arXiv subjects

P. Westera

Publications and source records attributed to P. Westera.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

The VISCACHA survey XIV. Chemical evolution history of the SMC: The Southern Bridge Clusters

The chemical evolution history of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is complex and is best understood through a comprehensive analysis of star clusters across its various regions. The VISCACHA survey aims to fully explain the chemical evolution of SMC star clusters by analyzing different sub-regions adopted from an existing framework. The west halo (WH) region, which contains the oldest and most metal-poor stellar populations, exhibits a clear age-metallicity relation (AMR) with minimal dispersion. This region shows a significant dip of ~0.5 dex in metallicity approximately 6 Gyr ago. This was likely caused by a major merger event that subsequently accelerated the star formation rate. Clusters in the Southern Bridge (SB) and Northern Bridge regions of the SMC may have experienced distinct chemical enrichment histories, as suggested by our previous works but with limited data coverage. Furthermore, the AMR of wing/bridge (W/B) shows no sign of enrichment caused by the aforementioned merger event, but exhibits signatures of the recent collisions between the clouds contemporaneous with the epochs of the Magellanic Stream and Bridge formations. In this study, we present an updated AMR for the SB region based on a sample that includes approximately 67% of its known clusters. Contrary to the expectation of a very unique chemical evolution history, these SB clusters show a trend similar to the one of the WH clusters. The chemical evolution models that best fit the AMR trend of the SB clusters show excellent agreement with the major merger model proposed for the WH clusters. Building on this, we suggest a new unified chemical evolution model for both the WH and SB clusters, which can be explained by a major merger at ~6 Gyr followed by episodic chemical enrichment over time.

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arXiv2023

The VISCACHA survey -- IX. The SMC Southern Bridge in 8D

The structure of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) outside of its main body is characterised by tidal branches resulting from its interactions mainly with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Characterising the stellar populations in these tidal components helps to understand the dynamical history of this galaxy and of the Magellanic system in general. We provide full phase-space vector information for Southern Bridge clusters. We performed a photometric and spectroscopic analysis of twelve SMC clusters, doubling the number of SMC clusters with full phase-space vector information known to date. We reclassify the sample considering 3D distances and 3D velocities. We found that some of the clusters classified as Southern Bridge objects according to the projected 2D classification actually belong to the Main Body and Counter-Bridge in the background. The comparison of the kinematics of the genuine foreground Bridge clusters with those previously analysed in the same way reveals that Southern Bridge clusters are moving towards the LMC and share the kinematics of the Northern Bridge. Adding to our sample clusters from the literature with CaT metallicity determinations we compare the age-metallicity relation of the Southern Bridge with the one of the Northern Bridge. We reinforce the idea that both regions do not seem to have experienced the same chemical enrichment history and that there is a clear absence of clusters in the Northern Bridge older than 3Gyr and more metal-poor than -1.1, which would not seem to be due to a selection effect.

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arXiv2023

The VISCACHA survey -- VIII. Chemical evolution history of Small Magellanic Cloud West Halo cluster

The chemical evolution history of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) has been a matter of debate for decades. The challenges in understanding the SMC chemical evolution are related to a very slow star formation rate (SFR) combined with bursts triggered by the multiple interactions between the SMC and the Large Magellanic Cloud, a significant (~0.5 dex) metallicity dispersion for the SMC cluster population younger than about 7.5 Gyr, and multiple chemical evolution models tracing very different paths through the observed age-metallicity relation of the SMC. There is no doubt that these processes were complex. Therefore, a step-by-step strategy is required in order to better understand the SMC chemical evolution. We adopted an existing framework to split the SMC into regions on the sky, and we focus on the west halo in this work, which contains the oldest and most metal-poor stellar populations and is moving away from the SMC, that is, in an opposite motion with respect to the Magellanic Bridge. We present a sample containing ~60% of all west halo clusters to represent the region well, and we identify a clear age-metallicity relation with a tight dispersion that exhibits a 0.5 dex metallicity dip about 6 Gyr ago. We ran chemical evolution models and discuss possible scenarios to explain this metallicity dip, the most likely being a major merger accelerating the SFR after the event. This merger should be combined with inefficient internal gas mixing within the SMC and different SFRs in different SMC regions because the same metallicity dip is not seen in the AMR of the SMC combining clusters from all regions. We try to explain the scenario to better understand the SMC chemo-dynamical history.

