Be Stars in Open Stellar Clusters

Abstract

The current status of the problem of anomalous increases in the relative number of Be stars in young open stellar clusters is summarized in this article. The relative content of Be stars is shown to increase with the age of the clusters and reaches a maximum for stars in spectral classes B0-B3 when the age of the clusters is 12-20 Myr. In some clusters that are rich in B stars, the relative content exceeds 40%. It is shown that in young clusters with ages less than 9 Myr, Be stars are very rare or not observed at all. Models of the evolution of rotating massive stars indicates that the Be phenomenon may occur toward the end of the lifetime of B stars in the main sequence because of an increase in the ratio of the rotation velocity of a star to the critical velocity, but this cannot explain the presence of more than 40% Be stars in some young open stellar clusters. In this review, considerable attention is devoted to massive binary systems in different stages of the evolution of the binary system. The transfer of angular momentum during exchanges of mass in systems with different periods is a noteworthy alternative to the evolution of angular momentum in single stars. Some examples are shown of binary systems of different types which are or may be encountered in open stellar clusters.