Context.
The large astrometric and photometric survey performed by the
Gaia
mission allows for a panoptic view of the Galactic disc and its stellar cluster population. Hundreds of stellar clusters ...were only discovered after the latest
Gaia
data release (DR2) and have yet to be characterised.
Aims.
Here we make use of the deep and homogeneous
Gaia
photometry down to
G
= 18 to estimate the distance, age, and interstellar reddening for about 2000 stellar clusters identified with
Gaia
DR2 astrometry. We use these objects to study the structure and evolution of the Galactic disc.
Methods.
We relied on a set of objects with well-determined parameters in the literature to train an artificial neural network to estimate parameters from the
Gaia
photometry of cluster members and their mean parallax.
Results.
We obtain reliable parameters for 1867 clusters. Our catalogue confirms the relative lack of old stellar clusters in the inner disc (with a few notable exceptions). We also quantify and discuss the variation of scale height with cluster age, and we detect the Galactic warp in the distribution of old clusters.
Conclusions.
This work results in a large and homogeneous cluster catalogue, allowing one to trace the structure of the disc out to distances of ∼4 kpc. However, the present sample is still unable to trace the outer spiral arm of the Milky Way, which indicates that the outer disc cluster census might still be incomplete.
Context.
The possibility of identifying co-natal stars that have dispersed into the Galactic disc based on chemistry alone is called strong chemical tagging. It has been debated for a long time ...whether this is indeed feasible; it holds the promise of reconstructing the detailed star formation history of a large fraction of stars in the Galactic disc.
Aims.
We investigate the feasibility of strong chemical tagging using known member stars of open clusters.
Methods.
We analysed the largest sample of cluster members that have been homogeneously characterised with high-resolution differential abundances for 16 different elements. We also investigated the possibility of finding the known clusters in the APOGEE DR16 red clump sample with 18 chemical species. For both purposes, we used a clustering algorithm and an unsupervised dimensionality reduction technique to blindly search for groups of stars in chemical space.
Results.
Even if the internal coherence of the stellar abundances in the same cluster is high, typically 0.03 dex, the overlap in the chemical signatures of the clusters is large. In the sample with the highest precision and no field stars, we only recover 9 out of the 31 analysed clusters at a 40% threshold of homogeneity and precision. This ratio slightly increases when we only use clusters with 7 or more members. In the APOGEE sample, field stars are present along with four populated clusters. In this case, only one of the open clusters was moderately recovered.
Conclusions.
In our best-case scenario, more than 70% of the groups of stars are in fact statistical groups that contain stars belonging to different real clusters. This indicates that the chances of recovering the majority of birth clusters dissolved in the field are slim, even with the most advanced clustering techniques. We show that different stellar birth sites can have overlapping chemical signatures, even when high-resolution abundances of many different nucleosynthesis channels are used. This is substantial evidence against the possibility of strong chemical tagging. However, we can hope to recover some particular birth clusters that stand out at the edges of the chemical distribution.
Context.
Open clusters are key targets for studies of Galaxy structure and evolution, and stellar physics. Since the
Gaia
data release 2 (DR2), the discovery of undetected clusters has shown that ...previous surveys were incomplete.
Aims.
Our aim is to exploit the Big Data capabilities of machine learning to detect new open clusters in
Gaia
DR2, and to complete the open cluster sample to enable further studies of the Galactic disc.
Methods.
We use a machine-learning based methodology to systematically search the Galactic disc for overdensities in the astrometric space and identify the open clusters using photometric information. First, we used an unsupervised clustering algorithm, DBSCAN, to blindly search for these overdensities in
Gaia
DR2 (
l
,
b
,
ϖ
,
μ
α
*
,
μ
δ
), and then we used a deep learning artificial neural network trained on colour–magnitude diagrams to identify isochrone patterns in these overdensities, and to confirm them as open clusters.
Results.