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arXiv2021

The VISCACHA survey -- III. Star clusters counterpart of the Magellanic Bridge and Counter-Bridge in 8D

Context. The interactions between the SMC and LMC created the Magellanic Bridge, a stream of gas and stars pulled out of the SMC towards the LMC about 150 Myr ago. The tidal counterpart of this structure, which should include a trailing arm, has been predicted by models but no compelling observational evidence has confirmed the Counter-Bridge so far. Aims. The main goal of this work is to find the stellar counterpart of the Magellanic Bridge and Counter-Bridge. We use star clusters in the SMC outskirts as they provide 6D phase-space vector, age and metallicity that help characterise the outskirts of the SMC. Methods. Distances, ages and photometric metallicities are derived from fitting isochrones to the colour-magnitude diagrams from the VISCACHA survey. Radial velocities and spectroscopic metallicities are derived from the spectroscopic follow-up using GMOS in the CaII triplet region. Results. Among the seven clusters analysed in this work, five belong to the Magellanic Bridge and one belongs to the Counter-Bridge and the other to the transition region. Conclusions. The existence of the tidal counterpart of the Magellanic Bridge is evidenced by star clusters. The stellar component of the Magellanic Bridge and Counter-Bridge are confirmed in the SMC outskirts. These results are an important constraint for models that seek to reconstruct the history of the orbit and interactions between LMC-SMC and constrain their future interaction including with the Milky Way.

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arXiv2020

The VISCACHA survey -- II. Structure of star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds periphery

We provide a homogeneous set of structural parameters of 83 star clusters located at the periphery of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The clusters' stellar density and surface brightness profiles were built from deep, AO assisted optical images, and uniform analysis techniques. The structural parameters were obtained from King and Elson et al. model fittings. Integrated magnitudes and masses (for a subsample) are also provided. The sample contains mostly low surface brightness clusters with distances between 4.5 and 6.5 kpc and between 1 and 6.5 kpc from the LMC and SMC centres, respectively. We analysed their spatial distribution and structural properties, comparing them with those of inner clusters. Half-light and Jacobi radii were estimated, allowing an evaluation of the Roche volume tidal filling. We found that: (i) for our sample of LMC clusters, the tidal radii are, on average, larger than those of inner clusters from previous studies; (ii) the core radii dispersion tends to be greater for LMC clusters located towards the southwest, with position angles of $\sim$200 degrees and about $\sim$5 degrees from the LMC centre, i.e., those LMC clusters nearer to the SMC; (iii) the core radius evolution for clusters with known age is similar to that of inner clusters; (iv) SMC clusters with galactocentric distances closer than 4 kpc are overfilling; (v) the recent Clouds collision did not leave marks on the LMC clusters' structure that our analysis could reveal.

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arXiv2019

The Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS): improved SEDs, morphologies and redshifts with 12 optical filters

The Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS) is imaging ~9300 deg^2 of the celestial sphere in twelve optical bands using a dedicated 0.8 m robotic telescope, the T80-South, at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile. The telescope is equipped with a 9.2k by 9.2k e2v detector with 10 um pixels, resulting in a field-of-view of 2 deg^2 with a plate scale of 0.55"/pixel. The survey consists of four main subfields, which include two non-contiguous fields at high Galactic latitudes (8000 deg^2 at |b| > 30 deg) and two areas of the Galactic plane and bulge (for an additional 1300 deg^2). S-PLUS uses the Javalambre 12-band magnitude system, which includes the 5 u, g, r, i, z broad-band filters and 7 narrow-band filters centered on prominent stellar spectral features: the Balmer jump/[OII], Ca H+K, H-delta, G-band, Mg b triplet, H-alpha, and the Ca triplet. S-PLUS delivers accurate photometric redshifts (delta_z/(1+z) = 0.02 or better) for galaxies with r < 20 AB mag and redshift < 0.5, thus producing a 3D map of the local Universe over a volume of more than 1 (Gpc/h)^3. The final S-PLUS catalogue will also enable the study of star formation and stellar populations in and around the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, as well as searches for quasars, variable sources, and low-metallicity stars. In this paper we introduce the main characteristics of the survey, illustrated with science verification data highlighting the unique capabilities of S-PLUS. We also present the first public data release of ~336 deg^2 of the Stripe-82 area, which is available at http://datalab.noao.edu/splus.

