ABSTRACT
Young star clusters enable us to study the effects of stellar rotation on an ensemble of stars of the same age and across a wide range in stellar mass and are therefore ideal targets for ...understanding the consequences of rotation on stellar evolution. We combine MUSE spectroscopy with HST photometry to measure the projected rotational velocities (Vsin i) of 2184 stars along the split main sequence and on the main sequence turn-off (MSTO) of the 100 Myr-old massive ($10^5\, {\rm M_{\odot }}$) star cluster NGC 1850 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. At fixed magnitude, we observe a clear correlation between Vsin i and colour, in the sense that fast rotators appear redder. The average Vsin i values for stars on the blue and red branches of the split main sequence are $\sim \! 100\, {\rm km\, s^{-1}}$ and $\sim \! 200\, {\rm km\, s^{-1}}$, respectively. The values correspond to about $25-30{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ and $50-60{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the critical rotation velocity and imply that rotation rates comparable to those observed in field stars of similar masses can explain the split main sequence. Our spectroscopic sample contains a rich population of ∼200 fast rotating Be stars. The presence of shell features suggests that 23 per cent of them are observed through their decretion discs, corresponding to a disc opening angle of 15 degrees. These shell stars can significantly alter the shape of the MSTO, hence care should be taken when interpreting this photometric feature. Overall, our findings impact our understanding of the evolution of young massive clusters and provide new observational constraints for testing stellar evolutionary models.
We present Hubble Space Telescope photometry of NGC 1850, a ∼100 Myr, ∼105 M⊙ cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The colour–magnitude diagram clearly shows the presence of an extended ...main-sequence turnoff (eMSTO). The use of non-rotating stellar isochrones leads to an age spread of ∼40 Myr. This is in good agreement with the age range expected when the effects of rotation in the main-sequence turnoff (MSTO) stars are wrongly interpreted in terms of age spread. We also do not find evidence for multiple, isolated episodes of star formation bursts within the cluster, in contradiction to scenarios that invoke actual age spreads to explain the eMSTO phenomenon. NGC 1850 therefore continues the trend of eMSTO clusters, where the inferred age spread is proportional to the age of the cluster. While our results confirm a key prediction of the scenario where stellar rotation causes the eMSTO feature, direct measurements of the rotational rate of MSTO stars is required to definitively confirm or refute whether stellar rotation is the origin of the eMSTO phenomenon or if it is due to an as yet undiscovered effect.
Most star clusters at an intermediate age (1−2 Gyr) in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds show a puzzling feature in their color−magnitude diagrams (CMD) that is not in agreement with a simple ...stellar population. The main sequence turn-off of these clusters is much broader than expected from photometric uncertainties. One interpretation of this feature is that age spreads of the order of 200−500 Myr exist within individual clusters, although this interpretation is highly debated. Such large age spreads should affect other parts of the CMD, which are sensitive to age, as well. In this study, we analyze the CMDs of a sample of 12 intermediate-age clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud that all show an extended turn-off using archival optical data taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. We fit the star formation history of the turn-off region and the red clump region independently. We find that in most cases, the age spreads inferred from the red clumps are smaller than those that result from the turn-off region. However, the age ranges that result from the red clump region are broader than expected for a single age. Only two out of 12 clusters in our sample show a red clump which seems to be consistent with a single age. As our results are ambiguous, by fitting the star formation histories to the red clump regions, we cannot ultimately tell if the extended main sequence turn-off feature is the result of an age spread or not. However, we do find that the width of the extended main sequence turn-off feature is correlated with the age of the clusters in a way which would be unexplained in the so-called age spread interpretation, but which may be expected if stellar rotation is the cause of the spread at the turn-off.
The presence of extended main-sequence turn-off (eMSTO) regions in intermediate-age star clusters in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds is often interpreted as resulting from extended star ...formation histories (SFHs), lasting ≥300 Myr. This strongly conflicts with the traditional view of the dominant star formation mode in stellar clusters, which are thought of as single-aged stellar populations. Here we present a test of this interpretation by exploring the morphology of the subgiant branch (SGB) of NGC 411, which hosts possibly the most extended eMSTO among all known intermediate-age star clusters. We show that the width of the NGC 411 SGB favours the single-aged stellar population interpretation and rules out an extended SFH. In addition, when considering the red clump (RC) morphology and adopting the unproven premise that the widths of all features in the colour–magnitude diagram are determined by an underlying range in ages, we find that the SFH implied is still very close to that resulting from a single-aged stellar population, with a minor fraction of stars scattering to younger ages compared with the bulk of the population. The SFHs derived from the SGB and RC are both inconsistent with the SFH derived from the eMSTO region. NGC 411 has a very low escape velocity and it has unlikely undergone significant mass-loss at an early stage, thus indicating that it may lack the capacity to capture most of its initial, expelled gas from stellar evolutionary processes, a condition often required for extended SFHs to take root.
