Graeme H. Smith,1*
1University of California
Observatories/Lick Observatory,
University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
Abstract. Globular clusters of the Milky Way tend to be markedly inhomo- geneous with respect to the abundance of nitrogen, as well as other elements in the C-through-Al region of the Periodic Table. Stars within the same cluster may differ by as much as a factor of ten in nitrogen abundance. In this paper we discuss the possibility that globular clusters became enriched in nitrogen while they were still forming stars. Idealised equations describing the possible chem- ical evolution of a globular cluster are presented. They are used to elucidate several "supply and demand" requirements that must be met by a primordial enrichment model for the nitrogen inhomogeneity of these objects.
Keywords: Galaxy: abundances - globular clusters: general - stars: abundances