Local Interstellar Medium Kinematics towards the Southern Coalsack and Chamaeleon-Musca dark clouds

The results of a spectroscopic programme aiming to investigate the kinematics of the local interstellar medium components towards the Southern Coalsack and Chamaeleon-Musca dark clouds are presented. The analysis is based upon high-resolution (R ~ 60,000) spectra of the insterstellar NaI D absorption lines towards 63 B-type stars (d < 500 pc) selected to cover these clouds and the connecting area defined by the Galactic coordinates: 308 > l > 294 and -22 < b < 5. The radial velocities, column densities, velocity dispersions, colour excess and photometric distances to the stars are used to understand the kinematics and distribution of the interstellar cloud components. The analysis indicates that the interstellar gas is distributed in two extended sheet-like structures permeating the whole area, one at d < 60 pc and another around 120-150 pc from the Sun. The dust and gas feature around 120-150 pc seem to be part of an extended large scale feature of similar kinematic properties, supposedly identified with the interaction zone of the Local and Loop I bubbles.Comment: 19 pages, accepted for MNRA

Mapping the interface between the Local and Loop I bubbles using Stromgren photometry

The Sun is located inside an extremely low density region of quite irregular shape called the Local Bubble. Close to the Local Bubble, there is an even larger cavity known as Loop I. A ring-like feature observed in X-ray and HI has been proposed as the contour of the bubbles interaction zone around 70 pc. Our goal is to identify the interface between the Local and Loop I Bubbles and discuss the ring's existence using Stromgren uvbyH\beta data. We have used the uvbyH\beta data of the General Catalogue of Photometric Data, covering the region defined by the Galactic coordinates: 250\degr <= l <= 50\degr and -60\degr <= b <= 60\degr to obtain E(b-y) colour excess and distances. The final sample is composed of 4346 stars located up to 500 pc from the Sun. The expected transition to E(b-y) ~ 0.070 - 0.100 mag, corresponding to the ring's column density, occurs on the western part of the ring at d = 110 +/- 20 pc, whereas on the eastern side it is not clearly seen before d = 280 +/- 50 pc. Near the Galactic plane the presence of the dark clouds is clearly established by E(b-y) >= 0.100 mag on the western side at about 100 - 150 pc and about 120 - 180 pc on the eastern side. In the southernmost part of the ring the reddening remains very low, typically E(b-y) = 0.020 in all its extension, except towards the Mensa constellation where a possible transition is observed at d = 200 +/- 20 pc. In the northernmost part the colour excess increases with distance in a gradual way, such that 0.020 <= E(b-y) <= 0.040 mag becomes predominant only after d=120 +/-15 pc. If the ring really exists the colour excess distribution indicates that it is very fragmented and distorted. However, the different characteristics of the reddening inside and along the ring do not support the existence of a ring.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Basis for a SOAR Optical Imager Pipeline

The development of CCD mosaics had been incorporated into the majority of the recent observing facilities, including on SOAR. We discuss the treatment of mosaic CCD exposures including basic instrumental calibration, the creation of bad pixel masks, the removal of cosmic rays and fringes by sky flat-fielding, the set up of a World Coordinate System by astrometric calibration and the removal of the gap by the creation of single, deep images out of a set of dithered exposures. We have assembled these image treatment programs on a series of semi-automated IRAF scripts1 to handle the reduction of general SOAR Optical Imager (SOI) images requiring little on none user interaction.El desarrollo de mosaicos CCD ha sido incorporado recientemente en la mayor´ıa de los observatorios modernos, entre ellos SOAR. En este trabajo describimos el tratamiento de im´agenes mosaico SOAR en sus diferentes etapas: calibraciones instrumentales b´asicas, generaci´on de una m´ascara para eliminaci´on de pixeles malos, remoci´on de rayos c´osmicos y fringes, ajuste del WCS a trav´es de calibraciones astrom´etricas y remoci´on de gaps en la imagen simple profunda generada a partir de varias im´agenes mosaico. Hemos redactado diferentes rutinas de procesamiento de dichas im´agenes para que puedan ser ejecutadas de un modo semi-autom´atico dentro de un entormo IRAF.Fil: Maia, F. F. S.. Universidade Federal do Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Piatti, Andres Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; ArgentinaFil: Santos, J. F. C.. Universidade Federal do Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Corradi, W. J. B.. Universidade Federal do Minas Gerais; Brasi

