4,431 research outputs found
Low Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs around Sigma Orionis
We present optical spectroscopy of 71 photometric candidate low-mass members
of the cluster associated with Sigma Orionis. Thirty-five of these are found to
pass the lithium test and hence are confirmed as true cluster members, covering
a mass range of <0.055-0.3M_{sun}, assuming a mean cluster age of <5 Myr. We
find evidence for an age spread on the (I, I-J) colour magnitude diagram,
members appearing to lie in the range 1-7 Myr. There are, however, a
significant fraction of candidates that are non-members, including some
previously identified as members based on photometry alone. We see some
evidence that the ratio of spectroscopically confirmed members to photometric
candidates decreases with brightness and mass. This highlights the importance
of spectroscopy in determining the true initial mass-function.Comment: To appear in the 12th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars Stellar
Systems and the Su
No evidence for intense, cold accretion onto YSOs from measurements of Li in T-Tauri stars
We have used medium resolution spectra to search for evidence that
proto-stellar objects accrete at high rates during their early 'assembly
phase'. Models predict that depleted lithium and reduced luminosity in T-Tauri
stars are key signatures of 'cold' high-rate accretion occurring early in a
star's evolution.
We found no evidence in 168 stars in NGC 2264 and the Orion Nebula Cluster
for strong lithium depletion through analysis of veiling corrected 6708
angstrom lithium spectral line strengths. This suggests that 'cold' accretion
at high rates (M_dot > 5 x 10-4 M_sol yr-1) occurs in the assembly phase of
fewer than 0.5 per cent of 0.3 < M < 1.9 M_sol stars.
We also find that the dispersion in the strength of the 6708 angstrom lithium
line might imply an age spread that is similar in magnitude to the apparent age
spread implied by the luminosity dispersion seen in colour magnitude diagrams.
Evidence for weak lithium depletion (< 10 per cent in equivalent width) that is
correlated with luminosity is also apparent, but we are unable to determine
whether age spreads or accretion at rates less than 5 x 10-4 M_sol yr-1 are
responsible.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures; Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of
the Royal Astronomical Society, 2013 June 0
Reconnection in Marginally Collisionless Accretion Disk Coronae
We point out that a conventional construction placed upon observations of
accreting black holes, in which their nonthermal X-ray spectra are produced by
inverse comptonization in a coronal plasma, suggests that the plasma is
marginally collisionless. Recent developments in plasma physics indicate that
fast reconnection takes place only in collisionless plasmas. As has recently
been suggested for the Sun's corona, such marginal states may result from a
combination of energy balance and the requirements of fast magnetic
reconnection.Comment: Revised in response to referee. Accepted ApJ. 11 pp., no figures.
Uses aastex 5.0
The lithium depletion boundary and the age of NGC 2547
We present the results of a photometric and spectroscopic survey of cool M
dwarf candidates in the young open cluster NGC 2547. Using the 2dF fiber
spectrograph, we have searched for the luminosity at which lithium remains
unburned in an attempt to constrain the cluster age. The lack of a population
of individual lithium-rich objects towards the faint end of our sample places a
very strong lower limit to the cluster age of 35 Myr. However, the detection of
lithium in the averaged spectra of our faintest targets suggests that the
lithium depletion boundary lies at 9.5 < M(I) < 10.0 and that the cluster age
is < 54 Myr. The age of NGC 2547 judged from fitting isochrones to low-mass
pre-main-sequence stars in colour-magnitude diagrams is 20-35 Myr using the
same evolutionary models. The sense and size of the discrepancy in age
determined by these two techniques is similar to that found in another young
cluster, IC 2391, and in the low-mass pre main-sequence binary system, GJ
871.1AB. We suggest that the inclusion of rotation or dynamo-generated magnetic
fields in the evolutionary models could reconcile the two age determinations,
but only at the expense of increasing the cluster ages beyond that currently
indicated by the lithium depletion. Alternatively, some mechanism is required
that increases the rate of lithium depletion in young, very low-mass fully
convective stars.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, accepted by MNRA
The discovery of a low mass, pre-main-sequence stellar association around gamma Velorum
We report the serendipitous discovery of a population of low mass, pre-main
sequence stars (PMS) in the direction of the Wolf-Rayet/O-star binary system
gamma^{2} Vel and the Vela OB2 association. We argue that gamma^{2} Vel and the
low mass stars are truly associated, are approximately coeval and that both are
at distances between 360-490 pc, disagreeing at the 2 sigma level with the
recent Hipparcos parallax of gamma^{2} Vel, but consistent with older distance
estimates. Our results clearly have implications for the physical parameters of
the gamma^{2} Vel system, but also offer an exciting opportunity to investigate
the influence of high mass stars on the mass function and circumstellar disc
lifetimes of their lower mass PMS siblings.Comment: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Letters - in pres
Pre-main-sequence isochrones -- II. Revising star and planet formation timescales
We have derived ages for 13 young (<30 Myr) star-forming regions and find
they are up to a factor two older than the ages typically adopted in the
literature. This result has wide-ranging implications, including that
circumstellar discs survive longer (~10-12 Myr) and that the average Class I
lifetime is greater (~1 Myr) than currently believed.
