arXiv subjects

Andrés E. Piatti

Publications and source records attributed to Andrés E. Piatti.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Astrophysical properties of newly discovered Magellanic Cloud star clusters

New star cluster candidates projected toward the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (L/SMC) have been recently discovered from relatively deep imaging surveys. We here conduct a sound analysis of 24 star cluster candidates located in the outer regions of the L/SMC using PSF photometry produced by the Survey of the Magellanic Stellar History. With only one exception, the studied objects resulted to be genuine stellar aggregates. We conclude on their physical reality once their observed color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) were statistically decontaminated by the presence of field stars, and the resulting cleaned CMDs for stars with assigned membership probabilities higher than 50\% were compared with synthetic CMDs generated for thousand combinations of ages, distances, metallicities, star cluster mass and binary fractions. The parameter of the best-matched synthetic CMDs obtained from a likelihood approach were adopted as the star cluster astrophysical properties. The present star cluster sample spans a wide range of distances, from those star clusters located in front of the LMC, to those along the onset of the Magellanic Bridge, up to those behind the SMC. Their ages reveal different formation episodes that took place along the galaxy formation and others as a consequence of the galaxy interactions. From their estimated metallicities and ages, we speculate with the possibility that relatively metal-deficient gaseous flows have existed between these galaxies during nearly the last one Gyr (log(age /yr) $\approx$ 9.0), that made possible the formation of young star clusters in the galaxy peripheries. Despide the L/SMC interactions, the studied star clusters are similar or more massive than their counterparts in the Milky Way, which suggests that tidal effects are relatively more important in our Galaxy.

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arXiv2020

Dependence of the old star clusters' dynamical clock on the host galaxy gravitational field

I report outcomes of the analysis of the $A^+$ parameter, which measures the level of radial segregation of blue straggler stars in old star clusters, commonly known as the dynamical clock for the long-term internal dynamical evolution. I used $A^+$ values available in the literature for 48 Milky Way globular clusters. I found that the relationship of $A^+$ and the number of central relaxation times which have elapsed ($N_{relax}$) shows a non negligible dependence on the strength of the host galaxy gravitational potential, in addition to depending on the two-body relaxation mechanism. Indeed, a measured $A^+$ value corresponds to relatively smaller or larger $N_{relax}$ values for star clusters located farther or closer to the galaxy center. From an observational point of view, this finding reveals the possibility of disentangling for the first time the dynamical evolutionary stage due to two-body relaxation and tidal effect, that affect the whole star clusters' body concurrently.

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arXiv2020

The search for extratidal star candidates around Galactic globular clusters NGC 2808, NGC 6266, and NGC 6397 with {\textit{Gaia}} DR2 astrometry

Context. Extratidal stars are stellar bodies that end up outside the tidal radius of a cluster as a result of internal processes or external forces acting upon it. The presence and spatial distribution of these stars can give us insights into the past evolution of a cluster inside our Galaxy. Aims. Previous works suggest that globular clusters, when explored in detail, show evidence of extratidal stars. We aim to search for possible extratidal stars in the Galactic globular clusters NGC 6397, NGC 2808, and NGC 6266 using the photometry and proper motion measurements from Gaia DR2 database (Gaia Collaboration et al. 2018). Results. Finally, 120, 126, and 107 extratidal candidate stars were found lying outside the tidal radius of the globular clusters NGC 6397, NGC 2808, and NGC 6266, respectively. 70%, 25.4%, and 72.9% of the extratidal stars found are located outside the Jacobi radius of NGC 6397, NGC 2808, and NGC 6266, respectively. The spatial distribution of the extratidal stars belonging to NGC 6397 appears S-like, extending along the curved leading and trailing arms. NGC 2808 has an overdensity of stars in the trailing part of the cluster and NGC 6266 seems to have overdensities of extratidal stars in its eastern and northern sides. Conclusions. Proper motions and color-magnitude diagrams can be used to identify extratidal candidate stars around GCs. Nonetheless, depending on how different the kinematics and stellar populations of a cluster are compared to the Milky Way field, the fraction of contamination can be larger. All three clusters are found to have extratidal stars outside their tidal radii. For NGC 6397 and NGC 2808, these stars may be the result of a combined effect of the disc shocks and tidal disruptions. For NGC 6266, the distribution of extratidal stars is symmetrical around it, most likely indicating that the cluster has an extended stellar envelope.

