Searching for chemical inhomogeneities in Open Clusters: Analysis of the
  CN and CH Molecular Band Strengths in NGC 2158, NGC 2420, NGC 2682, NGC 7789
  and Berkeley 29
  Context: The total mass of a cluster, being the main parameter determining
its ability to host more than one stellar generation, may constitute a
threshold below which the cluster is able to form only a single stellar
population. AIms: Our goal is to investigate the existence of star-to-star
variations of CN and CH band strengths, related to the N and C abundances,
respectively, among the stars in five open cluster (NGC 2158, NGC 2420, NGC
2682, NGC 7789 and Berkeley 29) similar to those observed in globular clusters
and linked with the existence of multiple populations therein. Since these
systems are less massive than globulars, our results may allow us to constrain
the lower mass necessary to form more than one stellar population. Methods: We
measured the strength of the CN and CH bands, which correlate with the C and N
abundances, using four molecular indices in low-resolution SDSS/SEGUE spectra.
Results: We found that for four of the open clusters (NGC 2158, NGC 2420, NGC
2682 and Berkeley 29) all the stars studied in each of them have similar CN and
CH band strengths within the uncertainties since neither anomalous spreads nor
bimodalities have been detected in their CN and CH distributions. In contrast,
for NGC 7789 we found an anomalous spread in the strength of the CN molecular
band at 3839 \AA which is larger than the uncertainties. However, the small
number of stars studied in this cluster implies that further analysis is needed
to confirm the existence of chemical inhomogeneities in this cluster.
