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A multiwavelength investigation of the temperature of the cold neutral medium
We present measurements of the HI spin temperatures (Ts) ofthe cold neutral medium (CNM) towards radio sources that are closelyaligned with stars for which published H2 ortho-paratemperatures (T01) are available from ultraviolet (UV)observations. Our sample consists of 18 radio sources close to 16 nearbystars. The transverse separation of the lines of sight of thecorresponding UV and radio observations varies from 0.1 to 12.0 pc atthe distance of the star. The UV measurements do not have velocityinformation, so we use the velocities of low ionization species (e.g.NaI/KI/CI) observed towards these same stars to make a plausibleidentification of the CNM corresponding to the H2 absorption.We then find that T01 and Ts match withinobservational uncertainties for lines of sight with H2 columndensity above 1015.8cm-2, but deviate from eachother below this threshold. This is consistent with the expectation thatin the CNM Ts tracks the kinetic temperature due tocollisions and that T01 is driven towards the kinetictemperature by proton exchange reactions.
| Some implications of the introduction of scattered starlight in the spectrum of reddened stars
This paper presents new investigations on coherent scattering in theforward direction (orders of magnitude; conservation of energy;dependence of scattered light on geometry and wavelength), and on howscattered light contamination in the spectrum of reddened stars ispossibly related to as yet unexplained observations (the diminution ofthe 2200 Å bump when the obscuring material is close to the star,the difference between Hipparcos and photometric distances). This paperthen goes on to discuss the fit of the extinction curve, a possible roleof extinction by the gas in the far-UV, and the reasons of theinadequacy of the Fitzpatrick and Massa [ApJSS, 72 (1990) 163] fit.
| Statistical Constraints for Astrometric Binaries with Nonlinear Motion
Useful constraints on the orbits and mass ratios of astrometric binariesin the Hipparcos catalog are derived from the measured proper motiondifferences of Hipparcos and Tycho-2 (Δμ), accelerations ofproper motions (μ˙), and second derivatives of proper motions(μ̈). It is shown how, in some cases, statistical bounds can beestimated for the masses of the secondary components. Two catalogs ofastrometric binaries are generated, one of binaries with significantproper motion differences and the other of binaries with significantaccelerations of their proper motions. Mathematical relations betweenthe astrometric observables Δμ, μ˙, and μ̈ andthe orbital elements are derived in the appendices. We find a remarkabledifference between the distribution of spectral types of stars withlarge accelerations but small proper motion differences and that ofstars with large proper motion differences but insignificantaccelerations. The spectral type distribution for the former sample ofbinaries is the same as the general distribution of all stars in theHipparcos catalog, whereas the latter sample is clearly dominated bysolar-type stars, with an obvious dearth of blue stars. We point outthat the latter set includes mostly binaries with long periods (longerthan about 6 yr).
| On the evolutionary status of Be stars. I. Field Be stars near the Sun
A sample of 97 galactic field Be stars were studied by taking intoaccount the effects induced by the fast rotation on their fundamentalparameters. All program stars were observed in the BCDspectrophotometric system in order to minimize the perturbationsproduced by the circumstellar environment on the spectral photosphericsignatures. This is one of the first attempts at determining stellarmasses and ages by simultaneously using model atmospheres andevolutionary tracks, both calculated for rotating objects. The stellarages (τ) normalized to the respective inferred time that eachrotating star can spend in the main sequence phase (τ_MS) reveal amass-dependent trend. This trend shows that: a) there are Be starsspread over the whole interval 0 τ/τ_MS 1 of themain sequence evolutionary phase; b) the distribution of points in the(τ/τMS,M/Mȯ) diagram indicates thatin massive stars (M 12~Mȯ) the Be phenomenon ispresent at smaller τ/τ_MS age ratios than for less massive stars(M 12~Mȯ). This distribution can be due to: i)higher mass-loss rates in massive objets, which can act to reduce thesurface fast rotation; ii) circulation time scales to transport angularmomentum from the core to the surface, which are longer the lower thestellar mass.
| Interstellar 12C/13C ratios through CH^+λλ 3957,4232 absorption in local clouds: incomplete mixing in the ISM
The 12C/13C isotope ratio is a tracer of stellaryields and the efficiency of mixing in the ISM.12CH+/13CH+ is not affectedby interstellar chemistry, and is the most secure way of measuring12C/13C in the diffuse ISM.R=12C/13C is 90 in the solar system. Previousmeasurements of 12CH+λλ3957.7,4232.3and 13CH+λλ3958.2,4232.0 absorptiontoward nearby stars indicate some variations in12C/13C, with values ranging from 40 to 90suggesting inefficient mixing. Except for the cloud toward ζOph,these R values are strongly affected by noise. With UVES on the VLT wehave improved on the previous interstellar 12C/13Cmeasurements. The weighted 12C/13C ratio in thelocal ISM is 78.27 ± 1.83, while the weighted dispersion of ourmeasurements is 12.7, giving a 6.9σ scatter. Thus we report on a6.9σ detection of 16.2% root-mean-square variations in the carbonisotopic ratio on scales of ~100 pc: R= 74.7 ± 2.3 in theζOph cloud, while R = 88.6 ± 3.0 toward HD 152235 in theLupus clouds, R = 62.2 ± 5.3 towards HD 110432 in the Coalsack,and R = 98.9 ± 10.1 toward HD 170740. The observed variations in13C/12C are the first significant detection ofchemical heterogeneity in the local ISM.
