Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21742705p&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #427.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Young star cluster NGC3603 is one of the most massive star clusters in the Milky Way. It hosts 10 times more OB stars than the Orion Nebular Cluster, among which two are the most massive binaries in the Galaxy (Schnurr et al. 2008). To investigate this star formation arena, we utilize the HST/WFPC2 data. Those data are 10 years apart, which permits us to determine star membership. The cluster displays a significant degree of mass segregation (Pang et al. 2010). To quantify the lower limit in stellar mass at which we see segregation, we apply the minimum spanning tree analysis to cluster stars. The result shows that the stars above 5 solar mass exhibit pronounced mass segregation. What's the origin of this mass segregation? Simulations by Moeckel & Bate (2010) show that primordial segregation is transient and exists within the first 1 Myr. The cluster pre-main sequence (PMS) stars display an age spread up to 3 Myr, while the main sequence stars are consistent with an age of 1 Myr (Pang et al. 2010). And Beccari et al. (2010) derive an age spread as large as 10 Myr among PMS stars. Therefore, at present, the age of NGC3603 is still highly uncertain. A way to improve the age determination of the cluster is to quantify the differential reddening across the cluster. The differential reddening is about 0.8 mag from the core of NGC3603 to the outer region (Sung & Bessel 2004). This affects the PMS stars, which are spatially distributed more widely than the MS stars. We are currently deriving an extinction map of the cluster through Halpha and Paschenbeta images from WFC3 (work in progress), in order to correct the color magnitude diagram, and thus to better constrain the age of the cluster and the masses of its members.
Altmann Martin
Grebel Eva
Pang Xiaoying
Pasquali Anna
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