Intermediate Clusters Research Articles

Stellar Population Astrophysics (SPA) with the TNG

Context. Exploring the Galactic chemical evolution and enrichment scenarios with open clusters (OCs) allows us to understand the history of the Milky Way disk. High-resolution spectra of OCs are a crucial tool, as they provide precise chemical information, to combine with precise distances and ages. Aims. The aim of the Stellar Population Astrophysics (SPA) project is to derive homogeneous and accurate comprehensive chemical characterization of a number of poorly studied OCs. Methods. Using the HARPS-N echelle spectrograph at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), we obtained high-resolution spectra of giant stars in 18 OCs, 16 of which are chemically characterized for the first time, and two of which are well studied for comparison. The OCs in this sample have ages from a few tens of Myr to 4 Gyr, with a prevalence of young clusters. We already presented the radial velocities and atmospheric parameters for them in a previous SPA paper. Here, we present results for the α-elements O, Mg, Si, Ca and Ti, and the light elements Na and Al, all determined by the equivalent width method. We also measured Li abundance through the synthesis method. Results. We discuss the behaviors of lithium, sodium and aluminum in the context of stellar evolution. For Na and Al, we compare our findings with models to investigate their behaviors as a function of mass, suggesting that Na mixing to the surface might start in masses as low as 2 M⊙. We study the radial, vertical, and age trends for the measured abundance ratios in a sample that combines our results and recent literature for OCs, finding significant (positive) gradients only for [Mg/Fe] and [Ca/Fe] in all cases. Finally, we compare O and Mg in the combined sample with chemo-dynamical models, finding a good agreement for intermediate-age and old clusters. There is a sharp increase in the abundance ratios measured among very young clusters (age < 300 Myr), accompanied by a poorer fit with the models for O and Mg, likely related to the inadequacy of traditional model atmospheres and methods in the derivation of atmospheric parameters and abundance ratios for stars of such young ages.

A Comprehensive Study of Five Intermediate-age Pismis (2, 3, 7, 12, 15) Clusters Using Photometric and Astrometric Data from Gaia EDR3

Open clusters are groups of stars that form simultaneously; hence, these are excellent probes to test theories of star formation, stellar evolution, and dynamics in the Milky Way disk. We carry out a detailed photometric and kinematic study of five poorly studied intermediate-age open clusters, Pismis 2 (Pi 2), Pismis 3 (Pi 3), Pismis 7 (Pi 7), Pismis 12 (Pi 12), and Pismis 15 (Pi 15), using the Gaia EDR3 database. By estimating the membership probabilities of stars, we recognized 635, 1488, 535, 368, and 494 most probable members for these clusters by using proper-motion and parallax data taken from Gaia EDR3. The radial density profiles of cluster members provide cluster radii of 4.′5–6.′5 for these clusters. Their ages range from 0.9 to 2.5 Gyr, and distances range, using parallax, from 2.15 to 5.10 kpc. The overall mass function slopes for main-sequence stars are found as 0.27 ± 0.16 (for 1.0–1.6 M ⊙ stars), 0.86 ± 0.27 (for 1.0–2.1 M ⊙ stars), 1.08 ± 0.32 (for 1.0–2.2 M ⊙ stars), 0.89 ± 0.38 (for 1.0–2.2 M ⊙ stars), and 1.07 ± 0.28 (for 1.0–2.1 M ⊙ stars) for clusters Pi 2, Pi 3, Pi 7, Pi 12, and Pi 15. Our obtained values of slopes are flatter in comparison with Salpeter’s value (x = 1.35) within uncertainty. The present study demonstrates that all these Pismis clusters are dynamically relaxed. We found that these objects follow a circular path around the Galactic center. We compute these clusters’ apex coordinates (A, D) and other kinematic parameters.

Metallicities and ages for star clusters and their surrounding fields in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Aims. We study 147 star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in order to determine their mean metallicities and ages, as well as the mean metallicities of 80 surrounding fields. We construct an age–metallicity relation (AMR) for the clusters in the LMC. Methods. For this purpose, we used Strömgren photometry obtained with the SOI camera on the 4.1 m SOAR telescope. We derived the metallicities of individual stars utilizing a metallicity calibration of the Strömgren (b − y) and m1 colors from the literature. Cluster ages were determined from the isochrone fitting. Results. We found the mean metallicity and age for 110 star clusters. For the remaining 37, we provide an age estimation only. To the best of our knowledge, for 29 clusters from our sample, we provide both the metallicity and age for the first time, whereas for 66 clusters, we provide a first determination of the metallicity, and for 43 clusters, the first estimation of the age. We also calculated the mean metallicities for stars from 80 fields around the clusters. The results were then analyzed for spatial metallicity and age distributions of clusters in the LMC, as well as their AMR. The old, metal-poor star clusters occur both in and out of the LMC bar region, while intermediate-age clusters are located mostly outside of the bar. The majority of star clusters younger than 1 Gyr are located in the bar region. We find a good agreement between our AMR and theoretical models of the LMC chemical enrichment, as well as with AMRs for clusters from the literature. Next, we took advantage of 26 stellar clusters from our sample which host Cepheid variables and used them as an independent check of the correctness of our age determination procedure. We used period-age relations for Cepheids to calculate the mean age of a given cluster and compared it with the age obtained from isochrone fitting. We find good agreement between these ages, especially for models taking into account additional physical processes (e.g., rotation). We also compared the AMR of the LMC and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) derived in a uniform way and we note that they indicate possible former interaction between these two galaxies. The Strömgren photometry obtained for this study has been made publicly available.

