NIR counterparts to ULXs (III): completing the photometric survey and selected spectroscopic results★

ABSTRACT We present results from the remaining sources in our search for near-infrared (NIR) candidate counterparts to ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) within ≃10 Mpc. We observed 23 ULXs in 15 galaxies and detected NIR candidate counterparts to 6 of them. Two of these have an absolute magnitude consistent with a single red supergiant (RSG). Three counterparts are too bright for an RSG and spatially extended, and thus we classify them as stellar clusters. The other candidate is too faint for an RSG. Additionally, we present the results of our NIR spectroscopic follow-up of five sources: four originally classified as RSG and one as a stellar cluster on the basis of previous photometry. The stellar cluster candidate is actually a nebula. Of the four RSG candidates, one source has a broad H α emission line redshifted by ∼z = 1, making it a background active galactic nucleus (AGN). Two other sources show stellar spectra consistent with them being RSGs. The final RSG candidate is too faint to classify, but does not show strong (nebular) emission lines in its spectrum. After our search for NIR counterparts to 113 ULXs, where we detected a candidate counterpart for 38 ULXs, we have spectroscopically confirmed the nature of 12: 5 sources are nebulae, 1 source is not classified, 1 source is an AGN, and 5 are RSGs. These possible five ULX–RSG binary systems would constitute ${\simeq} (4 \pm 2){{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the observed ULXs, a fraction almost four times larger than what was predicted by binary evolution simulations.

Ruprecht 147 DANCe

Context. Ruprecht 147 is the oldest (2.5 Gyr) open cluster in the solar vicinity (< 300 pc), making it an important target for stellar evolution studies and exoplanet searches. Aims. We aim to derive a census of members and the luminosity, mass, and spatial distributions of the cluster. Methods. We used an astro-photometric data set including all available information from the literature together with our own observations. We processed the data with an updated version of an existent membership selection methodology. Results. We identify 259 high-probability candidate members, including 58 previously unreported. All these candidates cover the luminosity interval between G ≳ 6 mag and i ≲ 21 mag. The cluster luminosity and mass distributions are derived with an unprecedented level of details allowing us to recognize, among other features, the Wielen dip. The mass distribution in the low-mass regime drops sharply at 0.4 M⊙ even though our data are sensitive to stellar masses down to 0.1 M⊙, suggesting that most very-low-mass members left the cluster as the result of its dynamical evolution. In addition, the cluster is highly elongated (ellipticity ∼0.5) towards the galactic plane, and mass segregated. Conclusions. Our combined Gaia+DANCe data set allows us to obtain an extended list of cluster candidate members, and to derive luminosity, mass, and projected spatial distributions in the oldest open cluster of the solar vicinity.

Analysis of candidates for interacting galaxy clusters

Context. Merging galaxy clusters allow for the study of different mass components, dark and baryonic, separately. Also, their occurrence enables to test the ΛCDM scenario, which can be used to put constraints on the self-interacting cross-section of the dark-matter particle.Aim. It is necessary to perform a homogeneous analysis of these systems. Hence, based on a recently presented sample of candidates for interacting galaxy clusters, we present the analysis of two of these cataloged systems.Methods. In this work, the first of a series devoted to characterizing galaxy clusters in merger processes, we perform a weak lensing analysis of clusters A1204 and A2029/A2033 to derive the total masses of each identified interacting structure together with a dynamical study based on a two-body model. We also describe the gas and the mass distributions in the field through a lensing and an X-ray analysis. This is the first of a series of works which will analyze these type of system in order to characterize them.Results. Neither merging cluster candidate shows evidence of having had a recent merger event. Nevertheless, there is dynamical evidence that these systems could be interacting or could interact in the future.Conclusions. It is necessary to include more constraints in order to improve the methodology of classifying merging galaxy clusters. Characterization of these clusters is important in order to properly understand the nature of these systems and their connection with dynamical studies.

The Planck List of High-z source candidates: A laboratory for high-z star-forming galaxies

The Planck satellite (Planck 2015 results. I) has provided the first FIR/submm all-sky survey with a sensitivity allowing us to identify the rarest, most luminous hig-z dusty star-forming sources on the sky. The Planck list of high-z source candidates (PHZ, PIP XXXIX subm) has been built and charcaterized over 25% of the sky by selecting the 2151 brightest red submm sources at a 5' resolution (Montier et al. 2010). Follow-up observations with Herschel/SPIRE over 228 Planck candidates have already shown that 93% of these candidates are actually overdensities of red sources (PIP XXVII 2015), while 12 Planck high-z candidates are identified as strongly lensed star-forming galaxies at redshift between 2.2 and 3.6 (Canameras et al. 2015). The first confirmed Planck proto-cluster candidate has been revealed to be a double structure at z = 1.7 and zz = 2.03 (Flores-Cacho et al. 2015). The PHZ opens a new window on these extreme star-forming systems at high-z, providing a powerful laboratory to study the mechanisms of galaxy evolution and enrichment in the frame of the large scale structure growth.

A New Galactic Wolf-Rayet Star in Centaurus

I communicate the detection of a new Galactic Wolf-Rayet star (WR60a) in Centaurus. The H- and K-band spectra of WR60a show strong carbon near-infrared emission lines, characteristic of Wolf-Rayet stars of the WC5-7 subtype. Adopting mean absolute magnitude MK and mean intrinsic (J-KS) and (H-KS) colours, it was found that WR60a suffers a mean visual extinction of 3.8±1.3 magnitudes, being located at a probable heliocentric distance of 5.2±0.8 Kpc, which for the related Galactic longitude (l=312) puts this star probably in the Carina-Sagittarius arm at about 5.9 kpc from the Galactic center. I searched for clusters in the vicinity of WR60a and in principle found no previously known clusters in a search radius region of several tens arcminutes. The detection of a well-isolated WR star induced us to seek for some still unknown cluster, somewhere in the vicinity of WR60a. From inspection of 5.8 μm and 8.0 μm Spitzer/IRAC GLIMPSE images of the region around the new WR star, strong mid-infrared extended emission at about 13.5 arcmin south-west of WR60a was found. The study of the H-KS colour distribution of point sources associated with the extended emission reveals the presence of a new Galactic cluster candidate probably formed by at least 85 stars.