No Arabic abstract
We present a comprehensive multi-wavelength study of the star-forming region NGC 1893 to explore the effects of massive stars on low-mass star formation. Using near-infrared colours, slitless spectroscopy and narrow-band $Halpha$ photometry in the cluster region we have identified candidate young stellar objects (YSOs) distributed in a pattern from the cluster to one of the nearby nebulae Sim 129. The $V, (V-I)$ colour-magnitude diagram of the YSOs indicates that majority of these objects have ages between 1 to 5 Myr. The spread in the ages of the YSOs may indicate a non-coeval star formation in the cluster. The slope of the KLF for the cluster is estimated to be $0.34pm0.07$, which agrees well with the average value ($sim 0.4$) reported for young clusters. For the entire observed mass range $0.6 < M/M_odot le 17.7$ the value of the slope of the initial mass function, $`Gamma$, comes out to be $-1.27pm0.08$, which is in agreement with the Salpeter value of -1.35 in the solar neighborhood. However, the value of $`Gamma$ for PMS phase stars (mass range $0.6 < M/M_odot le 2.0$) is found to be $-0.88pm0.09$ which is shallower than the value ($-1.71pm0.20$) obtained for MS stars having mass range $2.5 < M/M_odot le 17.7$ indicating a break in the slope of the mass function at $sim 2 M_odot$. Estimated $`Gamma$ values indicate an effect of mass segregation for main-sequence stars, in the sense that massive stars are preferentially located towards the cluster center. The estimated dynamical evolution time is found to be greater than the age of the cluster, therefore the observed mass segregation in the cluster may be the imprint of the star formation process. There is evidence for triggered star formation in the region, which seems to govern initial morphology of the cluster.
Different environmental conditions can play a crucial role in determining final products of the star formation process and in this context, less favorable activities of star formation are expected in the external regions of our Galaxy. We studied the properties of the young open cluster NGC 1893 located about 12 Kpc from the galactic center, to investigate how different physical conditions can affect the process of star formation. By adopting a multiwavelength approach, we compiled a catalog extending from X-rays to NIR data to derive the cluster membership. In addition, optical and NIR photometric properties are used to evaluate the cluster parameters. We find 415 diskless candidate members plus 1061 young stellar objects with a circumstellar disk or class II candidate members, 125 of which are also Halpha emitters. Considering the diskless candidate members, we find that the cluster distance is 3.6$pm$0.2 kpc and the mean interstellar reddening is E(B-V)=0.6$pm$0.1 with evidence of differential reddening in the whole surveyed region. NGC 1893 contains a conspicuous population of pre-main sequence stars together with the well studied main sequence cluster population; we found a disk fraction of about 70% similar to that found in clusters of similar age in the solar neighbour and then, despite expected unfavorable conditions for star formation, we conclude that very rich young clusters can form also in the outer regions of our Galaxy.
Early release science observations of the cluster NGC3603 with the WFC3 on the refurbished HST allow us to study its recent star formation history. Our analysis focuses on stars with Halpha excess emission, a robust indicator of their pre-main sequence (PMS) accreting status. The comparison with theoretical PMS isochrones shows that 2/3 of the objects with Halpha excess emission have ages from 1 to 10 Myr, with a median value of 3 Myr, while a surprising 1/3 of them are older than 10 Myr. The study of the spatial distribution of these PMS stars allows us to confirm their cluster membership and to statistically separate them from field stars. This result establishes unambiguously for the first time that star formation in and around the cluster has been ongoing for at least 10-20 Myr, at an apparently increasing rate.
OB associations are the prevailing star forming sites in the Galaxy. Up to now, the process of how OB associations were formed remained a mystery. A possible process is self-regulating star formation driven by feedback from massive stars. However, although a number of observational studies uncovered various signposts of feedback-driven star formation, the effectiveness of such feedback has been questioned. Stellar and gas kinematics is a promising tool to capture the relative motion of newborn stars and gas away from ionizing sources. We present high-resolution spectroscopy of stars and gas in the young open cluster NGC 1893. Our findings show that newborn stars and the tadpole nebula Sim 130 are moving away from the central cluster containing two O-type stars, and that the timescale of sequential star formation is about 1 Myr within a 9 parsec distance. The newborn stars formed by feedback from massive stars account for at least 18 per cent of the total stellar population in the cluster, suggesting that this process can play an important role in the formation of OB associations. These results support the self-regulating star formation model.
In this paper we present time series photometry of 104 variable stars in the cluster region NGC 1893. The association of the present variable candidates to the cluster NGC 1893 has been determined by using $(U-B)/(B-V)$ and $(J-H)/(H-K)$ two colour diagrams, and $V/(V-I)$ colour magnitude diagram. Forty five stars are found to be main-sequence variables and these could be B-type variable stars associated with the cluster. We classified these objects as $beta$ Cep, slowly pulsating B stars and new class variables as discussed by Mowlavi et al. (2013). These variable candidates show $sim$0.005 to $sim$0.02 mag brightness variations with periods of $<$ 1.0 d. Seventeen new class variables are located in the $H-R$ diagram between the slowly pulsating B stars and $delta$ Scuti variables. Pulsation could be one of the causes for periodic brightness variations in these stars. The X-ray emission of present main-sequence variables associated with the cluster lies in the saturated region of X-ray luminosity versus period diagram and follows the general trend by Pizzolato et al. (2003).
We present results of multi-epoch (fourteen nights during 2007-2010) $V$-band photometry of the cluster NGC 1893 region to identify photometric variable stars in the cluster. The study identified a total of 53 stars showing photometric variability. The members associated with the region are identified on the basis of spectral energy distribution, $J-H/H-K$ two colour diagram and $V/V-I$ colour-magnitude diagram. The ages and masses of the majority of pre-main-sequence sources are found to be $lesssim$ 5 Myr and in the range 0.5 $lesssim$ $M/M_{odot}$ $lesssim$ 4, respectively. These pre-main-sequence sources hence could be T Tauri stars. We also determined the physical parameters like disk mass and accretion rate from the spectral energy distribution of these T Tauri stars. The periods of majority of the T Tauri stars range from 0.1 to 20 day. The brightness of Classical T Tauri stars is found to vary with larger amplitude in comparison to Weak line T Tauri stars. It is found that the amplitude decreases with increase in mass, which could be due to the dispersal of disks of massive stars.