The wide upper main sequence and main sequence turnoff of the ∼ 800 Myr old star cluster NGC 1831*

Author(s):  
Matteo Correnti ◽  
Paul Goudfrooij ◽  
Andrea Bellini ◽  
Leo Girardi

Abstract We present the analysis of the colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) morphology of the ∼ 800 Myr old star cluster NGC 1831 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, exploiting deep, high-resolution photometry obtained using the Wide Field Camera 3 onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. We perform a simultaneous analysis of the wide upper main sequence and main sequence turn-off observed in the cluster, to verify whether these features are due to an extended star formation or a range of stellar rotation rates, or a combination of these two effects. Comparing the observed CMD with Monte Carlo simulations of synthetic stellar populations, we derive that the morphology of NGC 1831 can be fully explained in the context of the rotation velocity scenario, under the assumption of a bimodal distribution for the rotating stars, with ∼ 40% of stars being slow-rotators (Ω/Ωcrit < 0.5) and the remaining ∼ 60% being fast rotators (Ω/Ωcrit > 0.9). We derive the dynamical properties of the cluster, calculating the present cluster mass and escape velocity, and predicting their past evolution starting at an age of 10 Myr. We find that NGC 1831 has an escape velocity vesc = 18.4 km s−1 at an age of 10 Myr, above the previously suggested threshold of 15 km s−1 below which the cluster cannot retain the material needed to create second-generation stars. These results, combined with those obtained from the CMD morphology analysis, indicate that for the clusters whose morphology cannot be easily explained only in the context of the rotation velocity scenario, the threshold limit should be at least ∼ 20 km s−1.

2019 ◽  
Vol 492 (2) ◽  
pp. 2177-2192 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Kamann ◽  
N Bastian ◽  
S Gossage ◽  
D Baade ◽  
I Cabrera-Ziri ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present a detailed study of stellar rotation in the massive 1.5 Gyr old cluster NGC 1846 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Similar to other clusters at this age, NGC 1846 shows an extended main-sequence turn-off (eMSTO), and previous photometric studies have suggested it could be bimodal. In this study, we use MUSE integral-field spectroscopy to measure the projected rotational velocities (vsin i) of around $1400$ stars across the eMSTO and along the upper main sequence of NGC 1846. We measure vsin i values up to $\sim 250\, {\rm km\, s^{-1}}$ and find a clear relation between the vsin i of a star and its location across the eMSTO. Closer inspection of the distribution of rotation rates reveals evidence for a bimodal distribution, with the fast rotators centred around $v\sin i=140\, {\rm km\, s^{-1}}$ and the slow rotators centred around $v\sin i=60\, {\rm km\, s^{-1}}$. We further observe a lack of fast rotating stars along the photometric binary sequence of NGC 1846, confirming results from the field that suggest that tidal interactions in binary systems can spin-down stars. However, we do not detect a significant difference in the binary fractions of the fast and slowly rotating sub-populations. Finally, we report on the serendipitous discovery of a planetary nebula associated with NGC 1846.


2019 ◽  
Vol 486 (4) ◽  
pp. 5581-5599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina K Gilligan ◽  
Brian Chaboyer ◽  
Jeffrey D Cummings ◽  
Dougal Mackey ◽  
Roger E Cohen ◽  
...  

Abstract We present a multiple population search in two old Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) Globular clusters, Hodge 11 and NGC 2210. This work uses data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope from programme GO-14164 in Cycle 23. Both of these clusters exhibit a broadened main sequence with the second population representing (20 ± ∼5) per cent for NGC 2210 and (30 ± ∼5) per cent for Hodge 11. In both clusters, the smaller population is redder than the primary population, suggesting CNO variations. Hodge 11 also displays a bluer second population in the horizontal branch, which is evidence for helium enhancement. However, even though NGC 2210 shows similarities to Hodge 11 in the main sequence, there does not appear to be a second population on NGC 2210’s horizontal branch. This is the first photometric evidence that ancient LMC Globular clusters exhibit multiple stellar populations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 470 (1) ◽  
pp. L77-L81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrés E. Piatti ◽  
Andrew Cole

Abstract We report that the serendipitous young Large Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC 1971 exhibits an extended main-sequence turn-off (eMSTO) possibly originated mostly by a real age spread. We used CT1 Washington photometry to produce a colour–magnitude diagram (CMD) with the fiducial cluster features. From its eMSTO, we estimated an age spread of ∼170 Myr (observed age range 100–280 Myr), once observational errors, stellar binarity, overall metallicity variations and stellar rotation effects were subtracted in quadrature from the observed age width.