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arXiv2008

CLOUDS search for variability in brown dwarf atmospheres

Context: L-type ultra-cool dwarfs and brown dwarfs have cloudy atmospheres that could host weather-like phenomena. The detection of photometric or spectral variability would provide insight into unresolved atmospheric heterogeneities, such as holes in a global cloud deck. Aims: It has been proposed that growth of heterogeneities in the global cloud deck may account for the L- to T-type transition as brown dwarf photospheres evolve from cloudy to clear conditions. Such a mechanism is compatible with variability. We searched for variability in the spectra of five L6 to T6 brown dwarfs in order to test this hypothesis. Methods: We obtained spectroscopic time series using VLT/ISAAC, over 0.99-1.13um, and IRTF/SpeX for two of our targets, in J, H and K bands. We search for statistically variable lines and correlation between those. Results: High spectral-frequency variations are seen in some objects, but these detections are marginal and need to be confirmed. We find no evidence for large amplitude variations in spectral morphology and we place firm upper limits of 2 to 3% on broad-band variability, on the time scale of a few hours. The T2 transition brown dwarf SDSS J1254-0122 shows numerous variable features, but a secure variability diagnosis would require further observations. Conclusions: Assuming that any variability arises from the rotation of patterns of large-scale clear and cloudy regions across the surface, we find that the typical physical scale of cloud cover disruption should be smaller than 5-8% of the disk area for four of our targets. The possible variations seen in SDSS J1254-0122 are not strong enough to allow us to confirm the cloud breaking hypothesis.

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arXiv2006

On the geometrical evolution of the ionized gas in HII galaxies

In this paper, we investigate the behaviour of the number of Lyman continuum ionizing photons as compared to the actual number of hydrogen recombinations in HII galaxies. We evaluate the number of ionizing photons from the population synthesis of spectra observed in the visible, extrapolating the spectra to the extreme ultraviolet (EUV), beyond the Lyman limit. We check for possible systematic deviations of the predicted ionizing spectra in the EUV by comparing the ratio of the predicted number of ionizing photons to the number of recombinations, as measured in H$\beta$, ${\rm \Delta \log Q(H^0)}$, with the metallicity. We find that, as far as the number of ionizing photons is concerned, no systematic tendency can be detected. The ${\rm H\beta}$ equivalent width can be understood as a nebular age indicator, decreasing with age, although the observed ${\rm H\beta}$ equivalent width can also be affected by the contribution to the continuum by the accumulation of previous, non-ionizing stellar populations. We attribute the increase of ${\rm \Delta \log Q(H^0)}$ with the age of the burst to the fact that more and more ionizing photons escape the nebulae when the nebulae get older, because of their increasing, expansion-induced subfragmentation.

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arXiv2004

Stellar Populations in HII Galaxies

We analyse the stellar content of a large number of HII galaxies from the continua and absorption features of their spectra using population synthesis methods, in order to gain information about the star formation histories of these objects. We find that all galaxies of our sample contain an old stellar population (>= 1 Gyr) that dominates the stellar mass, and in a majority of these we also found evidence for an intermediate-age population >= 50 Myr apart from the presently bursting, ionizing young generation <= 10^7 yrs

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arXiv2001

BaSeL: a library of synthetic spectra and colours for GAIA

The BaseL Stellar Library (BaSeL) is a library of synthetic spectra which has already been used in various astrophysical applications (stellar clusters studies, characterization and choice of the COROT potential targets, eclipsing binaries,...). This library could provide useful indications to 1) choose the best photometric system for the GAIA strategy by evaluating their expected performances and 2) apply systematically the BaSeL models for any sample of GAIA targets. In this context, we describe one of the future developments of the BaSeL interactive web site to probe the GAIA photometric data: an automatic determination of atmospheric parameters from observed colours.

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arXiv2001

A standard stellar library for evolutionary synthesis. III. Metallicity calibration

We extend the colour calibration of the widely used BaSeL standard stellar library (Lejeune, Cuisinier, & Buser 1997, 1998) to non-solar metallicities, down to [Fe/H] ~ -2.0 dex. Surprisingly, we find that at the present epoch it is virtually impossible to establish a unique calibration of UBVRIJHKL colours in terms of stellar metallicity [Fe/H] which is consistent simultaneously with both colour-temperature relations and colour-absolute magnitude diagrams (CMDs) based on observed globular cluster photometry data and on published, currently popular standard stellar evolutionary tracks and isochrones. The problem appears to be related to the long-standing incompleteness in our understanding of convection in late-type stellar evolution, but is also due to a serious lack of relevant observational calibration data that would help resolve, or at least further significant progress towards resolving this issue. In view of the most important applications of the BaSeL library, we here propose two different metallicity calibration versions: (1) the "WLBC 99" library, which consistently matches empirical colour-temperature relations and which, therefore, should make an ideal tool for the study of individual stars; and (2), the "PADOVA 2000" library, which provides isochrones from the Padova 2000 grid (Girardi et al., 2000) that successfully reproduce Galactic globular-cluster colour-absolute magnitude diagrams and which thus should prove particularly useful for studies of collective phenomena in stellar populations in clusters and galaxies.

