On the Origin of the Split Main Sequences of the Young Massive Cluster NGC 1856

Abstract

The detection of split main sequences (MSs) associated with young clusters (≲600 Myr) has attracted a lot of attention. A prevailing scenario is that a bimodality of stellar rotation distribution drives the bifurcation of the MS. Nevertheless, the origin of the stellar rotation dichotomy remains unclear. Hypotheses involving tidally locked binaries or blue straggler stars (BSSs) have been proposed to explain the observed split MSs. This work examines if the long-term dynamical evolution of star clusters can produce the observed split MSs, through high-performance N-body simulation. For example, the young massive cluster NGC 1856 exhibits an apparent MS bifurcation. Our simulation reports that at the age of NGC 1856, tidally locked binaries are fully mixed with single stars. This is consistent with the observation that there is no significant spatial difference between blue MS and red MS stars. However, we find that only high-mass-ratio binaries can evolve to the tidally locked phase at the age of the NGC 1856. These tidally locked binaries will populate a much redder sequence than the MS of single stars rather than a blue MS, which is inconsistent with the hypothesis. The number of tidally locked binaries cannot account for the observation. Our simulation shows that BSSs produced by binary interactions do populate in the blue periphery as shown in a color–magnitude diagram, and their spatial distribution shows a similar pattern of single stars. However, the number of BSSs does not fit the observation.