| CHARM2: An updated Catalog of High Angular Resolution Measurements
We present an update of the Catalog of High Angular ResolutionMeasurements (CHARM, Richichi & Percheron \cite{CHARM}, A&A,386, 492), which includes results available until July 2004. CHARM2 is acompilation of direct measurements by high angular resolution methods,as well as indirect estimates of stellar diameters. Its main goal is toprovide a reference list of sources which can be used for calibrationand verification observations with long-baseline optical and near-IRinterferometers. Single and binary stars are included, as are complexobjects from circumstellar shells to extragalactic sources. The presentupdate provides an increase of almost a factor of two over the previousedition. Additionally, it includes several corrections and improvements,as well as a cross-check with the valuable public release observationsof the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). A total of 8231entries for 3238 unique sources are now present in CHARM2. Thisrepresents an increase of a factor of 3.4 and 2.0, respectively, overthe contents of the previous version of CHARM.The catalog is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/431/773
| XMM-Newton and the Pleiades - I. Bright coronal sources and the X-ray emission from intermediate-type stars
We present results of X-ray spectral and timing analyses of solar-like(spectral types F5-K8) and intermediate-type (B4-F4) Pleiads observed ina 40-ks XMM-Newton EPIC exposure, probing X-ray luminosities(LX) up to a factor 10 fainter than previous studies usingthe ROSAT PSPC. All eight solar-like members have`quasi-steady'LX>~ 1029erg s-1,consistent with the known rotation-activity relation and four exhibitflares. Using a hydrodynamic modelling technique, we derive loophalf-lengths for the two strongest flares, on H II 1032 and H II 1100.Near the beginning of its flare, the light curve of H II 1100 shows afeature with a profile suggestive of a total occultation of the flaringloop. Eclipse by a substellar companion in a close orbit is possible butwould seem an extraordinarily fortuitous event; absorption by afast-moving cloud of cool material requires NH at least twoorders of magnitude greater than any solar or stellar prominence. Anoccultation may have been mimicked by the coincidence of two flares,though the first, with its decay time being shorter than its rise timeand suggestive of , would be unusual.Spectral modelling of the quasi-steady emission shows a rising trend incoronal temperature from F and slowly rotating G stars to K stars tofast-rotating G stars, and a preference for low coronal metallicity.These features are consistent with those of nearby solar-like stars,although none of the three stars showing `saturated' emission bears thesignificant component at 2 keV seen in the saturated coronae of AB Dorand 47 Cas. Of five intermediate-type stars, two are undetected(LX < 4 × 1027erg s-1) andthree show X-ray emission with a spectrum and LX consistentwith origin from an active solar-like companion.
| Interstellar Matter near the Pleiades. VI. Evidence for an Interstellar Three-Body Encounter
This paper seeks a comprehensive interpretation of new data on Na Iabsorption toward stars in and near the Pleiades, together with existingvisible and infrared data on the distribution of dust and with radiodata on H I and CO in the cluster vicinity. The use of dust and gasmorphology to constrain tangential motions in connection with themeasured radial velocities yields estimates for the space motion of gasnear the Pleiades. Much of the kinematic complexity in the interstellarabsorption toward the Pleiades, including the presence of stronglyblueshifted components that arise in shocked gas, finds explanation inthe interaction between the cluster and foreground gas withVr(LSR)~7 km s-1 associated with the Taurus dustclouds. Taurus gas, however, cannot readily account for an absorptioncomponent having Vr(LSR)~10 km s-1 with a wide,but not continuous distribution and 21 cm emission from gas in thecluster having Vr(LSR)~0 km s-1 associated witheast-west dust filaments. Successive hypotheses for the origin of theseadditional features include Taurus gas at a higher velocity than thepervasive foreground component, additional gas at a radial velocityintermediate between that of the Taurus component and the cluster, and acloud having Vr(LSR)~10 km s-1 approaching thePleiades from the west. A satisfactory account of the full complexity ofthe interstellar medium near the Pleiades requires the last feature andthe Taurus gas, both interacting with the Pleiades and also with eachother.