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arXiv1999

Metallicity calibration of theoretical stellar SEDs using UBVRIJHKL photometry of globular clusters

Although stellar SED models are constantly improving and seem to show similar differential tendencies as measured spectra, their absolute properties (eg. absolute flux in different wavelength regions) can still differ significantly from the measured ones. Therefore, it is necessary to "color-calibrate" the theoretical spectra to obtain realistic model-based stellar spectra, which can then be used for many purposes, such as population synthesis models. In order to calibrate a hybrid library (consisting of the Kurucz -, the Allard and Hauschild -, and the Scholz-models) of theoretical SEDs, UBVRIJHKLM photometric data of solar neighborhood stars were collected from the literature, and the solar metallicity models were calibrated using an algorithm developed by Cuisinier et. al. The corrections were then propagated through the whole grid of models, resulting in the "semi-empirical" models (available on ftp from the university of Basel). In order to extend the calibration to non-solar abundances, we have collected UBVRIJHKL photometric data from well-known Galactic globular clusters, covering a wide range of metallicities. We shall present first results, using the metallicity-calibrated library for calculating isochrones of metal-poor clusters. In particular, the observed slope and/or curvature of the RGB appears to be reproducible in a systematically correct manner for the first time.

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arXiv1999

Model atmosphere calibration for synthetic photometry applications: the uvby Stromgren photometric system

In view of the importance of accurate fundamental stellar parameters for `Spectro-photometric dating of stars and galaxies", we present simultaneous effective temperature and metallicity determinations for a sample of 40 stars from Stromgren synthetic photometry with an empirically calibrated grid of model atmosphere spectra (BaSeL models). Comparisons with Ribas et al.'s (1998) results, using Hipparcos parallaxes, for 8 binaries of our working sample are presented, showing good agreement with the most reliable parallaxes, and giving hence a significant weight to the validity of the BaSeL models for synthetic photometry applications.

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arXiv1998

Simultaneous solutions of stellar parameters (Teff, [Fe/H]) from synthetic uvby Stromgren photometry

The comprehensive knowledge of fundamental parameters of single stars is the basis of the modelling of star clusters and galaxies. Most fundamental stellar parameters of the individual components in SB2 eclipsing binaries are known with very high accuracy. Unfortunately, while masses and radii are well determined, the temperatures strongly depend on photometric calibrations. In the present work, we have used an empirically-calibrated grid of theoretical stellar spectra (BaSeL models) for simultaneously deriving homogeneous effective temperatures and metallicities from observed data. For this purpose, we have selected 20 binary systems (40 stars) for which we have uvby Stromgren photometry with estimated errors (see Lastennet et al., astro-ph/9811103, for details).

astro-ph↗

arXiv1998

Metallicity-dependent effective temperature determination for eclipsing binaries from synthetic uvby Stromgren photometry

Stromgren synthetic photometry from an empirically calibrated grid of stellar atmosphere models has been used to derive the effective temperature of each component of double lined spectroscopic (SB2) eclipsing binaries. For this purpose, we have selected a sub-sample of 20 SB2s for which b-y, m_1, and c_1 individual indices are available. This new determination of effective temperature has been performed in a homogeneous way for all these stars. As the effective temperature determination is related to the assumed metallicity, we explore simultaneous solutions in the (Teff,[Fe/H])-plane and present our results as confidence regions computed to match the observed values of surface gravity, b-y, m_1, and c_1, taking into account interstellar reddening. These confidence regions show that previous estimates of Teff are often too optimistic, and that [Fe/H] should not be neglected in such determinations. Comparisons with Ribas et al. (1998) using Hipparcos parallaxes are also presented for 8 binaries of our working sample, showing good agreement with the most reliable parallaxes. This point gives a significant weight to the validity of the BaSeL models for synthetic photometry applications.

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