Photometric and kinematic studies of open star clusters. III. NGC 4103, NGC 5281, and NGC 4755

Abstract

We present CCD photometry and proper motion studies of the three open star clusters NGC 4103, NGC 5281, and NGC 4755 (kappa Cru). By fitting isochrones to the colour magnitude diagrams, we found that all three objects are young open star clusters with ages of at most t=45 Myr. They are located at distances from approx. 1600 pc to 2200 pc, derived from distance moduli (m-M)_0 ranging from 11 mag to 12 mag. We combined membership determinations based on proper motions and statistical field star subtraction to derive the initial mass function (IMF) of the clusters. The shape of the IMFs could be represented by power laws with exponents of Gamma=-1.46 +/- 0.22 for NGC 4103, Gamma=-1.60 +/- 0.50 for NGC 5281, and Gamma=-1.68 +/- 0.14 for NGC 4755, when - as a reference - Salpeter's (1955) value would be Gamma=-1.35. These results agree well with other IMF studies of open star clusters.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic