A Tenuous Signal: Searching for Heavy Element Dispersion in the Stars of M5

Nalamwar and collaborators studied 28 stars in the globular cluster M5 using Keck spectra to test for r-process variations. They found a small spread in neodymium among first-generation stars but no clear dispersion in europium or second-generation stars. This suggests early, uneven enrichment of heavy elements in M5, possibly from a rare stellar explosion or merging gas clouds, though the evidence remains tentative.