The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey: XXX. Red stragglers in the clusters Hodge 301 and SL 639

Aims: We estimate physical parameters for the late-type massive stars observed as part of the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS) in the 30 Doradus region of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Methods: The observational sample comprises 20 candidate red supergiants (RSGs) which are the reddest ((B − V) > 1 mag) and brightest (V < 16 mag) objects in the VFTS. We use optical and near-infrared (near-IR) photometry to estimate their temperatures and luminosities, and introduce the luminosity–age diagram to estimate their ages. Results: We derive physical parameters for our targets, including temperatures from a new calibration of (J − Ks)0 colour for luminous cool stars in the LMC, luminosities from their J-band magnitudes (thence radii), and ages from comparisons with current evolutionary models. We show that interstellar extinction is a significant factor for our targets, highlighting the need to take it into account in the analysis of the physical parameters of RSGs. We find that some of the candidate RSGs could be massive AGB stars. The apparent ages of the RSGs in the Hodge 301 and SL 639 clusters show a significant spread (12–24 Myr). We also apply our approach to the RSG population of the relatively nearby NGC 2100 cluster, finding a similarly large spread. Conclusions We argue that the effects of mass transfer in binaries may lead to more massive and luminous RSGs (which we call “red stragglers”) than expected from single-star evolution, and that the true cluster ages correspond to the upper limit of the estimated RSG ages. In this way, the RSGs can serve as a new and potentially reliable age tracer in young star clusters. The corresponding analysis yields ages of 24-3+5 Myr for Hodge 301, 22-5+6 Myr for SL 639, and 23-2+4 Myr for NGC 2100

The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey I. Introduction and observational overview

The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS) is an ESO Large Programme that has obtained multi-epoch optical spectroscopy of over 800 massive stars in the 30 Doradus region of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Here we introduce our scientific motivations and give an overview of the survey targets, including optical and near-infrared photometry and comprehensive details of the data reduction. One of the principal objectives was to detect massive binary systems via variations in their radial velocities, thus shaping the multi-epoch observing strategy. Spectral classifications are given for the massive emission-line stars observed by the survey, including the discovery of a new Wolf-Rayet star (VFTS 682, classified as WN5h), 2′ to the northeast of R136. To illustrate the diversity of objects encompassed by the survey, we investigate the spectral properties of sixteen targets identified by Gruendl & Chu from Spitzer photometry as candidate young stellar objects or stars with notable mid-infrared excesses. Detailed spectral classification and quantitative analysis of the O- and B-type stars in the VFTS sample, paying particular attention to the effects of rotational mixing and binarity, will be presented in a series of future articles to address fundamental questions in both stellar and cluster evolution

'Home and Away': The Cross-Fertilisation between 'Colonial' and 'British' Policing, 1921-85

Considering the material links between empire and metropole, we examine the way that the movement of police officers interacted with developing police ethos, culture and expertise. Although British policing was represented as consensual and Imperial policing, following the Irish pattern, as punitive, in the inter-war period British chief constables were recruited in significant numbers from Ireland. Barriers to the large-scale repatriation of colonial police during decolonisation were created by the 'officer-class' nature of the 'European' members of these forces, and British racism which prevented non-white rank-and-file from transferring from force to force. Interaction was characterised by the deployment of 'home' police, most significantly to Cyprus. Senior British police officers also played the role of technocratic consultants. British and Imperial models of policing converged, and by the 1980s the expertise of returned ex-colonial police was being replaced by training selected senior British police in the haut police role at the Royal College of Defence Studies