A search for luminous Be stars

As Be stars are restricted to luminosity classes III‐V, but early B‐type stars are believed to evolve into supergiants, it is to be expected that the Be phenomenon disappears at some point in the evolution of a moderately massive star, before it reaches the supergiant phase. As a first stage in an attempt to determine the physical reasons of this cessation, a search of the literature has provided a number of candidates to be Be stars with luminosity classes Ib or II. Spectroscopy has been obtained for candidates in a number of open clusters and associations, as well as several other bright stars in those clusters. Among the objects observed, HD 207329 is the best candidate to be a high‐luminosity Be star, as it appears like a fast‐rotating supergiant with double‐peaked emission lines. The lines of HD 229059, in Berkeley 87, also appear morphologically similar to those of Be stars, but there are reasons to suspect that this object is an interacting binary. At slightly lower luminosities, LS I +56°92 (B4 II) and HD 333452 (O9 II), also appear as intrinsically luminous Be stars. Two Be stars in NGC 6913, HD 229221 and HD 229239, appear to have rather higher intrinsic magnitudes than their spectral type (B0.2 III in both cases) would indicate, being as luminous as luminosity class II objects in the same cluster. HD 344863, in NGC 6823, is also a rather early Be star of moderately high luminosity. The search shows that, though high‐luminosity Be stars do exist, they are scarce and, perhaps surprisingly, tend to have early spectral types. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Numerical simulations of the Hyades dynamics and the nature of the moving Hyades cluster

We present our numerical simulations of the dynamical evolution of the Hyades open cluster. The simulations were performed usinga modified NBODY6 algorithm that included tidal forces and a realistic orbit of the cluster in a gravitational field described by the Miyamoto-Nagai potential. Our goal was to study the nature of movingclu sters. We show that the stars that were earlier cluster members could be later identified within a sphere of 50 pc in diameter around the Sun. The number of such stars for the chosen initial mass and virial radius of the cluster does not exceed ten. The maximum space velocity of these stars relative to the core of the current cluster does not exceed 3 km s^?1. Our numerical simulations confirm the assumption that some of the moving clusters near the Sun could consist of stars that have escaped from open clusters in the course of their dynamical evolution.     

CCD photometry inVRI bands of the galactic cluster NGC 2818

bdAbstract The open cluster NGC 2818 containing a planetary nebula has been observed inVRI bands using the CCD system at prime focus of the 2.3-metre Vainu Bappu Telescope. The study extending to starsV ∼ 21 magnitude establishes the distance modulus as(m-M) ₀ = 12.9 ±0.1 for the cluster. Based on the fitting of theoretical isochrones computed for solar metallicity, an age of 5(±1) × 10₈ years has been assigned to the cluster. Association of the planetary nebula with the cluster indicates that the progenitor mass of the planetary nebula on the main sequence is ≥2.5M_⊙ Based on observations obtained with the Vainu Bappu Telescope.     

The Magellanic Clouds: their evolution,structure and composition

Summary The Magellanic Clouds play a fundamental role in a number of fields of astronomical research. Their distances are most relevant to the extragalactic distance scale. Their relative proximity offers exceptional opportunities for detailed studies of their stellar and interstellar content. They serve therefore as testing grounds for modern astrophysical theories, in particular concerning the chemical evolution of stars and galaxies.In this review we will discuss recent attempts to determine accurate distances to the Magellanic Clouds. We will consider their stellar generations as the results of interactions between the Large and the Small Magellanic Cloud as well as between the Clouds and the Galaxy. Recent determinations of the chemical abundances of the various age groups will be presented. The fact that the evolution of the Clouds has been slower than that of our Galaxy gives us the opportunity to study the conditions in slightly metalpoor galaxies. Recent progress in observing techniques has added much to our knowledge about the interstellar medium of the Clouds.The Magellanic System, which comprises the Magellanic Clouds, the Inter-Cloud Region and the Magellanic Stream, will be described. We will in particular consider the complex structure of the Large and the Small Cloud and the kinematics of their populations.     

银河系运动学参数的确定

利用 2 0 2个太阳附近疏散星团的视向速度和自行观测资料 ,对太阳的运动和银河系的运动学参数进行了研究。其中 ,距离在 0 .5kpc到 2kpc之间的 12 8个疏散星团对平均太阳运动分量的解算结果是 (u0 ,v0 ,w0 ) =(- 13.8± 1.4 ,- 5 .0± 1.6 ,- 11.6± 2 .9)km/s ;Oort常数和银河系径向运动参数的解算结果分别为 (A ,B) =(16 .9± 1.1,- 11.6± 2 .6 )km·s- 1·kpc- 1及 (C ,D) =(2 .5± 1.1,- 2 .1± 0 .9)km·s- 1·kpc- 1。     

