The Red Clump as a Probe of the Galactic Dust Distribution

Details The Red Clump as a Probe of the Galactic Dust Distribution The Red Clump as a Probe of the Galactic Dust Distribution

Dec 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001aas...19916111c&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 199th AAS Meeting, #161.11; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 34, p.573

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We have begun a program to use a hierarchical Bayesian inference engine to determine scale lengths and heights and relative masses of the stellar populations of the Galactic disk and spheroid populations using data contained in the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) catalog. The analysis will detect and define large-scale structure in the disk and halo, and place broad new constraints on the star-formation history of the Milky Way. The inferred Galactic parameters are strongly dependent on the effects of interstellar reddening on the stellar colors, even in the near-infrared. Here, we explore the use of the red clump stars as tracers of the dust distribution within the galaxy. Our method uses the distribution of red clump stars in the 2MASS (KS, J-KS) color-magnitude diagrams to derive the line of sight distribution of dust. In order for this method to work, the intrinsic color and magntude of the clump must be known. We compare the theoretical predictions of stellar models to the observed 2MASS colors and magnitudes of red stars in open clusters with known age, metallicity, and distance. We find that although there are some puzzling discrepancies, the models generally describe the data well. We compare the derived dust distributions to predictions based on far-infrared extinction maps and exponential disk models for the dust distribution.

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