We find 582 new open clusters distributed along the Galactic disc in the region |
b
| < 20°. We detect substructure in complex regions, and identify the tidal tails of a disrupting cluster
UBC 274
of ∼3 Gyr located at ∼2 kpc.
Conclusions.
Adapting the mentioned methodology to a Big Data environment allows us to target the search using the physical properties of open clusters instead of being driven by computational limitations. This blind search for open clusters in the Galactic disc increases the number of known open clusters by 45%.
Context.
The distribution of member stars in the surroundings of an open cluster (OC) can shed light on the process of its formation, evolution, and dissolution. The analysis of structural parameters ...of OCs as a function of their age and position in the Galaxy constrains theoretical models of cluster evolution. The
Gaia
catalog is very appropriate for finding members of OCs at large distance from their centers.
Aims.
We revisit the membership lists of OCs from the solar vicinity, in particular, by extending these membership lists to the peripheral areas through
Gaia
EDR3. We then take advantage of these new member lists to study the morphological properties and the mass segregation levels of the clusters.
Methods.
We used the clustering algorithm HDBSCAN on
Gaia
parallaxes and proper motions to systematically search for members up to 50 pc from the cluster centers. We fit a King’s function on the radial density profile of these clusters and a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) on their two-dimensional member distribution to study their shape. We also evaluated the degree of mass segregation of the clusters and the correlations of these parameters with the age and Galactic position of the clusters.
Results.
Our method performs well on 389 clusters out of the 467 clusters we selected, including several recently discovered clusters that were poorly studied until now. We report the detection of vast coronae around almost all the clusters and report the detection of 71 OCs with tidal tails. This multiplies the number of these structures that are identified by more than four. The size of the cores is smaller for old clusters than for young ones on average. Moreover, the overall size of the clusters seems to increase slightly with age, but the fraction of stars in the halo seems to decrease. As expected, the mass segregation is more pronounced in the oldest clusters, but no clear trend with age is evident.
Conclusions.
OCs are more extended than previously expected, regardless of their age. The decrease in the proportion of stars populating the clusters halos highlights the different cluster evaporation processes and the short timescales they need to affect the clusters. Reported parameters such as cluster sizes or mass segregation levels all depend on cluster ages, but cannot be described as single functions of time.
Context.
The Sagittarius (Sgr) stream is one of the best tools that we currently have to estimate the mass and shape of our Galaxy. However, assigning membership and obtaining the phase-space ...distribution of the stars that form the tails of the stream is quite challenging.
Aims.
Our goal is to produce a catalogue of the RR Lyrae stars of Sgr and obtain an empiric measurement of the trends along the stream in sky position, distance, and tangential velocity.
Methods.
We generated two initial samples from the
Gaia
DR2 RR Lyrae catalogue: one selecting only the stars within ±20° of the orbital plane of Sagittarius (Strip), and the other resulting from application of the Pole Count Map (nGC3) algorithm. We then used the model-independent, deterministic method developed in this work to remove most of the contamination by detecting and isolating the stream in distance and proper motions.
Results.
The output is two empiric catalogues: the Strip sample (higher-completeness, lower-purity) which contains 11 677 stars, and the nGC3 sample (higher-purity, lower-completeness) with 6608 stars. We characterise the changes along the stream in all the available dimensions, namely the five astrometric dimensions plus the metallicity, covering more than 2
π
rad in the sky, and obtain new estimates for the apocentres and the mean Fe/H of the RR Lyrae population. Also, we show the first map of the two components of the tangential velocity thanks to the combination of distances and proper motions. Finally, we detect the bifurcation in the leading arm and report no significant difference between the two branches in terms of metallicity, kinematics, or distance.
Conclusions.
We provide the largest sample of RR Lyrae candidates of Sgr, which can be used as input for a spectroscopic follow-up or as a reference for the new generation of models of the stream through the interpolators in distance and velocity that we constructed.
