The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is an essential input for many astrophysical studies but only in a few cases has it been determined over the whole cluster mass range, limiting the conclusions about its nature. The 25 Orionis group (25 Ori) is an excellent laboratory for investigating the IMF across the entire mass range of the population, from planetary-mass objects to intermediate/high-mass stars. We combine new deep optical photometry with optical and near-infrared data from the literature to select 1687 member candidates covering a 1.1{deg} radius area in 25 Ori. With this sample we derived the 25 Ori system IMF from 0.012 to 13.1M_{sun}_. This system IMF is well described by a two-segment power law with {GAMMA}=-0.74+/-0.04 for m<0.4M_{sun}_ and {GAMMA}=1.50+/-0.11 for m>=0.4M_{sun}_. It is also well described over the whole mass range by a tapered power-law function with {GAMMA}=1.10+/-0.09, mp=0.31+/-0.03 and {beta}=2.11+/-0.09. The best lognormal representation of the system IMF has mc=0.31+/-0.04 and {sigma}=0.46+/-0.05 for m<1M_{sun}_. This system IMF does not present significant variations with the radii. We compared the resultant system IMF as well as the brown dwarf/star ratio of 0.16+/-0.03 that we estimated for 25 Ori with that of other stellar regions with diverse conditions and found no significant discrepancies. These results support the idea that general star-formation mechanisms are probably not strongly dependent on environmental conditions. We found that the substellar and stellar objects in 25 Ori do not have any preferential spatial distributions and confirmed that 25 Ori is a gravitationally unbound stellar association.
We present results of our large-scale, optical, multi-epoch photometric survey across ~180 square degrees in the Orion OB1 association, complemented with extensive follow-up spectroscopy. Our focus is mapping and characterizing the off-cloud, low-mass, pre-main-sequence (PMS) populations. We report 2062 K- and M-type confirmed T Tauri members; 59% are located in the OB1a subassociation, 27% in the OB1b subassociation, and the remaining 14% in the A and B molecular clouds. We characterize two new clusterings of T Tauri stars, the HD 35762 and HR 1833 groups, both located in OB1a not far from the 25 Ori cluster. We also identify two stellar overdensities in OB1b, containing 231 PMS stars, and find that the OB1b region is composed of two populations at different distances, possibly due to the OB1a subassociation overlapping with the front of OB1b. A ~2 deg wide halo of young stars surrounds the Orion Nebula Cluster, corresponding in part to the low-mass populations of NGC 1977 and NGC 1980. We use the strength of H{alpha} in emission, combined with the IR excess and optical variability, to define a new type of T Tauri star, the C/W class, stars we propose may be nearing the end of their accretion phase, in an evolutionary state between classical and weak-lined T Tauri stars. The evolution of the ensemble-wide equivalent width of Li I{lambda}6707 indicates a Li depletion timescale of ~8.5 Myr. Disk accretion declines with an e-folding timescale of ~2 Myr, consistent with previous studies.
A new catalogue of clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud has been constructed from searches of the IIIa-J component of the ESO/SERC Southern Sky Atlas. The catalogue contains coordinate and diameter measurements of 1762 clusters in a 25x25{deg} area of sky centred on the LMC, but excluding the very crowded 3.5 square deg. region around the Bar. The distribution of these clusters appears as two superimposed elliptical systems. The higher density inner system extends over about 8d; the lower density outer system can be represented by 13d X 10d disc inclined at 42d to the line of sight. There are suggestions of two weak "arms" in the latter.
We have compiled a significantly updated and comprehensive census of massive stars in the nearby Cygnus OB2 association by gathering and homogenising data from across the literature. The census contains 169 primary OB stars, including 52 O-type stars and 3 Wolf-Rayet stars. Spectral types and photometry are used to place the stars in a Hertzprung-Russell diagram, which is compared to both non-rotating and rotating stellar evolution models, from which stellar masses and ages are calculated. The star formation history and mass function of the association are assessed, and both are found to be heavily influenced by the evolution of the most massive stars to their end states. We find that the mass function of the most massive stars is consistent with a "universal" power-law slope of {Gamma}=1.3. The age distribution inferred from stellar evolutionary models with rotation and the mass function suggest the majority of star formation occurred more or less continuously between 1 and 7Myr ago, in agreement with studies of low- and intermediate mass stars in the association. We identify a nearby young pulsar and runaway O-type star that may have originated in Cyg OB2 and suggest that the association has already seen its first supernova. Finally we use the census and mass function to calculate the total mass of the association of 16500^+3800^_-2800_M_{sun}, at the low end, but consistent with, previous estimates of the total mass of Cyg OB2. Despite this Cyg OB2 is still one of the most massive groups of young stars known in our Galaxy making it a prime target for studies of star formation on the largest scales.
