The evolutionary status of M3 RR Lyrae variable stars: Breakdown of the canonical framework?

In order to test the prevailing paradigm of horizontal-branch (HB) stellar evolution, we use the large databases of measured RR Lyrae parameters for the globular cluster M3 (NGC 5272) recently provided by Bakos et al. and Corwin & Carney. We compare the observed distribution of fundamentalized periods against the predictions of synthetic HBs. The observed distribution shows a sharp peak at P-f approximate to 0.55 days, which is primarily due to the RRab variables, whereas the model predictions instead indicate that the distribution should be more uniform in P-f, with a buildup of variables with shorter periods (P-f < 0.5 days). Detailed statistical tests show, for the first time, that the observed and predicted distributions are incompatible with one another at a high significance level. This indicates either that canonical HB models are inappropriate, or that M3 is a pathological case that cannot be considered representative of the Oosterhoff type I (OoI) class. In this sense, we show that the OoI cluster with the next largest number of RR Lyrae variables, M5 ( NGC 5904), presents a similar, although less dramatic, challenge to the models. We show that the sharp peak in the M3 period distribution receives a significant contribution from the Blazhko variables in the cluster. We also show that M15 ( NGC 7078) and M68 ( NGC 4590) show similar peaks in their Pf distributions, which in spite of being located at a Pf value similar to that of M3, can, however, be primarily ascribed to the RRc variables. Again similar to M3, a demise of RRc variables toward the blue edge of the instability strip is also identified in these two globulars. This is again in sharp contrast to the evolutionary scenario, which also foresees a strong buildup of RRc variables with short periods in OoII globulars. We speculate that in OoI systems RRab variables may somehow get "trapped'' close to the transition line between RRab and RRc pulsators as they evolve to the blue in the H-R diagram, whereas in OoII systems it is the RRc variables that may get similarly trapped instead, as they evolve to the red, before changing their pulsation mode to RRab. Such a scenario is supported by the available CMDs and Bailey diagrams for M3, M15, and M68.