A colour-colour fingerprint links the UV upturn in early-type galaxies to second-generation stars from dissolved globular clusters

Abstract We address two mass-dependent properties among early-type galaxies (ETGs): (1) abundance ratios [N/Fe] and [Na/Fe], and (2) the centrally concentrated “UV upturn” at far-UV (FUV) wavelengths, which is likely produced by extreme horizontal branch stars with supersolar helium abundances. Using new HST/WFC3 observations of one FUV-weak and one FUV-bright ETG, we probe the “MP scenario” by Goudfrooij who posited that the UV upturn and the mass-dependent abundance variations of N and Na within and among ETGs are physically connected and produced by dissolution of metal-rich globular clusters, which represent the only galactic environment where mass-dependent enrichment of He, N, and Na is known to occur (i.e., second-generation stars of the “multiple stellar populations” (MPs) phenomenon). We show that passbands F275W and F390W are uniquely sensitive to correlated changes in Y and [N/Fe] in integrated-light photometry when combined with archival data in F475W and F850LP. While F475W − F850LP is found to decrease with increasing radius in both galaxies, consistent with known metallicity gradients, F275W − F390W increases with increasing radius, as expected if the UV upturn is caused by second-generation stars with supersolar Y and [N/Fe]. Furthermore, the radial gradient in F275W − F390W and the implied fractions of He– and N-enhanced stars are found to be significantly larger in the FUV-bright ETG than in the FUV-weak one, consistent with the predictions of the MP scenario.