We present an extensive study of the stellar population of an embedded cluster in the MonR2 molecular cloud based upon a wide field (~15'x15') J, H, and K band mosaic, deep near-infrared imaging at J, H, K, and nbL' bands of the central cluster region, and spectroscopic observations of 34 stars. By comparing the properties of the MonR2 cluster with other star forming regions, we ultimately hope to learn how the properties and formation of stars of various masses are related to the local physical conditions. The K band star counts indicate that the MonR2 cluster extends over a ~1.1pcx2.1pc area with a FWHM cluster size of ~0.38pc. Within this region the cluster contains ~309 stars brighter than m_K=14.5m and >~475 stars over all magnitudes with a central stellar volume density of ~9000 stars pc^-3^. We have further explored the properties of the cluster by using the spectroscopic and photometric data to construct an extinction-limited sample of 115 stars in the central 0.77pcx0.77pc region of the cluster that is designed to contain all stars with A_V<=11.3m and stellar masses >=0.1M_{sun}_. As a lower limit, 62% of the stars in this sample contain a near-infrared excess at K and/or L band. The K band excess fraction may be as high as 72% if the accretion characteristics of the stars in the MonR2 cluster are similar to stars in Taurus-Auriga. An initial reconnaissance of the stellar mass function suggests that the ratio of high to low mass stars in the extinction-limited sample is consistent with the value expected for a Miller-Scalo IMF. We do not find compelling evidence for mass segregation in the extinction-limited sample for stellar masses <~2M_{sun}_, although the most massive star (~10M_{sun}_) in the cluster appears to be forming near the cluster center. The properties of the MonR2 cluster are similar to other rich young clusters in the solar neighborhood, such as NGC 2024 and the Trapezium. (c) 1997 American Astronomical Society.
We present CCD photometry and spectroscopy for stars in Lucke-Hodge 58, an isolated OB association in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) northwest of 30 Doradus. The photometric catalog contains 839 stars with UBV magnitudes complete to V~19. We have obtained spectra and classified 35 stars; combined with previous published spectral types, we find 22 O-type stars. The earliest type is O3-4 V, and there are three WR stars in the association. The slope of the initial mass function, Gamma=-1.7+/-0.3, is in good agreement with other LMC associations. The presence of several evolved supergiants with masses about 15-25M_{sun}_ suggests that some star formation took place as early as 10 million years ago, but the majority of stars formed coevally within the past few million years.
The Sco OB2 association is the nearest OB association, extending over approximately 2000 square degrees on the sky. Only its brightest and most massive members are already known (from HIPPARCOS) across its entire size, while studies of its lower mass population refer only to small portions of its extent. In this work we exploit the capabilities of Gaia DR2 measurements to search for Sco OB2 members across its entire size and down to the lowest stellar masses. We used both Gaia astrometric (proper motions and parallaxes) and photometric measurements (integrated photometry and colors) to select association members, using minimal assumptions derived mostly from the HIPPARCOS studies. Gaia resolves small details in both the kinematics of individual Sco OB2 subgroups and their distribution with distance from the Sun. We developed methods to explore the 3D kinematics of a stellar population covering large sky areas. We find nearly 11000 pre-main-sequence (PMS) members of Sco OB2 (with less than 3% field-star contamination), plus ~3600 main-sequence (MS) candidate members with a larger (10-30%) field-star contamination. A higher confidence subsample of ~9200 PMS (and ~1340 MS) members is also selected (<1% contamination for the PMS), however this group is affected by larger (~15%) incompleteness. We separately classify stars in compact and diffuse populations. Most members belong to one of several kinematically distinct diffuse populations, whose ensemble clearly outlines the shape of the entire association. Upper Sco is the densest region of Sco OB2. It is characterized by a complex spatial and kinematical structure and has no global pattern of motion. Other dense subclusters are found in Lower Centaurus-Crux and in Upper Centaurus-Lupus; the richest example of the latter, which has been recently identified, is coincident with the group near V1062 Sco. Most of the clustered stars appear to be younger than the diffuse PMS population, suggesting star formation in small groups that rapidly disperse and are diluted, reaching space densities lower than field stars while keeping memory of their original kinematics. We also find that the open cluster IC 2602 has a similar dynamics to Sco OB2, and its PMS members are currently evaporating and forming a diffuse (size~10{deg}) halo around its double-peaked core.
