517 research outputs found
VOSA: Virtual Observatory SED Analyzer. An application to the Collinder 69 open cluster
The physical properties of almost any kind of astronomical object can be
derived by fitting synthetic spectra or photometry extracted from theoretical
models to observational data.
We want to develop an automatic procedure to perform this kind of fittings to
a relatively large sample of members of a stellar association and apply this
methodology to the case of Collinder 69.
We combine the multiwavelength data of our sources and follow a work-flow to
derive the physical parameters of the sources. The key step of the work-flow is
performed by a new VO-tool, VOSA. All the steps in this process are done in a
VO environment.
We present this new tool, and provide physical parameters such as T, gravity, luminosity, etc. for 170 candidate members to Collinder
69, and an upper-limit for the age of this stellar association.
This kind of studies of star forming regions, clusters, etc. produces a huge
amount of data, very tedious to analyse using the traditional methodology.
Thus, they are excellent examples where to apply the VO capabilities.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Variability in the Lambda Orionis cluster substellar domain
We present the first results on variability of very low mass stars and brown
dwarfs belonging to the 5 Myr Lambda Orionis cluster (Collinder 69). We have
monitored almost continuously in the J filter a small area of the cluster which
includes 12 possible members of the cluster during one night. Some members have
turned to be short-term variable. One of them, LOri167, has a mass close to the
planetary mass limit and its variability might be due to instabilities produced
by the deuterium burning, although other mechanism cannot be ruled out.Comment: Accepted for Astronomische Nachrichten. Workshop "Ultra-low-mass star
formation and evolution", La Palma June 200
Spectroscopy of Very Low Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs in the Lambda Orionis Star Forming Region
Context. Most observational studies so far point towards brown dwarfs sharing
a similar formation mechanism as the one accepted for low mass stars. However,
larger databases and more systematic studies are needed before strong
conclusions can be reached. Aims. In this second paper of a series devoted to
the study of the spectroscopic properties of the members of the Lambda Orionis
Star Forming Region, we study accretion, activity and rotation for a wide set
of spectroscopically confirmed members of the central star cluster Collinder 69
to draw analogies and/or differences between the brown dwarf and stellar
populations of this cluster. Moreover, we present comparisons with other star
forming regions of similar and different ages to address environmental effects
on our conclusions. Methods. We study prominent photospheric lines to derive
rotational velocities and emission lines to distinguish between accretion
processes and chromospheric activity. In addition, we include information about
disk presence and X-ray emission. Results. We report very large differences in
the disk fractions of low mass stars and brown dwarfs (~58%) when compared to
higher mass stars (26+4-3%) with 0.6 Msun being the critical mass we find for
this dichotomy. As a byproduct, we address the implications of the spatial
distribution of disk and diskless members in the formation scenario of the
cluster itself. We have used the Halpha emission to discriminate among
accreting and non-accreting sources finding that 38+8-7% of sources harboring
disks undergo active accretion and that his percentage stays similar in the
substellar regime. For those sources we have estimated accretion rates.
