Deep, multiband photometry of low-mass stars to reveal young clusters: A blind study of the NGC2264 region

Context. Thanks to their extensive and homogeneous sky coverage, deep, large-scale, multiwavelength surveys are uniquely suited to statistically identify and map young star clusters in our Galaxy. Such studies are crucial to address issues like the initial mass function, or the modes and dynamics of star cluster formation and evolution. Aims. We aim to test a purely photometric approach to statistically identify a young clustered population embedded in a large population of field stars, with no prior knowledge of the nature of stars in the field. We conducted our blind test study on the NGC 2264 region, which hosts a well-known, richly populated young cluster (∼3 Myr-old) and several active star-forming sites. Methods. We selected a large (4 deg2) area around the NGC 2264 cluster, and assembled an extensive r, i, J catalog of the field from pre-existing large-scale surveys, notably Pan-STARRS1 and UKIDSS. We then mapped the stellar color locus on the (i – J, r – i) diagram to select M-type stars, which offer the following observational advantages with respect to more massive stars: (i) they comprise a significant fraction of the Galactic stellar population; (ii) their pre-main sequence phase lasts significantly longer than for higher mass stars; (iii) they exhibit the strongest luminosity evolution from the pre-main sequence to the main sequence; (iv) their observed r, i, J colors provide a direct and empirical estimate of AV. A comparative analysis of the photometric and spatial properties of M-type stars as a function of AV enabled us to probe the structure and stellar content of our field. Results. Using only r, i, J photometry, we could identify two distinct populations in our field: a diffuse field population and a clustered population in the center of the field. The presence of a concentration of occulting material, spatially associated with the clustered population, allowed us to derive an estimate of its distance (800–900 pc) and age (∼0.5–5 Myr); these values are overall consistent with the literature parameters for the NGC 2264 star-forming region. The extracted clustered population exhibits a hierarchical structure, with two main clumps and peaks in number density of objects around the most reddened locations within the field. An excellent agreement is found between the observed substructures for the clustered population and a map of the NGC 2264 subregions reported in the literature. Our selection of clustered members is coherent with the literature census of the NGC 2264 cluster for about 95% of the objects located in the inner regions of the field, where the estimated contamination rate by field stars in our sample is only 2%. In addition, the availability of a uniform dataset for a large area around the NGC 2264 region enabled us to discover a population of about a hundred stars with indications of statistical membership to the cluster, therefore extending the low-mass population census of NGC 2264 to distances of 10–15 pc from the cluster cores. Conclusions. By making use solely of deep, multiband (r, i, J) photometry, without assuming any further knowledge of the stellar population of our field, we were able to statistically identify and reconstruct the structure of a very young cluster that has been a prime target for star formation studies over several decades. The method tested here can be readily applied to surveys such as Pan-STARRS and the future LSST to undertake a first complete census of low-mass, young stellar populations down to distances of several kiloparsecs across the Galactic plane.

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GASTON: Galactic Star Formation with NIKA2. Evidence for the mass growth of star-forming clumps

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/stab200 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

A J Rigby ◽

N Peretto ◽

R Adam ◽

P Ade ◽

M Anderson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Large Scale ◽

Galactic Plane ◽

High Sensitivity ◽

High Mass ◽

Evolutionary Stage ◽

Mass Star ◽

Mass Growth ◽

Star Forming ◽

Compact Source

Abstract Determining the mechanism by which high-mass stars are formed is essential for our understanding of the energy budget and chemical evolution of galaxies. By using the New IRAM KIDs Array 2 (NIKA2) camera on the Institut de Radio Astronomie Millimétrique (IRAM) 30-m telescope, we have conducted high-sensitivity and large-scale mapping of a fraction of the Galactic plane in order to search for signatures of the transition between the high- and low-mass star-forming modes. Here, we present the first results from the Galactic Star Formation with NIKA2 (GASTON) project, a Large Programme at the IRAM 30-m telescope which is mapping ≈2 deg2 of the inner Galactic plane (GP), centred on ℓ = 23${_{.}^{\circ}}$9, b = 0${_{.}^{\circ}}$05, as well as targets in Taurus and Ophiuchus in 1.15 and 2.00 mm continuum wavebands. In this paper we present the first of the GASTON GP data taken, and present initial science results. We conduct an extraction of structures from the 1.15 mm maps using a dendrogram analysis and, by comparison to the compact source catalogues from Herschel survey data, we identify a population of 321 previously-undetected clumps. Approximately 80 per cent of these new clumps are 70 μm-quiet, and may be considered as starless candidates. We find that this new population of clumps are less massive and cooler, on average, than clumps that have already been identified. Further, by classifying the full sample of clumps based upon their infrared-bright fraction – an indicator of evolutionary stage – we find evidence for clump mass growth, supporting models of clump-fed high-mass star formation.