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arXiv2020

Multiple populations of Hbeta emission line stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC1971

We revisited the young Large Magellanic Cloud star cluster NGC1971 with the aim of providing additional clues to our understanding of its observed extended Main Sequence turnoff (eMSTO), a feature common seen in young stars clusters, which was recently argued to be caused by a real age spread similar to the cluster age (~160 Myr). We combined accurate Washington and Stromgren photometry of high membership probability stars to explore the nature of such an eMSTO. From different ad hoc defined pseudo colors we found that bluer and redder stars distributed throughout the eMSTO do not show any inhomogeneities of light and heavy-element abundances. These 'blue' and 'red' stars split into two clearly different groups only when the Washington $M$ magnitudes are employed, which delimites the number of spectral features responsible for the appearance of the eMSTO. We speculate that Be stars populate the eMSTO of NGC1971 because: i) Hbeta contributes to the M passband; ii) Hbeta emissions are common features of Be stars and; iii) Washington M and T1 magnitudes show a tight correlation; the latter measuring the observed contribution of Halpha emission line in Be stars, which in turn correlates with Hbeta emissions. As far as we are aware, this is the first observational result pointing to Hbeta emissions as the origin of eMSTOs observed in young star clusters. The presence outcome will certainly open new possibilities of studying eMSTO from photometric systems with passbands centered at features commonly seen in Be stars.

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arXiv2020

Different Sodium enhancements among multiple populations of Milky Way globular clusters

We searched for trails to understand the different Na abundances measured in first and second generation stars of ancient Milky Way globular clusters. For that purpose, we gathered from the recent literature the aforementioned Na abundances, orbital parameters, structural and internal dynamical properties and ages in an homogeneous scale of 28 globular clusters. We found that the intra-cluster Na enrichment, measured by the difference of Na abundances between first and second generation stars, exhibits a trend as a function of the Na abundances of first generation stars, in the sense that the more Na-poor the first generation stars, the larger the Na enrichment. By using the inclinations of the globular clusters' orbits, the analyzed Na enrichments also hinted at a boundary at ~0.3 dex to differentiate globular clusters with an accreted or in situ origin, the accreted globular clusters having larger Na enrichments. Because relatively larger intra-cluster Na enhancements are seen in accreted globular clusters, and small Na enhancements are observed in globular clusters formed in situ (although not exclusively), we speculate with the possibility that the amplitude of the Na enrichment could be linked with the building block paradigm. Globular clusters at the time of formation of first and second generation stars would seem to keep memory of this hierarchical galaxy formation process.

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arXiv2020

The disruption of the low-mass globular cluster E3

We use {\it Gaia} DR2 photometry and proper motions to search for the hypothetical tidal tails of the Galactic globular cluster E\,3. Using a modified version of a classical decontamination procedure, we are able to identify the presence of an extended structure emerging from the cluster up to $r \sim 1$\,deg from its center, thus suggesting that this poorly studied cluster is undergoing a tidal disruption process. These low surface-brightness structures are aligned with the direction to the Galactic center, as expected for a cluster close to its perigalacticon. Different scenarios to explain the important amount of mass lost by this cluster are discussed.

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arXiv2020

Strömgren metallicities for intermediate-age and old star clusters

We report results that show that the straightforwardly star cluster metallicities obtained from Strömgren $vby$ photometry is age-dependent and need to be corrected for further use. This outcome arises from the comparison of [Fe/H] values derived from Strömgren photometry with those metallicities published in the literature for 26 Large and Small Magellanic Cloud star clusters, whose ages range from $\sim$ 1 Gyr up to the known oldest globular clusters' ages in these galaxies. While deriving mean star cluster metallicities we carried out a thorough selection of red giant branch candidates to comply with the Strömgren metallicity calibration validity regime. We paid attention to the effect of contamination by field stars, particularly of those that lie inside the star clusters' radii, distributed along the star cluster red giant branches, and with [Fe/H] values covering a similar range as that for the selected stars. We found that the measured Strömgren metallicities are systematically more metal-poor than the published ones and that a quadratically age-varying function reproduces the relative metallicity values with an overall uncertainty of $\sim$ 0.05 dex. We finally performed a similar comparison relying on a fully independent approach, that consisted in using theoretical red giant branches of old globular clusters spanning [Fe/H] values from -2.0 up to 0.0 dex as standard ones. We then superimposed on to them the red giant branches of star clusters with ages in the range 1.0 - 12.5 Gyr and estimated by interpolation their associated metallicities. The derived theoretical relative metallicities follow a similar trend as a function of the star clusters' ages than that found from observations of star clusters.