We present a catalogue of 362 million stellar parameters, distances, and extinctions derived from
Gaia
’s Early Data Release (EDR3) cross-matched with the photometric catalogues of Pan-STARRS1, ...SkyMapper, 2MASS, and AllWISE. The higher precision of the
Gaia
EDR3 data, combined with the broad wavelength coverage of the additional photometric surveys and the new stellar-density priors of the
StarHorse
code, allows us to substantially improve the accuracy and precision over previous photo-astrometric stellar-parameter estimates. At magnitude
G
= 14 (17), our typical precisions amount to 3% (15%) in distance, 0.13 mag (0.15 mag) in
V
-band extinction, and 140 K (180 K) in effective temperature. Our results are validated by comparisons with open clusters, as well as with asteroseismic and spectroscopic measurements, indicating systematic errors smaller than the nominal uncertainties for the vast majority of objects. We also provide distance- and extinction-corrected colour-magnitude diagrams, extinction maps, and extensive stellar density maps that reveal detailed substructures in the Milky Way and beyond. The new density maps now probe a much greater volume, extending to regions beyond the Galactic bar and to Local Group galaxies, with a larger total number density. We publish our results through an ADQL query interface (
gaia.aip.de
) as well as via tables containing approximations of the full posterior distributions. Our multi-wavelength approach and the deep magnitude limit render our results useful also beyond the next
Gaia
release, DR3.
Context.
Open clusters (OCs) trace the evolution of the Galactic disc with great accuracy.
Gaia
and large ground-based spectroscopic surveys make it possible to determine their properties and study ...their kinematics with unprecedented precision.
Aims.
We study the kinematical behaviour of the OC population over time. We take advantage of the latest age determinations of OCs to investigate the correlations of the 6D phase-space coordinates and orbital properties with age. The phase-space distribution, age-velocity relation, and action distribution are compared to those of field stars. We also investigate the rotation curve of the Milky Way traced by OCs, and we compare it to that of other observational or theoretical studies.
Methods.
We gathered nearly 30 000 radial velocity (RV) measurements of OC members from both
Gaia
-RVS data and ground-based surveys and catalogues. We computed the weighted mean RV, Galactic velocities, and orbital parameters of 1382 OCs. We investigated their distributions as a function of age and by comparison to field stars.
Results.
We provide the largest RV catalogue available for OCs, half of it based on at least three members. Compared to field stars, we note that OCs are not on exactly the same arches in the radial-azimuthal velocity plane, while they seem to follow the same diagonal ridges in the Galactic radial distribution of azimuthal velocities. Velocity ellipsoids in different age bins all show a clear anisotropy. The heating rate of the OC population is similar to that of field stars for the radial and azimuthal components, but it is significantly lower for the vertical component. The rotation curve drawn by our sample of clusters shows several dips that match the wiggles derived from nonaxisymmetric models of the Galaxy. From the computation of orbits, we obtain a clear dependence of the maximum height and eccentricity on age. Finally, the orbital characteristics of the sample of clusters as shown by the action variables follow the distribution of field stars. The additional age information of the clusters indicates some (weak) age dependence of the known moving groups.
Open cluster kinematics with Gaia DR2 Soubiran, C.; Cantat-Gaudin, T.; Romero-Gómez, M. ...