ABSTRACT
The spectroscopic and photometric signals of the star-to-star abundance variations found in globular clusters seem to be correlated with global parameters like the cluster’s metallicity, ...mass, and age. Understanding this behaviour could bring us closer to the origin of these intriguing abundance spreads. In this work we use deep HST photometry to look for evidence of abundance variations in the main sequence of a young massive cluster NGC 419 (∼105 M⊙, ∼1.4 Gyr). Unlike previous studies, here we focus on stars in the same mass range found in old globulars (∼0.75–1 M⊙), where light elements variations are detected. We find no evidence for N abundance variations among these stars in the Un − B and U − B colour–magnitude diagrams of NGC 419. This is at odds with the N variations found in old globulars like 47 Tuc, NGC 6352, and NGC 6637 with similar metallicity to NGC 419. Although the signature of the abundance variations characteristic of old globulars appears to be significantly smaller or absent in this young cluster, we cannot conclude if this effect is mainly driven by its age or its mass.
The colour–magnitude diagrams of some intermediate-age (1–2 Gyr) star clusters show unexpectedly broad main-sequence turnoffs, raising the possibility that these clusters have experienced more than ...one episode of star formation. Such a scenario predicts the existence of an extended main-sequence turnoff (eMSTO) only in clusters with escape velocities above a certain threshold (>15 km s−1), which would allow them to retain or accrete gas that eventually would fuel a secondary extended star formation episode. This paper presents a test of this scenario based on the study of the young and massive cluster NGC 7252: W3. We use the HST photometry from Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and Wide Field Camera 3 images obtained with UV and optical filters, as well as MagE echellette spectrograph data from the Las Campanas Clay 6.5 m telescope, in order to construct the observed UV/optical Spectral energy distribution (SED) of NGC 7252: W3. The observations are then compared with synthetic spectra based on different star formation histories consistent with those of the eMSTO clusters. We find that the SED of this cluster is best fitted by a synthetic spectrum with a single stellar population of age $570^{+70}_{-62}$ Myr and mass $1.13^{+0.14}_{-0.13}\times 10^8$ M⊙, confirming earlier works on NGC 7252:W3. We also estimate the lower limit on the central escape velocity of 193 km s−1. We rule out extended star formation histories, like those inferred for the eMSTO clusters in the Magellanic Clouds, at high confidence. We conclude that the escape velocity of a cluster does not dictate whether a cluster can undergo extended periods of star formation.
Recently, Li et al. claimed to have found evidence for multiple generations of stars in the intermediate-age clusters NGC 1783, NGC 1806 and NGC 411 in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Here we ...show that these young stellar populations are present in the field regions around these clusters and are not likely associated with the clusters themselves. Using the same data sets, we find that the background subtraction method adopted by the authors does not adequately remove contaminating stars in the small number Poisson limit. Hence, we conclude that their results do not provide evidence of young generations of stars within these clusters.
Aims. We selected the bluest object, WISE J0725−2351, from Luhman’s new high proper motion (HPM) survey based on observations with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) for spectroscopic ...follow-up observations. Our aim was to unravel the nature of this relatively bright (V ~ 12, J ~ 11) HPM star (μ = 267 mas/yr). Methods. We obtained low- and medium-resolution spectra with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) New Technology Telescope (NTT)/EFOSC2 and Very Large Telescope (VLT)/X-Shooter instruments, investigated the radial velocity and performed a quantitative spectral analysis that allowed us to determine physical parameters. The fit of the spectral energy distribution based on the available photometry to low-metallicity model spectra and the similarity of our target to a metal-poor benchmark star (HD 84937) allowed us to estimate the distance and space velocity. Results. As in the case of HD 84937, we classified WISE J0725−2351 as sdF5: or a metal-poor turnoff star with Fe/H = −2.0 ± 0.2, Teff = 6250 ± 100 K, log g = 4.0 ± 0.2, and a possible age of about 12 Gyr. At an estimated distance of more than 400 pc, its proper motion translates to a tangential velocity of more than 500 km s-1. Together with its constant (on timescales of hours, days, and months) and large radial velocity (about +240 km s-1), the resulting Galactic restframe velocity is about 460 km s-1, implying a bound retrograde orbit for this extreme halo object that currently crosses the Galactic plane at high speed.
The VMC survey Niederhofer, F.; Cioni, M.-R. L.; Rubele, S. ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
05/2018, Letnik:
613
Journal Article
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Odprti dostop
We present the first spatially resolved map of stellar proper motions within the central (~3.1 × 2.4 kpc) regions of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The data used for this study encompasses four ...tiles from the ongoing near-infrared VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds system and covers a total contiguous area on the sky of ~6.81 deg2. Proper motions have been calculated independently in two dimensions from the spatial offsets in the Ks filter over time baselines between 22 and 27 months. The reflex motions of approximately 33 000 background galaxies are used to calibrate the stellar motions to an absolute scale. The resulting catalog is composed of more than 690 000 stars which have been selected based on their position in the (J − Ks, Ks) color-magnitude diagram. For the median absolute proper motion of the SMC, we find (μαcos(δ), μδ) = (1.087 ± 0.192 (sys.) ± 0.003 (stat.), −1.187 ± 0.008 (sys.) ± 0.003 (stat.)) mas yr−1, consistent with previous studies. Mapping the proper motions as a function of position within the SMC reveals a nonuniform velocity pattern indicative of a tidal feature behind the main body of the SMC and a flow of stars in the south-east moving predominantly along the line-of-sight.
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