A unified theory of the formation of galactic bars

We give arguments for a basically unified formation mechanism of slow (Lynden-Bell) and fast (common) galactic bars. This mechanism is based on an instability that is akin to the well-known instability of radial orbits and is produced by the mutual attraction and alignment of precessing stellar orbits (so far, only the formation of slow bars has been explained in this way). We present a general theory of the low-frequency modes in a disk that consists of orbits precessing at different angular velocities. The problem of determining these modes is reduced to integral equations of moderately complex structure. The characteristic pattern angular velocities Ω_p of the low-frequency modes are of the order of the mean orbital precession angular velocity \(\bar \Omega _{pr}\). Bar modes are also among the low-frequency modes; while \(\Omega _p \approx \bar \Omega _{pr}\) for slow bars, Ω_p for fast bars can appreciably exceed even the maximum orbital precession angular velocity in the disk Ω _pr ^max (however, it remains of the order of these precession angular velocities). The possibility of such an excess of Ω_p over Ω _pr ^max is associated with the effect of “repelling” orbits. The latter tend to move in a direction opposite to the direction in which they are pushed. We analyze the pattern of orbital precession in potentials typical of galactic disks. We note that the maximum radius of an “attracting” circular orbit r_c can serve as a reasonable estimate of the bar length l_b. Such an estimate is in good agreement with the available results of N-body simulations.     

Simulating the formation of a protocluster at z∼ 2

We present results from two high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of protocluster regions at   z ≃ 2.1  . The simulations have been compared to observational results for the so-called Spiderweb galaxy system, the core of a putative protocluster region at   z = 2.16  , found around a radio galaxy. The simulated regions have been chosen so as to form a poor cluster with   M ₂₀₀≃ 10¹⁴  h ⁻¹ M_⊙  (C1) and a rich cluster with   M ₂₀₀≃ 2 × 10¹⁵  h ⁻¹ M_⊙  (C2) at   z = 0  . The simulated protoclusters show evidence of ongoing assembly of a dominating central galaxy. The stellar mass of the brightest cluster galaxy of the C2 system is in excess with respect to observational estimates for the Spiderweb galaxy, with a total star formation rate which is also larger than indicated by observations. We find that the projected velocities of galaxies in the C2 cluster are consistent with observations, while those measured for the poorer cluster C1 are too low compared with the observed velocities. We argue that the Spiderweb complex resembles the high-redshift progenitor of a rich galaxy cluster. Our results indicate that the included supernovae feedback is not enough to suppress star formation in these systems, supporting the need of introducing active galactic nuclei feedback. According to our simulations, a diffuse atmosphere of hot gas in hydrostatic equilibrium should already be present at this redshift, and enriched at a level comparable to that of nearby galaxy clusters. The presence of this gas should be detectable with future deep X-ray observations.     

The STAGES view of red spirals and dusty red galaxies: mass-dependent quenching of star formation in cluster infall

We investigate the properties of optically passive spirals and dusty red galaxies in the A901/2 cluster complex at redshift ∼0.17 using rest-frame near-ultraviolet–optical spectral energy distributions, 24-μm infrared data and Hubble Space Telescope morphologies from the STAGES data set. The cluster sample is based on COMBO-17 redshifts with an rms precision of  σ _cz ≈ 2000 km s⁻¹  . We find that 'dusty red galaxies' and 'optically passive spirals' in A901/2 are largely the same phenomenon, and that they form stars at a substantial rate, which is only four times lower than that in blue spirals at fixed mass. This star formation is more obscured than in blue galaxies and its optical signatures are weak. They appear predominantly in the stellar mass range of  log  M _*/M_⊙=[10, 11]  where they constitute over half of the star-forming galaxies in the cluster; they are thus a vital ingredient for understanding the overall picture of star formation quenching in clusters. We find that the mean specific star formation rate (SFR) of star-forming galaxies in the cluster is clearly lower than in the field, in contrast to the specific SFR properties of blue galaxies alone, which appear similar in cluster and field. Such a rich red spiral population is best explained if quenching is a slow process and morphological transformation is delayed even more. At  log  M _*/M_⊙ < 10  , such galaxies are rare, suggesting that their quenching is fast and accompanied by morphological change. We note that edge-on spirals play a minor role; despite being dust reddened they form only a small fraction of spirals independent of environment.     

Observable consequences of kinetic and thermal AGN feedback in elliptical galaxies and galaxy clusters

We have constructed an analytical model of active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback and studied its implications for elliptical galaxies and galaxy clusters. The results show that momentum injection above a critical value will eject material from low-mass elliptical galaxies, and leads to an X-ray luminosity, L _X, that is  ∝σ⁸⁻¹⁰  , depending on the AGN fuelling mechanism, where σ is the velocity dispersion of the hot gas. This result agrees well with both observations and semi-analytic models. In more massive ellipticals and clusters, AGN outflows quickly become buoyancy dominated. This necessarily means that heating by a central cluster AGN redistributes the intracluster medium (ICM) such that the mass of hot gas, within the cooling radius, should be  ∝ L _X(< r _cool)/[ g ( r _cool)σ]  , where   g ( r _cool)  is the gravitational acceleration at the cooling radius. This prediction is confirmed using observations of seven clusters. The same mechanism also defines a critical ICM cooling time of  ∼0.5 Gyr  , which is in reasonable agreement with recent observations showing that star formation and AGN activity are triggered below a universal cooling time threshold.