Enlightening the dynamical evolution of Galactic open clusters: an approach using Gaia DR3 and analytical descriptions

Most stars in our Galaxy form in stellar aggregates, which can become long-lived structures called open clusters (OCs). Along their dynamical evolution, their gradual depletion leave some imprints on their structure. In this work, we employed astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic data from the \textit{Gaia} DR3 catalogue to uniformly characterize a sample of 60 OCs. Structural parameters (tidal, core and half-light radii, respectively, $r_t$, $r_c$ and $r_h$), age, mass ($M_{\textrm{clu}}$), distance, reddening, besides Jacobi radius ($R_J$) and half-light relaxation time ($t_{rh}$), are derived from radial density profiles and astrometrically decontaminated colour-magnitude diagrams. Ages and Galactocentric distances ($R_G$) range from 7.2$\,\lesssim\,$log($t.$yr$^{-1}$)$\,\lesssim\,$9.8 and 6$\,\lesssim\,R_G$(kpc)$\,\lesssim\,$12. Analytical expressions derived from $N$-body simulations, taken from the literature, are also employed to estimate the OC initial mass ($M_{\textrm{ini}}$) and mass loss due to exclusively dynamical effects. Both $r_c$ and the tidal filling ratio, $r_h/R_J$, tend to decrease with the dynamical age (=$t/t_{rh}$), indicating the shrinking of the OCs' internal structure as consequence of internal dynamical relaxation. This dependence seems differentially affected by the external tidal field, since OCs at smaller $R_G$ tend to be dynamically older and have smaller $M_{\textrm{clu}}/M_{\textrm{ini}}$ ratios. In this sense, for $R_G\lesssim8\,$kpc, the $r_h/R_J$ ratio presents a slight positive correlation with $R_G$. Beyond this limit, there is a dichotomy in which more massive OCs tend to be more compact and therefore less subject to tidal stripping in comparison to those less massive and looser OCs at similar $R_G$. Besides, the $r_t/R_J$ ratio also tends to correlate positively with $R_G$.Comment: 21 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Investigating dynamical properties of evolved Galactic open clusters

The stellar content of Galactic open clusters is gradually depleted during their evolution as a result of internal relaxation and external interactions. The final residues of the evolution of open clusters are called open cluster remnants, barely distinguishable from the field. We aimed to characterise and compare the dynamical states of a set of 16 such objects. The sample also includes 7 objects that are catalogued as dynamically evolved open clusters. We used photometric data from the 2MASS, astrometric data from the GAIA DR2 and a decontamination algorithm that was applied to the three-dimensional astrometric space of proper motions and parallaxes for stars in the objects' areas. The luminosity and mass functions and total masses for most open cluster remnants are derived here for the first time. Our analysis used predictions of N-body simulations to estimate the initial number of stars of the remnants from their dissolution timescales. The investigated open cluster remnants present masses and velocity dispersions within well-defined ranges: M between ~10-40M_Sun and sigma_v between ~1-7km/s. Some objects in the remnant sample have a limiting radius R_lim<~2pc, which means that they are more compact than the investigated open clusters; other remnants have R_lim between ~2-7pc, which is comparable to the open clusters. We suggest that the open cluster NGC2180 is entering a remnant evolutionary stage. In general, our clusters show signals of depletion of low-mass stars. This confirms their dynamically evolved states. We conclude that the open cluster remnants we studied are in fact remnants of initially very populous open clusters (No~10^3-10^4 stars). The outcome of the long-term evolution is to bring the final residues of the open clusters to dynamical states that are similar to each other, thus masking out the memory of the initial formation conditions of star clusters.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Caracterización de cúmulos abiertos a través de correlaciones cruzadas con librerías de espectros