| Kinematical Structure of the Local Interstellar Medium: The Galactic Anticenter Hemisphere
A survey of interstellar Na I D1 and D2 absorption features in thespectra of 104 early-type stars in the second and third Galacticquadrants reveals the large-scale kinematics of the interstellar gaswithin the Galactic anticenter hemisphere at distances from the Sunbetween ~70 and ~250 pc. Employing a technique that uses both the radialvelocities and column densities of the Na I absorptions produced by theintervening gas we have identified the velocity vectors and determinedthe spatial distribution of eight interstellar clouds in the volumeexplored. The average internal H I+H2 densities of the cloudsrange between 0.03 and 1.7 cm-3, and their masses between 80and 104 Msolar, although uncertainties in thesizes of the clouds, their possible extension beyond the regionexplored, and the presence of denser gas embedded in the larger cloudsimply that these will tend to be lower limits. We have clearlyidentified clumps of denser gas immersed in the low-density gas in oneof the clouds; these clumps show internal H I+H2 densities oforder 50 cm-3. Although we are not able to detect anyinterstellar Na I within 70 pc, the sizes of some of the clouds implythat their near edges are within that range of distances from the Sun.With respect to the local standard of rest the clouds move withvelocities between 19 and 54 km s-1. Their velocity vectorsdo not support the view of a local interstellar medium uniquelydominated by expansion from centers in the Scorpio-Centaurus OBassociation; our results suggest that this expansion is present in theGalactic center hemisphere but in the Galactic anticenter hemisphere isrestricted to the immediate neighborhood of the Sun.
| The Pleiades Reflection Nebula. II. Simple Model Constraints on Dust Properties and Scattering Geometry
We have used wide-field ultraviolet, optical, and far-infraredphotometric images of Pleiades reflection nebulosity to analyze dustproperties and the three-dimensional nebular geometry. Scattered lightdata were taken from 1650 and 2200 Å Wide-Field Imaging SurveyPolarimeter images and a large 4400 Å mosaic of Burrell SchmidtCCD frames. Dust thermal emission maps were extracted from IRAS data.The scattering geometry analysis is complicated by the blending of lightfrom many stars and the likely presence of more than one scatteringlayer. Despite these complications, we conclude that most of thescattered light comes from dust in front of the stars in at least twoscattering layers, one far in front and extensive, the other nearer thestars and confined to areas of heavy nebulosity. The first layer can beapproximated as an optically thin, foreground slab whose line-of-sightseparation from the stars averages ~0.7 pc. The second layer is alsooptically thin in most locations and may lie at less than half theseparation of the first layer, perhaps with some material among orbehind the stars. The association of nebulosities peripheral to the maincondensation around the brightest stars is not clear. Models withstandard grain properties cannot account for the faintness of thescattered UV light relative to the optical. Some combination ofsignificant changes in grain model albedo and phase function asymmetryvalues is required. Our best-performing model has a UV albedo of0.22+/-0.07 and a scattering asymmetry of 0.74+/-0.06. Hypotheticaloptically thick dust clumps missed by interstellar sight linemeasurements have little effect on the nebular colors but might shiftthe interpretation of our derived scattering properties from individualgrains to the bulk medium.
| The Pleiades Reflection Nebula. I. Ultraviolet, Optical, and Far-Infrared Imaging Photometry
We present new wide-field optical and ultraviolet images of the Pleiadesreflection nebula that allow a more thorough evaluation of the dustscattering than any prior data set. Vacuum-UV images were taken at 1650and 2200 Å during the first flight of the Wide-Field ImagingSurvey Polarimeter (WISP), a sounding rocket-borne telescope. WISPcaptured the brighter parts of the nebula at both wavelengths, with 3σ sensitivities of 22.5 and 23.4 UV mag arcsec-2,respectively. The 5.0d×1.7d WISP field was also mapped at 4400Å with a mosaic of 40 Burrell Schmidt CCD frames using a broadbandBJ filter. The Schmidt mosaic shows extensive and intricatenebulosity down to a 5 σ sensitivity limit of 27.6 B magarcsec-2, including features undetected by photographicsurveys. We explore the intensity and color behavior of the nebula inour UV and optical images and far-infrared IRAS data. We find that thephotometric structure near bright stars is more complex than previousstudies have implied, but general trends are still apparent. The colorgradients around the stars are caused by phase function effects ratherthan internal reddening. The greater concentration of scattered lightversus thermal emission indicates that most of the observed scatteringis from foreground dust. A somewhat greater concentration of UV versusoptical light suggests grain scattering is more forward-directed atshorter wavelengths. The UV nebula is much fainter than expected fromthe stellar photometry and interstellar reddening. Explaining this UVfaintness requires either more reddening than is measured or significantalterations to current dust property estimates.
