arXiv subjects

M. Clampin

Publications and source records attributed to M. Clampin.

44 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2002

Calibration of Geometric Distortion in the ACS Detectors

The off-axis location of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) is the chief (but not sole) cause of strong geometric distortion in all detectors: the Wide Field Camera (WFC), High Resolution Camera (HRC), and Solar Blind Camera (SBC). Dithered observations of rich star cluster fields are used to calibrate the distortion. We describe the observations obtained, the algorithms used to perform the calibrations and the accuracy achieved.

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arXiv2002

Advanced Camera for Surveys Observations of Young Star Clusters in the Interacting Galaxy UGC 10214

We present the first Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) observations of young star clusters in the colliding/merging galaxy UGC 10214. The observations were made as part of the Early Release Observation (ERO) program for the newly installed ACS during service mission SM3B for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Many young star clusters can be identified in the tails of UGC 10214, with ages ranging from ~3 Myr to 10 Myr. The extreme blue V-I (F606W-F814W) colors of the star clusters found in the tail of UGC 10214 can only be explained if strong emission lines are included with a young stellar population. This has been confirmed by our Keck spectroscopy of some of these bright blue stellar knots. The most luminous and largest of these blue knots has an absolute magnitude of M_V = -14.45, with a half-light radius of 161 pc, and if it is a single star cluster, would qualify as a super star cluster (SSC). Alternatively, it could be a superposition of multiple scaled OB associations or clusters. With an estimated age of ~ 4-5 Myr, its derived mass is < 1.3 x 10^6 solar masses. Thus the young stellar knot is unbound and will not evolve into a normal globular cluster. The bright blue clusters and associations are much younger than the dynamical age of the tail, providing strong evidence that star formation occurs in the tail long after it was ejected. UGC 10214 provides a nearby example of processes that contributed to the formation of halos and intra-cluster media in the distant and younger Universe.

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arXiv2002

Detection of CO emission 12 CO J=1->0 and 12 CO J=2->1 from the Luminous Blue Variable Star AG Carinae: circumstellar envelope or disk?

We present the first detection of 12 CO J=2->1 and 12 CO J=1->0 emission from the LBV AG Carinae. AG Carinae resides in a region which is very rich in molecular gas with complex motions. We find evidence of a slow outflow of molecular gas, expanding at ~ 7 km/s. This emission appears spatially unresolved. We argue that it is spatially localised, rather than extended, and possibly associated with the immediate circumstellar region of AG Carinae. Does it originate from a circumstellar envelope, similar to carbon stars, or from a circumstellar disk? The option of the circumstellar disk is preferable because it is consistent with additional independent indications for the existence of wind asymmetries in close proximity to the central star, found from spectropolarimetry and analysis of the UV and optical line profiles, and it provides the conditions of density and shielding necessary for the survival of the CO molecules in proximity to such a hot star (Teff ~ 14000 K - 20000 K). In the assumption that the CO emission originated when AG Carinae was in an evolved state, we derive a lower limit to the mass of molecular gas of 2.8 solar masses. This is smaller, but still comparable with the mass of ionized gas present in the circumstellar environment (4.2 solar masses), with the implication that the molecular gas fraction can contribute significantly to the overall mass lost from the central star in its post main sequence evolution.

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arXiv2002

Multi-wavelength study of the nebula associated with the galactic LBV candidate HD 168625

We present high resolution HST imaging of the nebula associated with the galactic LBV candidate HD 168625, together with ISO imaging and AAT echelle spectroscopy. The overall nebular morphology is elliptical with the major axis at PA ~ 120 deg. The dimensions of the nebula are 12'' x 16''.7 at Halpha and 15''.5 x 23''.5 at 4 micron. In the HST Halpha image, the nebula is resolved into a complex structure of filaments and arcs of different brightness. The asymmetry is lost in the HST continuum image where the nebula appears more diffuse and richer in filaments and clumps with the shape of cometary tails. At 11.3 micron the nebular emission peaks in two diametrically opposite lobes, placed on the nebula boundaries and along its major axis. A very faint loop is also visible at optical wavelengths, north and south of the shell. We suggest that the nebula is an ellipsoid with projected sizes of 14'' and 9'' (0.19 pc x 0.12 pc) along the RA and DEC directions, respectively. This ellipsoid is expanding at 19 km/s and is dynamically as old as ~ 4800 yrs; it probably interacts with the stellar wind and the loop so that PAH emission is detected from its caps, i.e. the lobes seen in the ISO images. The chemistry of the loop suggests that it is composed of un-processed material, probably from the local interstellar medium swept by the stellar wind.

