scholarly journals The intrinsic reddening of the Magellanic Clouds as traced by background galaxies – II. The Small Magellanic Cloud

2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (1) ◽  
pp. 993-1004
Author(s):  
Cameron P M Bell ◽  
Maria-Rosa L Cioni ◽  
A H Wright ◽  
Stefano Rubele ◽  
David L Nidever ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present a map of the total intrinsic reddening across ≃34 deg2 of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) derived using optical (ugriz) and near-infrared (IR; YJKs) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of background galaxies. The reddening map is created using a subsample of 29 274 galaxies with low levels of intrinsic reddening based on the lephare χ2 minimization SED-fitting routine. We find statistically significant enhanced levels of reddening associated with the main body of the SMC compared with regions in the outskirts [ΔE(B − V) ≃ 0.3 mag]. A comparison with literature reddening maps of the SMC shows that, after correcting for differences in the volume of the SMC sampled, there is good agreement between our results and maps created using young stars. In contrast, we find significant discrepancies between our results and maps created using old stars or based on longer wavelength far-IR dust emission that could stem from biased samples in the former and uncertainties in the far-IR emissivity and the optical properties of the dust grains in the latter. This study represents one of the first large-scale categorizations of extragalactic sources behind the SMC and as such we provide the lephare outputs for our full sample of ∼500 000 sources.

2019 ◽  
Vol 489 (3) ◽  
pp. 3200-3217
Author(s):  
Cameron P M Bell ◽  
Maria-Rosa L Cioni ◽  
A H Wright ◽  
Stefano Rubele ◽  
David L Nidever ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present a method to map the total intrinsic reddening of a foreground extinguishing medium via the analysis of spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of background galaxies. In this pilot study, we implement this technique in two distinct regions of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) – the bar and the southern outskirts – using a combination of optical and near-infrared ugrizYJKs broad-band imaging. We adopt the lephare χ2-minimization SED-fitting routine and various samples of galaxies and/or quasi-stellar objects to investigate the intrinsic reddening. We find that only when we construct reddening maps using objects classified as galaxies with low levels of intrinsic reddening (i.e. ellipticals/lenticulars and early-type spirals), the resultant maps are consistent with previous literature determinations, i.e. the intrinsic reddening of the SMC bar is higher than that in the outer environs. We employ two sets of galaxy templates – one theoretical and one empirical – to test for template dependences in the resulting reddening maps and find that the theoretical templates imply systematically higher reddening values by up to 0.20 mag in E(B − V). A comparison with previous reddening maps, based on the stellar components of the SMC, typically shows reasonable agreement. There is, however, significant variation amongst the literature reddening maps as to the level of intrinsic reddening associated with the bar. Thus, it is difficult to unambiguously state that instances of significant discrepancies are the result of appreciable levels of dust not accounted for in some literature reddening maps or whether they reflect issues with our adopted methodology.


Author(s):  
P K Nayak ◽  
A Subramaniam ◽  
S Subramanian ◽  
S Sahu ◽  
C Mondal ◽  
...  

Abstract We have demonstrated the advantage of combining multi-wavelength observations, from the ultraviolet (UV) to near-infrared, to study Kron 3, a massive star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud. We have estimated the radius of the cluster Kron 3 to be 2${_{.}^{\prime}}$0 and for the first time, we report the identification of NUV-bright red clump (RC) stars and the extension of the RC in colour and magnitude in the NUV versus (NUV−optical) colour-magnitude diagram (CMD). We found that extension of the RC is an intrinsic property of the cluster and it is not due to contamination of field stars or differential reddening across the field. We studied the spectral energy distribution of the RC stars, and estimated a small range in temperature ∼5000–5500 K, luminosity ∼60–90 L⊙ and radius ∼8.0–11.0 R⊙ supporting their RC nature. The range of UV magnitudes amongst the RC stars (∼23.3 to 24.8 mag) is likely caused by the combined effects of variable mass loss, variation in initial helium abundance (Yini = 0.23 to 0.28), and a small variation in age (6.5-7.5 Gyr) and metallicity ([Fe/H] = −1.5 to −1.3). Spectroscopic follow-up observations of RC stars in Kron 3 are necessary to confirm the cause of the extended RC.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (S344) ◽  
pp. 53-56
Author(s):  
Maria-Rosa L. Cioni ◽  
Florian Niederhofer ◽  
Stefano Rubele ◽  
Ning-Chen Sun

AbstractVISTA observed the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), as part of the VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds system (VMC), for six years (2010–2016). The acquired multi-epoch YJKs images have allowed us to probe the stellar populations to an exceptional level of detail across an unprecedented wide area in the near-infrared. This contribution highlights the most recent VMC results obtained on the SMC focusing, in particular, on the clustering of young stellar populations, on the proper motion of stars in the main body of the galaxy and on the spatial distribution of the star formation history.


2021 ◽  
Vol 922 (2) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
Kazuki Tokuda ◽  
Hiroshi Kondo ◽  
Takahiro Ohno ◽  
Ayu Konishi ◽  
Hidetoshi Sano ◽  
...  

Abstract We have analyzed the data from a large-scale CO survey toward the northern region of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) obtained with the Atacama Compact Array (ACA) stand-alone mode of ALMA. The primary aim of this study is to comprehensively understand the behavior of CO as an H2 tracer in a low-metallicity environment (Z ∼ 0.2 Z ⊙). The total number of mosaic fields is ∼8000, which results in a field coverage of 0.26 deg2 (∼2.9 ×105 pc2), corresponding to ∼10% of the area of the galaxy. The sensitive ∼2 pc resolution observations reveal the detailed structure of the molecular clouds previously detected in the single-dish NANTEN survey. We have detected a number of compact CO clouds within lower H2 column density (∼1020 cm−2) regions whose angular scale is similar to the ACA beam size. Most of the clouds in this survey also show peak brightness temperature as low as <1 K, which for optically thick CO emission implies an emission size much smaller than the beam size, leading to beam dilution. The comparison between an available estimation of the total molecular material traced by thermal dust emission and the present CO survey demonstrates that more than ∼90% of H2 gas cannot be traced by the low-J CO emission. Our processed data cubes and 2D images are publicly available.