| Observations of Star-Forming Regions with the Midcourse Space Experiment
We have imaged seven nearby star-forming regions, the Rosette Nebula,the Orion Nebula, W3, the Pleiades, G300.2-16.8, S263, and G159.6-18.5,with the Spatial Infrared Imaging Telescope on the Midcourse SpaceExperiment (MSX) satellite at 18" resolution at 8.3, 12.1, 14.7, and21.3 μm. The large angular scale of the regions imaged (~7.2-50deg2) makes these data unique in terms of the combination ofsize and resolution. In addition to the star-forming regions, twocirrus-free fields (MSXBG 160 and MSXBG 161) and a field near the southGalactic pole (MSXBG 239) were also imaged. Point sources have beenextracted from each region, resulting in the identification over 500 newsources (i.e., no identified counterparts at other wavelengths), as wellas over 1300 with prior identifications. The extended emission from thestar-forming regions is described, and prominent structures areidentified, particularly in W3 and Orion. The Rosette Nebula isdiscussed in detail. The bulk of the mid-infrared emission is consistentwith that of photon-dominated regions, including the elephant trunkcomplex. The central clump, however, and a line of site toward thenorthern edge of the cavity show significantly redder colors than therest of the Rosette complex.
| Merged catalogue of reflection nebulae
Several catalogues of reflection nebulae are merged to create a uniformcatalogue of 913 objects. It contains revised coordinates,cross-identifications of nebulae and stars, as well as identificationswith IRAS point sources.The catalogue is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/399/141
| Koordinierte Zusammenarbeit zwischen den VdS-FG 'BAV' und 'Spektroskopie' ?
Not Available
| Chandra Observations of the Pleiades Open Cluster: X-Ray Emission from Late B- to Early F-Type Binaries
We present the analysis of a 38.4 and 23.6 ks observation of the core ofthe Pleiades open cluster. The Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer onboard the Chandra X-Ray Observatory detected 99 X-ray sources in a17'×17' region, including 18 of 23 Pleiadesmembers. Five candidate Pleiades members have also been detected,confirming their cluster membership. Fifty-seven sources have no opticalor near-infrared counterparts to limiting magnitudes V=22.5 and J=14.5.The unidentified X-ray sources are probably background active galacticnuclei and not stars. The Chandra field of view contains sevenintermediate-mass cluster members. Five of these, HII 980 (B6+G), HII956 (A7+F6), HII 1284 (A9+K), HII 1338 (F3+F6), and HII 1122 (F4+K), aredetected in this study. All but HII 1284 have high X-ray luminosity andsoft X-ray spectra. HII 1284 has X-ray properties comparable tononflaring K-type stars. Since all five stars are visual orspectroscopic binaries with X-ray properties similar to F-G stars, thelate-type binary companions are probably producing the observed coronalX-ray emission. Strengthening this conclusion is the nondetection byChandra of two A stars, HII 1362 (A7, no known companion) and HII 1375(A0+A SB) with X-ray luminosity upper limits 27-54 times smaller thanHII 980 and HII 956, the B6-A7 stars with cooler companions. Despite thelow number statistics, the Chandra data appear to confirm theexpectation that late B and A stars are not strong intrinsic X-raysources. The ACIS spectra and hardness ratios suggest a gradual increasein coronal temperature with decreasing mass from F4 to K. M stars appearto have somewhat cooler coronae than active K stars.
| Rotational Velocities of B Stars
We measured the projected rotational velocities of 1092 northern B starslisted in the Bright Star Catalogue (BSC) and calibrated them againstthe 1975 Slettebak et al. system. We found that the published values ofB dwarfs in the BSC average 27% higher than those standards. Only 0.3%of the stars have rotational velocities in excess of two-thirds of thebreakup velocities, and the mean velocity is only 25% of breakup,implying that impending breakup is not a significant factor in reducingrotational velocities. For the B8-B9.5 III-V stars the bimodaldistribution in V can be explained by a set of slowly rotating Ap starsand a set of rapidly rotating normal stars. For the B0-B5 III-V starsthat include very few peculiar stars, the distributions in V are notbimodal. Are the low rotational velocities of B stars due to theoccurrence of frequent low-mass companions, planets, or disks? Therotational velocities of giants originating from late B dwarfs areconsistent with their conservation of angular momentum in shells.However, we are puzzled by why the giants that originate from the earlyB dwarfs, despite having 3 times greater radii, have nearly the samerotational velocities. We find that all B-type primaries in binarieswith periods less than 2.4 days have synchronized rotational and orbitalmotions; those with periods between 2.4 and 5.0 days are rotating withina factor 2 of synchronization or are ``nearly synchronized.'' Thecorresponding period ranges for A-type stars are 4.9 and 10.5 days, ortwice as large. We found that the rotational velocities of the primariesare synchronized earlier than their orbits are circularized. The maximumorbital period for circularized B binaries is 1.5 days and for Abinaries is 2.5 days. For stars of various ages from 107.5 to1010.2 yr the maximum circularized periods are a smoothexponential function of age.
