Open-cluster density profiles derived using a kernel estimator

Surface and spatial radial density profiles in open clusters are derived using a kernel estimator method. Formulae are obtained for the contribution of every star into the spatial density profile. The evaluation of spatial density profiles is tested against open-cluster models from N-body experiments with N = 500. Surface density profiles are derived for seven open clusters (NGC 1502, 1960, 2287, 2516, 2682, 6819 and 6939) using Two-Micron All-Sky Survey data and for different limiting magnitudes. The selection of an optimal kernel half-width is discussed. It is shown that open-cluster radius estimates hardly depend on the kernel half-width. Hints of stellar mass segregation and structural features indicating cluster non-stationarity in the regular force field are found. A comparison with other investigations shows that the data on open-cluster sizes are often underestimated. The existence of an extended corona around the open cluster NGC 6939 was confirmed. A combined function composed of the King density profile for the cluster core and the uniform sphere for the cluster corona is shown to be a better approximation of the surface radial density profile.The King function alone does not reproduce surface density profiles of sample clusters properly. The number of stars, the cluster masses and the tidal radii in the Galactic gravitational field for the sample clusters are estimated. It is shown that NGC 6819 and 6939 are extended beyond their tidal surfaces.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figure

On the assessment of the nature of open star clusters and the determination of their basic parameters with limited data

Our knowledge of stellar evolution and of the structure and chemical evolution of the Galactic disk largely builds on the study of open star clusters. Because of their crucial role in these relevant topics, large homogeneous catalogues of open cluster parameters are highly desirable. Although efforts have been made to develop automatic tools to analyse large numbers of clusters, the results obtained so far vary from study to study, and sometimes are very contradictory when compared to dedicated studies of individual clusters. In this work we highlight the common causes of these discrepancies for some open clusters, and show that at present dedicated studies yield a much better assessment of the nature of star clusters, even in the absence of ideal data-sets. We make use of deep, wide-field, multi-colour photometry to discuss the nature of six strategically selected open star clusters: Trumpler~22, Lynga~6, Hogg~19, Hogg~21, Pismis~10 and Pismis~14. We have precisely derived their basic parameters by means of a combination of star counts and photometric diagrams. Trumpler~22 and Lynga~6 are included in our study because they are widely known, and thus provided a check of our data and methodology. The remaining four clusters are very poorly known, and their available parameters have been obtained using automatic tools only. Our results are in some cases in severe disagreement with those from automatic surveys.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures, in pres

The complex stellar populations in the lines of sight to open clusters in the third Galactic quadrant

Multi-color photometry of the stellar populations in five fields in the third Galactic quadrant centred on the clusters NGC 2215, NGC 2354, Haffner 22, Ruprecht 11, and ESO489SC01 is interpreted in terms of a warped and flared Galactic disk, without resort to an external entity such as the popular Monoceros or Canis Major overdensities. Except for NGC 2215, the clusters are poorly or unstudied previously. The data generate basic parameters for each cluster, including the distribution of stars along the line of sight. We use star counts and photometric analysis, without recourse to Galactic-model-based predictions or interpretations, and confirms earlier results for NGC 2215 and NGC 2354. ESO489SC01 is not a real cluster, while Haffner~22 is an overlooked cluster aged about 2.5 Gyr. Conclusions for Ruprecht~11 are preliminary, evidence for a cluster being marginal. Fields surrounding the clusters show signatures of young and intermediate-age stellar populations. The young population background to NGC~2354 and Ruprecht~11 lies 8-9 kpc from the Sun and $\sim$1 kpc below the formal Galactic plane, tracing a portion of the Norma-Cygnus arm, challenging Galactic models that adopt a sharp cut-off of the disk 12-14 kpc from the Galactic center. The old population is metal poor with an age of 2-3 Gyr, resembling star clusters like Tombaugh 2 or NGC 2158. It has a large color spread and is difficult to locate precisely. Young and old populations follow a pattern that depends critically on the vertical location of the thin and/or thick disk, and whether or not a particular line of sight intersects one, both, or none.Comment: 16 pages, 9 eps figures, in press in MNRA

