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Register a new userGEMINI/GeMS observations unveil the structure of the heavily obscured globular cluster Liller 1
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By exploiting the exceptional high-resolution capabilities of the near-IR camera GSAOI combined with the multi-conjugate adaptive optics system GeMS at the GEMINI South Telescope, we investigated the structural and physical properties of the heavily obscured globular cluster Liller 1 in the Galactic bulge. We have obtained the deepest and most accurate color-magnitude diagram published so far for this cluster, reaching Ks ~ 19 (below the main sequence turn-off level). We used these data to re-determine the center of gravity of the system, finding that it is located about 2.2 south-east from the literature value. We also built new star density and surface brightness profiles for the cluster, and re-derived its main structural and physical parameters (scale radii, concentration parameter, central mass density, total mass). We find that Liller 1 is significantly less concentrated (concentration parameter c=1.74) and less extended (tidal radius r_t=298 and core radius r_c=5.39) than previously thought. By using these newly determined structural parameters we estimated the mass of Liller 1 M_tot = 2.3 x 10^6 Msun (Mtot = 1.5 x 10^6 Msun for a Kroupa IMF), which is comparable to that of the most massive clusters in the Galaxy (omega Centauri and Terzan 5). Also Liller 1 has the second highest collision rate (after Terzan 5) among all star clusters in the Galaxy, thus confirming that it is an ideal environment for the formation of collisional objects (such as millisecond pulsars).
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We used ultra-deep $J$ and $K_s$ images secured with the near-infrared GSAOI camera assisted by the multi-conjugate adaptive optics system GeMS at the GEMINI South Telescope in Chile, to obtain a ($K_s$, $J-K_s$) color-magnitude diagram (CMD) for the bulge globular cluster NGC 6624. We obtained the deepest and most accurate near-infrared CMD from the ground for this cluster, by reaching $K_s$ $sim$ 21.5, approximately 8 magnitudes below the horizontal branch level. The entire extension of the Main Sequence (MS) is nicely sampled and at $K_s$ $sim$ 20 we detected the so-called MS knee in a purely near-infrared CMD. By taking advantage of the exquisite quality of the data, we estimated the absolute age of NGC 6624 ($t_{age}$ = 12.0 $pm$ 0.5 Gyr), which turns out to be in good agreement with previous studies in the literature. We also analyzed the luminosity and mass functions of MS stars down to M $sim$ 0.45 M$_{odot}$ finding evidence of a significant increase of low-mass stars at increasing distances from the cluster center. This is a clear signature of mass segregation, confirming that NGC 6624 is in an advanced stage of dynamical evolution.
Using the large multi-wavelength data set in the chandra/SWIRE Survey (0.6 square degrees in the Lockman Hole), we show evidence for the existence of highly obscured (Compton-thick) AGN, estimate a lower limit to their surface density and characterize their multi-wavelength properties. Two independent selection methods based on the X-ray and infrared spectral properties are presented. The two selected samples contain 1) 5 X-ray sources with hard X-ray spectra and column densities > 10^24 cm-2, and 2) 120 infrared sources with red and AGN-dominated infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs). We estimate a surface density of at least 25 Compton-thick AGN per square degree detected in the infrared in the chandra/SWIRE field of which ~40% show distinct AGN signatures in their optical/near-infrared SEDs, the remainings being dominated by the host-galaxy emission. Only ~33% of all Compton-thick AGN are detected in the X-rays at our depth (F(0.3-8 keV)>10^-15 erg/cm2/s. We report the discovery of two sources in our sample of Compton-thick AGN, SWIRE_J104409.95+585224.8 (z=2.54) and SWIRE_J104406.30+583954.1 (z=2.43), which are the most luminous Compton-thick AGN at high-z currently known. The properties of these two sources are discussed in detail with an analysis of their spectra, SEDs, luminosities and black-hole masses.
The globular cluster AL~3 is old and located in the inner bulge. Three individual stars were observed with the Phoenix spectrograph at the Gemini South telescope. The wavelength region contains prominent lines of CN, OH, and CO, allowing the derivation of C, N, and O abundances of cool stars. We aim to derive C, N, O abundances of three stars in the bulge globular cluster AL3, and additionally in stars of NGC 6558 and HP1. The spectra of AL3 allows us to derive the clusters radial velocity. For AL3, we applied a new code to analyse its colour-magnitude diagram. Synthetic spectra were computed and compared to observed spectra for the three clusters. We present a detailed identification of lines in the spectral region centred at 15555 A, covering the wavelength range 15525-15590 A. C, N, and O abundances are tentatively derived for the sample stars.
Aims: for the first time the astrometric capabilities of the Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) facility GeMS with the GSAOI camera on Gemini-South are tested to quantify the accuracy in determining stellar proper motions in the Galactic globular cluster NGC 6681. Methods: proper motions from HST/ACS for a sample of its stars are already available, and this allows us to construct a distortion-free reference at the epoch of GeMS observations that is used to measure and correct the temporally changing distortions for each GeMS exposure. In this way, we are able to compare the corrected GeMS images with a first-epoch of HST/ACS images to recover the relative proper motion of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy with respect to NGC 6681. Results: we find this to be (mu_{alpha}cosdelta, mu_{delta}) = (4.09,-3.41) mas/yr, which matches previous HST/ACS measurements with a very good accuracy of 0.03 mas/yr and with a comparable precision (r.m.s of 0.43 mas/yr). Conclusions: this study successfully demonstrates that high-quality proper motions can be measured for quite large fields of view (85 arcsec X 85 arcsec) with MCAO-assisted, ground-based cameras and provides a first, successful test of the performances of GeMS on multi-epoch data.
We used optical images acquired with the Wide Field Camera of the Advanced Camera for Surveys onboard the Hubble Space Telescope and near-infrared data from GeMS/GSAOI to construct a high-resolution extinction map in the direction of the bulge stellar system Liller 1. In spite of its appearance of a globular cluster, Liller 1 has been recently found to harbor two stellar populations with remarkably different ages, and it is the second complex stellar system with similar properties (after Terzan5) discovered in the bulge, thus defining a new class of objects: the Bulge Fossil Fragments. Because of its location in the inner bulge of the Milky Way, very close to the Galactic plane, Liller 1 is strongly affected by large and variable extinction. The simultaneous study of both the optical and the near-infrared color-magnitude diagrams revealed that the extinction coefficient R$_V$ in the direction of Liller 1 has a much smaller value than commonly assumed for diffuse interstellar medium (R$_V=2.5$, instead of 3.1), in agreement with previous findings along different light paths to the Galactic bulge. The derived differential reddening map has a spatial resolution ranging from $1$ to $3$ over a field of view of about $90$X$90$. We found that the absorption clouds show patchy sub-structures with extinction variations as large as $delta {rm E}(B-V)sim0.9$ mag.
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