2020 ◽  
Vol 494 (2) ◽  
pp. 1946-1955
Author(s):  
Christina K Gilligan ◽  
Brian Chaboyer ◽  
Jeffrey D Cummings ◽  
Dougal Mackey ◽  
Roger E Cohen ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We examine four ancient Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) globular clusters (GCs) for evidence of multiple stellar populations using the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope Programme GO-14164. NGC 1466, NGC 1841, and NGC 2257 all show evidence for a redder, secondary population along the main sequence. Reticulum does not show evidence for the presence of a redder population, but this GC has the least number of stars and Monte Carlo simulations indicate that the sample of main-sequence stars is too small to robustly infer whether a redder population exists in this cluster. The second, redder, population of the other three clusters constitutes $\sim 30-40{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the total population along the main sequence. This brings the total number of ancient LMC GCs with known split or broadened main sequences to five. However, unlike for Hodge 11 and NGC 2210 (see Gilligan et al. (2019)), none of the clusters shows evidence for multiple populations in the horizontal branch. We also do not find evidence of a second population along the red giant branch.


2021 ◽  
Vol 923 (2) ◽  
pp. 278
Author(s):  
S. T. Linden ◽  
A. S. Evans ◽  
K. Larson ◽  
G. C. Privon ◽  
L. Armus ◽  
...  

Abstract We present the results of a Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 near-UV and Advanced Camera for Surveys Wide Field Channel optical study into the star cluster populations of a sample of 10 luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) in the Great Observatories All-Sky LIRG Survey. Through integrated broadband photometry we have derived ages, masses, and extinctions for a total of 1027 star clusters in galaxies with d L < 110 Mpc in order to avoid issues related to cluster bending. The measured cluster age distribution slope of dN / d τ ∝ τ − 0.5 + / − 0.12 is steeper than what has been observed in lower-luminosity star-forming galaxies. Further, differences in the slope of the observed cluster age distribution between inner- ( dN / d τ ∝ τ − 1.07 + / − 0.12 ) and outer-disk ( dN / d τ ∝ τ − 0.37 + / − 0.09 ) star clusters provide evidence of mass-dependent cluster destruction in the central regions of LIRGs driven primarily by the combined effect of strong tidal shocks and encounters with massive giant molecular clouds. Excluding the nuclear ring surrounding the Seyfert 1 nucleus in NGC 7469, the derived cluster mass function (CMF; dN / dM ∝ M α ) offers marginal evidence for a truncation in the power law at M t ∼ 2×106 M ⊙ for our three most cluster-rich sources, which are all classified as early stage mergers. Finally, we find evidence of a flattening of the CMF slope of dN / dM ∝ M − 1.42 ± 0.1 for clusters in late-stage mergers relative to early stage (α = −1.65 ± 0.02), which we attribute to an increase in the formation of massive clusters over the course of the interaction.


1993 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 669-671
Author(s):  
Yu. V. Glagolevskij

Young stars, as a rule, are too faint for measurements of magnetic field either by photographic method with the use of Zeeman analizer, or photoelectrically from hydrogen lines. That is why it is necessary to look for indirect ways of magnetic field detection, for example, by measurement of polarization. Ae/Be Herbig stars without a magnetic field are surrounded by a gaseous envelope in the form of a globe or a spheroid, flattened along the rotational axes (as dependent on stellar rotation velocity), and also by a gaseous-dust accretion disc in the plane of equator. There are powerful flows in gaseous envelopes of stars, connected with mass loss and accretion. If a star is a magnetic oblique rotator (as a magnetic star of the Main Sequence), then the gaseous envelope may acquire the shape of alon-gated ellipsoid with the major axes coincident with that of dipole (Dolginov et al., 1979). From the poles there arises a jet flow controlled by a magnetic field, as in He-r and He-w stars, having already reached the Main Sequence (Barker et al., 1982). Calculations show (Dolginov et al., 1979), that maximum polarization in the extended envelope p ≈ 4% arises when the ratio of ellipsoid axes is ≈ 2.5b. The electric vector of the dominating oscillation of the light wave is perpendicular to the plane through the axis of symmetry of the ellipsoid and the line of sight. Naturally, the magnetosphere rotates together with the star, involving the gaseous envelope, resulting in the variation of the degree and direction of polarization. Additional polarization is created by the polar jets, where the direction of the dominating oscillations of the electric vector is perpendicular to the axis of the polar stream, and value of maximal polarization may reach 5% along the beam.