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arXiv2020

Discovery of rotation axis alignments in Milky Way globular clusters

There is an increasing number of recent observational results which show that some globular clusters exhibit internal rotation while they travel along their orbital trajectories around the Milky Way center. Based on these findings, we looked for any relationship between the inclination angles of the globular clusters' orbits with respect to the Milky Way plane and those of their rotation. We discovered that the relative inclination, in the sense rotation axis inclination - orbit axis inclination, is a function of the globular cluster's orbit inclination. Rotation and orbit axes are aligned for an inclination of ~ 56deg, while the rotation axis inclination is far from the orbit's one between ~ 20deg and -20deg when the latter increases from 0deg up to 90deg. We further investigated the origin of such a linear relationship and found no correlation with the semimajor axes and eccentricities of the globular clusters' orbits, nor with the internal rotation strength, the globular clusters' sizes, actual and tidally disrupted masses, half-mass relaxation times, among others. The uncovered relationship will impact on the development of numerical simulations of the internal rotation of globular clusters, on our understanding about the interaction of the globular clusters with the Milky Way gravitational field, and on the observational campaigns for increasing the number of studied globular clusters with detected internal rotation.

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arXiv2020

A binary star sequence in the outskirts of the disrupting Galactic open cluster UBC 274

We report the identification of a numerous binary star population in the recently discovered ~3 Gyr old open cluster UBC 274. It becomes visible once the cluster color-magnitude diagram is corrected by differential reddening and spans mass ratios (q) values from 0.5 up to 1.0. Its stellar density radial profile and cumulative distribution as a function of the distance from the cluster's center reveal that it extends out to the observed boundaries of the cluster's tidal tails (~ 6 times the cluster's radius) following a spatial distribution indistinguishable from that of cluster Main Sequence (MS) stars. Furthermore, binary stars with q values smaller or larger than 0.75 do not show any spatial distribution difference either. From Gaia DR2 astrometric and kinematics data we computed Galactic coordinates and space velocities with respect to the cluster's center and mean cluster space velocity, respectively. We found that, cluster members located all along the tidal tails, irrespective of being a single or binary star, move relatively fast. The projection of their motions on the Galactic plane resembles that of a rotating solid body, while those along the radial direction from the Galactic center and perpendicular to the Galactic plane suggest that the cluster is being disrupted. The similarity of the spatial distributions and kinematic patterns of cluster MS and binary stars reveals that UBC 274 is facing an intense process of disruption that has apparently swept out any signature of internal dynamic evolution like mass segregation driven by two-body relaxation.

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arXiv2020

On the tidal tails of Milky Way globular clusters

We report on the search for overall kinematical or structural conditions that have allowed some Milky Way globular clusters to presently develop tidal tails. For this purpose, we build a comprehensive catalogue of globular clusters with studies focused on their outermost regions and classified them in three categories: those with observed tidal tails, those with extra-tidal features different from tidal tails and those without any signature of extended stellar density profiles. When exploring different kinematical and structural parameter spaces, we found that globular clusters - irrespective from the presence of tidal tails, or any other kind of extra-tidal features or the absence of them - behave similarly. In general, globular clusters whose orbits are relatively more eccentric and very inclined respect to the Milky Way plane have undergone a larger amount of mass-loss by tidal disruption. The latter has also accelerated the internal dynamics toward a comparatively more advanced stage of evolution. These outcomes show that it is not straightforward to find any particular set of parameter space and dynamical conditions that can definitely predict tidal tails along globular clusters in the Milky Way.

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arXiv2020

Pal 13: its moderately extended low density halo and its accretion history

We present results on the basis of Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS) DR8 astrometric and photometric data sets of the Milky Way globular cluster Pal 13. Because of its relative small size and mass, there has not been yet a general consensus about the existence of extra-tidal structures around it. While some previous results claim for the absence of such features, others have shown that the cluster is under the effects of tidal stripping. From DECaLS g,r magnitudes of stars placed along the cluster Main Sequence in the colour-magnitude diagram --previously corrected by interstellar reddening--, we built the cluster stellar density map. The resulting density map shows nearly smooth contours around Pal 13 out to 1.6 times the most recent estimate of its Jacobi radius, derived by taking into account its variation along its orbital motion. This outcome favours the presence of stars escaping the cluster, a phenomenon frequently seen in globular clusters that have crossed the Milky Way disc a comparable large number of times. Particularly, the orbital high eccentricity and large inclination angle of this accreted globular cluster could have been responsible for the relatively large amount of cluster mass lost.