We present a characterization method based on spectral cross-correlation to obtain the physical parameters of the controversial stellar aggregate ESO 442-SC04. The data used was obtained with GMOS at Gemini-South telescope. Spectral types, effective temperature, suface gravity and metallicities parameters were determined using FXCOR to correlate cluster spectra with ELODIE spectral library and selecting the best correlation matches using the Tonry and Davis Ratio (TDR). Analysis of the results suggests that the stars in ESO 442-SC04 are not bound and therefore they do not constitute a physical system.En este trabajo presentamos un m´etodo de caracterizacion basado en la correlacion cruzada de espectros de estrellas en el controvertido objeto ESO 442-SC04. Utilizamos espectros obtenidos con el multiespectrografo GMOS del telescopio Gemini Sur. Determinamos tipos espectrales, velocidades radiales, temperaturas efectivas y gravedades superficiales empleando la tarea FXCOR de IRAF, para correlacionar los espectros estelares observados con los de la librerıa ELODIE, en combinacion con la razon Tonry-Davis para seleccionar el mejor ajuste. Un analisis de los resultados sugiere que las estrellas observadas en ESO 442- SC04 no constituyen un sistema fısico.Fil: Maia, F. F. S.. Universidade Federal do Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Santos Jr, Joâo F. C.. Universidade Federal do Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Corradi, W. J. B.. Universidade Federal do Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Piatti, Andres Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; Argentin

On the Nature of the Stellar Group ESO442-SC04

We propose a definitive test on the real physical nature of ESO 442-SC04, an object which has been listed as a possible open cluster remnant (POCR) by Bica et al. (2001). In order to pursue such analysis, we carried out multi-object spectroscopy of stars in its inner area using GMOS at Gemini-South telescope. By determining their radial velocity and metallicity, in conjunction with 2MASS color-magnitude diagrams and proper motion analysis, we aim at evaluating if the stars form a physical system. Our analysis of the radial velocity data suggests that the stars are not dynamically bound, according to the large radial velocity dispersion (& 50 km/s).Proponemos un test definitivo acerca de la verdadera naturaleza fısica de ESO 442-SC04, un objeto catalogado por Bica et al. (2001) como posible remanente de un cumulo abierto. A partir del analisis de sus velocidades radiales y metalicidades -obtenidas con el multiespectrografo GMOS del telescopio Gemini Sur-, en combinacion con movimientos propios y diagramas color-magnitud 2MASS, evaluamos la posibilidad de que dichas estrellas formen un sistema fisico. Nuestro aalisis de las velocidades radiales sugiere que las estrellas no se encuentran ligadas dinamicamente, de acuerdo a su relativamente gran dispersion de velocidades (& 50km/s).Fil: Maia, F. F. S.. Universidade Federal do Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Santos Jr, Joâo F. C.. Universidade Federal do Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Corradi, W. J. B.. Universidade Federal do Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Piatti, Andres Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; Argentin

Large Magellanic Cloud Planetary Nebula Morphology: Probing Stellar Populations and Evolution

Planetary Nebulae (PNe) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) offer the unique opportunity to study both the Population and evolution of low- and intermediate-mass stars, by means of the morphological type of the nebula. Using observations from our LMC PN morphological survey, and including images available in the HST Data Archive, and published chemical abundances, we find that asymmetry in PNe is strongly correlated with a younger stellar Population, as indicated by the abundance of elements that are unaltered by stellar evolution (Ne, Ar, S). While similar results have been obtained for Galactic PNe, this is the first demonstration of the relationship for extra-galactic PNe. We also examine the relation between morphology and abundance of the products of stellar evolution. We found that asymmetric PNe have higher nitrogen and lower carbon abundances than symmetric PNe. Our two main results are broadly consistent with the predictions of stellar evolution if the progenitors of asymmetric PNe have on average larger masses than the progenitors of symmetric PNe. The results bear on the question of formation mechanisms for asymmetric PNe, specifically, that the genesis of PNe structure should relate strongly to the Population type, and by inference the mass, of the progenitor star, and less strongly on whether the central star is a member of a close binary system.Comment: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, in press 4 figure