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Very Low-Luminosity Objects in Star-Forming Regions

Highlights of Astronomy ◽

10.1017/s1539299600021626 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 423-424

Author(s):

Motohide Tamura ◽

Yoichi Itoh ◽

Yumiko Oasa ◽

Alan Tokunaga ◽

Koji Sugitani

Keyword(s):

Brown Dwarfs ◽

Mass Function ◽

T Tauri Stars ◽

Initial Mass Function ◽

Formation Mechanisms ◽

Star Forming ◽

Star Forming Regions ◽

T Tauri ◽

Low Mass ◽

Stellar Sources

Abstract In order to tackle the problems of low-mass end of the initial mass function (IMF) in star-forming regions and the formation mechanisms of brown dwarfs, we have conducted deep infrared surveys of nearby molecular clouds. We have found a significant population of very low-luminosity sources with IR excesses in the Taurus cloud and the Chamaeleon cloud core regions whose extinction corrected J magnitudes are 3 to 8 mag fainter than those of typical T Tauri stars in the same cloud. Some of them are associated with even fainter companions. Follow-up IR spectroscopy has confirmed for the selected sources that their photospheric temperature is around 2000 to 3000 K. Thus, these very low-luminosity young stellar sources are most likely very low-mass T Tauri stars, and some of them might even be young brown dwarfs.

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Local disc model in view of Gaia DR1 and RAVE data

Astronomy and Astrophysics ◽

10.1051/0004-6361/201833228 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 620 ◽

pp. A71 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

K. Sysoliatina ◽

A. Just ◽

I. Koutsouridou ◽

E. K. Grebel ◽

G. Kordopatis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Main Sequence ◽

Galactic Plane ◽

Formation Rate ◽

Velocity Distribution Function ◽

Initial Mass Function ◽

Selection Function ◽

Thin Disc ◽

Disc Model ◽

Starting Point ◽

Data Release

Aims. We test the performance of the semi-analytic self-consistent Just-Jahreiß disc model (JJ model) with the astrometric data from the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) sub-catalogue of the first Gaia data release (Gaia DR1), as well as the radial velocities from the fifth data release of the Radial Velocity Experiment survey (RAVE DR5). Methods. We used a sample of 19 746 thin-disc stars from the TGAS×RAVE cross-match selected in a local solar cylinder of 300 pc radius and 1 kpc height below the Galactic plane. Based on the JJ model, we simulated this sample via the forward modelling technique. First, we converted the predicted vertical density laws of the thin-disc populations into a mock sample. For this we used the Modules and Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA) Isochrones and Stellar Tracks (MIST), a star formation rate (SFR) that decreased after a peak at 10 Gyr ago, and a three-slope broken power-law initial mass function (IMF). Then the obtained mock populations were reddened with a 3D dust map and were subjected to the selection criteria corresponding to the RAVE and TGAS observational limitations as well as to additional cuts applied to the data sample. We calculated the quantities of interest separately at different heights above the Galactic plane, taking the distance error effects in horizontal and vertical directions into account separately. Results. The simulated vertical number density profile agrees well with the data. An underestimation of the stellar numbers begins at ∼800 pc from the Galactic plane, which is expected as the possible influence of populations from |z| > 1 kpc is ignored during the modelling. The lower main sequence (LMS) is found to be thinner and under-populated by 3.6% relative to the observations. The corresponding deficits for the upper main sequence (UMS) and red giant branch (RGB) are 6% and 34.7%, respectively. However, the intrinsic uncertainty related to the choice of stellar isochrones is ∼10% in the total stellar number. The vertical velocity distribution function f(|W|) simulated for the whole cylinder agrees to within 1σ with the data. This marginal agreement arises because the dynamically cold populations at heights < 200 pc from the Galactic plane are underestimated. We also find that the model gives a fully realistic representation of the vertical gradient in stellar populations when studying the Hess diagrams for different horizontal slices. We also checked and confirm the consistency of our results with the newly available second Gaia data release (DR2). Conclusions. Based on these results and considering the uncertainties in the data selection as well as the sensitivity of the simulations to the sample selection function, we conclude that the fiducial JJ model confidently reproduces the vertical trends in the thin-disc stellar population properties. Thus, it can serve as a starting point for the future extension of the JJ model to other Galactocentric distances.