Astronomy & astrophysics,
11/2018, Letnik:
619
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Context. Open clusters are very good tracers of the evolution of the Galactic disc. Thanks to Gaia, their kinematics can be investigated with an unprecedented precision and accuracy. Aims. The ...distribution of open clusters in the 6D phase space is revisited with Gaia DR2. Methods. The weighted mean radial velocity of open clusters was determined, using the most probable members available from a previous astrometric investigation that also provided mean parallaxes and proper motions. Those parameters, all derived from Gaia DR2 only, were combined to provide the 6D phase-space information of 861 clusters. The velocity distribution of nearby clusters was investigated, as well as the spatial and velocity distributions of the whole sample as a function of age. A high-quality subsample was used to investigate some possible pairs and groups of clusters sharing the same Galactic position and velocity. Results. For the high-quality sample of 406 clusters, the median uncertainty of the weighted mean radial velocity is 0.5 km s−1. The accuracy, assessed by comparison to ground-based high-resolution spectroscopy, is better than 1 km s−1. Open clusters nicely follow the velocity distribution of field stars in the close solar neighbourhood as previously revealed by Gaia DR2. As expected, the vertical distribution of young clusters is very flat, but the novelty is the high precision to which this can be seen. The dispersion of vertical velocities of young clusters is at the level of 5 km s−1. Clusters older than 1 Gyr span distances to the Galactic plane of up to 1 kpc with a vertical velocity dispersion of 14 km s−1, typical of the thin disc. Five pairs of clusters and one group with five members might be physically related. Other binary candidates that have been identified previously are found to be chance alignments.
Context.
The physical processes driving the formation of Galactic spiral arms are still under debate. Studies using open clusters favour the description of the Milky Way spiral arms as long-lived ...structures following the classical density wave theory. Current studies comparing the
Gaia
DR2 field stars kinematic information of the solar neighbourhood to simulations, find a better agreement with short-lived arms with a transient behaviour.
Aims.
Our aim is to provide an observational, data-driven view of the Milky Way spiral structure and its dynamics using open clusters as the main tracers, and to contrast it with simulation-based approaches. We used the most complete catalogue of Milky Way open clusters, with astrometric
Gaia
EDR3 updated parameters, estimated astrophysical information, and radial velocities, to revisit the nature of the spiral pattern of the Galaxy.
Methods.
We used a Gaussian mixture model to detect overdensities of open clusters younger than 30 Myr that correspond to the Perseus, Local, Sagittarius, and Scutum spiral Arms, respectively. We used the birthplaces of the open cluster population younger than 80 Myr to trace the evolution of the different spiral arms and compute their pattern speed. We analysed the age-distribution of the open clusters across the spiral arms to explore the differences in the rotational velocity of stars and spiral arms.
Results.
We are able to increase the range in Galactic azimuth where present-day spiral arms are described, better estimating its parameters by adding 264 young open clusters to the 84 high-mass star-forming regions used so far, thus increasing the number of tracers by 314%. We used the evolution of the open clusters from their birth positions to find that spiral arms nearly co-rotate with field stars at any given radius, discarding a common spiral pattern speed for the spiral arms explored.
Conclusions.
The derivation of different spiral pattern speeds for the different spiral arms disfavours classical density waves as the main drivers for the formation of the Milky Way spiral structure, and it is in better agreement with simulation-based approaches that tend to favour transient spirals. The increase in the number of known open clusters, as well as in their derived properties, allows us to use them as effective spiral structure tracers and homogenise the view from open clusters and field stars on the nature of the Galactic spiral arms.
Context. Open clusters are convenient probes of the structure and history of the Galactic disk. They are also fundamental to stellar evolution studies. The second Gaia data release contains precise ...astrometry at the submilliarcsecond level and homogeneous photometry at the mmag level, that can be used to characterise a large number of clusters over the entire sky. Aims. In this study we aim to establish a list of members and derive mean parameters, in particular distances, for as many clusters as possible, making use of Gaia data alone. Methods. We compiled a list of thousands of known or putative clusters from the literature. We then applied an unsupervised membership assignment code, UPMASK, to the Gaia DR2 data contained within the fields of those clusters. Results. We obtained a list of members and cluster parameters for 1229 clusters. As expected, the youngest clusters are seen to be tightly distributed near the Galactic plane and to trace the spiral arms of the Milky Way, while older objects are more uniformly distributed, deviate further from the plane, and tend to be located at larger Galactocentric distances. Thanks to the quality of Gaia DR2 astrometry, the fully homogeneous parameters derived in this study are the most precise to date. Furthermore, we report on the serendipitous discovery of 60 new open clusters in the fields analysed during this study.
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