Constraints on the Substellar Mass Function in the Orion Nebula Cluster

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

3

Scientific paper

Star-forming regions are advantageous for studies of the stellar initial mass function since neither stellar nor dynamical evolution has had time to deplete the population. Furthermore, at very young ages ( ~ 1 Myr), contracting pre-main sequence stars of low mass are 2-3.5 orders of magnitude more luminous than their counterparts on the main sequence. To continue our previous work on the initial mass function in the Orion Nebula Cluster, we present results from 0.4-0.7" FWHM imaging at the near-infrared K (2.2mu m), H (1.6mu m), and Z (1.0mu m) bands over a 5.3x5.3 arcmin(2) area centered on theta (1C) Ori. Our photometry is complete for source detection at the 20sigma level to K~17 mag and thus our survey is sensitive to objects as low-mass as 0.02M_sun seen through visual extinction values as high as 10 magnitudes. Consistent with previous literature, we find a peak in the magnitude distribution at K~12.5 mag with a steady decline in the source counts to our completeness limit. We use the observed magnitudes, colors, and star counts to constrain the shape of the initial mass function across the hydrogen-burning limit. We compare our results with those previously obtained by us using less complete optical photometry and spectroscopy.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Constraints on the Substellar Mass Function in the Orion Nebula Cluster does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Constraints on the Substellar Mass Function in the Orion Nebula Cluster, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Constraints on the Substellar Mass Function in the Orion Nebula Cluster will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1120645

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.