The Initial Mass Function of the Orion Nebula Cluster across the H-burning limit

We present a new census of the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) over a large field of view (>30'x30'), significantly increasing the known population of stellar and substellar cluster members with precisely determined properties. We develop and exploit a technique to determine stellar effective temperatures from optical colors, nearly doubling the previously available number of objects with effective temperature determinations in this benchmark cluster. Our technique utilizes colors from deep photometry in the I-band and in two medium-band filters at lambda~753 and 770nm, which accurately measure the depth of a molecular feature present in the spectra of cool stars. From these colors we can derive effective temperatures with a precision corresponding to better than one-half spectral subtype, and importantly this precision is independent of the extinction to the individual stars. Also, because this technique utilizes only photometry redward of 750nm, the results are only mildly sensitive to optical veiling produced by accretion. Completing our census with previously available data, we place some 1750 sources in the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram and assign masses and ages down to 0.02 solar masses. At faint luminosities, we detect a large population of background sources which is easily separated in our photometry from the bona fide cluster members. The resulting initial mass function of the cluster has good completeness well into the substellar mass range, and we find that it declines steeply with decreasing mass. This suggests a deficiency of newly formed brown dwarfs in the cluster compared to the Galactic disk population.Comment: 16 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Rotation and variability of very low mass stars and brown dwarfs near Epsilon Ori

We explore the rotation and activity of very low mass (VLM) objects by means of a photometric variability study. Our targets in the vicinity of Epsilon Ori belong to the OriOB1b population in the Orion star-forming complex. In this region we selected 143 VLM stars and brown dwarfs (BDs), whose photometry in RIJHK is consistent with membership of the young population. The variability of these objects was investigated using a densely sampled I-band time series covering four consecutive nights with altogether 129 data points per object. Our targets show three types of variability: Thirty objects, including nine BDs, show significant photometric periods, ranging from 4h up to 100h, which we interpret as the rotation periods. Five objects, including two BDs, exhibit variability with high amplitudes up to 1 mag which is at least partly irregular. This behaviour is most likely caused by ongoing accretion and confirms that VLM objects undergo a T Tauri phase similar to solar-mass stars. Finally, one VLM star shows a strong flare event of 0.3 mag amplitude. The rotation periods show dependence on mass, i.e. the average period decreases with decreasing object mass, consistent with previously found mass-period relationships in younger and older clusters. The period distribution of BDs extends down to the breakup period, where centrifugal and gravitational forces are balanced. Combining our BD periods with literature data, we found that the lower period limit for substellar objects lies between 2h and 4h, more or less independent of age. Contrary to stars, these fast rotating BDs seem to evolve at constant rotation period from ages of 3 Myr to 1 Gyr, in spite of the contraction process. Thus, they should experience strong rotational braking.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures, A&A, in pres

Substellar Objects in Nearby Young Clusters (SONYC) IV: A census of very low mass objects in NGC1333

SONYC -- Substellar Objects in Nearby Young Clusters -- is a program to investigate the frequency and properties of young substellar objects with masses down to a few times that of Jupiter. Here we present a census of very low mass objects in the ~1 Myr old cluster NGC1333. We analyze near-infrared spectra taken with FMOS/Subaru for 100 candidates from our deep, wide-field survey and find 10 new likely brown dwarfs with spectral types of M6 or later. Among them, there are three with >~M9 and one with early L spectral type, corresponding to masses of 0.006 to <~0.02 Msol, so far the lowest mass objects identified in this cluster. The combination of survey depth, spatial coverage, and extensive spectroscopic follow-up makes NGC1333 one of the most comprehensively surveyed clusters for substellar objects. In total, there are now 51 objects with spectral type M5 or later and/or effective temperature of 3200 K or cooler identified in NGC1333; 30-40 of them are likely to be substellar. NGC1333 harbours about half as many brown dwarfs as stars, which is significantly more than in other well-studied star forming regions, thus raising the possibility of environmental differences in the formation of substellar objects. The brown dwarfs in NGC1333 are spatially strongly clustered within a radius of ~1 pc, mirroring the distribution of the stars. The disk fraction in the substellar regime is <66%, lower than for the total population (83%) but comparable to the brown dwarf disk fraction in other 2-3 Myr old regions.Comment: 16 pages, 7 tables, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

