At What Mass Are Stars Braked? The Implication from the Turnoff Morphology of NGC 6819

Abstract

Abstract Extended main-sequence turnoffs (eMSTOs) apparent in most young and intermediate-age clusters (younger than ∼2 Gyr) are known features caused by fast rotating early-type (earlier than F-type) stars. Late-type stars are not fast rotators because their initial angular momenta have been quickly dispersed due to magnetic braking. However, the mass limit below which stars have been magnetically braked has not been well constrained by observation. In this paper, we present an analysis of the eMSTO of NGC 6819, an open cluster of an intermediate-age (∼2.5 Gyr), believed to be comparable to the lifetime of stars near the mass limit for magnetic braking. By comparing the observation with synthetic color–magnitude diagrams, we find that NGC 6819 does not harbor an obvious eMSTO. The morphology of its turnoff region can be readily explained by a simple stellar population considering the observational uncertainties as well as the differential reddening. In addition, the MSTO stars in NGC 6819 have very small values of average rotational velocity and dispersion, indicating that they have undergone significant magnetic braking. Combining with results in the literature for clusters of younger ages, our current work suggests that the critical age for the disappearance of eMSTO in star clusters must be shorter but very close to the age of NGC 6819, and this in turn implies a critical stellar mass for magnetic braking at solar metallicity above but close to 1.54 M ⊙ based on the PARSEC model. We emphasize that the phenomenon of eMSTO could provide an unique way to constrain the onset mass of magnetic braking.