| The Photophysics of the Carrier of Extended Red Emission
Interstellar dust contains a component that reveals its presence byemitting a broad unstructured band of light in the 540-950 nm wavelengthrange, referred to as extended red emission (ERE). The presence ofinterstellar dust and ultraviolet photons are two necessary conditionsfor ERE to occur. This is the basis for suggestions that attribute EREto an interstellar dust component capable of photoluminescence. In thisstudy, we have collected all published ERE observations withabsolute-calibrated spectra for interstellar environments, where thedensity of ultraviolet photons can be estimated reliably. In each case,we determined the band-integrated ERE intensity, the wavelength of peakemission in the ERE band, and the efficiency with which absorbedultraviolet photons are contributing to the ERE. The data show thatradiation is not only driving the ERE, as expected for aphotoluminescence process, but is modifying the ERE carrier, asmanifested by a systematic increase in the ERE band's peak wavelengthand a general decrease in the photon conversion efficiency withincreasing densities of the prevailing exciting radiation. The overallspectral characteristics of the ERE and the observed high quantumefficiency of the ERE process are currently best matched by the recentlyproposed silicon nanoparticle (SNP) model. Using the experimentallyestablished fact that ionization of semiconductor nanoparticles quenchestheir photoluminescence, we proceeded to test the SNP model bydeveloping a quantitative model for the excitation and ionizationequilibrium of SNPs under interstellar conditions for a wide range ofradiation field densities. With a single adjustable parameter, the crosssection for photoionization, the model reproduces the observations ofERE intensity and ERE efficiency remarkably well. The assumption thatabout 50% of the ERE carriers are neutral under radiation conditionsencountered in the diffuse interstellar medium leads to a prediction ofthe single-photon ionization cross section of SNPs with average diameter3.5 nm of <=3.4×10-15 cm2. The shift ofthe ERE band's peak wavelength toward larger values with increasingradiation density requires a change of the size distribution of theactively luminescing ERE carriers through a gradual removal of thesmaller particles by size-dependent photofragmentation. We propose thatheat-assisted Coulomb decay of metastable, multiply charged SNPs is sucha process, which selectively removes the smaller components of anexisting SNP size distribution.
| Computing the Parallax of the Pleiades from the Hipparcos Intermediate Astrometry Data: An Alternative Approach
The inconsistency between the mean parallax of the Pleidaes open clusterfrom the Hipparcos catalog and that obtained from the stellar evolutiontheory and photometric measurements is probed by recomputing theHipparcos data in a different way that reduces the propagation of thealong-scan attitude errors. This is achieved by coupling observations ofstars made nearly simultaneously in the two separate fields of view ofthe telescope. A direct calculation of astrometric quantities of 54Pleiades members by the new method, based on the Intermediate AstrometryData, provides a correction of -0.71+/-0.14 mas to the weighted meanparallax of the cluster. The mean corrected parallax of the Pleiades is7.75+/-0.20 mas.
| CHARM: A Catalog of High Angular Resolution Measurements
The Catalog of High Angular Resolution Measurements (CHARM) includesmost of the measurements obtained by the techniques of lunaroccultations and long-baseline interferometry at visual and infraredwavelengths, which have appeared in the literature or have otherwisebeen made public until mid-2001. A total of 2432 measurements of 1625sources are included, along with extensive auxiliary information. Inparticular, visual and infrared photometry is included for almost allthe sources. This has been partly extracted from currently availablecatalogs, and partly obtained specifically for CHARM. The main aim is toprovide a compilation of sources which could be used as calibrators orfor science verification purposes by the new generation of largeground-based facilities such as the ESO Very Large Interferometer andthe Keck Interferometer. The Catalog is available in electronic form atthe CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/386/492, and from theauthors on CD-Rom.
