Bibcode
Clark, J. S.; Lohr, M. E.; Patrick, L. R.; Najarro, F.
Referencia bibliográfica
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 623, id.A84, 9 pp.
Fecha de publicación:
3
2019
Revista
Número de citas
10
Número de citas referidas
9
Descripción
The Arches is one of the youngest, densest and most massive clusters in
the Galaxy. As such it provides a unique insight into the lifecycle of
the most massive stars known and the formation and survival of such
stellar aggregates in the extreme conditions of the Galactic Centre. In
a previous study we presented an initial stellar census for the Arches
and in this work we expand upon this, providing new and revised
classifications for ˜30% of the 105 spectroscopically identified
cluster members as well as distinguishing potential massive runaways.
The results of this survey emphasise the homogeneity and co-evality of
the Arches and confirm the absence of H-free Wolf-Rayets of WC sub-type
and predicted luminosities. The increased depth of our complete dataset
also provides significantly better constraints on the main sequence
population; with the identification of O9.5 V stars for the first time
we now spectroscopically sample stars with initial masses ranging from
˜16 M⊙ to ≥120 M⊙. Indeed,
following from our expanded stellar census we might expect ≳50
stars within the Arches to have been born with masses ≳60
M⊙, while all 105 spectroscopically confirmed cluster
members are massive enough to leave relativistic remnants upon their
demise. Moreover the well defined observational properties of the main
sequence cohort will be critical to the construction of an extinction
law appropriate for the Galactic Centre and consequently the
quantitative analysis of the Arches population and subsequent
determination of the cluster initial mass function.
Based on observations made at the European Southern Observatory,
Paranal, Chile under programmes ESO 087.D-0317, 091.D-0187, 093.D-0306,
099.D-0345 and 0101.D-0141.
Proyectos relacionados
Propiedades Físicas y Evolución de Estrellas Masivas
Las estrellas masivas son objetos claves para la Astrofísica. Estas estrellas nacen con más de 8 masas solares, lo que las condena a morir como Supernovas. Durante su rápida evolución liberan, a través de fuertes vientos estelares, gran cantidad de material procesado en su núcleo y, en determinadas fases evolutivas, emiten gran cantidad de
Sergio
Simón Díaz