t an obvious correlation in the comparison of helium abundances from the $`R`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ or $`A`$ indicators. Comparison between abundances from $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`A`$ is hampered by the small overlap between the two samples. We can alternately look for clusters whose values may indicate anomalous helium abundances.

In the following paragraphs, we briefly discuss clusters with unusual values for some or all of the helium indicators.

NGC 1851: The value derived from $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is below average, and the value from $`R`$ is about average. From previous studies of its RR Lyraes (Wehlau et al. 1978, Wehlau et al. 1982), NGC 1851 appeared to have an $`A`$ closer to those of Oosterhoff II clusters. In fact, both the mean period of the variables and the ratio of RR Lyrae numbers $`N_c/N_{ab}`$ are high for an Oosterhoff I cluster, and the bimodality of the HB (with a sparsely populated instability strip) has been difficult to model using canonical HB models (see Catelan et al. 1998b). However, Walker’s (1998) re-examination of the RR Lyraes using CCD photometry indicates that the $`B`$-amplitudes in the photographic studies were systematically too large. The new data indicates that NGC 1851’s $`A`$ value is completely consistent with the Oo I average.

NGC 5927: see NGC 6624.

M4 (NGC 6121): All three indicator values for M4 are below the averages, although the $`A`$ value is only slightly so. The value derived from $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ can be questioned due to indications that there is differential reddening across the cluster (Cudworth & Rees 1990), and that $`R_V=A_V/\text{E}(BV)`$ differs from the most frequently used value (e.g., Dixon & Longmore 1993). Because the magnitudes of the HB and MS points were taken from studies of different portions of the cluster, we might expect a systematic error of over 0.01 in $`Y`$. The reddening quoted in Table 3 is a weighted mean of previous studies (Dixon & Longmore 1993), although the error of $`\pm 0.01`$ is probably still an underestimate. The values from $`R`$ and $`A`$ should be more reliable.

NGC 6171 (M107): M107 has very low $`Y(R)`$ and $`\delta Y(\mathrm{\Delta })`$ values, and an average $`\delta Y(A)`$ value. To completely explain the low $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ value by a reddening error, E$`(BV)`$ would have to be underestimated by 0.06, which is possible given that E$`(BV)0.3`$. Similarly, to explain the low $`R`$ value, one would have to invoke an excessively large metallicity error.

NGC 6229: Like NGC 1851, NGC 6229 also has a bimodal HB with a sparsely populated instability strip. The $`A`$ value derived for this cluster is considerably lower than the average. As was previously the case with NGC 1851 (see above), the RR Lyrae data is based on fairly old photometry, which may be the source of systematic error in the pulsational amplitudes. The $`R`$ value also indicates a low helium abundance for a fair-sized sample ($`100`$ each of HB and RGB stars). NGC 6229 has a rather extended blue HB morphology for an outer halo clusters, contrary to what would be expected from the $`A`$ and $`R`$ values (Borissova et al. 1997).

M62 (NGC 6266): Like other post-core-collapse clusters (see NGC 6752 and M30), M62 has a rather large $`R`$ value, although its $`A`$ value is fairly close to the average. M62 has heavy differential reddening, which may affect the determination of the HB magnitude.

M92 (NGC 6341): M92’s $`R`$ value seems to be unusually large, although examination of more recent wide-field CCD photometry indicates that our value is probably too high (Bolte & Roman 1999; in preparation). The $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ value falls a little lower than the average.