| Astrometric radial velocities. III. Hipparcos measurements of nearby star clusters and associations
Radial motions of stars in nearby moving clusters are determined fromaccurate proper motions and trigonometric parallaxes, without any use ofspectroscopy. Assuming that cluster members share the same velocityvector (apart from a random dispersion), we apply a maximum-likelihoodmethod on astrometric data from Hipparcos to compute radial and spacevelocities (and their dispersions) in the Ursa Major, Hyades, ComaBerenices, Pleiades, and Praesepe clusters, and for theScorpius-Centaurus, alpha Persei, and ``HIP 98321'' associations. Theradial motion of the Hyades cluster is determined to within 0.4 kms-1 (standard error), and that of its individual stars towithin 0.6 km s-1. For other clusters, Hipparcos data yieldastrometric radial velocities with typical accuracies of a few kms-1. A comparison of these astrometric values withspectroscopic radial velocities in the literature shows a good generalagreement and, in the case of the best-determined Hyades cluster, alsopermits searches for subtle astrophysical differences, such as evidencefor enhanced convective blueshifts of F-dwarf spectra, and decreasedgravitational redshifts in giants. Similar comparisons for the ScorpiusOB2 complex indicate some expansion of its associations, albeit slowerthan expected from their ages. As a by-product from the radial-velocitysolutions, kinematically improved parallaxes for individual stars areobtained, enabling Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams with unprecedentedaccuracy in luminosity. For the Hyades (parallax accuracy 0.3 mas), itsmain sequence resembles a thin line, possibly with wiggles in it.Although this main sequence has underpopulated regions at certaincolours (previously suggested to be ``Böhm-Vitense gaps''), suchare not visible for other clusters, and are probably spurious. Futurespace astrometry missions carry a great potential for absoluteradial-velocity determinations, insensitive to the complexities ofstellar spectra. Based on observations by the ESA Hipparcos satellite.Extended versions of Tables \ref{tab1} and \ref{tab2} are available inelectronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(130.79.125.8) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/381/446
| The spectrum of HD46223
The spectrum of HD46223 was established from the optical to the far UVand normalized by the spectrum of a non-reddened star of same spectraltype. The resulting spectrum is separated into two components. One isthe direct starlight. The second is an additional component of lightscattered at small angles. In the optical the spectrum is dominated bydirect starlight which decreases exponentially due to the linearextinction ~e-2E(B-V)/λ. Scattered light begins to benoticeable in the near-UV. The near-UV rise of the scattered light isinterrupted in the 2200Å bump region. The wavelength dependence ofthe scattered light is established in the far-UV, where scattered lightdominates the extinction curve. A 1/λ4 dependence isfound, proving the presence of grains small compared to UV wavelengths.The mathematic expressions of the different components mentioned abovegive a good fit to the extinction curve in the direction of the star. Ona mathematic standpoint the fit can be completed by a Lorentzien for the2200Å bump region. The physical interpretation of the bump may bemore difficult to achieve since the paper shows the possibility thatonly scattered light is extinguished in the bump region. Consequencesfor the grain size distribution which is necessary to explain thedifferent aspects of scattering in interstellar clouds, for the value ofRV, and problems raised by this interpretation of thespectrum of HD46223, are considered at the end of this paper.
| Interstellar Matter Near the Pleiades. V. Observations of NA I toward 36 Stars
This paper reports high-resolution, moderate to high signal-to-noiseratio observations of 23 certain Pleiades members, four possiblemembers, and nine nonmembers in the Na I D lines, as well asobservations of 12 of the stars in the Na I ultraviolet doublet. Inspite of the relative proximity of the stars to the sun (even most ofthe nonmembers lie within 200 pc), the line profiles exhibit remarkablecomplexity, with up to five absorption components and equally remarkablestar-to-star variation. The velocity range, 2-20 km s-1,conforms well to the range expected for gas deflected by the passage ofthe cluster. The paper includes a careful discussion of uncertainties inthe data, the most important conclusions of which are that the velocityscatter is consistent with that expected from random errors in thewavelength calibration and that systematic errors probably are <~0.1km s-1. Appendices detail the choice of stellar data and theprocedure adopted for removing telluric absorption lines. Analysisfollows in a separate paper.
| A Search for High-Velocity Be Stars
We present an analysis of the kinematics of Be stars based uponHipparcos proper motions and published radial velocities. We findapproximately 23 of the 344 stars in our sample have peculiar spacemotions greater than 40 km s-1 and up to 102 kms-1. We argue that these high-velocity stars are the resultof either a supernova that disrupted a binary or ejection by closeencounters of binaries in young clusters. Be stars spun up by binarymass transfer will appear as high-velocity objects if there wassignificant mass loss during the supernova explosion of the initiallymore massive star, but the generally moderate peculiar velocities of BeX-ray binaries indicate that the progenitors lose most of their massprior to the supernova (in accordance with model predictions). Binaryformation models for Be stars predict that most systems bypass thesupernova stage (and do not receive runaway velocities) to createultimately Be+white dwarf binaries. The fraction of Be stars spun up bybinary mass transfer remains unknown, since the post-mass transfercompanions are difficult to detect.
| Barnard's Merope Nebula Revisited: New Observational Results
IC 349 is a small, fan-shaped reflection nebula located only 30" from 23Tau; its nucleus is, by a factor 15, the brightest area of the Pleiadesnebulosity. We propose that IC 349 is a fragment of the Taurus-Aurigamolecular cloud that has been encountered by the Pleiades in thatcluster's southward motion and is being illuminated and shaped by theradiation field of 23 Tau. New Hubble Space Telescope multicolor imageryand the structure, colors, and surface brightness of IC 349 arediscussed in terms of that hypothesis. What is known of the propermotion of the nebula, what can be inferred of the properties of thenebula from its color, and what is expected from radiation pressuretheory appear to be compatible with this cloudlet-encounter hypothesis.