The Role of Binarity and Stellar Rotation in the Split Main Sequence of NGC 2422

In addition to the extended main-sequence turnoffs widely found in young and intermediate-age (∼600 Myr to 2 Gyr old) star clusters, some younger clusters even exhibit split main sequences (MSs). Different stellar rotation rates are proposed to account for the bifurcated MS pattern, with red and blue MSs (rMS and bMS) populated by fast and slowly rotating stars, respectively. Using photometry from Gaia Early Data Release 3, we report a Galactic open cluster with a bifurcated MS, NGC 2422 (∼90 Myr). We exclude the possibilities that the bifurcated MS pattern is caused by photometric noise or differential reddening. We aim to examine if stellar rotation can account for the split MS. We use spectra observed with the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope and the Southern African Large Telescope and directly measured , the projected rotational velocities, for stars populating the bMS and rMS. We find that their values are weakly correlated with their loci in the color–magnitude diagram because of contamination caused by a large fraction of rMS stars with low projected rotational velocities. Based on the spectral energy distribution fitting method, we suggest that these slowly rotating stars at the rMS may hide a binary companion, which breaks the expected –color correlation. Future time-domain studies focusing on whether these slowly rotating stars are radial velocity variables are crucial to test the roles of stellar rotation and binarity in generating the split MSs.

Clustering of cognitive phenotypes identifies susceptible and resilient offspring in a rat model of maternal immune activation and early-life stress

Schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental disorders often have very heterogeneous symptoms, especially regarding cognition: while some individuals may exhibit deficient cognition, others are relatively unaffected. Studies using developmental animal models often ignore phenotypic heterogeneity in favour of traditional treatment/control comparisons. This may result in resilient or unaffected individuals masking the effects of susceptible individuals if grouped together. Here, we used maternal immune activation and limited bedding and nesting, respectively, as a two-hit neurodevelopmental model for schizophrenia. Both factors reduced cognitive function in a novel object recognition (NOR) task. While we found treatment group effects on cognitive phenotypes, behavioural clustering identified three subpopulations exposed to either insult: those exhibiting ‘typical’ cognitive performance on the NOR, an intermediate phenotype, or a marked deficit. These clusters included offspring from each treatment group, although both intermediate and marked deficit clusters were composed primarily of offspring from treated groups. Clustering allowed stratification within treatment groups into ‘susceptible’ and ‘resilient’ individuals, while also identifying conserved phenotypes across treatment groups. Using unbiased cluster analyses in preclinical models can better characterize phenotypes and enables a better understanding of both face and construct validity of phenotypic heterogeneity. The use of unbiased clustering techniques may help identify potential markers associated with individual susceptibility and resilience in neurodevelopmental disorder models.

A Gaia based analysis of open cluster Berkeley 27

In this paper, we have used the Gaia’s Data Release-3 (DR3) data to study an intermediate-age open cluster Berkeley 27 (Be 27). A total of 131 most probable cluster members are picked within the cluster’s radius based on the membership probability (>80%). The cluster’s radius was estimated as 3.74 arcmin. The mean proper motion (PM) of Be 27 was determined to be (μαcosδ, μδ)= (−1.076±0.008, 0.152±0.007) mas yr−1. The blue straggler stars (BSS) of the cluster were found to be located in the central region. Theoretical isochrones of metallicity Zmetal = 0.008 were compared to the color-magnitude diagram (CMD) of Be 27. As a result, a heliocentric distance of 4.8 ± 0.2 kpc and log (age) = 9.36 ± 0.03 were determined for Be 27. The Galactic orbits are derived using the Galactic potential model which demonstrate that Be 27 follows a circular path around the Galactic center. The cluster does not seem to be affected much by the tidal forces from the Galactic thin disk.

Neural correlates of abnormal cognitive conflict resolution in major depression: An event-related potential study.