Ruprecht 147: a paradigm of dissolving star cluster

We employed recent Gaia/DR2 data to investigate the dynamical status of the nearby (300 pc), old (2.5 Gyr) open cluster Ruprecht~147. We found prominent leading and trailing tails of stars along the cluster orbit, which demonstrates that Ruprecht~147 is losing stars at fast pace. Star counts indicate the cluster has a core radius of 33.3 arcmin, and a tidal radius of 137.5 arcmin. The cluster also possesses an extended corona, which cannot be reproduced by a simple King model. We computed the present-day cluster mass using its luminosity and mass function, and derived an estimate of 234$\pm$52 $M_{\odot}$. We also estimated the cluster original mass using available recipes extracted from N-body simulations obtaining a mass at birth of 50000$\pm$6500 $M_{\odot}$. Therefore dynamical mass loss, mostly caused by tidal interaction with the Milky Way, reduced the cluster mass by about 99\%. We then conclude that Ruprecht~147 is rapidly dissolving into the general Galactic disc.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure, in press in the Astronomical Journa

The complex stellar populations in the background of open clusters in the third Galactic quadrant

Publisher's Version/PDFMulticolour photometry of the stellar populations in five fields in the third Galactic quadrant centred on the clusters NGC 2215, NGC 2354, Haffner 22, Ruprecht 11, and ESO489 SC01 is interpreted in terms of a warped and flared Galactic disc, without resort to an external entity such as the popular Monoceros or CanisMajor overdensities. Except for NGC 2215, the clusters are poorly or unstudied previously. The data generate basic parameters for each cluster, including the distribution of stars along the line of sight. We use star counts and photometric analysis,without recourse to Galactic-model-based predictions or interpretations, and confirms earlier results for NGC 2215 and NGC 2354. ESO489 SC01 is not a real cluster, while Haffner 22 is an overlooked cluster aged ∼2.5 Gyr. Conclusions for Ruprecht 11 are preliminary, evidence for a cluster being marginal. Fields surrounding the clusters show signatures of young and intermediate-age stellar populations. The young population background to NGC 2354 and Ruprecht 11 lies ∼8–9 kpc from the Sun and ∼1 kpc below the formal Galactic plane, tracing a portion of the Norma-Cygnus arm, challenging Galactic models that adopt a sharp cut-off of the disc 12–14 kpc from the Galactic Centre. The old population is metal-poor with an age of∼2–3 Gyr, resembling star clusters like Tombaugh 2 or NGC 2158. It has a large colour spread and is difficult to locate precisely. Young and old populations follow a pattern that depends critically on the vertical location of the thin and/or thick disc, and whether or not a particular line of sight intersects one, both, or none

Velocity Dispersion of the open cluster NGC 2571 by Radial Velocities and Proper Motions

We use a Kernel Density Estimator method to evaluate the stellar velocity dispersion in the open cluster NGC 2571. We derive the 3-D velocity dispersion using both proper motions as extracted from Gaia DR3 and single epoch radial velocities as obtained with the instrument FLAMES at ESO VLT. The mean-square velocity along the line-of-sight is found to be larger than the one in the tangential direction by a factor in the interval [6,8]. We argue that the most likely explanation for such an occurrence is the presence of a significant quantity of unresolved binary and multiple stars in the radial velocity sample. Special attention should be paid to single line spectroscopic binaries (SB1) since in this case we observe the spectral lines of the primary component only, and therefore the derived radial velocity is not the velocity of the binary system center of mass. To investigate this scenario, we performed numerical experiments at varying the fractional abundance of SB1 in the observed sample. These experiments show that the increase of the mean-square radial velocity depends actually on the fractional abundance of SB1 to a power in the range of [0.39,0.45]. We used the 3-D velocity dispersion obtained by the dispersions in the tangential directions and the assumption that the radial velocity dispersion is the same as a tangential one to estimate the virial cluster mass and the cluster mass taking into account the gravitational field of the Galaxy and the non-stationarity of the cluster. These estimates are $650\pm30 \; M_\odot$ and $310\pm80 \; M_\odot$, respectively, and they are in substantial agreement with the photometric cluster mass.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