| Observations of the Core of the Pleiades with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory
We present results from a 36 ks observation of the core of the Pleiadesopen cluster using ACIS-I on the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. We havedetected 57 sources, most of which do not have previously known opticalcounterparts. Follow-up photometry indicates that many of the detectionsare likely to be active galactic nuclei, in accordance withextragalactic source counts, but some of the sources may be previouslyundiscovered low-mass members of the Pleiades. We discuss our data setand our findings about X-ray emission from early-type stars, as well asvery late-type stars. In particular, the large X-ray fluxes, lack ofvariability, and hardness ratios of the four Pleiades B6 IV-F4 V starssuggest a tentative conclusion that Pleiades stars in this spectral typerange are intrinsic X-ray sources rather than previously unknownbinaries in which the X-ray emission is from a late-type companion.Also, the sensitivity of Chandra allowed us to detect nonflare X-rayemission from late M stars.
| High and intermediate-resolution spectroscopy of Be stars 4481 lines
We present an atlas of Hγ , He i lambda 4471 and Mg ii lambda 4481line profiles obtained in a 10 year observation period of 116 Be stars,which enabled many of them to be observed at quite different emissionepochs. From the best fit of the observed He i lambda 4471 line profileswith non-LTE, uniform (Teff,log g) and full limb-darkenedmodel line profiles, we determined the V sin i of the program stars. Toaccount, to some degree, for the line formation peculiarities related tothe rapid rotation-induced non-uniform distributions of temperature andgravity on the stellar surface, the fit was achieved by considering(Teff,log g) as free parameters. This method produced V sin iestimations that correlate with the rotational velocities determined bySlettebak (1982) within a dispersion sigma <= 30 km s-1and without any systematic deviation. They can be considered as given inthe new Slettebak's et al. (1975) system. Only 13 program stars havediscrepant V sin i values. In some objects, this discrepancy could beattributed to binary effects. Using the newly determined V sin iparameters, we found that the ratio of true rotational velocitiesV/Vc of the program Be stars has a very low dispersion aroundthe mean value. Assuming then that all the stars are rigid rotators withthe same ratio V(/lineω)/Vc, we looked for the value of/line ω that better represents the distribution of V sini/Vc for randomly oriented rotational axes. We obtained/lineω = 0.795. This value enabled us to determine the probableinclination angle of the stellar rotation axis of the program stars. Inthe observed line profiles of Hγ , He i lambda 4471, Mg ii lambda4481 and Fe ii lambda 4351 we measured several parameters related to theabsorption and/or emission components, such as: equivalent width,residual emission and/or absorption intensity, FWHM, emission peakseparations, etc. The parameters related to the Hγ line emissionprofiles were used to investigate the structure of the nearbyenvironment of the central star. From the characteristics of thecorrelations between these quantities and the inferred inclinationangle, we concluded that in most of cases the Hγ line emissionforming regions may not be strongly flattened. Using a simplerepresentation of the radiation flux emitted by the star+envelopesystem, we derived first order estimates of physical parameterscharacterizing the Hγ line emission formation region. Thus, weobtained that the total extent of the Hγ region is Rf=~ 2.5 +/- 1.0 R* and that the density distribution in theselayers can be mimicked with a power law rho ~ R-alpha , wherealpha =2.5+2.2-0.6. The same approach enabled usto estimate the optical depth of the Hγ line emission formationregion. From its dependence with the aspect angle, we concluded thatthese regions are caracterized by a modest flattening and that the rho(equator)/rho (pole) density contrast of the circumstellar envelope nearthe star should be two orders of magnitude lower than predicted bymodels based on a priori disc-shaped circumstellar envelopes. We foundthat the separation between the emission peaks, Deltap, andthe full width at half maximum, Delta 1/2, of the Hγline emission are not only sensitive to kinematic effects, but to lineoptical depth as well. This finding agrees with previous theoreticalpredictions and confirms that Huang's (1972) relation overestimates theextent of the Hγ line emission formation region. Data obtained atCASLEO operated under agreement between the CONICET and the NationalUniversities of La Plata, Córdoba and San Juan, Argentina, at ESOLa Silla, Chile and at OHP, France.}\fnmsep\thanks{Tables 2 to 7 andFigs. 1 and 2 are only available in full in electronic form at CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via\http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/378/861}} \subtitle{Anatlas of Hγ , He {\fontsize {10pt}{12pt}\selectfont I} 4471 and Mg{\fontsize {10pt}{12pt}\selectfont II
| Interstellar extinction in the California Nebula region.
Vilnius seven-color photometry has been obtained for 238 stars down to ~13 mag in the area of the California Nebula inPerseus. For nearly all of the stars, photometric spectral classes,luminosity classes, absolute magnitudes, interstellar reddenings,extinctions and distances are determined. The ``extinction versusdistance'' diagrams give evidence for the presence of one dust layer at~ 160 pc distance in the direction of the CaliforniaNebula and its nearest surroundings and of two dust layers atdistances of 160 pc and 300 pc north-west of the nebula, in thedirection of the dark clouds L 1449 and L1456. The front layer contributes extinction between 0.3 and1.3 mag, and the second layer gives about 1 mag of additionalextinction. It appears likely that the front dust layer is the extensionof the Taurus dark clouds. The second dust layer probably belongs to thecomplex of dark clouds found in other areas of the southern part ofPerseus (in the directions of the open cluster IC348, the reflection nebula NGC 1333, etc.).Both cloud complexes run more or less parallel to the Galactic plane.