NGC 6624: This cluster has the lowest $`R`$ value of any cluster examined here. Because $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{BC}`$ is sensitive to \[M/H\] at the metal-rich end, and because NGC 6624 is one of the most metal rich clusters in our sample, the metal abundance is a natural suspect. NGC 6624 appears to be approximately $`0.20.4`$ dex more metal-rich than 47 Tuc according to Ca II triplet measurements (RSD; Idiart, Thevenin, & de Freitas Pacheco 1997; Armandroff & Zinn 1988), but less than 0.1 dex more metal-rich according to spectrophotometry (Gregg 1994). If we optimistically take NGC 6624’s metallicity to equal that of 47 Tuc, the $`R`$ value increases to $`0.83\pm 0.10`$, which does not alleviate the problem. It was suggested by Richtler et al. (1994) that the total metal abundance \[M/H\] for the cluster is considerably lower than its iron abundance (\[Fe/H\]$`=0.37`$; ZW) would indicate, based on comparisons between photometry and BV92 models. This could be the case if Type I supernovae became the primary source of heavy element enrichment. If the iron abundance did not actually trace the total metallicity for this cluster (and it is in fact more metal-poor), this would mean the the differential bolometric correction we used was too large, which would help explain the low $`R`$ value. The cluster NGC 5927 also shows an extremely low $`R`$ value consistent with this idea (Ca II triplet measurements indicate that NGC 5927 is about 0.4 dex more metal-rich than 47 Tuc). However, M69 and NGC 6496, which are only $`0.10.2`$ dex more metal poor according to \[Fe/H\] measures, have $`R`$ values which are closer to the average for our sample.

NGC 6752: This cluster presents a rather large value for $`R`$ from a large sample of stars. The $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ value is more consistent with the average of the globular cluster system, although the HB magnitude is notoriously difficult to determine due to a complete lack of stars on the instability strip and red HB.

M30 (NGC 7099): In its high $`R`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ values, M30 presents evidence for a helium abundance enhancement. The cluster’s reddening is under some dispute though. Reducing the reddening to E$`(BV)=0.02`$ would lower the enhancement computed from $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ to 0.033, which is consistent with the bulk of the other clusters. The $`R`$ measurement is more certain to be unusually high given the relatively large bright star samples.

Ruprecht 106: One concern in photometric analyses of Ruprecht 106 has been the uncertainty in its metallicity. Francois et al. (1997) have found \[Fe/H\]$`=1.6\pm 0.25`$ from high-resolution spectroscopy. The metallicity uncertainty plays a small role here though because of the small dependences of $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{BC}`$ (at this low metallicity) and $`A`$ on \[Fe/H\]. The sample of stars for $`R`$ is relatively small, so $`Y(R)`$ is consistent with the values for other clusters to within the errors. Its RR Lyraes have low $`A`$ values for the metallicity of the cluster though, which may be a result of the apparent youth of the cluster (Buonanno et al. 1993), and relatively high masses of the variables.

## 4 Discussion

In Fig. 10, we plot the helium abundances derived from the three indicators as a function of metallicity. With the current dataset, we find that the three helium indicators $`R`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, and $`A`$ now yield trends of helium abundance as a function of metallicity that are consistent with zero to within the errors over the range of \[Fe/H\] sampled.

There does not seem to be an obvious trend in the $`Y(R)`$ values as a function of metallicity, although this could be masked by the considerable scatter in the points. The measurement error is primarily the result of Poisson errors. The situation will probably improve with the careful examination of the HB and RGB populations of clusters with the largest evolved star populations. A total RGB and HB star sample in excess of 1000 stars is necessary to reduce the error bars for individual clusters to $`\sigma (Y)0.01`$.

By separating the clusters into three subsamples according to the total numbers of HB and RGB stars they have, we derive the mean values listed in Table 8. The standard deviations in each case are larger than the average measurement error for the clusters in each subsample, indicating that the scatter in the measurements may be real. To test this idea, we did Monte Carlo simulations using the measurement errors to set $`Y(R)`$ for each cluster (with the average value for each cluster always centered on the mean of the sample), and determined the probability of getting a standard deviation as large as what is observed. For the 17 clusters with $`N_{RGB}+N_{HB}>250`$, we find a standard deviation of 0.033 in $`Y`$, and an expected standard deviation of 0.018, which results in a probability less than $`10^4`$ that the measurement errors can explain the standard deviation. For the sample with $`N_{RGB}+N_{HB}<200`$ (having larger Poisson errors), the corresponding probability is 0.06.

