The Origins and Evolutionary Status of B Stars Found Far from the Galactic Plane. II. Kinematics and Full Sample Analysis
This paper continues the analysis of faint high-latitude B stars fromMartin. Here we analyze the kinematics of the stars and combine themwith the abundance information from the first paper to classify eachone. The sample contains 31 Population I runaways, 15 old evolved stars(including 5 blue horizontal-branch [BHB] stars, 3 post-HB stars, 1pulsating helium dwarf, and 6 stars of ambiguous classification), 1 Fdwarf, and 2 stars that do not easily fit in one of the othercategories. No star in the sample unambiguously shows thecharacteristics of a young massive star formed in situ in the halo. Thetwo unclassified stars are probably extreme Population I runaways. Thelow binary frequency and rotational velocity distribution of thePopulation I runaways imply that most were ejected from dense starclusters by the dynamic ejection scenario. However, we remain puzzled bythe lack of runaway Be stars. We also confirm that PB 166 and HIP 41979are both nearby solar-metallicity BHB stars.Based on observations made at the 2.1 m Otto Struve Telescope ofMcDonald Observatory, operated by the University of Texas at Austin.
|
The Origins and Evolutionary Status of B Stars Found Far from the Galactic Plane. I. Composition and Spectral Features
The existence of faint blue stars far above the Galactic plane that havespectra that are similar to nearby Population I B stars presents severalinteresting questions. Among them are the following: Can a Population IB star travel from the disk to a position many kiloparsecs above theplane in a relatively short main-sequence lifetime? Is it possible thatsingle massive star formation is occurring far from the Galactic plane?Are these objects something else masquerading as main-sequence B stars?This paper (the first of two) analyzes the abundances of a sample ofthese stars and reveals several that are chemically similar to nearbyPopulation I B stars, whereas others clearly have abundance patternsmore like those expected in blue horizontal-branch (BHB) orpost-asymptotic giant branch stars. Several of those with old evolvedstar abundances also have interesting features of note in their spectra.We also consider why this sample does not have any classical Be starsand identify at least two nearby solar-metallicity BHB stars.Based on observations made at the 2.1 m Otto Struve Telescope ofMcDonald Observatory operated by the University of Texas at Austin.
|
Young Stars far from the Galactic Plane: Runaways from Clusters
Quite recently, a significant number of OB stars far from the galacticplane have been found, situated at z-distances ranging from severalhundreds of pc to several kpc. The short lifetimes of these stars poseproblems for their interpretation in terms of the standard picture ofstar formation. Different mechanisms have been put forward to explainthe existence of these stars, either within the conventional view, orpostulating star formation in the galactic halo itself. These mechanismsrange from arguing that they are misidentified evolved or abnormalstars, to postulating powerful ejection mechanisms for young disk stars;in situ formation also admits several variants. We have collected fromthe literature a list of young stars far from the plane, for which theevidence of youth seems convincing. We discuss two possible formationmechanisms for these stars: ejection from the plane as the result ofdynamical evolution of small clusters (Poveda et al. 1967) and in situformation, via induced shocks created by spiral density waves (Martos etal. 1999). We compute galactic orbits for these stars, and identify thestars that could be explained by one or the other mechanism. We findthat about 90 percent of the stars can be accounted for by the clusterejection mechanism, that is, they can be regarded as runaway stars inthe galactic halo.
|
Simultaneous Optical and Near-Infrared Spectropolarimetry of Type 2 Seyfert Galaxies
We present optical and near-infrared spectropolarimetry of the nuclei offour type 2 Seyfert galaxies, Mrk 463E, Mrk 1210, NGC 1068, and NGC4388. The data were obtained simultaneously, covering the wavelengthrange of 0.46-2.5 μm. We model the polarizations from twodust-scattering components: (1) scattering in dusty regions inionization cones and (2) scattering in a torus surrounding a type 1nucleus. The polarizations from electron scattering in the cones anddichroic absorption by aligned dust grains in the torus are alsocompared with the observations. We confirmed that a combination ofelectron and dust scattering in the ionization cones is the preferredmechanism for the optical continuum polarization. For the near-infrared,dichroic absorption by aligned grains can explain the continuumpolarization of Mrk 463E and Mrk 1210 as well as NGC 1068. Visualoptical depths of the order of 10-20 are estimated for dichroicabsorption in these nuclei. Dust scattering in the torus, whose grainsize distribution is assumed to be the same as in the Galactic diffuseinterstellar medium, cannot reproduce the observed spectral slope of thenear-infrared polarization and total nuclear flux simultaneously.However, this might only indicate that the grain size distribution inthe torus of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is different, and dustscattering with moderate optical depth and dominated by large grainsmight provide a reasonable explanation for the near-infrared radiationfrom AGNs.