| The IMF of open star clusters with Tycho-2
We studied the fields of nine nearby open star clusters based on theTycho-2 catalogue. We determined membership probabilities for the starsin the cluster fields from the stellar proper motions and used theTycho-2 photometry to compute the initial mass function (IMF) of theclusters from the main sequence turn-off point down to approx. 1 M_sun.We found IMF slopes ranging from Gamma =-0.69 down to Gamma =-2.27 (whenthe Salpeter \cite{salpeter} value would be Gamma =-1.35). We alsostudied the membership of individual stars of special astrophysicalinterest. In some cases previous results had to be revised. As aby-product, we investigated some general properties of the Tycho-2catalogue; we confirmed that the Tycho-2 proper motions show onlymarginal deviations from the Hipparcos catalogue. On the other hand, insome regions the completeness of the catalogue seems to decrease atmagnitudes brighter than claimed by Høg et al. (\cite{tycho2}).Based on observations of the ESA Hipparcos satellite.
| Statistical analysis of intrinsic polarization, IR excess and projected rotational velocity distributions of classical Be stars
We present the results of statistical analyses of a sample of 627 Bestars. The parameters of intrinsic polarization (p*),projected rotational velocity (v sin i), and near IR excesses have beeninvestigated. The values of p* have been estimated for a muchlarger and more representative sample of Be stars (~490 objects) thanpreviously. We have confirmed that most Be stars of early spectral typehave statistically larger values of polarization and IR excesses incomparison with the late spectral type stars. It is found that thedistributions of p* diverge considerably for the differentspectral subgroups. In contrast to late spectral types (B5-B9.5), thedistribution of p* for B0-B2 stars does not peak at the valuep*=0%. Statistically significant differences in the meanprojected rotational velocities (/line{vsin i}) are found for differentspectral subgroups of Be stars in the sense that late spectral typestars (V luminosity class) generally rotate faster than early types, inagreement with previously published results. This behaviour is, however,not obvious for the III-IV luminosity class stars. Nevertheless, thecalculated values of the ratio vt/vc of the truerotational velocity, vt, to the critical velocity forbreak-up, vc, is larger for late spectral type stars of allluminosity classes. Thus, late spectral type stars appear to rotatecloser to their break-up rotational velocity. The distribution of nearIR excesses for early spectral subgroups is bi-modal, the position ofthe second peak displaying a maximum value E(V-L)~ 1 . m 3for O-B1.5 stars, decreasing to E(V-L)~0. m8 for intermediatespectral types (B3-B5). It is shown that bi-modality disappears for latespectral types (B6-B9.5). No correlations were found betweenp* and near IR excesses and between E(V-L) and vsin i for thedifferent subgroups of Be stars. In contrast to near IR excesses, arelation between p* and far IR excesses at 12 mu m is clearlyseen. A clear relation between p* and vsin i (as well asbetween p* and /line{vsin i}/vc) is found by thefact that plots of these parameters are bounded by a ``triangular"distribution of p*: vsin i, with a decrease of p*towards very small and very large vsin i (and /line{vsini}/vc) values. The latter behaviour can be understood in thecontext of a larger oblateness of circumstellar disks for the stars witha rapid rotation. From the analysis of correlations between differentobservational parameters we conclude that circumstellar envelopes forthe majority of Be stars are optically thin disks with the range of thehalf-opening angle of 10degr
| Internal kinematics and binarity of X-ray stars in the Pleiades open cluster
The classical convergent point analysis is implemented for the Pleiadesstars with proper motions in the Tycho-2 Catalogue and X-ray fluxesmeasured by the ROSAT satellite. It is demonstrated that, with thestandard astrometric errors as given in Tycho-2, strong X-ray sources inthe cluster (log L_X > 29.1, where L_X is in erg s-1)exhibit a velocity dispersion in one component of only 0.20 kms-1, while the distributions of velocity components ofmoderate (log LX < 29.1) sources and stars not detected byROSAT at all are consistent with a velocity dispersion of 0.64 kms-1. The difference is statistically significant at the levelof 1.6sigma , or 0.95 confidence limit. This result is a clue to thekinematics/X-ray luminosity segregation, similar to that previouslydiscovered in the Hyades open cluster. It is discussed that thesegregation may be caused by a wide spread of ages of the member stars.The occurrence of high X-ray luminosities is found to correlate verywell with visual binarity and multiplicity (separations > 10 AU).
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Taurus |
| Right ascension: | 03h46m19.60s |
| Declination: | +23°56'54.0" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 4.18 |
| Distance: | 110.132 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | 18.9 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -46.7 |
| B-T magnitude: | 4.085 |
| V-T magnitude: | 4.152 |
Catalogs and designations:
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