The derived mean abundance is considerably lower than the expected primordial value $`Y_P=0.23`$. Because we believe we have removed the most important (known) systematic errors in the $`R`$ measurements, we should ask what might cause the $`Y(R)`$ values to be low. Brocato, Castellani, & Villante (1998) suggest that the uncertainties in the rate of the <sup>12</sup>C($`\alpha ,\gamma `$)<sup>16</sup>O reaction lead to an uncertainty in the derived helium abundance of about 0.02. Another possibility is that there is a systematic effect throwing the $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{BC}`$ values off.

In lieu of systematic errors in $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{BC}`$, we can ask what physical processes can slow RGB evolution. Langer, Bolte, & Sandquist (1999) have suggested that deep mixing processes on the upper RGB may result in lengthened or reduced evolutionary times for those stars, which could modulate the resulting $`R`$ values. This kind of scenario would mean that the helium abundances measured by this method (as well as those using HB stars in some way) would be affected since some of the helium produced by the hydrogen-burning shell would be mixed into the envelope of the stars that undergo the process.

We can also attempt to measure the trend in $`\delta Y(\mathrm{\Delta })`$ as a function of \[Fe/H\]. The primary difficulty is the clusters at \[Fe/H\]$`1.3`$ (essentially on the ZW scale) with abnormally low values. There are good reasons for removing M4 and M12 from consideration due to differential reddening and large reddening uncertainty. Along with M4 (which has a relatively low $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ value also), M12, M107, and NGC 1851 were the clusters for which we had to use metallicities from the RHS study since they were not observed by CG. We find from clusters with $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ measurements (excepting M4, M12, M107, and NGC 1851) has a linear trend:

$$\delta Y(\mathrm{\Delta })=(0.016\pm 0.007)\text{[Fe/H]}+(0.049\pm 0.011).$$

The slope has marginal significance, but systematic error in the zeropoint of the metallicity scale affects the slope of the best-fit line since the $`\delta Y(\mathrm{\Delta })`$ values of high metallicity clusters are modified to a larger degree by metallicity shifts than low metallicity clusters. If we reduce the metallicity of all clusters by 0.21 dex (equivalent to ignoring $`\alpha `$ elements), we derive a best-fit slope of $`0.010\pm 0.007`$ — a change in sign. Thus, the dependence of helium abundance on \[Fe/H\] (in addition to the absolute helium abundance) as derived from $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ will not be certain until the absolute metallicity scale is improved.

The data from the $`A`$ indicator for the two Oosterhoff groups are individually consistent with constant helium abundance as a function of \[Fe/H\]. It is unlikely that the difference in $`A`$ between the two groups is due to a difference in helium abundance since a similar jump does not appear in the other indicators.

To explain the apparent difference in $`A`$ values between Oosterhoff groups, there must either be some combination of a mean luminosity or a mean mass difference between the RR Lyrae stars in the two groups. If the difference were entirely due to a difference in mean mass, there would be no observable effect in either the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ or $`R`$ indicators. If there was only a difference in the mean luminosity (the Oo II clusters RR Lyraes would have to be about 15% more luminous than Oo I variables), Oo II clusters should have $`R`$ values that are 13% smaller (since $`R`$ requires the HB magnitude to compute the faint limit of the RGB sample), and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ values that are higher by about 0.15 mag. From 15 Oo I clusters having more than 5 variables as well as $`R`$ values, we find $`\overline{R}=1.100\pm 0.033`$. For the 7 Oo II clusters meeting the same criteria, we find $`\overline{R}=1.139\pm 0.060`$. The values for the two groups are consistent to within the errors. For $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, we find $`\overline{\delta Y(\mathrm{\Delta })}=0.0063\pm 0.0054`$ and $`0.0153\pm 0.005`$ for 7 Oo I and 3 Oo II clusters respectively. So again, we have no evidence for helium abundance differences between the groups, but the small numbers of clusters with $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ values makes this a weak comparison.

The difference in mean $`A`$ value between the groups corresponds to a difference in the mean RR Lyrae mass of approximately 20%. This is not so large as to make it unreasonable that there might be differences in the amount of mass loss at the tip of the RGB between the two groups. The observations require the Oosterhoff II clusters to have variables of lower mass. This goes in a direction opposite what is needed to explain the HB morphologies of at least some of the clusters.

