No Arabic abstract
Recent analyses of the Gaia data have identified diffuse stellar populations surrounding nearby open clusters. It is important to verify that these halos, tails, and strings are of similar ages and compositions as stars in the denser part of the cluster. We present an analysis of NGC 2516 ($approx$150 Myr), which has a classical tidal radius of 10 pc and an apparent halo of stars spanning 500 pc ($20^circ$ on-sky). Combining photometry from Gaia, rotation periods from TESS, and lithium measurements from Gaia-ESO and GALAH, we find that the halo of NGC 2516 is the same age as the clusters core. Two thirds of kinematically selected halo members out to 250 pc from the cluster center have rotation periods consistent with a gyrochronological age of 150 Myr. A comparison sample of field stars shows no such trend. The lithium abundances of stars in the halo are higher than in the field, and are correlated with the stellar rotation rate and binarity fraction, as has been noted in other young open clusters. Broadly speaking, this work supports a new paradigm wherein the halos of open clusters are often more populous than their cores. We highlight implications for spectroscopic survey targeting, open cluster dispersal, and planet searches around young stars.
High-dispersion spectra centered on the Li 6708 A line have been obtained for 70 potential members of the open cluster NGC 3680, with an emphasis on stars in the turnoff region. A measurable Li abundance has been derived for 53 stars, 39 of which have radial velocities and proper motions consistent with cluster membership. After being transferred to common temperature and abundance scales, previous Li estimates have been combined to generate a sample of 49 members, 40 of which bracket the cluster Li-dip. Spectroscopic elemental analysis of 8 giants and 5 turnoff stars produces [Fe/H] = -0.17 +/- 0.07 (sd) and -0.07 +/- 0.02 (sd), respectively. We also report measurements of Ca, Si and Ni which are consistent with scaled-solar ratios within the errors. Adopting [Fe/H] = -0.08 (Sect. 3.6), Y^2 isochrone comparisons lead to an age of 1.75 +/- 0.10 Gyr and an apparent modulus of (m-M) = 10.30 +/- 0.15 for the cluster, placing the center of the Li-dip at 1.35 +/- 0.03 solar masses. Among the giants, 5 of 9 cluster members are now known to have measurable Li with A(Li) near 1.0. A combined sample of dwarfs in the Hyades and Praesepe is used to delineate the Li-dip profile at 0.7 Gyr and [Fe/H] = +0.15, establishing its center at 1.42 +/- 0.02 solar masses and noting the possible existence of secondary dip on its red boundary. When evolved to the typical age of the clusters NGC 752, IC 4651 and NGC 3680, the Hyades/Praesepe Li-dip profile reproduces the observed morphology of the combined Li-dip within the CMDs of the intermediate-age clusters while implying a metallicity dependence for the central mass of the Li-dip given by Mass = (1.38 +/-0.04) + (0.4 +/- 0.2)[Fe/H]. The implications of the similarity of the Li-dichotomy among giants in NGC 752 and IC 4651 and the disagreement with the pattern among NGC 3680 giants are discussed.
Lithium is a fundamental element for studying the mixing mechanisms acting in the stellar interiors, for understanding the chemical evolution of the Galaxy and the Big Bang nucleosynthesis. The study of Li in stars of open clusters (hereafter OC) allows a detailed comparison with stellar evolutionary models and permits us to trace its galactic evolution. The OC NGC 2243 is particularly interesting because of its low metallicity ([Fe/H]=$-0.54 pm0.10$ dex). We measure the iron and lithium abundance in stars of the metal-poor OC NGC 2243. The first aim is to determine whether the Li dip extends to such low metallicities, the second is to compare the results of our Li analysis in this OC with those present in 47 Tuc, a globular cluster of similar metallicity. We performed a detailed analysis of high-resolution spectra obtained with the multi-object facility FLAMES at the ESO VLT 8.2m telescope. Lithium abundance was derived through line equivalent widths and the OSMARCS atmosphere models. We determine a Li dip center of 1.06 $M_odot$, which is much smaller than that observed in solar metallicity and metal-rich clusters. This finding confirms and strengthens the conclusion that the mass of the stars in the Li dip strongly depends on stellar metallicity. The mean Li abundance of the cluster is $log n{rm (Li)}=2.70$ dex, which is substantially higher than that observed in 47 Tuc. We estimated an iron abundance of [Fe/H]=$-0.54 pm0.10$ dex for NGC 2243, which is similar (within the errors) to previous findings. The [$ alpha$/Fe] content ranges from $0.00pm0.14$ for Ca to $0.20pm0.22$ for Ti, which is low when compared to thick disk stars and to Pop II stars, but compatible with thin disk objects. We found a mean radial velocity of 61.9 $pm$ 0.8 kms for the cluster.