The IMF and Star Formation History of the Stellar Clusters in the Vela D Cloud

We present the results of a Near-Infrared deep photometric survey of a sample of six embedded star clusters in the Vela-D molecular cloud, all associated with luminous (~10^3 Lsun) IRAS sources. The clusters are unlikely to be older than a few 10^6 yrs, since all are still associated with molecular gas. We employed the fact that all clusters lie at the same distance and were observed with the same instrumental setting to derive their properties in a consistent way, being affected by the same instrumental and observational biases. We extracted the clusters' K Luminosity Functions (KLF) and developed a simple method to correct them for extinction, based on colour-magnitude diagrams. The reliability of the method has been tested by constructing synthetic clusters from theoretical tracks for pre-main sequence stars and a standard Initial Mass Function (IMF). The clusters' IMFs have been derived from the dereddened KLFs by adopting a set of pre-main sequence evolutionary tracks and assuming coeval star formation. All clusters are small (~100 members) and compact (radius \~0.1-0.2 pc); their most massive stars are intermediate-mass (~2-10 Msun) ones. The dereddened KLFs are likely to arise from the same distribution, suggesting that the selected clusters have quite similar IMFs and star formation histories. The IMFs are consistent with those derived for field stars and clusters. Adding them together we found that the ``global'' IMF appears steeper at the high-mass end and exhibits a drop-off at ~10 Msun. In fact, a standard IMF would predict a star with M>22.5 Msun within one of the clusters, which is not found. Hence, either high-mass stars need larger clusters to be formed, or the IMF of the single clusters is steeper at the high-mass end because of the physical conditions in the parental gas.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, to be published in Astronomy & Astrophysic

An Initial Mass Function for Individual Stars in Galactic Disks: I. Constraining the Shape of the IMF

We derive a semi-empirical galactic initial mass function (IMF) from observational constraints. We assume that the star formation rate in a galaxy can be expressed as the product of the IMF, $\psi (m)$, which is a smooth function of mass $m$ (in units of \msun), and a time- and space-dependent total rate of star formation per unit area of galactic disk. The mass dependence of the proposed IMF is determined by five parameters: the low-mass slope $\gamma$, the high-mass slope $-\Gamma$, the characteristic mass $m_{ch}$ (which is close to the mass $m_{\rm peak}$ at which the IMF turns over), and the lower and upper limits on the mass, $m_l$ (taken to be 0.004) and $m_u$ (taken to be 120). The star formation rate in terms of number of stars per unit area of galactic disk per unit logarithmic mass interval, is proportional to $m^{-\Gamma} \left\{1-\exp\left[{-(m/m_{ch})^{\gamma +\Gamma}}\right]\right\}$, where $\cal N_*$ is the number of stars, $m_l<m<m_u$ is the range of stellar masses. The values of $\gamma$ and \emch are derived from two integral constraints: i) the ratio of the number density of stars in the range $m=0.1-0.6$ to that in the range $m=0.6-0.8$ as inferred from the mass distribution of field stars in the local neighborhood, and ii) the ratio of the number of stars in the range $m=0.08 - 1$ to the number of brown dwarfs in the range $m=0.03-0.08$ in young clusters. The IMF satisfying the above constraints is characterized by the parameters $\gamma=0.51$ and \emch=0.35 (which corresponds to $m_{\rm peak}=0.27$). This IMF agrees quite well with the Chabrier (2005) IMF for the entire mass range over which we have compared with data, but predicts significantly more stars with masses $< 0.03\, M_\odot$; we also compare with other IMFs in current use.Comment: 46 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Ap

X-ray view of IC348 in the light of an updated cluster census

We study the properties of the coronae of the low-mass stars in the young (~2-3Myr), nearby (~310pc) open cluster IC348 combining X-ray and optical/infrared data. The four existing Chandra observations of IC348 are merged, thus providing a deeper and spatially more complete X-ray view than previous X-ray studies of the cluster. We have compiled a comprehensive catalog of IC348 members taking into account recent updates to the cluster census. Our data collection comprises fundamental stellar parameters, infrared excess indicating the presence of disks, Halpha emission as a tracer of chromospheric emission or accretion and mass accretion rates. We have detected 290 X-ray sources in four merged Chandra exposures, of which 187 are associated with known cluster members. Only four of the X-ray sources are brown dwarfs (spectral type M6 and later). The detection rate is highest for diskless Class III stars and increases with stellar mass. This may be explained with higher X-ray luminosities for higher mass and later evolutionary stage that is evident in the X-ray luminosity functions. In particular, we find that for the lowest examined masses (0.1-0.25 Msun) there is a difference between the X-ray luminosity functions of accreting and non-accreting stars (classified on the basis of their Halpha emission strength) as well as those of disk-bearing and diskless stars (classified on the basis of the slope of the spectral energy distribution). These differences disappear for higher masses. This is related to our finding that the L_x/L_bol ratio is non-constant across the mass/luminosity sequence of IC348 with a decrease towards lower luminosity stars. Our analysis of an analogous stellar sample in the Orion Nebula Cluster suggests that the decline of L_x/L_ bol for young stars at the low-mass end of the stellar sequence is likely universal.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Unexpected structures formed by the kinase RET C634R mutant extracellular domain suggest potential oncogenic mechanisms in MEN2A