Clearly this does not speak to the exact cause of the Oosterhoff dichotomy, but it can give a little guidance on the details of how the dichotomy is brought about.

## 5 Conclusions

We begin this section by summarizing what we consider to be the most important results of the surveys tabulated here.

With the corrected differential bolometric corrections (larger for more metal-rich populations), we now see no significant evidence for variation in the indicator $`R`$ as a function of metallicity or horizontal branch type. In particular, metal-rich (\[Fe/H\] $`1`$) Galactic globular clusters now are more consistent with the mean, and Galactic bulge fields (Minniti 1995) are also likely to show lower helium abundances. However, only a handful of clusters have helium values $`Y(R)`$ consistent with the favored primordial value $`Y_P0.23`$. There is evidence that there is real scatter in the $`R`$ values, over and above what can be chalked up to measurement errors. Clusters with anomalously high (M30, M62, and NGC 6752) and low (M68, M107, NGC 5927, NGC 6229, and NGC 6624) values appear over a range of metallicity.

For $`A`$, we find that virtually all of the Oosterhoff I clusters (and the LMC cluster Reticulum) have values consistent with a constant helium abundance. The Oosterhoff II clusters with the largest number of RR Lyrae variables also appear to have a constant $`A`$ value (as do the Ursa Minor and Carina dwarf spheroidals, and the LMC globular cluster NGC 1841). The remaining LMC globular clusters, and the dwarf spheroidals Draco and Sextans have $`A`$ values slightly above the average for the Oo I group. For the richest Oo II systems, evolution is unable to explain the numbers of RR Lyrae variables, and a systematic offset in helium abundance also seems unlikely given the evidence from the other two indicators. The lack of any correlation between HB type and $`A`$ is indication that the second parameter problem is completely independent from the Oosterhoff dichotomy. The $`A`$ measurements give us the best constraint on the chemical evolution parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y/\mathrm{\Delta }Z`$. Using the $`1\sigma `$ error bar on the slope of the $`A`$ – \[Fe/H\] relation, we get a limit $`\left|\mathrm{\Delta }Y/\mathrm{\Delta }Z\right|10`$, which is consistent with measurements from extragalactic HII regions (Pagel et al. 1992).

For $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, our results are consistent with constant helium abundance across the range of metallicity sampled. The absolute value of the helium abundance as well as the exact value of $`dY/d(\text{[Fe/H]})`$ depend on the metallicity scale used. The most discrepant clusters can potentially be explained by errors in the cluster reddenings.

Comparing data from different indicators, we find that the mean trends are all consistent with constant helium abundance for metallicities \[Fe/H\] $`0.7`$. We have examined the three indicators so as to use the information to either bolster or dispute claims of unusual helium abundance from just one indicator. In examining the clusters with helium abundances from more than one indicator, we have not found convincing evidence that any have abnormal helium abundances. Systematic effects clearly appear to varying degrees in the data for all three indicators, but we have not been able to determine the cause in all cases.

We must note that none of the three indicators we have tabulated has much data covering the most metal-rich clusters where evidence of helium enrichment may still reside. In general, the photometry for these clusters is most subject to field star contamination and heavy reddening, making interpretation difficult. For $`R`$, there is the additional problem that the red HB begins to overlap the RGB in the CMD, making clean values impossible. The redness of the HB also tends to preclude the possibility of RR Lyrae stars, and hence the possibility of computing $`A`$. Reddening and difficulties in finding the true HB level makes $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ values unlikely without considerable work. Other means must be devised to determine good helium abundances for these clusters.

## 6 Acknowledgements

I would like to thank many for supplying electronic copies of their datasets: E. Brocato, F. Ferraro, P. Guhathakurta, D. Martins, S.-C. Rey, T. Richtler, N. Samus, A. Sarajedini, V. Testa, and A. Walker. I would also like to thank M. Catelan, G. E. Langer, R. Taam, and the anonymous referee for very helpful conversations, and M. Bolte and R. Taam for their support (under NSF grants AST-9420204 and AST-9415423, respectively) while this work was in progress.