2019 ◽  
Vol 628 ◽  
pp. A61 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Lodieu ◽  
F. Allard ◽  
C. Rodrigo ◽  
Y. Pavlenko ◽  
A. Burgasser ◽  
...  

Aims. The aim of the project is to define metallicity/gravity/temperature scales for different spectral types of metal-poor M dwarfs. Methods. We obtained intermediate-resolution ultraviolet (R ∼ 3300), optical (R ∼ 5400), and near-infrared (R ∼ 3900) spectra of 43 M subdwarfs (sdM), extreme subdwarfs (esdM), and ultra-subdwarfs (usdM) with the X-shooter spectrograph on the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope. We compared our atlas of spectra to the latest BT-Settl synthetic spectral energy distribution over a wide range of metallicities, gravities, and effective temperatures to infer the physical properties for the whole M dwarf sequence (M0–M9.5) at sub-solar metallicities and constrain the latest atmospheric models. Results. The BT-Settl models accurately reproduce the observed spectra across the 450–2500 nm wavelength range except for a few regions. We find that the best fits are obtained for gravities of log (g) = 5.0–5.5 for the three metal classes. We infer metallicities of [Fe/H] = −0.5, −1.5, and −2.0 ± 0.5 dex and effective temperatures of 3700–2600 K, 3800–2900 K, and 3700–2900 K for subdwarfs, extreme subdwarfs, and ultra-subdwarfs, respectively. Metal-poor M dwarfs tend to be warmer by about 200 ± 100 K and exhibit higher gravity than their solar-metallicity counterparts. We derive abundances of several elements (Fe, Na, K, Ca, Ti) for our sample but cannot describe their atmospheres with a single metallicity parameter. Our metallicity scale expands the current scales available for mildly metal-poor planet-host low-mass stars. Our compendium of moderate-resolution spectra covering the 0.45–2.5 micron range represents an important resource for large-scale surveys and space missions to come.


2019 ◽  
Vol 489 (3) ◽  
pp. 3725-3738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sukanta Deb ◽  
Kerdaris Kurbah ◽  
Harinder P Singh ◽  
Shashi M Kanbur ◽  
Chow-Choong Ngeow ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT This is the second of a series related to the study of geometry of the Magellanic Clouds based on multiwavelength photometry of classical Cepheids. In this paper we determine the geometrical and viewing angle parameters of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) using the Leavitt law for classical Cepheids with/without a break in the law at a certain period as reported in the literature. The study utilizes photometric data for more than 3400 common classical Cepheids (Fundamental (FU) and First overtone (FO)) in optical (V, I), near-infrared (Y, J, Ks) and mid-infrared ([3.6] and [4.5] μm) photometric bands. We obtain statistical reddening and distance modulus free from the effect of reddening to each of the individual Cepheids with respect to the mean distance modulus and reddening of the SMC. The reddening maps of the SMC obtained from the analyses with/without breaks in the Leavitt law show good agreement with each other as well as with other maps available in the literature. The Cartesian coordinates of individual stars with respect to the galaxy plane are obtained using the information of equatorial coordinates (α, δ) as well as extinction-free distance measurements. Modelling the observed 3D distribution of the Cepheids as a triaxial ellipsoid, we obtain the geometrical and viewing angle parameters of the SMC. The weighted average yields the following values of parameters for the SMC: the geometrical axes ratios of 1.000 ± 0.001: 1.544 ± 0.002: 9.742 ± 0.030 and the viewing angle parameters having inclination angle i = 3${^{\circ}_{.}}$465 ± 0${^{\circ}_{.}}$030 with respect to the longest axis from the line of sight and position angle of line of nodes (major axis) θlon = 63${^{\circ}_{.}}$086 ± 0${^{\circ}_{.}}$117.


2009 ◽  
Vol 138 (6) ◽  
pp. 1661-1666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olaf Szewczyk ◽  
Grzegorz Pietrzyński ◽  
Wolfgang Gieren ◽  
Anna Ciechanowska ◽  
Fabio Bresolin ◽  
...  

1991 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
pp. 69-70
Author(s):  
J. Koornneef

We introduce an as yet unpublished set of OAO-II observations of stellar associations in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Cross-correlation of the photometric characteristics of these fields with the infrared fluxes at these same positions obtained by the IRAS satellite provides information on the local stellar population, the amounts of interstellar extinction and thermal dust emission.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (S284) ◽  
pp. 97-100
Author(s):  
George J. Bendo ◽  

AbstractWe use Herschel Space Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope 70-500 μm data along with ground-based optical and near-infrared data to understand how dust heating in the nearby face-on spiral galaxies M81, M83, and NGC 2403 is affected by the starlight from all stars and by the radiation from star-forming regions. We find that 70/160 μm flux density ratios tend to be more strongly influenced by star-forming regions. However, the 250/350 and 350/500 μm micron flux density ratios are more strongly affected by the light from the total stellar populations, suggesting that the dust emission at > 250 μm originates predominantly from a component that is colder than the dust seen at <160 μm and that is relatively unaffected by star formation activity. We conclude by discussing the implications of this for modelling the spectral energy distributions of both nearby and more distant galaxies and for using far-infrared dust emission to trace star formation.


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