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arXiv2019

The extended Main-Sequence Turnoff of the Milky Way open cluster Collinder 347

We made use of the Gaia DR2 archive to comprehensively study the Milky Way open cluster Collinder 347, known until now as a very young object of solar metal-content. However, the G versus G_BP-G_RP colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) of bonafide probable cluster members, selected on the basis of individual stellar proper motions, their spatial distribution and placement in the CMD, reveals the existence of a Hyades-like age open cluster (log(t /yr) = 8.8) of moderately metal-poor chemical content ([Fe/H] = -0.4 dex), with a present-day mass of 3.3x10^3 Mo. The cluster exhibits an extended Main-Sequence turnoff (eMSTO) of nearly 500 Myr, while that computed assuming Gaussian distributions from photometric errors, stellar binarity, rotation and metallicity spread yields an eMSTO of ~340 Myr. Such an age difference points to the existence within the cluster of stellar populations with different ages.

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arXiv2019

Characteristic radii of the Milky Way Globular Clusters

We report on the extent of the effects of the Milky Way's gravitational field in shaping the structural parameters and internal dynamics of its globular cluster population. We make use of a homogeneous, up-to-date data set with kinematics, structural properties, current and initial masses of 156 globular clusters. In general, cluster radii increase as the Milky Way potential weakens; with the core and Jacobi radii being those which increase at the slowest and fastest rate respectively. We interpret this result as the innermost regions of globular clusters being less sensitive to changes in the tidal forces with the Galactocentric distance. The Milky Way's gravitational field also seems to have differentially accelerated the internal dynamical evolution of individual clusters, with those toward the bulge appearing dynamically older. Finally we find a sub-population consisting of both compact and extended globular clusters (as defined by their rh/rJ ratio) beyond 8 kpc that appear to have lost a large fraction of their initial mass lost via disruption. Moreover, we identify a third group with rh/rJ > 0.4, which have lost an even larger fraction of their initial mass by disruption. In both cases the high fraction of mass lost is likely due to their large orbital eccentricities and inclination angles, which lead to them experiencing more tidal shocks at perigalacticon and during disc crossings. Comparing the structural and orbital parameters of individual clusters allows for constraints to be placed on whether or not their evolution was relaxation or tidally dominated.

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arXiv2019

On the APOGEE DR14 sodium spread in the Galactic open cluster NGC 188

Since several years ago, the search for multiple populations (MPs) in Galactic open clusters (OCs) has become a field of increasing interest, particularly to the light of the general knowledge that MPs are observed in relatively massive clusters (>= 5 10^4 Mo). I report here measurements of stellar parameters and abundances of 17 different chemical species, including light and iron-peak elements of the old open cluster NGC188, from the APOGEE DR14 database. I selected 15 bonafide cluster red giants that reveal an spread in [Na/Fe] of +-0.16 dex, caused by two different groups of measurements whose mean [Na/Fe] values differ by ~ 0.30 dex. A hint for a subtle anti-correlation with Al and TiII, which also show relative large [X/Fe] dispersions, is also seen in the data. However, [Na/Fe] abundances have been found to be typically affected by uncertainties of 0.16 dex. Furthermore, I directly compared the available spectra for stars with similar atmospheric parameters and it would seem that they look similar. Therefore, I warn users of large spectroscopic surveys to be extra careful when finding peculiar abundance results. Analysis pipelines that run in an unsupervised fashion may produce bad results which may not be noticed before publication.

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arXiv2019

Nearly coeval intermediate-age Milky Way star clusters at very different dynamics evolutionary stages

We report astrophysical properties of 12 Milky Way open clusters located beyond the circle around the Sun where the number of catalogued open clusters is thought to be statistically complete. By using deep optical photometry, we estimated their ages and metallicities on the basis of a maximum likelihood approach, using cluster members identified from Gaia DR2 data and likelihood procedures. The studied clusters turned out to be of intermediate-age (0.8 - 4.0 Gyr), with metallicities spanning the range [Fe/H] ~ -0.5 - +0.1 dex, and distributed within the general observed trend of the Milky Way disc radial and perpendicular metallicity gradients. As far as we are aware, these are the first metal abundance estimates derived for these clusters so far. From the constructed stellar density radial profiles and cluster mass functions we obtained a variety of structural and internal dynamics evolution parameters. They show that while the innermost cluster regions would seem to be mainly shaped according to the respective internal dynamics evolutionary stages, the outermost ones would seem to be slightly more sensitive to the Milky Way tidal field. The nearly coeval studied clusters are experiencing different levels of two-body relaxation following star evaporation; those at more advanced stages being more compact objects. Likewise, we found that the more important the Milky way tides, the larger the Jacobi volume occupied by the clusters, irrespective of their actual sizes and internal dynamics evolutionary stages.