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The low-mass pre-main sequence population of Scorpius OB1

Astronomy and Astrophysics ◽

10.1051/0004-6361/201730960 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 615 ◽

pp. A148 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Francesco Damiani

Keyword(s):

Total Mass ◽

Main Sequence ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Large Population ◽

X Ray ◽

Uv Excess ◽

Low Mass ◽

Ob Associations ◽

The Rich ◽

A New Technique

Context. The low-mass members of OB associations, expected to be a major component of their total population, are in most cases poorly studied because of the difficulty of selecting these faint stars in crowded sky regions. Our knowledge of many OB associations relies on only a relatively small number of massive members. Aims. We study here the Sco OB1 association, with the aim of a better characterization of its properties, such as global size and shape, member clusters and their morphology, age and formation history, and total mass. Methods. We use deep optical and near-infrared (NIR) photometry from the VPHAS+ and VVV surveys, over a wide area (2.6° × 2.6°), complemented by Spitzer infrared (IR) data, and Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray data. A new technique is developed to find clusters of pre-main sequence M-type stars using suitable color-color diagrams, complementing existing selection techniques using narrow-band Hα photometry or NIR and ultraviolet (UV) excesses, and X-ray data. Results. We find a large population of approximately 4000 candidate low-mass Sco OB1 members whose spatial properties correlate well with those of Hα-emission, NIR-excess, UV-excess, and X-ray detected members, and unresolved X-ray emission. The low-mass population is spread among several interconnected subgroups: they coincide with the HII regions G345.45+1.50 and IC4628, and the rich clusters NGC 6231 and Trumpler 24, with an additional subcluster intermediate between these two. The total mass of Sco OB1 is estimated to be ~ 8500 M⊙. Indication of a sequence of star-formation events is found, from South (NGC 6231) to North (G345.45+1.50). We suggest that the diluted appearance of Trumpler 24 indicates that the cluster is now dissolving into the field, and that tidal stripping by NGC 6231 nearby contributes to the process.

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Distribution of star-forming complexes and the structure of our Galaxy

Symposium - International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s0074180900212618 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 212 ◽

pp. 431-440 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Delphine Russeil

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Stellar Population ◽

Line Of Sight ◽

H Ii Regions ◽

Spiral Arms ◽

Ob Stars ◽

Star Forming ◽

Optical Images ◽

External Galaxies

The determination of the external galaxies morphology is generally based on their appearance on optical images. At these wavelengths young stellar population and their associated H ii regions, which can be grouped into star-forming complexes, appear preferentially located along spiral arms. Hence, it is naturally to use the same tracers to delineate the arms of our own Galaxy. But, where for external galaxies the distribution of star-forming complexes along the spiral arms is generally evident from direct imaging, for our Galaxy the spiral arms are strung out along the line of sight, leading to the superposition and mixing of information from the different complexes in the spiral arms making it difficult to distinguish them. Thus to access to the spatial distribution of young objects, hence to the large scale structure of our Galaxy, it is required first to identify and collect star-forming complexes (molecular clouds – H ii regions – OB stars) and then to determine their distance. In this framework I review the observational results and difficulties concerning the distribution of star-forming complexes and the determination of the structure of our Galaxy.

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A Pan-STARRS1 Search for Substellar Young Moving Group Members

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921315006481 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 10 (S314) ◽

pp. 54-57

Author(s):

Kimberly M. Aller ◽

Michael C. Liu ◽

Eugene A. Magnier

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Spectral Characteristics ◽

Mass Function ◽

Initial Mass Function ◽

Valuable Insight ◽

Near Ir ◽

Group Members ◽

Low Mass ◽

Moving Groups ◽

Ir Photometry

AbstractYoung moving groups (YMGs) are coeval, comoving groups of stars which have migrated from their birthsites after formation. In the substellar regime, YMG members are key benchmarks to empirically define brown dwarf evolution with age and to study the lowest mass end of the initial mass function. We have combined Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) proper motions with optical+IR photometry from PS1, 2MASS and WISE to perform a large-scale (≈30,000 deg2) systematic search for substellar members down to ≈10 MJup. We have obtained near-IR spectroscopy of a large sample of ultracool candidate YMG members to assess their youth via gravity-sensitive absorption features. We have identified several new intermediate-gravity candidate members of the AB Dor Moving Group, potentially greatly expanding the substellar membership. These new candidate members bridge the gap between the known low-mass stellar and planetary-mass members and yield valuable insight into the spectral characteristics of young brown dwarfs.

