MODELING THE RADIAL-DISTRIBUTION OF BLUE STRAGGLERS IN M3

Recent surveys of the blue straggler (BS) population in the Galactic g lobular cluster M3 (NGC 5272) give the first complete characterization of the number density of BSs as a function of radius over an entire g lobular cluster. The BSs in M3 are overabundant at large radii and sig nificantly underabundant at intermediate radii. Here we present the re sult of a simulation of the dynamical evolution of a population of BSs in a multimass model of M3. Assuming the BSs were formed in the core through binary interactions (Hut & Verbundt 1983; Leonard 1989; Sigurd sson & Phinney 1993; Hut et al. 1992b; Davies, Benz, & Hills 1994), an d given some very general assumptions about the recoil that occurs dur ing stellar mergers in interacting binaries, we find an excellent fit to the observed radial distribution of BSs, suggesting strongly that m ost of the BSs in M3 were formed through binary collisions in the core .