Detailed elemental abundance patterns of metal-poor ( [ Fe / H ] \sim - 1 dex ) stars in the Galactic bulge indicate that a number of them are consistent with globular cluster ( GC ) stars and may be former members of dissolved GCs .
This would indicate that a few per cent of the Galactic bulge was built up from destruction and/or evaporation of globular clusters .
Here an attempt is made to identify such presumptive stripped stars originating from the massive , inner Galaxy globular cluster NGC 6441 using its rich RR Lyrae variable star ( RRL ) population .
We present radial velocities of forty RRLs centered on the globular cluster NGC 6441 .
All of the 13 RRLs observed within the cluster tidal radius have velocities consistent with cluster membership , with an average radial velocity of 24 \pm 5 km s ^ { -1 } and a star-to-star scatter of 11 km s ^ { -1 } .
This includes two new RRLs that were previously not associated with the cluster .
Eight RRLs with radial velocities consistent with cluster membership but up to three time the distance from the tidal radius are also reported .
These potential extra-tidal RRLs also have exceptionally long periods , which is a curious characteristic of the NGC 6441 RRL population that hosts RRLs with periods longer than seen anywhere else in the Milky Way .
As expected of stripped cluster stars , most are inline with the cluster ’ s orbit .
Therefore , either the tidal radius of NGC 6441 is underestimated and/or we are seeing dissolving cluster stars stemming from NGC 6441 that are building up the old spheroidal bulge .