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Mon-735: a new low-mass pre-main-sequence eclipsing binary in NGC 2264

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/staa1016 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 495 (2) ◽

pp. 1531-1548

Author(s):

Edward Gillen ◽

Lynne A Hillenbrand ◽

John Stauffer ◽

Suzanne Aigrain ◽

Luisa Rebull ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Main Sequence ◽

Spectral Energy Distribution ◽

Spectral Energy ◽

Centre Of Mass ◽

M Dwarfs ◽

Eclipsing Binary ◽

Star Forming ◽

Low Mass ◽

Effective Temperatures

ABSTRACT We present Mon-735, a detached double-lined eclipsing binary (EB) member of the ∼3 Myr old NGC 2264 star-forming region, detected by Spitzer. We simultaneously model the Spitzer light curves, follow-up Keck/HIRES radial velocities, and the system’s spectral energy distribution to determine self-consistent masses, radii, and effective temperatures for both stars. We find that Mon-735 comprises two pre-main-sequence M dwarfs with component masses of M = 0.2918 ± 0.0099 and 0.2661 ± 0.0095 M⊙, radii of R = 0.762 ± 0.022 and 0.748 ± 0.023 R⊙, and effective temperatures of Teff = 3260 ± 73 and 3213 ± 73 K. The two stars travel on circular orbits around their common centre of mass in P = 1.9751388 ± 0.0000050 d. We compare our results for Mon-735, along with another EB in NGC 2264 (CoRoT 223992193), to the predictions of five stellar evolution models. These suggest that the lower mass EB system Mon-735 is older than CoRoT 223992193 in the mass–radius diagram (MRD) and, to a lesser extent, in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (HRD). The MRD ages of Mon-735 and CoRoT 223992193 are ∼7–9 and 4–6 Myr, respectively, with the two components in each EB system possessing consistent ages.

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Fragmentation of a Protostellar Core: The Case of CB 230

Symposium - International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s0074180900225126 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 200 ◽

pp. 117-121 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ralf Launhardt

Keyword(s):

Main Sequence ◽

Angular Resolution ◽

Continuum Emission ◽

High Angular Resolution ◽

Mass Star ◽

Star Forming ◽

Binary Separation ◽

Molecular Outflow ◽

Low Mass ◽

Core Fragmentation

The Bok globule CB230 (L1177) contains an active, low-mass star-forming core which is associated with a double NIR reflection nebula, a collimated bipolar molecular outflow, and strong mm continuum emission. The morphology of the NIR nebula suggests the presence of a deeply embedded, wide binary protostellar system. High-angular resolution observations now reveal the presence of two sub-cores, two distinct outflow centers, and an embedded accretion disk associated with the western bipolar NIR nebula. Judging from the separation and specific angular momentum, the CB230 double protostar system probably results from core fragmentation and will end up at the upper end of the pre-main sequence binary separation distribution.

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The star formation timescale of elliptical galaxies

Astronomy and Astrophysics ◽

10.1051/0004-6361/201936636 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 632 ◽

pp. A110 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Zhiqiang Yan ◽

Tereza Jerabkova ◽

Pavel Kroupa

Keyword(s):

Star Formation ◽

Stellar Population ◽

Mass Function ◽

Elliptical Galaxies ◽

Initial Mass Function ◽

Different Types ◽

The Galaxy ◽

Stellar Initial Mass Function ◽

Low Mass ◽

Natural Solution

The alpha element to iron peak element ratio, for example [Mg/Fe], is a commonly applied indicator of the galaxy star formation timescale (SFT) since the two groups of elements are mainly produced by different types of supernovae that explode over different timescales. However, it is insufficient to consider only [Mg/Fe] when estimating the SFT. The [Mg/Fe] yield of a stellar population depends on its metallicity. Therefore, it is possible for galaxies with different SFTs and at the same time different total metallicity to have the same [Mg/Fe]. This effect has not been properly taken into consideration in previous studies. In this study, we assume the galaxy-wide stellar initial mass function (gwIMF) to be canonical and invariant. We demonstrate that our computation code reproduces the SFT estimations of previous studies, where only the [Mg/Fe] observational constraint is applied. We then demonstrate that once both metallicity and [Mg/Fe] observations are considered, a more severe “downsizing relation” is required. This means that either low-mass ellipticals have longer SFTs (> 4 Gyr for galaxies with mass below 1010 M⊙) or massive ellipticals have shorter SFTs (≈200 Myr for galaxies more massive than 1011 M⊙) than previously thought. This modification increases the difficulty in reconciling such SFTs with other observational constraints. We show that applying different stellar yield modifications does not relieve this formation timescale problem. The quite unrealistically short SFT required by [Mg/Fe] and total metallicity would be prolonged if a variable stellar gwIMF were assumed. Since a systematically varying gwIMF has been suggested by various observations this could present a natural solution to this problem.

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