Non-local Thermodynamical Equilibrium Effects on the Iron Abundance of Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars in 47 Tucanae

We present the iron abundance of 24 asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, members of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, obtained with high-resolution spectra collected with the FEROS spectrograph at the MPG/ESO 2.2 m Telescope. We find that the iron abundances derived from neutral lines (with a mean value [Fe I/H] =-0.94 ± 0.01, σ = 0.08 dex) are systematically lower than those derived from single ionized lines ([Fe II/H] =-0.83 ± 0.01, σ = 0.05 dex). Only the latter are in agreement with those obtained for a sample of red giant branch (RGB) cluster stars, for which the Fe I and Fe II lines provide the same iron abundance. This finding suggests that non-local thermodynamical equilibrium (NLTE) effects driven by overionization mechanisms are present in the atmosphere of AGB stars and significantly affect the Fe I lines while leaving Fe II features unaltered. On the other hand, the very good ionization equilibrium found for RGB stars indicates that these NLTE effects may depend on the evolutionary stage. We discuss the impact of this finding on both the chemical analysis of AGB stars and on the search for evolved blue stragglers.