I present a new census of the members of the Chamaeleon I star-forming region. Optical spectroscopy has been obtained for 179 objects that have been previously identified as possible members of the cluster, that lack either accurate spectral types or clear evidence of membership, and that are optically visible (I<~18). I have used these spectroscopic data and all other available constraints to evaluate the spectral classifications and membership status of a total sample of 288 candidate members of Chamaeleon I that have appeared in published studies of the cluster. The latest census of Chamaeleon I now contains 158 members, eight of which are later than M6 and thus are likely to be brown dwarfs. I find that many of the objects identified as members of Chamaeleon I in recent surveys are actually field stars. Meanwhile, seven of nine candidates discovered by Carpenter and coworkers are confirmed as members, one of which is the coolest known member of Chamaeleon I at a spectral type of M8 (~0.03M_{sun}_). I have estimated extinctions, luminosities, and effective temperatures for the members and used these data to construct an H-R diagram for the cluster. Chamaeleon I has a median age of ~2Myr according to evolutionary models and hence is similar in age to IC 348 and is slightly older than Taurus (~1Myr). The measurement of an initial mass function for Chamaeleon I from this census is not possible because of the disparate methods with which the known members were originally selected and must await an unbiased, magnitude-limited survey of the cluster.
The aim of this work is to identify the so far unknown low mass stellar population of the ~2Myr old Cygnus OB2 star forming region, and to investigate the X-ray and near-IR stellar properties of its members. We analyzed a 97.7ks Chandra ACIS-I observation pointed at the core of the Cygnus OB2 region. Sources were detected using the PWDETECT code and were positionally correlated with optical and near- IR catalogs from the literature. Source events were extracted with the Acis E XTRACT package. X-ray variability was characterized through the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and spectra were fitted using absorbed thermal plasma models. We detected 1003 X-ray sources. Of these, 775 have near-IR counterparts and are expected to be almost all associated with Cygnus OB2 members.
We present results of a Chandra observation of a field in NGC 2264. The observations were taken with the ACIS-I camera with an exposure time of 48.1ks. We present a catalog of 263 sources, which includes X-ray luminosity, optical and infrared photometry, and X-ray variability information. We found 41 variable sources, 14 of which have a flarelike light curve, and two of which have a pattern of a steady increase or decrease over a 10-hr period. The optical and infrared photometry for the stars identified as X-ray sources are consistent with most of these objects being premain-sequence stars with ages younger than 3Myr.
To study the properties of X-ray emission from young stellar objects (YSOs) through their evolution from Class I to Class III and determine whether Class 0 protostars emit X-rays. A deep Chandra X-ray observation of the Serpens star-forming region was obtained. The Serpens Cloud Core is ideally suited for this type of investigation, being populated by a dense and extremely young cluster whose members are found in all evolutionary stages, including six well-studied Class 0 sources.
The Trifid Nebula, a young star-forming H II region, was observed for 16hr by the ACIS-I detector on board the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. We detected 304 X-ray sources, 30% of which are hard sources and 70% of which have near-infrared counterparts.
We observed the Monoceros R2 molecular cloud with the ACIS-I array on board the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. From the central 3.2'x3.2' region, we detect 154 sources above the detection limit of ~5x10^-16^erg/s/cm^2^ with a 100ks exposure. About 85% of the X-ray sources are identified with an infrared counterpart, including four high-mass stars in the zero-age main-sequence (ZAMS) and/or premain-sequence (PMS) phase. The X-ray spectra of the high-mass ZAMS and PMS stars are represented by a thin thermal plasma model of a temperature above ~2keV. The X-rays are time variable and exhibit rapid flares. This high-temperature plasma and flaring activity is similar to that seen in low-mass PMS stars and is contrary to the behavior observed in high-mass main-sequence stars.The X-ray luminosity increases as the intrinsic K-band flux increases. However, the X-ray luminosity saturates at a level of ~10^31^erg/s. We conclude that high-mass ZAMS and PMS stars emit X-rays, possibly because of magnetic activity such as that of low-mass stars.
We report X-ray results of the Chandra observation of OMC-2 and OMC-3. A deep exposure of ~100ks detects ~400 X-ray sources in the field of view of the ACIS array, providing one of the largest X-ray catalogs in a star-forming region. Coherent studies of the source detection, time variability, and energy spectra are performed. We classify the X-ray sources into Class I, Class II, and Class III+MS based on the J-, H-, and K-band colors of their near-infrared counterparts and discuss the X-ray properties (temperature, absorption, and time variability) along these evolutionary phases.
We present results of Chandra observations of two flanking fields (FFs) in Orion, outside the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC). We present a catalog of 417 sources, which includes X-ray luminosity, optical and infrared photometry, and X-ray variability information.
Sensitive X-ray imaging surveys provide a new and effective tool to establish the census of pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars in nearby young stellar clusters. We report here a deep Chandra X-Ray Observatory observation of PMS stars in the Chamaeleon I North cloud, achieving a limiting luminosity of log L_t_~27ergs/s (0.5-8keV band) in a 0.8x0.8pc^2^ region. Of the 107 X-ray sources, 37 are associated with Galactic stars of which 27 are previously recognized cloud members.
We report here results from a Chandra ACIS observation of the stellar populations in and around the M17 HII region. The field reveals 886 sources with observed X-ray luminosities (uncorrected for absorption) between ~29.3ergs/s<logL_X_<32.8ergs/s, 771 of which have stellar counterparts in infrared images.
