JHK
S
photometry is presented from a 3-yr survey of the central regions of the Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy IC 1613. The morphologies of the colour–magnitude and colour–colour diagrams are ...discussed with particular reference to the supergiants and M- and C-type asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. Mean JHK
S
magnitudes, amplitudes and periods are given for five O-rich and nine C-rich Mira variables for which bolometric magnitudes are also estimated. A distance of 750 kpc ((m − M)0 = 24.37 ± 0.08 mag) is derived for IC 1613 by fitting a period–luminosity (PL) relation to the C-rich Miras. This is in agreement with values from the literature. The AGB stars exhibit a range of ages. A comparison with theoretical isochrones suggests that four luminous O-rich Miras are as young as 2 × 108 yr. One of these has a lithium absorption line in its spectrum, demonstrating that it is undergoing hot bottom burning (HBB). This supports the idea that HBB is the cause of the high luminosity of these AGB stars, which puts them above the fundamental PL relation. Further studies of similar stars, selected from their positions in the PL diagram, could provide insight into HBB. A much fainter, presumed O-rich, Mira is similar to those found in Galactic globular clusters. The C Miras are of intermediate age. The O-rich variables are not all recognized as O-rich, or even as AGB stars, on the basis of their J − K
S
colour. It is important to appreciate this when using near-infrared surveys to classify AGB stars in more distant galaxies.
AGB variables and the Mira period–luminosity relation Whitelock, Patricia A.; Feast, Michael W.; Van Leeuwen, Floor
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
20/May , Letnik:
386, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
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Published data for large-amplitude asymptotic giant branch variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are re-analysed to establish the constants for an infrared (K) period–luminosity relation of ...the form MK=ρlog P− 2.38+δ. A slope of ρ=−3.51 ± 0.20 and a zero-point of δ=−7.15 ± 0.06 are found for oxygen-rich Miras (if a distance modulus of 18.39 ± 0.05 is used for the LMC). Assuming this slope is applicable to Galactic Miras we discuss the zero-point for these stars using the revised Hipparcos parallaxes together with published very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) parallaxes for OH masers and Miras in globular clusters. These result in a mean zero-point of δ=−7.25 ± 0.07 for O-rich Galactic Miras. The zero-point for Miras in the Galactic bulge is not significantly different from this value. Carbon-rich stars are also discussed and provide results that are consistent with the above numbers, but with higher uncertainties. Within the uncertainties there is no evidence for a significant difference between the period–luminosity relation zero-points for systems with different metallicity.
We report periods and JHKL observations for 643 oxygen-rich Mira variables found in two outer bulge fields at b = −7° and l = ±8° and combine these with data on 8057 inner bulge Miras from the ...Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, MACHO and Two Micron All Sky Survey surveys, which are concentrated closer to the Galactic Centre. Distance moduli are estimated for all these stars. Evidence is given showing that the bulge structure is a function of age. The longer period Miras (log P > 2.6, age ∼5 Gyr and younger) show clear evidence of a bar structure inclined to the line of sight in both the inner and outer regions. The distribution of the shorter period (metal-rich globular cluster age) Miras appears spheroidal in the outer bulge. In the inner region these old stars are also distributed differently from the younger ones and possibly suggest a more complex structure. These data suggest a distance to the Galactic Centre, R
0, of 8.9 kpc with an estimated uncertainty of ∼0.4 kpc. The possible effect of helium enrichment on our conclusions is discussed.
Flaring and warping of the disk of the Milky Way have been inferred from observations of atomic hydrogen but stars associated with flaring have not hitherto been reported. In the area beyond the ...Galactic centre the stars are largely hidden from view by dust, and the kinematic distances of the gas cannot be estimated. Thirty-two possible Cepheid stars (young pulsating variable stars) in the direction of the Galactic bulge were recently identified. With their well-calibrated period-luminosity relationships, Cepheid stars are useful distance indicators. When observations of these stars are made in two colours, so that their distance and reddening can be determined simultaneously, the problems of dust obscuration are minimized. Here we report that five of the candidates are classical Cepheid stars. These five stars are distributed from approximately one to two kiloparsecs above and below the plane of the Galaxy, at radial distances of about 13 to 22 kiloparsecs from the centre. The presence of these relatively young (less than 130 million years old) stars so far from the Galactic plane is puzzling, unless they are in the flared outer disk. If so, they may be associated with the outer molecular arm.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
We report and discuss JHKS photometry for Sgr dIG, a very metal-deficient galaxy in the Local Group, obtained over 3.5 years with the Infrared Survey Facility in South Africa. Three large ...amplitude asymptotic giant branch variables are identified. One is an oxygen-rich star that has a pulsation period of 950 d, which was until recently undergoing hot bottom burning, with Mbol ∼ −6.7. It is surprising to find a variable of this sort in Sgr dIG, given their rarity in other dwarf irregulars. Despite its long period the star is relatively blue and is fainter, at all wavelengths shorter than 4.5 μm, than anticipated from period–luminosity relations that describe hot bottom burning stars. A comparison with models suggests it had a main-sequence mass Mi ∼ 5 M⊙ and that it is now near the end of its asymptotic giant branch evolution. The other two periodic variables are carbon stars with periods of 670 and 503 d (Mbol ∼ −5.7 and −5.3). They are very similar to other such stars found on the asymptotic giant branch of metal-deficient Local Group galaxies and a comparison with models suggests Mi ∼ 3 M⊙. We compare the number of asymptotic giant branch variables in Sgr dIG to those in NGC 6822 and IC 1613, and suggest that the differences may be due to the high specific star formation rate and low metallicity of Sgr dIG.
