NGC 2362: a Template for Early Stellar Evolution

We present UBVRI photometry for the young open cluster NGC 2362. From analysis of the appropriate color-color and color-magnitude diagrams we derive the fundamental parameters of the NGC 2362 cluster to be: age = 5 (+1-2) Myr, distance = 1480 pc, E(B-V)=0.10 mag. The cluster age was independently determined for both high mass (2.1 - 36Msun) and low mass (0.7 - 1.2Msun) stars with excellent agreement between the ages derived using post-main sequence and pre-main sequence evolutionary tracks for the high and low mass stars respectively. Analysis of this cluster's color-magnitude diagram reveals a well defined pre-main sequence (covering DeltaV ~ 9 magnitudes in V and extending from early A stars to near the hydrogen burning limit) which makes this cluster an ideal laboratory for pre-main sequence evolution studies.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, to be published in ApJ

The Dynamical State of Barnard 68: A Thermally Supported, Pulsating Dark Cloud

We report sensitive, high resolution molecular-line observations of the dark cloud Barnard 68 obtained with the IRAM 30-m telescope. We analyze spectral-line observations of C18O, CS(2--1), C34S(2--1), and N2H+(1--0) in order to investigate the kinematics and dynamical state of the cloud. We find extremely narrow linewidths in the central regions of the cloud. These narrow lines are consistent with thermally broadened profiles for the measured gas temperature of 10.5 K. We determine the thermal pressure to be a factor 4 -- 5 times greater than the non-thermal (turbulent) pressure in the central regions of the cloud, indicating that thermal pressure is the primary source of support against gravity in this cloud. This confirms the inference of a thermally supported cloud drawn previously from deep infrared extinction measurements. The rotational kinetic energy is found to be only a few percent of the gravitational potential energy, indicating that the contribution of rotation to the overall stability of the cloud is insignificant. Finally, our observations show that CS line is optically thick and self-reversed across nearly the entire projected surface of the cloud. The shapes of the self-reversed profiles are asymmetric and are found to vary across the cloud in such a manner that the presence of both inward and outward motions are observed within the cloud. Moreover, these motions appear to be globally organized in a clear and systematic alternating spatial pattern which is suggestive of a small amplitude, non-radial oscillation or pulsation of the outer layers of the cloud about an equilibrium configuration.Comment: To appear in the Astrophysical Journal; 23 pages, 8 figures; Manuscript and higher resolution images can be obtained at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~ebergin/pubs_html/b68_vel.htm

Generalized Jacobi structures

Jacobi brackets (a generalization of standard Poisson brackets in which Leibniz's rule is replaced by a weaker condition) are extended to brackets involving an arbitrary (even) number of functions. This new structure includes, as a particular case, the recently introduced generalized Poisson structures. The linear case on simple group manifolds is also studied and non-trivial examples (different from those coming from generalized Poisson structures) of this new construction are found by using the cohomology ring of the given group.Comment: Latex2e file. 11 pages. To appear in J. Phys.

Modeling the Near-Infrared Luminosity Functions of Young Stellar Clusters

We present the results of numerical experiments designed to evaluate the usefulness of near-infrared luminosity functions for constraining the Initial Mass Function (IMF) of young stellar populations. From this numerical modeling, we find that the luminosity function of a young stellar population is considerably more sensitive to variations in the underlying initial mass function than to either variations in the star forming history or assumed pre-main-sequence (PMS) mass-to-luminosity relation. To illustrate the potential effectiveness of using the KLF of a young cluster to constrain its IMF, we model the observed K band luminosity function of the nearby Trapezium cluster. Our derived mass function for the Trapezium spans two orders of magnitude in stellar mass (5 Msun to 0.02 Msun), has a peak near the hydrogen burning limit, and has an IMF for Brown Dwarfs which steadily decreases with decreasing mass.Comment: To appear in ApJ (1 April 2000). 37 pages including 11 figures, AAS: ver 5.

Deformations of coisotropic submanifolds for fibrewise entire Poisson structures

We show that deformations of a coisotropic submanifold inside a fibrewise entire Poisson manifold are controlled by the $L_\infty$-algebra introduced by Oh-Park (for symplectic manifolds) and Cattaneo-Felder. In the symplectic case, we recover results previously obtained by Oh-Park. Moreover we consider the extended deformation problem and prove its obstructedness

Fullerene derivative based spin-on-carbon hard masks for advanced lithographic applications

Spin-on-Carbon (SoC) hardmasks are an increasingly key component of the microchip fabrication process. Progress in lithographic resolution has made the adoption of extremely thin photoresist films necessary for the fabrication of “1x nanometre” linewidth structures to prevent issues such as resist collapse during development. While there are resists with high etch durability, ultimately etch depth is limited by resist thickness. A possible solution is the use of a multilayer etch stack. This allows for considerable increase in aspect ratio. For the organic hard mask base layer, a carbon-rich material is preferred as carbon possesses a high etch resistance in silicon plasma etch processes. A thin silicon topcoat deposited on the carbon film can be patterned with a thin photoresist film without feature collapse, and the pattern transferred to the underlying carbon film by oxygen plasma. This produces high aspect ratio carbon structures suitable for substrate etching. In terms of manufacturability it is beneficial to spin coat the carbon layer instead of using chemical vapor deposition, but the presence of carbon-hydrogen bonds in typical spin-on-carbon leads to line wiggling during the etch (a significant problem at smaller feature sizes). We have developed a fullerene based SoC and reported on material characterization. The materials low Ohnishi number provides high etch durability and the low hydrogen level allows for high resolution etching without wiggling. Here recent advances in material development and work towards commercialization of the materials are presented and the use of the materials in etch stacks is demonstrated

A Census of the Young Cluster IC 348

We present a new census of the stellar and substellar members of the young cluster IC 348. We have obtained images at I and Z for a 42'x28' field encompassing the cluster and have combined these measurements with previous optical and near-infrared photometry. From spectroscopy of candidate cluster members appearing in these data, we have identified 122 new members, 15 of which have spectral types of M6.5-M9, corresponding to masses of 0.08-0.015 M_sun by recent evolutionary models. The latest census for IC 348 now contains a total of 288 members, 23 of which are later than M6 and thus are likely to be brown dwarfs. From an extinction-limited sample of members (A_V<=4) for a 16'x14' field centered on the cluster, we construct an IMF that is unbiased in mass and nearly complete for M/M_sun>=0.03 (<=M8). In logarithmic units where the Salpeter slope is 1.35, the mass function for IC 348 rises from high masses down to a solar mass, rises more slowly down to a maximum at 0.1-0.2 M_sun, and then declines into the substellar regime. In comparison, the similarly-derived IMF for Taurus from Briceno et al. and Luhman et al. rises quickly to a peak near 0.8 M_sun and steadily declines to lower masses. The distinctive shapes of the IMFs in IC 348 and Taurus are reflected in the distributions of spectral types, which peak at M5 and K7, respectively. These data provide compelling, model-independent evidence for a significant variation of the IMF with star-forming conditions.Comment: 47 pages, 14 figures, 3rd para of 4.5.3 has been added, this is final version in press at ApJ, also found at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/sfgroup/preprints.htm