We report the serendipitous discovery of three new open clusters, named UFMG 1, UFMG 2 and UFMG 3 in the field of the intermediate-age cluster NGC 5999, by using Gaia DR2 data. A colour-magnitude filter tailored for a proper selection of main-sequence stars and red clump giants turned evident the presence of NGC 5999 and these three new stellar groups in proper motion space. Their structural parameters were derived from King-profile fittings over their projected stellar distributions and isochrone fits were performed on the clusters cleaned colour-magnitude diagrams built with Gaia bands to derive their astrophysical parameters. The clusters projected sky motion were calculated for each target using our members selection. Distances to the clusters were inferred from stellar parallaxes through a bayesian model, showing that they are marginally consistent with their isochronal distances , considering the random and systematic uncertainties involved. The new clusters are located in the nearby Sagittarius arm (d~1.5kpc) with NGC 5999 at the background (d~1.8kpc). They contain at least a few hundred stars of nearly solar metallicity and have ages between 100 and 1400Myr.
The detection and characterization of young planetary systems offer a direct path to study the processes that shape planet evolution. We report on the discovery of a sub-Neptune-sized planet orbiting the young star HD110082 (TOI-1098). Transit events we initially detected during TESS Cycle 1 are validated with time-series photometry from Spitzer. High-contrast imaging and high-resolution, optical spectra are also obtained to characterize the stellar host and confirm the planetary nature of the transits. The host star is a late-F dwarf (M*=1.2M{sun}) with a low-mass, M dwarf binary companion (M*=0.26M{sun}) separated by nearly one arcminute (~6200au). Based on its rapid rotation and Lithium absorption, HD110082 is young, but is not a member of any known group of young stars (despite proximity to the Octans association). To measure the age of the system, we search for coeval, phase-space neighbors and compile a sample of candidate siblings to compare with the empirical sequences of young clusters and to apply quantitative age-dating techniques. In doing so, we find that HD110082 resides in a new young stellar association we designate MELANGE-1, with an age of 250_-70_^+50^Myr. Jointly modeling the TESS and Spitzer light curves, we measure a planetary orbital period of 10.1827days and radius of Rp=3.2{+/-}0.1R{Earth}. HD110082b's radius falls in the largest 12% of field-age systems with similar host-star mass and orbital period. This finding supports previous studies indicating that young planets have larger radii than their field-age counterparts.
Detection of transiting exoplanets around young stars is more difficult than for older systems owing to increased stellar variability. Nine young open cluster planets have been found in the K2 data, but no single analysis pipeline identified all planets. We have developed a transit search pipeline for young stars that uses a transit-shaped notch and quadratic continuum in a 12 or 24 hr window to fit both the stellar variability and the presence of a transit. In addition, for the most rapid rotators (P_rot_<2 days) we model the variability using a linear combination of observed rotations of each star. To maximally exploit our new pipeline, we update the membership for four stellar populations observed by K2 (Upper Scorpius, Pleiades, Hyades, Praesepe) and conduct a uniform search of the members. We identify all known transiting exoplanets in the clusters, 17 eclipsing binaries, one transiting planet candidate orbiting a potential Pleiades member, and three orbiting unlikely members of the young clusters. Limited injection recovery testing on the known planet hosts indicates that for the older Praesepe systems we are sensitive to additional exoplanets as small as 1-2 R_{Earth}_, and for the larger Upper Scorpius planet host (K2-33) our pipeline is sensitive to ~4 R_{Earth}_ transiting planets. The lack of detected multiple systems in the young clusters is consistent with the expected frequency from the original Kepler sample, within our detection limits. With a robust pipeline that detects all known planets in the young clusters, occurrence rate testing at young ages is now possible.
