ar X iv : a st ro - p h / 99 11 02 3 v 1 2 N ov 1 99 9 Draft for the Astrophysical Journal , February 1 , 2008 The Formation Rate of Blue Stragglers

We investigate the effects of changes in the blue straggler formation rate in globular clusters on the blue straggler distribution in the color-magnitude diagram. We find that the blue straggler distribution is highly sensitive to the past formation rate. Comparing our models to new UBV observations of a region close to the core of 47 Tucanae suggests that this cluster may have stopped forming blue straggler formation several Gyr ago. This cessation of formation can be associated with an epoch of primordial binary burning which has been invoked in other clusters to infer the imminence of core collapse. Subject headings: blue stragglers – globular clusters – 47 Tucanae