Affiliation: | a Center for Astrophysics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China b National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, People's Republic of China c Beijing Astrophysics Center, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China |
Abstract: | Using principal component analysis, we have studied the equivalent widths of optical spectral lines of 41 Galactic globular clusters and 22 young stellar clusters. We have discovered that some characteristic spectral lines, such as the CN, Ca IIK, Ca IIH and MgI+MgII lines, are rather sensitive to metallicity. We have also found some lines that may be used as indicators of age, e.g. Hδ, Hγ, Hβ and H. These lines can help us to disentangle the coupling effects of age and metallicity in the clusters. |