Dynamical studies of globular clusters based on photoelectric radial velocities of individual stars. I. M3

Velocities of 111 stars in the globular cluster M3 have been measured using the Palomar cross-correlation radial-velocity spectrometer. Typical measuring accuracy is approx.1 km s-1. No velocity variation in nonpulsating stars is found; the implication that the incidence of binarism with separations in the range 0.3--10 AU is very much smaller than in the population I field is clear. ''Thermal equilibrium'' models of the King--Mitchie type with several components and anisotropic velocity distributions are constructed and found to represent the cluster dynamics and observed light distribution adequately. The existence of two very-high-velocity objects and some difficulty with the Roche limit indicate that the thermal equilibrium models do not describe the high-energy end of the distribution function adequately. There is no evidence for any very heavy remnants, and no mass that is not accounted for by evolution of the adopted mass function