Testing multimass dynamical models of star clusters with real data: Mass segregation in three Galactic globular clusters

We present the results of the analysis of deep photometric data for a sample of three Galactic globular clusters (NGC5466, NGC6218 andNGC6981) with the aim of estimating their degree of mass segregation and testing the predictions of analytic dynamical models. The adopted data set, composed of both Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based data, reaches the low-mass end of the mass functions of these clusters from the centre up to their tidal radii allowing us to derive the radial distribution of stars with different masses. All the analysed clusters show evidence of mass segregation with the most massive stars being more concentrated than the low-mass ones. The structures of NGC5466 and NGC6981 are well reproduced by multimass dynamical models adopting a lowered Maxwellian distribution function and the prescription for mass segregation given by Gunn & Griffin. Instead, NGC6218 appears to be more mass segregated than model predictions. By applying the same technique to mock observations derived from snapshots selected from suitable N-body simulations, we show that the deviation from the behaviour predicted by these models depends on the particular stage of dynamical evolution regardless of initial conditions.