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Register a new userVariability of Young Massive Stars in the Arches Cluster: Accurate Photometry with Adaptive Optics
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Added by
Konstantinos Markakis
Publication date
2011
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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We present preliminary results of the first near-infrared variability study of the Arches cluster, using adaptive optics data from NIRI/Gemini and NACO/VLT. The goal is to discover eclipsing binaries in this young (2.5 $pm$ 0.5 Myr), dense, massive cluster for which we will determine accurate fundamental parameters with subsequent spectroscopy. Given that the Arches cluster contains more than 200 Wolf-Rayet and O-type stars, it provides a rare opportunity to determine parameters for some of the most massive stars in the Galaxy.
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We present preliminary results of the first near-infrared variability study of the Arches cluster, using adaptive optics data from NIRI/Gemini and NACO/VLT. The goal is to discover eclipsing binaries in this young (2.5 +- 0.5 Myr), dense, massive cluster for which we will determine accurate fundamental parameters with subsequent spectroscopy. Given that the Arches cluster contains more than 200 Wolf-Rayet and O-type stars, it provides a rare opportunity to determine parameters for some of the most massive stars in the Galaxy.
We present and use new spectra and narrow-band images, along with previously published broad-band images, of stars in the Arches cluster to extract photometry, astrometry, equivalent width, and velocity information. The data are interpreted with a wind/atmosphere code to determine stellar temperatures, luminosities, mass-loss rates, and abundances. We have doubled the number of known emission-line stars, and we have also made the first spectroscopic identification of the main sequence for any population in the Galactic Center. We conclude that the most massive stars are bona-fide Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars and are some of the most massive stars known, having M_{initial} > 100 Msun, and prodigious winds, Mdot > 10^{-5} Msun yr^{-1}, that are enriched with helium and nitrogen; with these identifications, the Arches cluster contains about 5% of all known WR stars in the Galaxy. We find an upper limit to the velocity dispersion of 22 kms^{-1}, implying an upper limit to the cluster mass of 7(10^4) Msun within a radius of 0.23 pc; we also estimate the bulk heliocentric velocity of the cluster to be v_{cluster,odot} approximately +95 kms^{-1}.
We present high-angular-resolution radio observations of the Arches cluster in the Galactic centre, one of the most massive young clusters in the Milky Way. The data were acquired in two epochs and at 6 and 10 GHz with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA). The rms noise reached is three to four times better than during previous observations and we have almost doubled the number of known radio stars in the cluster. Nine of them have spectral indices consistent with thermal emission from ionised stellar winds, one is a confirmed colliding wind binary (CWB), and two sources are ambiguous cases. Regarding variability, the radio emission appears to be stable on timescales of a few to ten years. Finally, we show that the number of radio stars can be used as a tool for constraining the age and/or mass of a cluster and also its mass function.
We have carried out a spectroscopic variability survey of some of the most massive stars in the Arches cluster, using K-band observations obtained with SINFONI on the VLT. One target, F2, exhibits substantial changes in radial velocity; in combination with new KMOS and archival SINFONI spectra, its primary component is found to undergo radial velocity variation with a period of 10.483+/-0.002 d and an amplitude of ~350 km/s. A secondary radial velocity curve is also marginally detectable. We reanalyse archival NAOS-CONICA photometric survey data in combination with our radial velocity results to confirm this object as an eclipsing SB2 system, and the first binary identified in the Arches. We model it as consisting of an 82+/-12 M_sun WN8-9h primary and a 60+/-8 M_sun O5-6 Ia+ secondary, and as having a slightly eccentric orbit, implying an evolutionary stage prior to strong binary interaction. As one of four X-ray bright Arches sources previously proposed as colliding-wind massive binaries, it may be only the first of several binaries to be discovered in this cluster, presenting potential challenges to recent models for the Arches age and composition. It also appears to be one of the most massive binaries detected to date; the primarys calculated initial mass of >~120 M_sun would arguably make this the most massive binary known in the Galaxy.
We study a sample composed of 28 of the brightest stars in the Arches cluster. We analyze K-band spectra obtained with the integral field spectrograph SINFONI on the VLT. Atmosphere models computed with the code CMFGEN are used to derive the effective temperatures, luminosities, stellar abundances, mass loss rates and wind terminal velocities. We find that the stars in our sample are either H-rich WN7-9 stars (WN7-9h) or O supergiants, two being classified as OIf+. All stars are 2-4 Myr old. There is marginal evidence for a younger age among the most massive stars. The WN7-9h stars reach luminosities as large as 2 x 1e6 Lsun, consistent with initial masses of ~ 120 Msun. They are still quite H-rich, but show both N enhancement and C depletion. They are thus identified as core H-burning objects showing products of the CNO equilibrium at their surface. Their progenitors are most likely supergiants of spectral types earlier than O4-6 and initial masses > 60 Msun. Their winds follow a well defined modified wind momentum - luminosity relation (WLR): this is a strong indication that they are radiatively driven. Stellar abundances tend to favor a slightly super solar metallicity, at least for the lightest metals. We note however that the evolutionary models seem to under-predict the degree of N enrichment.
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