Finally, regarding rotational velocities, we find a high dispersion in vsin(i)
which is even larger among the diskless population.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 18 figs including the Appendix and
an online tabl
A near-infrared survey for new low-mass members in Alpha Per
We present a near-infrared (K'-band) survey of 0.7 square degree area in the
Alpha Persei open cluster (age = 90 Myr, distance = 182 pc) carried out with
the Omega-Prime camera on the Calar Alto 3.5-m telescope. Combining optical
data (Rc and Ic) obtained with the KPNO/MOSA detector and presented in Stauffer
et al. (1999) with the K' observations, a sample of new candidate members has
been extracted from the optical-infrared colour-magnitude diagram. The location
of these candidates in the colour-colour diagram suggests that two-thirds of
them are actually reddened background giants. About 20 new candidate members
with masses between 0.3 and 0.04 Msun are added to the 400 known Alpha Per
cluster members. If they are indeed Alpha Per members, four of the new
candidates would be brown dwarfs. We discuss the advantages and drawbacks of
the near-infrared survey as compared to the optical selection method. We also
describe the outcome of optical spectroscopy obtained with the Twin
spectrograph on the Calar Alto 3.5-m telescope for about 30 candidates,
including selected members from the optical sample presented in Barrado y
Navascues et al. (2002) and from our joint optical/infrared catalogue. These
results argue in favour of the optical selection method for this particular
cluster.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables and 1 electronic table, accepted for
publication in A&
The young, wide and very low mass visual binary LOri167
We look for wide, faint companions around members of the 5 Myr Lambda Orionis
open cluster. We used optical, near-infrared, and Spitzer/IRAC photometry. We
report the discovery of a very wide very low mass visual binary, LOri167,
formed by a brown dwarf and a planetary-mass candidate located at 5 arcsec,
which seems to belong to the cluster. We derive Teff of 2125 and 1750 K. If
they are members, comparisons with theoretical models indicate masses of 17
(20-15) Mjup and 8 (13-7) Mjup, with a projected separation of 2000 AU. Such a
binary system would be difficult to explain in most models, particularly those
where substellar objects form in the disks surrounding higher mass stars.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters, in pres
Identification of the Lithium Depletion Boundary and Age of the Southern Open Cluster Blanco 1
We present results from a spectroscopic study of the very low mass members of
the Southern open cluster Blanco 1 using the Gemini-N telescope. We obtained
intermediate resolution (R~4400) GMOS spectra for 15 cluster candidate members
with I~14-20 mag, and employed a series of membership criteria - proximity to
the cluster's sequence in an I/I-Ks color-magnitude diagram (CMD), kinematics
agreeing with the cluster systemic motion, magnetic activity as a youth
indicator - to classify 10 of these objects as probable cluster members. For
these objects, we searched for the presence of the Li I 6708 A feature to
identify the lithium depletion boundary (LDB) in Blanco 1. The I/I-Ks CMD shows
a clear mass segregation in the Li distribution along the cluster sequence;
namely, all higher mass stars are found to be Li-poor, while lower mass stars
are found to be Li-rich. The division between Li-poor and Li-rich (i.e., the
LDB) in Blanco 1 is found at I= and I-Ks=. Using
current pre-main-sequence evolutionary models we determine an LDB age of Myr. Comparing our derived LDB age to upper-main-sequence isochrone
ages for Blanco 1, as well as for other open clusters with identified LDBs, we
find good chronometric consistency when using stellar evolution models that
incorporate a moderate degree of convective core overshoot.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for Publication in the Astrophysical
Journal Letter
A Constraint on brown dwarf formation via ejection: radial variation of the stellar and substellar mass function of the young open cluster IC2391
Using the Wide Field Imager (WFI) at the ESO 2.2m telescope at La Silla and
the CPAPIR camera at the CTIO 1.5m telescope at Cerro Tololo, we have performed
an extensive, multiband photometric survey of the open cluster IC2391 (D~146pc,
age~50Myr, solar metallicity). Here we present the results from our photometric
survey and from a spectroscopic follow-up of the central part of the survey.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the Cool Stars 15
conferenc
XMM-Newton investigations of the Lambda Orionis star-forming region (XILO). I. The young cluster Collinder 69
This is the first paper of a series devoted to the Lambda Orionis
star-forming region, from the X-ray perspective, which will provide a
comprehensive view of this complex region. In this paper we focus in uncovering
the population of the central, young cluster Collinder 69 (C69), and in
particular those diskless members not identified by previous near- and
mid-infrared surveys, and to establish the X-ray luminosity function for the
association. We have combined two exposures taken with the XMM-Newton satellite
with an exhaustive data set of optical, near- and mid-infrared photometry to
assess the membership of the X-ray sources based on color-color and
color-magnitude diagrams, as well as other properties, such as effective
temperatures, masses and bolometric luminosities.