|
Radial velocities. Measurements of 2800 B2-F5 stars for HIPPARCOS
Radial velocities have been determined for a sample of 2930 B2-F5 stars,95% observed by the Hipparcos satellite in the north hemisphere and 80%without reliable radial velocity up to now. Observations were obtainedat the Observatoire de Haute Provence with a dispersion of 80Ä,mm(-1) with the aim of studying stellar and galactic dynamics.Radial velocities have been measured by correlation with templates ofthe same spectral class. The mean obtained precision is 3.0 km s(-1)with three observations. A new MK spectral classification is estimatedfor all stars. Based on observations made at the Haute ProvenceObservatory, France and on data from The Hipparcos Catalogue, ESA.Tables 4, 5 and 6 are only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.htm
|
FAUST Observations of Ultraviolet Sources toward the Virgo Cluster
We analyze three UV images covering a ~100 square degree field towardthe Virgo cluster, obtained by the FAUST space experiment. We detect 191sources to a signal-to-noise ratio of 4.4 and identify 94% of them. Mostsources have optical counterparts in existing catalogs, and about halfare identified as galaxies. Some sources with no listed counterpart wereobserved at the Wise Observatory. We present the results oflow-resolution visible spectrophotometry and discuss the foreground 101stellar sources and the 76 detected galaxies, both in the cluster and inthe foreground or background. We derive conclusions on star formationproperties of galaxies and on the total UV flux from discrete anddiffuse sources in the cluster. We test for the presence of intraclusterdust, determine the clustering properties of UV emitting galaxies, andderive the UV luminosity function of Virgo galaxies.
|
A catalog of far-ultraviolet point sources detected with the fast FAUST Telescope on ATLAS-1
We list the photometric measurements of point sources made by the FarUltraviolet Space Telescope (FAUST) when it flew on the ATLAS-1 spaceshuttle mission. The list contains 4698 Galactic and extragalacticobjects detected in 22 wide-field images of the sky. At the locationssurveyed, this catalog reaches a limiting magnitude approximately afactor of 10 fainter than the previous UV all-sky survey, TDl. Thecatalog limit is approximately 1 x 10-14 ergs A sq cm/s,although it is not complete to this level. We list for each object theposition, FUV flux, the error in flux, and where possible anidentification from catalogs of nearby stars and galaxies. Thesecatalogs include the Michigan HD (MHD) and HD, SAO, the HIPPARCOS InputCatalog, the Position and Proper Motion Catalog, the TD1 Catalog, theMcCook and Sion Catalog of white dwarfs, and the RC3 Catalog ofGalaxies. We identify 2239 FAUST sources with objects in the stellarcatalogs and 172 with galaxies in the RC3 catalog. We estimate thenumber of sources with incorrect identifications to be less than 2%.
|
The runaway nature of distant early-type stars in the galactic halo
The kinematics of a sample of 32 distant halo B-stars with masses in therange 3-21 solar masses are investigated using the current 'runawaystar' hypotheses to establish if they belong to this group of stars.Whether postmass transfer secondaries in evolved massive close binariescan be normal low mass B-stars is discussed, but support for this ideais not found. Thus it appears that the lower mass stars could not havebeen ejected out of the disk as a result of supernova explosions inmassive close binaries, while the higher mass objects do not in generalreveal a binary nature as expected from this theory. The results ofrecent N-body simulations of the purely dynamical ejection of runawaystars from young galactic star clusters are in excellent agreement withthe observations. Thus it appears that these halo stars are the mostdistant subgroup of OB runaways produced by cluster ejection yetobserved.
