2,542 research outputs found
Foreground and background dust in star cluster directions
This paper compares reddening values E(B-V) derived from the stellar content
of 103 old open clusters and 147 globular clusters of the Milky Way with those
derived from DIRBE/IRAS 100 micron dust emission in the same directions. Star
clusters at |b|> 20 show comparable reddening values between the two methods,
in agreement with the fact that most of them are located beyond the disk dust
layer. For very low galactic latitude lines of sight, differences occur in the
sense that DIRBE/IRAS reddening values can be substantially larger, suggesting
effects due to the depth distribution of the dust. The differences appear to
arise from dust in the background of the clusters consistent with a dust layer
where important extinction occurs up to distances from the Plane of ~ 300 pc.
For 3 % of the sample a significant background dust contribution might be
explained by higher dust clouds. We find evidence that the Milky Way dust lane
and higher dust clouds are similar to those of several edge-on spiral galaxies
recently studied in detail by means of CCD imaging.Comment: manuscript in LATEX with 14 pages, 8 figures .ps Accepted for
Astronomy and Astrophysics main journal on 13.04.200
Discovery of three optical open clusters in the Galaxy
We report the discovery of three optical open clusters in the Milky Way. Two
clusters are in Scutum (Cluster1 at l=18.44 degrees and b=-0.42 degrees, and
Cluster2 at l=19.60 degrees and b=-1.02 degrees), thus projected not far from
the Galactic center direction, and the other is in Canis Major (Cluster3 at
l=235.61 degrees and b=-4.10 degrees), near the anti-center direction. Cluster3
is less populous than Clusters 1 and 2, but presents evidence of being a
physical system. The objects were found optically by inspecting maps obtained
from the Guide Star Catalogue and images from the Digitized Sky Survey. No
previous identification of cluster has been reported in each area so far. The
analysis was carried out with 2MASS photometry in J and H. For Cluster1 we
derive an age of 25 Myr, a reddening E(B-V)=2.18 and a distance from the Sun
1.64kpc; for Cluster2, age of 500Myr, E(B-V)=0.91 and distance 2.19kpc; finally
for Cluster3, age 32-100Myr, E(B-V)=0.94 and distance of 3.93kpc. Luminosity
and mass functions are derived for Clusters1 and 2 which, in turn, allowed us
to estimate their observed masses as 147 and 89 solar masses, respectively.
Estimated total masses, by extrapolating the mass functions to 0.08 solar mass,
amount to 382 and 614 solar masses, for the two clusters. Cluster3 has an
observed mass of 55 solar masses. The present results indicate that further
searches in the optical might still reveal new open clusters, and more so in
infrared bands.Comment: accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysics, 9 figure
Interference phenomena, chiral bosons and Lorentz invariance
We have studied the theory of gauged chiral bosons and proposed a general
theory, a master action, that encompasses different kinds of gauge field
couplings in chiral bosonized theories with first-class chiral constraints. We
have fused opposite chiral aspects of this master action using the soldering
formalism and applied the final action to several well known models. The
Lorentz rotation permitted us to fix conditions on the parameters of this
general theory in order to preserve the relativistic invariance. We also have
established some conditions on the arbitrary parameter concerned in a chiral
Schwinger model with a generalized constraint, investigating both covariance
and Lorentz invariance. The results obtained supplements the one that shows the
soldering formalism as a new method of mass generation.Comment: 11 pages, RevTex(twocolumn). Final version to appear in Physiscal
Review
Information-Entropic Measure of Energy-Degenerate Kinks in Two-Field Models
We investigate the existence and properties of kink-like solitons in a class
of models with two interacting scalar fields. In particular, we focus on models
that display both double and single-kink solutions, treatable analytically
using the Bogomol'nyi--Prasad--Sommerfield bound (BPS). Such models are of
interest in applications that include Skyrmions and various
superstring-motivated theories. Exploring a region of parameter space where the
energy for very different spatially-bound configurations is degenerate, we show
that a newly-proposed momentum-space entropic measure called Configurational
Entropy (CE) can distinguish between such energy-degenerate spatial profiles.