We detected a total of 164 X-ray sources, of which 66 are probable and
possible cluster members. A total of 16 are newly identified probable members.
The two XMM-Newton pointings east and west of the cluster center have allowed
us to verify the heterogeneous spatial distribution of young stars, probably
related to the large scale structure of the region. The disk fraction of the
X-ray detected cluster sample is very low, close to 10%, in remarkable contrast
to the low-mass stellar and substellar population (mostly undetected in X-rays)
where the disk fraction reaches about 50%. The X-ray luminosity function of C69
provides support for an age of several Myr when compared with other well known
young associations. With our improved cluster census we confirm previous
reports on the untypically low disk fraction compared to other clusters of
several Myr age. The different disk fractions of X-ray detected (essentially
solar-like) and undetected (mostly low-mass stars and brown dwarfs) members can
be understood as a consequence of a mass-dependence of the time-scale for disk
evolution.Comment: 38 pages, 16 figure
On the age of the TW Hydrae Association and 2M1207334-393254
We have estimated the age of the young moving group TW Hydrae Association, a
cohort of a few dozen stars and brown dwarfs located near the Sun which share
the same kinematic properties and, presumably, the same origin and age. The
chronology has been determined by analyzing different properties (magnitudes,
colors, activity, lithium) of its members and comparing them with several
well-known star forming regions and open clusters, as well as theoretical
models. In addition, by using medium-resolution optical spectra of two M8
members of the association (2M1139 and 2M1207 -an accreting brown dwarf with a
planetary mass companion), we have derived spectral types and measured H(alpha)
and lithium equivalent widths. We have also estimated their effective
temperature and gravity, which were used to produce an independent age
estimation for these two brown dwarfs. We have also collected spectra of
2M1315, a candidate member with a L5 spectral type and measured its H(alpha)
equivalent width. Our age estimate for the association, 10 Myr (in the range
3-20 Myr), agrees with previous values cited in the literature. In the case of
the two brown dwarfs, we have derived an age of 15 Myr (in the range 5-30 Myr),
which also agree with our estimate for the whole group. We compared our results
with recent articles published on the same subject using other techniques, and
discuss the limits of the age-dating techniques.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, accepte
The lower mass function of the young open cluster Blanco 1: from 30 M_(Jup) to 3 M_â
Aims. We performed a deep wide field optical survey of the young (~100â150 Myr) open cluster Blanco 1 to study its low mass population well down into the brown dwarf regime and estimate its mass function over the whole cluster mass range.
Methods. The survey covers 2.3 square degrees in the I and z-bands down to I â z â 24 with the CFH12K camera. Considering two different cluster ages (100 and 150 Myr), we selected cluster member candidates on the basis of their location in the (I, I â z) CMD
relative to the isochrones, and estimated the contamination by foreground late-type field dwarfs using statistical arguments, infrared photometry and low-resolution optical spectroscopy.
Results. We find that our survey should contain about 57% of the cluster members in the 0.03â0.6 M_â mass range, including 30â40 brown dwarfs. The candidateâs radial distribution presents evidence that mass segregation has already occured in the cluster. We took it into account to estimate the cluster mass function across the stellar/substellar boundary. We find that, between 0.03 M_â
and 0.6 M_â, the cluster mass distribution does not depend much on its exact age, and is well represented by a single power-law, with an index α = 0.69 ± 0.15. Over the whole mass domain, from 0.03 M_â to 3 M_â, the mass function is better fitted by a log-normal function with m_0 = 0.36 ± 0.07 M_â and Ï = 0.58 ± 0.06.
Conclusions. Comparison between the Blanco 1 mass function, other young open clustersâ MF, and the galactic disc MF suggests that
the IMF, from the substellar domain to the higher mass part, does not depend much on initial conditions. We discuss the implications
of this result on theories developed to date to explain the origin of the mass distribution
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