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Register a new userProgressive star formation in the young galactic super star cluster NGC 3603
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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.
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We have used new, deep, visible and near infrared observations of the compact starburst cluster in the giant HII region NGC 3603 and its surroundings with the WFC3 on HST and HAWK-I on the VLT to study in detail the physical properties of its intermediate mass (~ 1 - 3 M_sun) stellar population. We show that after correction for differential extinction and actively accreting stars, and the study of field star contamination, strong evidence remains for a continuous spread in the ages of pre-main sequence stars in the range ~ 2 to ~ 30 Myr within the temporal resolution available. Existing differences among presently available theoretical models account for the largest possible variation in shape of the measured age histograms within these limits. We also find that this isochronal age spread in the near infrared and visible Colour-Magnitude Diagrams cannot be reproduced by any other presently known source of astrophysical or instrumental scatter that could mimic the luminosity spread seen in our observations except, possibly, episodic accretion. The measured age spread and the stellar spatial distribution in the cluster are consistent with the hypothesis that star formation started at least 20-30 Myrs ago progressing slowly but continuously up to at least a few million years ago. All the stars in the considered mass range are distributed in a flattened oblate spheroidal pattern with the major axis oriented in an approximate South-East - North-West direction, and with the length of the equatorial axis decreasing with increasing age. This asymmetry is most likely due to the fact that star formation occurred along a filament of gas and dust in the natal molecular cloud oriented locally in this direction.
The very bright and compact massive young cluster, NGC 3603, has been cited as an example of a starburst in the Milky Way and compared with the much-studied R136/30 Doradus region in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Here we build on the discovery by Mohr-Smith et al. (2017) of a large number of reddened O stars around this cluster. We construct a list of 288 candidate O stars with proper motions, in a region of sky spanning 1.5x1.5 square degrees centered on NGC 3603, by cross-matching the Mohr-Smith et al. (2017) catalogue with Gaia DR2 (Gaia Collaboration et al. 2018). This provides the basis for a first comprehensive examination of the proper motions of these massive stars in the halo of NGC 3603, relative to the much better studied central region. We identify up to 11 likely O star ejections -- 8 of which would have been ejected between 0.60 and 0.95 Myr ago (supporting the age of c.1 Myr that has been attributed to the bright cluster centre). Seven candidate ejections are arranged in a partial ring to the south of the cluster core spanning radii of 9-18 arcmin (18-36 pc if the cluster is 7 kpc away). We also show that the cluster has a halo of a further 100 O stars extending to a radius of at least 5 arcmin, adding to the picture of NGC 3603 as a scaled down version of the R136/30 Dor region.
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.
We present observations of a massive star cluster near the nuclear region of the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253. The peak of near-infrared emission, which is spatially separated by 4 from the kinematic center of the galaxy, is coincident with a super star cluster whose properties we examine with low-resolution (R ~ 1,200) infrared CTIO spectroscopy and optical/near-infrared HST imaging. Extinction, measured from [FeII] lines, is estimated at Av = 17.7 +/- 2.6. The age of the cluster is estimated at 5.7 Myr, based on Bry equivalent width for an instantaneous burst using Starburst99 modeling. However, a complex star formation history is inferred from the presence of both recombination emission and photospheric CO absorption. The ionizing photon flux has a lower limit of 7.3 +/- 2.5 x 10^53 inverse seconds, corrected for extinction. Assuming a Kroupa IMF, we estimate a cluster mass of 1.4 +/- 0.4 x 10^7 solar masses. We observe a strong Wolf-Rayet signature at 2.06 microns and report a weak feature at 2.19 microns which may be due to a massive stellar population, consistent with the derived mass and age of this cluster.
We present time series photometry of 57 variable stars in the cluster region NGC 7380. The association of these variable stars to the cluster NGC 7380 has been established on the basis of two colour diagrams and colour-magnitude diagrams. Seventeen stars are found to be main-sequence variables, which are mainly B type stars and are classified as slowly pulsating B stars, $beta$ Cep or $delta$ Scuti stars. Some of them may belong to new class variables as discussed by Mowlavi et al. (2013) and Lata et al. (2014). Present sample also contains 14 pre-main-sequence stars, whose ages and masses are found to be mostly $lesssim$ 5 Myr and range 0.60 $lesssim M/M_{odot} lesssim$ 2.30 and hence should be T-Tauri stars. About half of the weak line T-Tauri stars are found to be fast rotators with a period of $lesssim$ 2 days as compared to the classical T-Tauri stars. Some of the variables belong to the field star population.
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