2019 ◽  
Vol 624 ◽  
pp. A25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Søren S. Larsen ◽  
Holger Baumgardt ◽  
Nate Bastian ◽  
Svea Hernandez ◽  
Jean Brodie

We present new deep imaging of the central regions of the remote globular cluster NGC 2419, obtained with the F343N and F336W filters of the Wide Field Camera 3 on board the Hubble Space Telescope. The new data are combined with archival imaging to constrain nitrogen and helium abundance variations within the cluster. We find a clearly bimodal distribution of the nitrogen-sensitive F336W–F343N colours of red giants, from which we estimate that about 55% of the giants belong to a population with about normal (field-like) nitrogen abundances (P1), while the remaining 45% belong to a nitrogen-rich population (P2). On average, the P2 stars are more He-rich than the P1 stars, with an estimated mean difference of ΔY ≃ 0.05, but the P2 stars exhibit a significant spread in He content and some may reach ΔY ≃ 0.13. A smaller He spread may also be present for the P1 stars. Additionally, stars with spectroscopically determined low Mg abundances ([Mg/Fe] <  0) are generally associated with P2. We find the P2 stars to be slightly more centrally concentrated in NGC 2419 with a projected half-number radius of about 10% less than for the P1 stars, but the difference is not highly significant (p ≃ 0.05). Using published radial velocities, we find evidence of rotation for the P1 stars, whereas the results are inconclusive for the P2 stars, which are consistent with no rotation as well as the same average rotation found for the P1 stars. Because of the long relaxation time scale of NGC 2419, the radial trends and kinematic properties of the populations are expected to be relatively unaffected by dynamical evolution. Hence, they provide constraints on formation scenarios for multiple populations, which must account not only for the presence of He spreads within sub-populations identified via CNO variations, but also for the relatively modest differences in the spatial distributions and kinematics of the populations.


2004 ◽  
Vol 215 ◽  
pp. 113-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Mathieu

Major photometric monitoring campaigns of star-forming regions in the past decade have provided rich rotation period distributions of pre-main-sequence stars. The rotation periods span more than an order of magnitude in period, with most falling between 1 and 10 days. Thus the broad rotation period distributions found in 100 Myr clusters are already established by an age of 1 Myr. The most rapidly rotating stars are within a factor of 2-3 of their critical velocities; if angular momentum is conserved as they evolve to the ZAMS, these stars may come to exceed their critical velocities. Extensive efforts have been made to find connections between stellar rotation and the presence of protostellar disks; at best only a weak correlation has been found in the largest samples. Magnetic disk-locking is a theoretically attractive mechanism for angular momentum evolution of young stars, but the links between theoretical predictions and observational evidence remain ambiguous. Detailed observational and theoretical studies of the magnetospheric environments will provide better insight into the processes of pre-main-sequence stellar angular momentum evolution.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (S307) ◽  
pp. 102-103
Author(s):  
A. Granada ◽  
G. Meynet ◽  
S. Ekström ◽  
C. Georgy ◽  
L. Haemmerlé

AbstractStellar evolution models predict that rotation induces the mixing of chemical species, with the subsequent surface abundance anomalies relative to single non-rotating models, even during the main sequence (MS) evolution. The lack of measurable nitrogen surface enrichment in MS rotating stars, such as Be stars, has been interpreted as being in conflict with evolutionary models (e.g. Lennon et al. 2005; Hunter et al. 2008). In order to have an insight on the kind of ambient we do or we do not expect to find enriched rotating stars, we use our new population synthesis code, to produce synthetic intermediate-mass stellar populations fully accounting for stellar rotation effects, and study their evolution in time.


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