UBVI CCD photometry and star counts in 9 inner disk Galactic star clusters

We present and discuss new CCD-based photometric material in the UBVI pass-bands for nine Galactic star clusters located inside the solar ring, for which no CCD data are currently available. They are: IC 2714, NGC 4052, ESO131SC09, NGC 5284, NGC 5316, NGC 5715, VdB-Hagen ~164, NGC 6268, and Czernik 38. We first perform star counts by combining our optical photometry wi th 2MASS, and derive cluster sizes and radial density profiles. The fundamental parameters - age, reddening and distance- are then inferred from the analysis of the star distribution in color-color and color-magnitude diagrams of only the spatially selected likely members. Our analysis shows that ESO131SC09, NGC 5284, and VdB-Hagen 164 are most probably not clusters, but random enhancements of a few bright stars along the line of sight, with prop erties much similar to open cluster remnants. The remaining clusters are physical groups, and are all younger than about 1 Gyr . We use the newly derived set of parameters, in particular distance and reddening, to investigate their position in the Galaxy in the context of the spiral structure of the Milky Way. We find that the youngest clusters (IC 2714, NGC 5316, and NGC 6268) are located close to or inside the Carina-Sagittarius arm, and are therefore {\i t bona fide} spiral structure tracers. On the other hand, the oldest (Czernik 38, NGC 4052, and NGC 5715) are floating in the inter-arm space between the Carina-Sagittarius and the more distant Scutum-Crux arm. Interestingly enough, the oldest clusters of this sample - Czernik 38 and NGC 5715- are among the few known open clusters to be older or as old as the Hyades in the inner Galactic disk, where star clusters are not expected to survive for a long time, because of the strong tidal field and the higher probability of close encounters .Comment: 17 pages, 11 eps figures, in press in MNRA

Kernel Density Estimation in the Study of Star Clusters

The kernel estimator method is used to evaluate the surface and spatial star number density in star clusters. Both density maps and radial density profiles are plotted. These estimates are used to derive the cluster size, the number of cluster stars and the cluster mass, and to study the cluster structure. The kernel estimator is also used to plot the luminosity function, mass function, the velocity distribution, and Hess diagrams for star clusters. The advantages of the kernel estimator method and technical details of its use are illustrated by modern results for the open cluster NGC 4337

Unresolved Binaries in the Intermediate Mass Range in the Pleiades Star Cluster*

The identification of binary stars of different mass ratios in resolved stellar populations is a challenging task. We show how the photometric diagram constructed with the pseudocolors (H-W2)-W1 versus W2-(BP-K) can be employed to estimate the binary and multiple star ratios and the distribution of their component mass ratio q effectively. As an application, we investigate the Pleiades star cluster in the range of primary component mass between 0.5 and 1.8 M (circle dot). The binary star ratio is found to be between 0.54 +/- 0.11 and 0.70 +/- 0.14. On the other hand, the ratio of systems with a multiplicity of more than two is between 0.10 +/- 0.00 and 0.14 +/- 0.01. The distribution of the component mass ratio q has been approximated by a power law with the exponent between -0.53 +/- 0.10 and -0.63 +/- 0.22. Below 0.5 M (circle dot), we expect a large number of brown dwarfs among secondary components

The complex stellar populations in the background of open clusters in the third Galactic quadrant

Multi-color photometry of the stellar populations in five fields in the third Galactic quadrant centred on the clusters NGC 2215, NGC 2354, Haffner 22, Ruprecht 11, and ESO489 SC01 is interpreted in terms of a warped and flared Galactic disk, without resort to an external entity such as the popular Monoceros or Canis Major overdensities. Except for NGC 2215, the clusters are poorly or unstudied previously. The data generate basic parameters for eachcluster, including the distribution of stars along the line of sight.We use star counts and photometric analysis, without recourse to Galactic-model-based predictions or interpretations, and confirms earlier results for NGC 2215 and NGC 2354. ESO489 SC01 is not a real cluster, while Haffner 22 is an overlooked cluster aged 2.5 Gyr. Conclusions for Ruprecht 11 are preliminary, evidence for a cluster being marginal. Fields surrounding the clusters show signaturesof young and intermediate-age stellar populations. The young population background to NGC 2354 and Ruprecht 11 lies 8?9 kpc from the Sun and 1 kpc below the formal Galactic plane, tracing a portion of the Norma-Cygnus arm, challenging Galactic models that adopt a sharp cut-off of the disk 1214 kpc from the Galactic center. The old population is metal poor with an age of 2 3 Gyr, resembling star clusters like Tombaugh 2 or NGC 2158. It has a large color spread and is difficult to locate precisely. Young and old populations followa pattern that depends critically on the vertical location of the thin and/or thick disk, and whether or not a particular line of sight intersects one, both, or none.Fil: Carraro, Giovanni. European Southern Observatory; ChileFil: Seleznev, Anton F.. Ural Federal University; RusiaFil: Baume, Gustavo Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica la Plata; ArgentinaFil: Turner D.. Saint Mary’s University; Canad