Abnormal cognitive conflict resolution has been considered as a critical element of executive dysfunctions inpatient with major depression (MD). Further clarifying whether there was a deficit at perceptual encoding stage or the early response-execution stage in conflict control function by event-related potential (ERP) technique in MD would be helpful in understanding the neural mechanism of MD. Participants included twenty-six depressed patients and twenty-six healthy controls (HCs). All participants measured with Hamilton Depression Scale (17-item edition, HAMD) and a Simon task. Electroencephalograms were synchronously recorded when performing the Simon task. The method of residue iteration decomposition was used to analyze the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) and P300 components, which contributed to divides ERP components into a stimulus-locked component (S-cluster), a response-locked component (R-cluster) and an intermediate component cluster (C-cluster) by using latency variability and time markers. Results showed that reactive times (RTs) for both groups were fastest in congruent trials, and slowest in incongruent trials; however, there is no difference in RTs under the three conditions between two groups. Accuracy Rate (ACC) for both groups were the highest in neutral trials, and the lowest in incongruent trials; ACC in MD group were all lower than that of HC group under three conditions. ERP data analyses showed that depressed patients had a deficit in activating the correct response, as reflected by reduced amplitudes of R-LRP, but no abnormality in LRP-S and P300-C. In conclusion, patients with MD present conflict control dysfunction (i.e., abnormal cognitive conflict resolution) at the early response-execution stage, not at perceptual encoding stage, which may be reflected by the reduced R-LRP amplitudes. The abnormal cognitive conflict resolution in activating the correct response might constitute an interesting treatment target.

UOCS –VIII. UV study of the open cluster NGC 2506 using ASTROSAT★

ABSTRACT We study an intermediate-age open cluster (OC) NGC 2506 using the ASTROSAT/UVIT data and other archival data. We identified 2175 cluster members using a machine learning-based algorithm, ML–MOC, on Gaia EDR3 data. Among the cluster members detected in UVIT filters, F148W, F154W, and F169M, we detect nine blue straggler stars (BSS), three yellow straggler stars (YSS), and three red clump (RC) stars. We construct multiwavelength spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these objects to characterize them and to estimate their parameters. We discovered hot companions to three BSS, two YSS, and three RC candidates and estimated their properties. The hot companions with estimated temperatures, Teff ∼ 13250–31 000 K, are WDs of extremely low mass (ELM, ∼ 0.20 M⊙), low mass (LM, ∼ 0.20–0.40 M⊙), normal mass (∼ 0.40–0.60 M⊙), and high mass (∼ 0.8 M⊙). We suggest that systems with ELM and LM WDs as companions are formed via Case-A/Case-B mass transfer mechanism. A BSS is the likely progenitor of the high-mass WD, as a star with more than the turn-off mass of the cluster is needed to form a high-mass WD. Thus, systems with a high-mass WD are likely to be formed through merger in triple systems. We conclude that mass transfer as well as merger pathways of BSS formation are present in this cluster.

Production of human entorhinal stellate cell-like cells by forward programming shows an important role of Foxp1 in reprogramming.

Stellate cells are principal neurons in the entorhinal cortex that contribute to spatial processing. They also play a role in the context of Alzheimer’s disease as they accumulate Amyloid beta early in the disease. Producing human stellate cells from pluripotent stem cells would allow researchers to study early mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease, however, no protocols currently exist for producing such cells. In order to develop novel stem cell protocols, we characterize at high resolution the development of the porcine medial entorhinal cortex by tracing neuronal and glial subtypes from mid-gestation to the adult brain to identify the transcriptomic profile of progenitor and adult stellate cells. Importantly, we could confirm the robustness of our data by extracting developmental factors from the identified intermediate stellate cell cluster and implemented these factors to generate putative intermediate stellate cells from human induced pluripotent stem cells. Six transcription factors identified from the stellate cell cluster including RUNX1T1, SOX5, FOXP1, MEF2C, TCF4, EYA2 were overexpressed using a forward programming approach to produce neurons expressing a unique combination of RELN, SATB2, LEF1 and BCL11B observed in stellate cells. Further analyses of the individual transcription factors led to the discovery that FOXP1 is critical in the reprogramming process and omission of RUNX1T1 and EYA2 enhances neuron conversion. Our findings contribute not only to the profiling of cell types within the developing and adult brain’s medial entorhinal cortex but also provides proof-of-concept for using scRNAseq data to produce entorhinal intermediate stellate cells from human pluripotent stem cells in-vitro.

