Context :

Aims : We investigate possible relations between the abundances of zinc and the light elements sodium , magnesium , and potassium in the atmospheres ofred giant branch ( RGB ) stars of the Galactic globular cluster 47 Tuc and study connections between the chemical composition and dynamical properties of the cluster RGB stars .

Methods : The abundance of zinc was determined in 27 RGB stars of 47 Tuc using 1D local thermal equilibrium ( LTE ) synthetic line profile fitting to the high-resolution 2dF/HERMES spectra obtained with the Anglo-Australian Telescope ( AAT ) .
Synthetic spectra used in the fitting procedure were computed with the SYNTHE code and 1D ATLAS9 stellar model atmospheres .

Results : The average 1D LTE zinc-to-iron abundance ratio and its RMS variations due to star-to-star abundance spread determined in the sample of 27 RGB stars is \langle { [ Zn / Fe ] } \rangle ^ { 1 D~ { } LTE } = 0.11 \pm 0.09 .
We did not detect any statistically significant relations between the abundances of zinc and those of light elements .
Neither did we find any significant correlation or anticorrelation between the zinc abundance in individual stars and their projected distance from the cluster center .
Finally , no statistically significant relation between the absolute radial velocities of individual stars and the abundance of zinc in their atmospheres was detected .
The determined average [ Zn/Fe ] ^ { ~ { } 1 DLTE } ratio agrees well with those determined in this cluster in earlier studies and nearly coincides with that of Galactic field stars at this metallicity .
All these results suggest that nucleosynthesis of zinc and light elements proceeded in separate , unrelated pathways in 47 Tuc .

Conclusions :