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arXiv2000

The red stellar population in NGC 1569

We present HST NICMOS photometry of the resolved stellar population in NGC 1569. The CMD in the F110W and F160W photometric bands contains ~2400 stars with a formal photometric error < 0.1 mag down to J~23.5 and H~22.5. We describe the data processing which is required to calibrate the instrumental peculiarities of NICMOS. Two different packages for PSF-fitting photometry are used to strengthen the photometric results in the crowded stellar field of NGC 1569. The resulting CMD is discussed in terms of the major evolutionary properties of the resolved stellar populations. For a distance modulus of 26.71 and a reddening E(B-V)=0.56, our CMD samples stars down to ~0.8 Mo, corresponding to look-back times > 15 Gyr. This is clear indication of SF activity spanning an entire Hubble time. The metallicity of the reddest RGB stars is in better agreement with Z=0.004 as measured in HII regions, than with Z=0.0004 as expected from the stellar ages. The presence of - yet undetected - very metal-poor stars embedded in the stellar distribution around J=22.75 and J-H=1.15 is, however, not ruled out. The youngest stars (< 50 Myr) are preferentially found around the two central super star clusters, whereas the oldest population has a more uniform spatial distribution. A SFR per unit area of 1 Mo yr*(-1) kpc*(-2) and a mass formed in stars of ~ 1.4x10*6 Mo in the last 50 Myr are derived from the CMD. The NIR CMD places strong constraints on the lower limit of the onset of SF in NGC 1569. The exceptionally high crowding in the NICMOS images of NGC 1569 is a challenge for the photometric analysis. As a result, optical and NIR images of NGC 1569 sample different populations and cannot be cross-correlated. Nevertheless, we demonstrate the consistency of the SF histories derived from the optical and NIR CMDs.

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arXiv1999

R4 and its circumstellar nebula: evidence for a binary merger?

We present new, NTT longslit spectroscopy of the B[e] supergiant in the binary system R4 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The data show extended, forbidden N and S emissions which are typical signatures of circumstellar matter. Their extension along the space axis of the slit defines an angular size of 8.6'' which translates into a linear size of 2.4 pc. The N emission lines also show the velocity structure of a bipolar outflow expanding at 100 km/s on average. This implies that, for a measured radius of 1.2 pc, the outflow originated about 12000 yrs ago. The line flux ratio [NII]6584/[SII]6717 indicates that the nebula is nitrogen enriched and therefore it has been ejected from the central star. This is the first bipolar, ejection nebula detected around a well-established B[e] supergiant. The bipolar morphology and the chemical enrichment shown by the nebula associated with R4 are consistent with the picture of a binary merger (Langer & Heger 1998), in which R4 was originally a system composed by a close pair and a third star (the observed A companion). The close pair merged into a single star and the merging process produced a circumstellar nebula that was later shaped by the ensueing B star wind.

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arXiv1998

The Resolved Stellar Population of the Post-Starburst Galaxy NGC 1569

We present WFPC2-HST photometry (in the F439W and F555W bands) of the resolved stars in NGC 1569. The derived color-magnitude diagram (CMD) contains 2800 objects down to the 26th mag, and is complete down to the 23rd. Adopting the literature distance modulus and reddening, the CMD samples stars more massive than 4 Mo, corresponding to a look-back time of 0.15 Gyr approximately. The data are compared to synthetic CMDs to derive the recent star formation history in NGC 1569. It is found that the observed field has experienced a global burst of star formation (SF) lasting at least 0.1 Gyr, and ended a few Myr ago. During the burst, the SF rate was approximately constant, and, if quiescent periods occurred, they lasted less than 10 Myr. The level of the SF rate was very high: 0.5 Mo/yr for a Salpeter IMF, in stars with mass ranging from 0.1 to 120 Mo. When scaled for the surveyed area, the SF rate is approximately 100 times larger than found in the most active dwarf irregulars in the Local Group. The data are consistent with a Salpeter IMF, or slightly steeper exponents. We discuss the implications of our results in the general context of the evolution of dwarf galaxies.

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arXiv1997

UV Spectral Dating of Stars and Galaxies

An echelle spectrogram (R = 30,000) of the 2300-3100 A region in the ultraviolet spectrum of the F8V star 9 Comae is presented. The observation is used to calibrate features in the mid-ultraviolet spectra of similar stars according to age and metal content. In particular, the spectral break at 2640 A is interpreted using the spectral synthesis code SYNSPEC. We use this feature to estimate the time since the last major star formation episode in the z=1.55 early-type galaxy LBDS 53W091, whose rest frame mid-ultraviolet spectrum, observed with the Keck Telescope, is dominated by the flux from similar stars that are at or near the main-sequence turnoff in that system (Spinrad et al. 1997). Our result, 1 Gyr if the flux-dominating stellar population has a metallicity twice solar, or 2 Gyr for a more plausible solar metallicity, is significantly lower than the previous estimate and thereby relaxes constraints on cosmological parameters that were implied by the earlier work.

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