Description
We present homogeneous abundance determinations for iron and some of the elements involved in the proton-capture reactions (O, Na, Mg, Al, and Si) for 202 red giants in 17 Galactic globular clusters (GCs) from the analysis of high-resolution UVES spectra obtained with the FLAMES facility at the ESO VLT2 telescope. Our programme clusters span almost the whole range of the metallicity distribution of GCs and were selected to sample the widest range of global parameters (horizontal-branch morphology, masses, concentration, etc). In this paper we focus on the discussion of the Na-O and Mg-Al anticorrelations and related issues. Our study finds clear Na and O star-to-star abundance variations, exceeding those expected from the error in the analysis, in all clusters. Variations in Al are present in all but a few GCs. Finally, a spread in abundances of Mg and Si are also present in a few clusters. Mg is slightly less overabundant and Si slightly more overabundant in the most Al-rich stars.
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