This information-theoretic measure of spatial complexity provides a
complementary perspective to situations where strictly energy-based arguments
are inconclusive
NTT infrared imaging of star cluster candidates towards the central parts of the Galaxy
We address the issue whether the central parts of the Galaxy harbour young
clusters other than Arches, Quintuplet and the Nuclear Young Cluster. A large
sample of centrally projected cluster candidates has been recently identified
from the 2MASS J, H and Ks Atlas. We provide a catalogue of higher angular
resolution and deeper images for 57 2MASS cluster candidates, obtained with the
near-IR camera SOFI at the ESO NTT telescope. We classify 10 objects as star
clusters, some of them deeply embedded in gas and/or dust clouds. Three other
objects are probably star clusters, although the presence of dust in the field
does not exclude the possibility of their being field stars seen through
low-absorption regions. Eleven objects are concentrations of stars in areas of
little or no gas, and are classified as dissolving cluster candidates. Finally,
31 objects turned out to be the blend of a few bright stars, not resolved as
such in the low resolution 2MASS images. By combining the above results with
other known objects we provide an updated sample of 42 embedded clusters and
candidates projected within 7 degrees. As a first step we study Object 11 of
Dutra & Bica (2000) projected at approximately 1 degree from the nucleus. We
present H and Ks photometry and study the colour-magnitude diagram and
luminosity function. Object 11 appears to be a less massive cluster than Arches
or Quintuplet, and it is located at a distance from the Sun d=8 kpc, with a
visual absorption Av=15.Comment: accepted to A&A, 9 pages, 10 figure
Remarks on supersymmetry of quantum systems with position-dependent effective masses
We apply the supersymmetry approach to one-dimensional quantum systems with
spatially-dependent mass, by including their ordering ambiguities dependence.
In this way we extend the results recently reported in the literature.
Furthermore, we point out a connection between these systems and others with
constant masses. This is done through convenient transformations in the
coordinates and wavefunctions.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur
A catalogue of dust clouds in the Galaxy
In this study 21 catalogues of dust clouds in the Galaxy were cross-identified by taking into account available properties such as position, angular dimensions, opacity class and velocity. An initial list of 6500 entries was condensed into a cross-identified all-sky catalogue containing 5004 dust clouds. In particular, the transition zone between high and low Galactic latitude studies was also cross-identified. The unified catalogue contains 525 high-latitude clouds. The catalogue deals primarily with optical dark nebulae and globules, but it includes as well substantial information from their molecular counterparts. Some previously uncatalogued clouds were detected on optical images and FIR maps. Finally, we address recent results and prospective work based on NIR imaging, especially for clouds detected in the 2MASS Atlas
New infrared star clusters and candidates in the Galaxy detected with 2MASS
A sample of 42 new infrared star clusters, stellar groups and candidates was found throughout the Galaxy in the 2MASS J, H and especially K Atlases. In the Cygnus X region 19 new clusters, stellar groups and candidates were found as compared to 6 such objects in the previous literature. Colour-Magnitude Diagrams using the 2MASS Point Source Catalogue provided preliminary distance estimates in the range 1.0 d 1.8 kpc for 7 Cygnus X clusters. Towards the central parts of the Galaxy 7 new IR clusters and candidates were found as compared to 61 previous objects. A search for prominent dark nebulae in K was also carried out in the central bulge area. We report 5 dark nebulae, 2 of them are candidates for molecular clouds able to generate massive star clusters near the Nucleus, such as the Arches and Quintuplet clusters
New star clusters projected close to the Galactic Centre
We carried out a systematic search for new star clusters in a field of
5 centred close to the Galactic Nucleus using the
infrared JHK 2MASS Survey archive. In addition we searched for embedded
clusters in the directions of HII regions and dark clouds for
. As a result we present a list of 58 IR star clusters or
candidates. We provide positions, sizes and reddening estimated from 100 m
dust emission. Their angular distribution together with previously catalogued
objects in the region and possible relation with star forming complexes are
also discussed.Comment: manuscript in LATEX with 4 pages, 4 figures .ps Accepted for
Astronomy and Astrophysics main journa
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