The nearest stars provide a fundamental constraint for our understanding of stellar physics and the Galaxy. The nearby sample serves as an anchor where all objects can be seen and understood with precise data. This work is triggered by the most recent data release of the astrometric space mission Gaia and uses its unprecedented high precision parallax measurements to review the census of objects within 10 pc. The first aim of this work was to compile all stars and brown dwarfs within 10 pc observable by Gaia, and compare it with the Gaia Catalogue of Nearby Stars as a quality assurance test. We complement the list to get a full 10 pc census, including bright stars, brown dwarfs, and exoplanets. We started our compilation from a query on all objects with a parallax larger than 100 mas using SIMBAD. We completed the census by adding companions, brown dwarfs with recent parallax measurements not in SIMBAD yet, and vetted exoplanets. The compilation combines astrometry and photometry from the recent Gaia Early Data Release 3 with literature magnitudes, spectral types and line-of-sight velocities. We give a description of the astrophysical content of the 10 pc sample. We find a multiplicity frequency of around 28%. Among the stars and brown dwarfs, we estimate that around 61% are M stars and more than half of the M stars are within the range M3.0 V to M5.0 V. We give an overview of the brown dwarfs and exoplanets that should be detected in the next Gaia data releases along with future developments. We provide a catalogue of 540 stars, brown dwarfs, and exoplanets in 339 systems, within 10 pc from the Sun. This list is as volume-complete as possible from current knowledge and provides benchmark stars that can be used, for instance, to define calibration samples and to test the quality of the forthcoming Gaia releases. It also has a strong outreach potential.
Stars spend most of their lifetimes on the `main sequence (MS) in the Hertzsprung--Russell diagram. The obvious double MSs seen in the equivalent color--magnitude diagrams characteristic of Milky Way open clusters pose a fundamental challenge to our traditional understanding of star clusters as `single stellar populations. The clear MS bifurcation of early-type stars with masses greater than $sim1.6 M_odot$ is thought to result from a range in the stellar rotation rates. However, direct evidence connecting double MSs to stellar rotation properties has yet to emerge. Here, we show through analysis of the projected stellar rotational velocities ($vsin i$, where $i$ represents the stars inclination angle) that the well-separated double MS in the young, $sim200Myr$-old Milky Way open cluster NGC 2287 is tightly correlated with a dichotomous distribution of stellar rotation rates. We discuss whether our observations may reflect the effects of tidal locking affecting a fraction of the clusters member stars in stellar binary systems. We show that the slow rotators could potentially be initially rapidly rotating stars that have been slowed down by tidal locking by a low mass-ratio companion in a cluster containing a large fraction of short-period, low-mass-ratio binaries. This demonstrates that stellar rotation drives the split MSs in young, $lessapprox 300$Myr-old star clusters. However, special conditions, e.g., as regards the mass-ratio distribution, might be required for this scenario to hold.
Rapidly rotating, low-mass members of eclipsing binary systems have measured radii significantly larger than predicted by standard models. It has been proposed that magnetic activity is responsible for radius inflation. By estimating the radii of low-mass stars in three young clusters (NGC 2264, NGC 2547, NGC 2516, with ages of 5, 35 and 140 Myr respectively), we aim to establish whether similar radius inflation is seen in single, magnetically active stars. We use radial velocities from the Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) and published photometry to establish cluster membership and combine GES measurements of vsini with published rotation periods to estimate average radii for groups of fast-rotating cluster members as a function of their luminosity and age. The average radii are compared with the predictions of both standard evolutionary models and variants that include magnetic inhibition of convection and starspots. At a given luminosity, the stellar radii in NGC 2516 and NGC 2547 are larger than predicted by standard evolutionary models at the ages of these clusters. The discrepancy is least pronounced and not significant ~10 percent) in ZAMS stars with radiative cores, but more significant in lower-mass, fully convective pre main-sequence cluster members, reaching 30+/-10 percent. The uncertain age and distance of NGC 2264 preclude a reliable determination of any discrepancy for its members. The median radii we have estimated for low-mass fully convective stars in the older clusters are inconsistent (at the 2-3 sigma level) with non-magnetic evolutionary models and more consistent with models that incorporate the effects of magnetic fields or dark starspots. The available models suggest this requires either surface magnetic fields exceeding 2.5 kG, spots that block about 30 per cent of the photospheric flux, or a more moderate combination of both. [Abridged]