Be phenomenon in open clusters: Results from a survey of emission-line stars in young open clusters

Abstract

Emission-line stars in young open clusters are identified to study their properties, as a function of age, spectral type and their evolutionary state. 207 open star clusters were observed using slitless spectroscopy method and 157 emission stars were identified in 42 clusters. We have found 54 new emission-line stars in 24 open clusters, out of which 19 clusters are found to house emission stars for the first time. About 20% clusters harbour emission stars. The fraction of clusters housing emission stars is maximum in both the 0--10 and 20--30 Myr age bin ($\sim$ 40% each) and in the other age bins, this fraction ranges between 10% -- 25%, upto 80 Myr. We have used optical colour magnitude diagram (CMD) along with Near-IR Colour-Colour diagram (NIR CCDm) to classify the emission stars into Classical Be (CBe) stars and Herbig Be (HBe) stars. Most of the emission stars in our survey belong to CBe class ($\sim$ 92%) while a few are HBe stars ($\sim$ 6%) and HAe stars ($\sim$1%). The CBe stars are located all along the MS in the optical CMDs of clusters of all ages, which indicates that the Be phenomenon is unlikely due to core contraction near the turn-off. Most of the clusters which contain emission stars are found in Cygnus, Perseus & Monoceros region of the Galaxy, which are locations of active star formation. The distribution of CBe stars as a function of spectral type shows peaks at B1-B2 and B6-B7. Our results indicate there could be two mechanisms responsible for the CBe phenomenon. Some are born CBe stars (fast rotators), as indicated by their presence in clusters younger than 10 Myr. Some stars evolve to CBe stars, as indicates by the enhancement in the fraction of clusters with CBe stars in the 20-30 Myr age bin.