For each star-forming region we derived two ages from colour-magnitude
diagrams. First we fitted models of the evolution between the zero-age
main-sequence and terminal-age main-sequence to derive a homogeneous set of
main-sequence ages, distances and reddenings with statistically meaningful
uncertainties. Our second age for each star-forming region was derived by
fitting pre-main-sequence stars to new semi-empirical model isochrones. For the
first time (for a set of clusters younger than 50 Myr) we find broad agreement
between these two ages, and since these are derived from two distinct mass
regimes that rely on different aspects of stellar physics, it gives us
confidence in the new age scale. This agreement is largely due to our adoption
of empirical colour-Teff relations and bolometric corrections for
pre-main-sequence stars cooler than 4000 K.
The revised ages for the star-forming regions in our sample are: ~2 Myr for
NGC 6611 (Eagle Nebula; M 16), IC 5146 (Cocoon Nebula), NGC 6530 (Lagoon
Nebula; M 8), and NGC 2244 (Rosette Nebula); ~6 Myr for {\sigma} Ori, Cep OB3b,
and IC 348; ~10 Myr for {\lambda} Ori (Collinder 69); ~11 Myr for NGC 2169; ~12
Myr for NGC 2362; ~13 Myr for NGC 7160; ~14 Myr for {\chi} Per (NGC 884); and
~20 Myr for NGC 1960 (M 36).Comment: 28 pages, 18 figures, 34 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS.
All photometric catalogues presented in this paper are available online at
the Cluster Collaboration homepage
http://www.astro.ex.ac.uk/people/timn/Catalogues
A lithium depletion boundary age of 22 Myr for NGC 1960
We present a deep Cousins RI photometric survey of the open cluster NGC 1960,
complete to R_C \simeq 22, I_C \simeq 21, that is used to select a sample of
very low-mass cluster candidates. Gemini spectroscopy of a subset of these is
used to confirm membership and locate the age-dependent "lithium depletion
boundary" (LDB) --the luminosity at which lithium remains unburned in its
low-mass stars. The LDB implies a cluster age of 22 +/-4 Myr and is quite
insensitive to choice of evolutionary model. NGC 1960 is the youngest cluster
for which a LDB age has been estimated and possesses a well populated upper
main sequence and a rich low-mass pre-main sequence. The LDB age determined
here agrees well with precise age estimates made for the same cluster based on
isochrone fits to its high- and low-mass populations. The concordance between
these three age estimation techniques, that rely on different facets of stellar
astrophysics at very different masses, is an important step towards calibrating
the absolute ages of young open clusters and lends confidence to ages
determined using any one of them.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
The ``Outside-In'' Outburst of HT Cassiopeiae
We present results from photometric observations of the dwarf nova system HT
Cas during the eruption of November 1995. The data include the first
two--colour observations of an eclipse on the rise to outburst. They show that
during the rise to outburst the disc deviates significantly from steady state
models, but the inclusion of an inner-disc truncation radius of about 4
and a ``flared'' disc of semi-opening angle of produces
acceptable fits. The disc is found to have expanded at the start of the
outburst to about , as compared to quiescent measurements. The
accretion disc then gradually decreases in radius reaching during
the last stages of the eruption. Quiescent eclipses were also observed prior to
and after the eruption and a revised ephemeris is calculated.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, to appear in MNRA
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