|
Vacuum ultraviolet imagery of the Virgo cluster region
The results are reported of an experiment using the UV imager aboard anattitude-controlled S520 type sounding rocket. The total UV fluxes ofgalaxies in the Virgo Cluster as well as the flux level of the diffuseUV background around the cluster were measured. The data on NGC 4486 andNGC 4472 confirm the variation in the degree of the 'turnup' below 200nm in the energy spectrum of the total light of elliptical galaxies. Attwo-color diagram of galaxies of visual/near-UV/vacuum UV indicates thatcolors of spiral galaxies are distributed within a strip andwell-correlated with the morphological type, while elliptical galaxiesare located differently from spiral galaxies.
|
Radial velocity measurements. I - Ground-based observations of the program stars for the HIPPARCOS satellite
The radial velocities of 272 stars brighter than m(pg) = 8.5 aredetermined by digital microphotometric measurement of plates obtainedwith dispersion 80 A/mm using the Marly slit spectrograph on the 120-cmtelescope of the Observatoire de Haute Provence. The objects wereselected as probable members of the input catalog for the ESA Hipparcosastrometric satellite. The measurement techniques and data-reductionprocedures are described in detail, and the results are presented inextensive tables and graphs and briefly characterized.
|
The galactic reddening law - The evidence from uvby-beta photometry of B stars
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1985A&A...142..189T&db_key=AST
|
Four-colour photometry of B stars north of B = + 45 deg and comparison with the south
Four-color photometry of 33 Henry Draper B stars north of b = + 45 degis presented. Most are little-reddened B or intermediate-A stars. A newAm star is discovered. The new measures essentially complete uvbyphotometry of all HD B stars within 45 deg of either galactic pole. Thenorthern and southern cones of HD B stars are compared, and selectioneffects deduced. Far from the galactic plane, it appears that B starsmay be equally distributed north and south of the plane; closer to thesun, an asymmetry associated with Gould's Belt is evident.
|
On the nature of early-type stars in the galactic halo
Effective temperatures and surface gravities of 46 intermediate and highgalactic latitude OB stars have been estimated from Stromgren /C1/ andH-beta photometry. In addition, helium, calcium and magnesium abundancesrelative to hydrogen have been derived for eleven stars. The typicalOB-type stellar parameters indicate that they are normal Population Istars, several of which require ejection velocities of more than 100km/s from the plane in order to reach their present z-distances duringtheir lifetimes. The observed correlation between peculiar velocity andmass for stars with /z/ not less than 400 pc is compatible with theBlaauw runaway hypothesis as the acceleration mechanism. A plot of logN(Na I) versus E(B-V) implies that the gas-to-dust ratio in the halo isprobably similar to that found for material in the galactic disc. Thisimplies that the sputtering of calcium from grain surfaces is probablyresponsible for the observed velocity dependence of the N(Na I)/N(Ca II)ratio.
|
Geneva photometric boxes. II - The reddening towards the galactic poles
It is noted that photometric boxes allow a very accurate estimation ofindividual reddenings for B- and early A-type stars. A catalog of 129stars with galactic latitudes higher than 30 deg is given. A small butsignificant reddening is seen in the direction of both the northern andsouthern galactic poles: E(B-V) approximately 0.04.
|
Photometry of faint blue stars. IV - Four-colour photometry of some northern stars
Photometry in the uvby system has been obtained for 33 northern faintblue stars. The stars are given photometric classification usingpreviously described criteria. Data are discussed which providesupporting evidence for the existence of gaps in the blue horizontalbranch.
|
The Nature of Faint Blue Stars in the Halo. II
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1974ApJS...28..157G&db_key=AST
|
Interstellar reddening near the north galactic pole
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1972PASP...84..497F&db_key=AST
|
Mean absolute magnitude of the blue stars at high galactic latitude.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1962AJ.....67..740K&db_key=AST
|
A search for blue stars in high galactic latitudes.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1958AJ.....63..484C&db_key=AST
|