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arXiv2019

Formation imprints in the kinematics of the Milky Way globular cluster system

We report results on the kinematics of Milky Way (MW) globular clusters (GCs) based on updated space velocities for nearly the entire GC population. We found that a 3D space with the semi-major axis, the eccentricity and the inclination of the orbit with respect to the MW plane as its axes is helpful in order to dig into the formation of the GC system. We find that GCs formed in-situ show a clear correlation between their eccentricities and their orbital inclination in the sense that clusters with large eccentricities also have large inclinations. These GCs also show a correlation between their distance to the MW center and their eccentricity. Accreted GCs do not exhibit a relationship between eccentricity and inclination, but span a wide variety of inclinations at eccentricities larger than ~ 0.5. Finally, we computed the velocity anisotropy "beta" of the GC system and found for GCs formed in-situ that "beta" decreases from ~ 0.8 down to 0.3 from the outermost regions towards the MW center, but remains fairly constant (0.7-0.9) for accreted ones. These findings can be explained if GCs formed from gas that collapsed radially in the outskirts, with preference for relative high infall angles. As the material reached the rotating forming disk, it became more circular and moved with lower inclination relative to the disk. A half of the GC population was accreted and deposited in orbits covering the entire range of energies from the outer halo to the bulge.

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arXiv2019

Extra-tidal structures around the Gaia Sausage candidate globular cluster NGC6779 (M56)

We present results on the stellar density radial profile of the outer regions of NGC6779, a Milky Way globular cluster recently proposed as a candidate member of the Gaia Sausage structure, a merger remnant of a massive dwarf galaxy with the Milky Way. Taking advantage of the Pan-STARRS PS1 public astrometric and photometric catalogue, we built the radial profile for the outermost cluster regions using horizontal branch and main sequence stars, separately, in order to probe for different profile trends because of difference stellar masses. Owing to its relatively close location to the Galactic plane, we have carefully treated the chosen colour-magnitude regions properly correcting them by the amount of interstellar extinction measured along the line-of-side of each star, as well as cleaned them from the variable field star contamination observed across the cluster field. In the region spanning from the tidal to the Jacobi radii the resulting radial profiles show a diffuse extended halo, with an average power law slope of -1. While analysing the relationships between the Galactocentric distance, the half-mass density, the half-light radius, the slope of the radial profile of the outermost regions, the internal dynamical evolutionary stage, among others, we found that NGC6779 shows structural properties similar to those of the remaining Gaia Sausage candidate globular clusters, namely, they are massive clusters (>10^5Mo) in a moderately early dynamical evolutionary stage, with observed extra-tidal structures.

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arXiv2019

The VISCACHA survey - I. Overview and First Results

The VISCACHA (VIsible Soar photometry of star Clusters in tApii and Coxi HuguA) Survey is an ongoing project based on deep photometric observations of Magellanic Cloud star clusters, collected using the SOuthern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope together with the SOAR Adaptive Module Imager. Since 2015 more than 200 hours of telescope time were used to observe about 130 stellar clusters, most of them with low mass (M < 10$^4$ M$_\odot$) and/or located in the outermost regions of the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud. With this high quality data set, we homogeneously determine physical properties from statistical analysis of colour-magnitude diagrams, radial density profiles, luminosity functions and mass functions. Ages, metallicities, reddening, distances, present-day masses, mass function slopes and structural parameters for these clusters are derived and used as a proxy to investigate the interplay between the environment in the Magellanic Clouds and the evolution of such systems. In this first paper we present the VISCACHA Survey and its initial results, concerning the SMC clusters AM3, K37, HW20 and NGC796 and the LMC ones KMHK228, OHSC3, SL576, SL61 and SL897, chosen to compose a representative subset of our cluster sample. The project's long term goals and legacy to the community are also addressed.

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