The RET receptor tyrosine kinase plays a pivotal role in cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation, and its abnormal activation leads to cancers through receptor fusions or point mutations. Mutations that disrupt the disulfide network in the extracellular domain (ECD) of RET drive multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A (MEN2A), a hereditary syndrome associated with the development of thyroid cancers. However, structural details of how specific mutations affect RET are unclear. Here, we present the first structural insights into the ECD of the RET(C634R) mutant, the most common mutation in MEN2A. Using electron microscopy, we demonstrate that the C634R mutation causes ligand-independent dimerization of the RET ECD, revealing an unusual tail-to-tail conformation that is distinct from the ligand-induced signaling dimer of WT RET. Additionally, we show that the RETC634R ECD dimer can form complexes with at least two of the canonical RET ligands and that these complexes form very different structures than WT RET ECD upon ligand binding. In conclusion, this structural analysis of cysteine-mutant RET ECD suggests a potential key mechanism of cancer induction in MEN2A, both in the absence and presence of its native ligands, and may offer new targets for therapeutic intervention.Peer reviewe

No disks around low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the young sigma Orionis cluster?

We report on the analysis of 2MASS near-infrared data of a sample of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the sigma Orionis cluster. Youth and cluster membership have been spectroscopically confirmed using the Li I spectral line. We find little evidence in the JHKs colour-colour diagram for near-infrared excess emission for these cluster members. By comparison with model expectations, at most 2 out of 34 stars show (H-K) colour consistent with a near-infrared excess. This scarcity of near-infrared signatures of circumstellar disks in the lower-mass and substellar regimes of this cluster contrasts with findings in younger clusters, hinting at an age dependence of the disk frequency. Taking into account the apparent cluster age, our result supports the idea of a relatively fast (few Myr) disk dissipation and extends this conclusion to the substellar regime. We also find some evidence that, in this cluster, the disk frequency as measured by the Ks-band excess may be mass dependent.Comment: 4 pages, 2 eps figures, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics Letter

On the temporal evolution of the stellar mass function in Galactic clusters

We show that we can obtain a good fit to the present day stellar mass functions (MFs) of a large sample of young and old Galactic clusters in the range 0.1 - 10 Msolar with a tapered power law distribution function with an exponential truncation of the form dN/dm \propto m^alpha [1 - exp-(m/m_c)^beta]. The average value of the power-law index alpha is -2, that of beta is 2.5, whereas the characteristic mass m_c is in the range 0.1 - 0.8 Msolar and does not seem to vary in any systematic way with the present cluster parameters such as metal abundance, total cluster mass or central concentration. However, m_c shows a remarkable correlation with the dynamical age of the cluster, namely m_c/Msolar ~ 0.15 + 0.5 tau_dyn^0.75, where tau_dyn is the dynamical age taken as the ratio of cluster age and dissolution time. The small scatter seen around this correlation is consistent with the uncertainties on the estimated value of tau_dyn. We attribute the observed trend to the onset of mass segregation via two-body relaxation in a tidal environment, causing the preferential loss of low-mass stars from the cluster and hence a drift of the characteristic mass m_c towards higher values. If dynamical evolution is indeed at the origin of the observed trend, it would seem plausible that high-concentration globular clusters, now with median m_c ~ 0.33 Msolar, were born with a stellar MF very similar to that measured today in the youngest Galactic clusters and with a value of m_c ~ 0.15 Msolar. This hypothesis is consistent with the absence of a turn-over in the MF of the Galactic bulge down to the observational limit at ~0.2 Msolar and, if correct, it would carry the implication that the characteristic mass is not set by the thermal Jeans mass of the cloud.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

On the universal outcome of star-formation: Is there a link between stars and brown-dwarfs?

(abridged) The recent evidence obtained by Briceno et al. that star-formation in Taurus-Auriga (TA) may be producing significantly fewer brown dwarfs (BDs) per star than the ONC is investigated by setting up a realistic model stellar plus BD population and explicitly taking into account a high binary proportion and dynamical evolution in the TA groups and the ONC. The Briceno result is reproduced almost exactly despite an identical IMF in both systems because many BD-BD and star-BD binaries are disrupted in the ONC thus freeing BDs, while the TA groups remain unevolved dynamically. However, the resulting populations do not have the correct star-star, star-BD and expecially BD-BD binary properties, even if a variable BD IMF is allowed for. The conclusion is therefore that BDs need to be added as a separate population which has its own binary properties. Such an extra population can have various origins which are briefly discussed in this contribution but more fully in an associated paper.Comment: MNRAS, accepted, 23 pages, 14 figures, LaTeX, two references adde