The nuclear bulge is a region with a radius of about 200 parsecs around the centre of the Milky Way. It contains stars with ages ranging from a few million years to over a billion years, yet its ...star-formation history and the triggering process for star formation remain to be resolved. Recently, episodic star formation, powered by changes in the gas content, has been suggested. Classical Cepheid variable stars have pulsation periods that decrease with increasing age, so it is possible to probe the star-formation history on the basis of the distribution of their periods. Here we report the presence of three classical Cepheids in the nuclear bulge with pulsation periods of approximately 20 days, within 40 parsecs (projected distance) of the central black hole. No Cepheids with longer or shorter periods were found. We infer that there was a period about 25 million years ago, and possibly lasting until recently, in which star formation increased relative to the period of 30-70 million years ago.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Discovery of carbon-rich Miras in the Galactic bulge Matsunaga, Noriyuki; Menzies, John W; Feast, Michael W ...
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
08/2017, Letnik:
469, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
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Abstract
Only one carbon-rich (C-rich, hereinafter) Mira variable has so far been suggested as a member of the Galactic bulge and this is in a symbiotic system. Here we describe a method for ...selecting C-rich candidates from an infrared colour–colour diagram, (J − K
s) versus (9 − 18). Follow-up low-resolution spectroscopy resulted in the detection of eight C-rich Mira variables from a sample of 36 candidates towards the Galactic bulge. Our near-infrared photometry indicates that two of these, including the known symbiotic, are closer than the main body of the bulge while a third is a known foreground object. Of the five bulge members, one shows He i and O ii emission and is possibly another symbiotic star. Our method is useful for identifying rare C-rich stars in the Galactic bulge and elsewhere. The age of these C-rich stars and the evolutionary process which produced them remain uncertain. They could be old and the products of either binary mass transfer or mergers, i.e. the descendants of blue stragglers, but we cannot rule out the possibility that they belong to a small in situ population of metal-poor intermediate age (<5 Gyr) stars in the bulge or that they have been accreted from a dwarf galaxy.
JHK
S photometry is presented from a 3.5 yr survey of the central regions of the irregular galaxy NGC 6822. The morphology of the colour-magnitude and colour-colour diagrams is discussed with ...particular reference to M-, S- and C-type asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and to M supergiants. Mean JHK
S magnitudes and periods are given for 11 O-rich and 50 presumed C-rich Miras. Data are also listed for 27 large-amplitude AGB stars without periods and for 69 small-amplitude AGB variables. The slope of the bolometric period-luminosity relation for the C-rich Miras is in good agreement with that in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Distance moduli derived from the C- and O-rich Miras are in agreement with other estimates. The period distribution of C-rich Miras in NGC 6822 is similar to that in the Magellanic Clouds, but differs from that in the dwarf spheroidals in the Local Group. In the latter there is a significant proportion of large-amplitude, short-period variables indicating a population producing old carbon-rich AGB stars.
Recent large-scale infrared surveys have been revealing stellar populations in the inner Galaxy seen through strong interstellar extinction in the disc. In particular, classical Cepheids with their ...period–luminosity and period–age relations are useful tracers of Galactic structure and evolution. Interesting groups of Cepheids reported recently include four Cepheids in the nuclear stellar disc (NSD), about 200 pc around the Galactic Centre, found by Matsunaga et al. and those spread across the inner part of the disc reported by Dékány and collaborators. We here report our discovery of nearly 30 classical Cepheids towards the bulge region, some of which are common with Dékány et al., and discuss the large impact of the reddening correction on distance estimates for these objects. Assuming that the four Cepheids in the NSD are located at the distance of the Galactic Centre and that the near-infrared extinction law, i.e. wavelength dependency of the interstellar extinction, is not systematically different between the NSD and other bulge lines of sight, most of the other Cepheids presented here are located significantly further than the Galactic Centre. This suggests a lack of Cepheids in the inner 2.5 kpc region of the Galactic disc except the NSD. Recent radio observations show a similar distribution of star-forming regions.
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