The Initial Mass Function and Stellar Content of NGC 3603

Details The Initial Mass Function and Stellar Content of NGC 3603 The Initial Mass Function and Stellar Content of NGC 3603

Feb 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004aj....127.1014s&link_type=abstract

The Astronomical Journal, Volume 127, Issue 2, pp. 1014-1028.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

43

Galaxy: Open Clusters And Associations: Individual: Ngc Number: Ngc 3603, Stars: Luminosity Function, Mass Function

Scientific paper

We present UBVRI and Hα photometry of the extremely compact, starburst cluster NGC 3603. Ground-based images, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) archival data, as well as Chandra X-ray data have been used for this study. We present, for the first time, optical color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) for the stars in the cluster core down to V=22 mag. A well-defined main sequence (MS) as well as low-mass pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars can clearly be seen in the CMDs. This result confirms the finding by Eisenhauer et al. that low-mass stars are forming in the starburst cluster. We also derive an age (1+/-1 Myr) and distance of the cluster (V0-MV=14.2+/-0.2 mag, i.e., d=6.9+/-0.6 kpc). The interstellar reddening shows a minimum value [E(B-V)=1.25 mag] at the core (r<=0.2′) and increases rapidly up to E(B-V)~1.8 mag or even higher with increasing distance from the center, which suggests the presence of a wind-driven cavity near the cluster center as found by Frogel et al. and Clayton. We also determine the radius of the cluster (r~2') from the surface-density profile of bright stars and X-ray sources. To investigate the initial mass function (IMF) of the cluster, we performed a completeness test for the core region. Using the theoretical mass-luminosity relation of MS as well as PMS stars, we derived the IMF of stars imaged with the HST/PC1. The surface density of stars in the core is enormously high and decreases gradually with increasing distance from the center. The slope of the IMF also shows radial variation: fairly flat in the core (Γ=-0.5+/-0.1 at r<=0.1′) and gradually steepening (Γ=-0.8+/-0.2 at r=0.1′~0.2′ and Γ=-1.2+/-0.2 at r>0.2′ of HST/PC1). The stars in the halo region of NGC 3603 (outside of HST/PC1) seem to be slightly older (age~5 Myr) and presumably formed before the stars in the core.

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