Rotational Variation Allows for Narrow Age Spread in the Extended Main-sequence Turnoff of Massive Cluster NGC 1846

The color–magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of intermediate-age star clusters (≲2 Gyr) are much more complex than those predicted by coeval, nonrotating stellar evolution models. Their observed extended main-sequence turnoffs (eMSTOs) could result from variations in stellar age, stellar rotation, or both. The physical interpretation of eMSTOs is largely based on the complex mapping between stellar models—themselves functions of mass, rotation, orientation, and binarity—and the CMD. In this paper, we compute continuous probability densities in three-dimensional color, magnitude, and space for individual stars in a cluster’s eMSTO, based on a rotating stellar evolution model. These densities enable the rigorous inference of cluster properties from a stellar model, or, alternatively, constraints on the stellar model from the cluster’s CMD. We use the MIST stellar evolution models to jointly infer the age dispersion, the rotational distribution, and the binary fraction of the Large Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC 1846. We derive an age dispersion of ∼70–80 Myr, approximately half the earlier estimates due to nonrotating models. This finding agrees with the conjecture that rotational variation is largely responsible for eMSTOs. However, MIST models do not provide a satisfactory fit to all stars in the cluster and achieve their best agreement at an unrealistically high binary fraction. The lack of agreement near the main-sequence turnoff suggests specific physical changes to the stellar evolution models, including a lower mass for the Kraft break and potentially enhanced main-sequence lifespans for rapidly rotating stars.

Inside Cover: Anion‐Guided Stepwise Assembly of High‐Nuclearity Lanthanide Hydroxide Clusters (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 33/2022)

The rational synthesis of high-nuclearity lanthanide cluster remains challenging. In their Research Article (DOI: 10.1002/anie.202205385), Min Feng, Zhiping Zheng et al. developed a stepwise synthesis of a high-nuclearity sodalite cage-like cluster Er60, guided by judiciously selected anions. The successive introduction of I−, CO32−, and NO3− led to the isolation of three crucial intermediate clusters, namely the wheel-like Er12, ship-like Er34, and bowl-like Er48. The findings opened the “black box” of the elusive self-assembly process and provided mechanistic insights.

Evidence of globular cluster abundance anomalies in the SMC intermediate-age cluster Kron 3

ABSTRACT Using spectra obtained with the VLT/FORS2 and Gemini-S/GMOS-S instruments, we have investigated carbon, nitrogen, and sodium abundances in a sample of red giant members of the Small Magellanic Cloud star cluster Kron 3. The metallicity and luminosity of the cluster are comparable to those of Galactic globular clusters but it is notably younger (age ≈ 6.5 Gyr). We have measured the strengths of the CN and CH molecular bands, finding a bimodal CN band-strength distribution and a CH/CN anticorrelation. Application of spectrum synthesis techniques reveals that the difference in the mean [N/Fe] and [C/Fe] values for the CN-strong and CN-weak stars are Δ <[N/Fe]> = 0.63 ± 0.16 dex and Δ <[C/Fe]> = −0.01 ± 0.07 dex after applying corrections for evolutionary mixing. We have also measured sodium abundances from the Na D lines finding an observed range in [Na/Fe] of ∼0.6 dex that correlates positively with the [N/Fe] values and a Δ <[Na/Fe]> = 0.12 ± 0.12 dex. While the statistical significance of the sodium abundance difference is not high, the observed correlation between the Na and N abundances supports its existence. The outcome represents the first star-by-star demonstration of correlated abundance variations involving sodium in an intermediate-age star cluster. The results add to existing photometric and spectroscopic indications of the presence of multiple populations in intermediate-age clusters with masses in excess of ∼105 M⊙. It confirms that the mechanism(s) responsible for the multiple populations in ancient globular clusters cannot solely be an early cosmological effect applying only in old clusters.

Clustering of cognitive subtypes in schizophrenia patients and their siblings: relationship with regional brain volumes

Schizophrenia patients (SZH) often show impaired cognition and reduced brain structural volumes; these deficits are also detectable in healthy relatives of SZH. However, there is considerable heterogeneity: a sizable percentage of SZH are relatively cognitively intact; clustering strategies have proved useful for categorising into cognitive subgroups. We used a clustering strategy to investigate relationships between subgroup assignment and brain volumes, in 102 SZH (N = 102) and 32 siblings of SZH (SZH-SIB), alongside 92 controls (CON) and 48 of their siblings. SZH had poorer performance in all cognitive domains, and smaller brain volumes within prefrontal and temporal regions compared to controls. We identified three distinct cognitive clusters (‘neuropsychologically normal’, ‘intermediate’, ‘cognitively impaired’) based on age- and gender-adjusted cognitive domain scores. The majority of SZH (60.8%) were assigned to the cognitively impaired cluster, while the majority of SZH-SIB (65.6%) were placed in the intermediate cluster. Greater right middle temporal volume distinguished the normal cluster from the more impaired clusters. Importantly, the observed brain volume differences between SZH and controls disappeared after adjustment for cluster assignment. This suggests an intimate link between cognitive performance levels and regional brain volume differences in SZH. This highlights the importance of accounting for heterogeneity in cognitive performance within SZH populations when attempting to characterise the brain structural abnormalities associated with the disease.

Glucose variability is associated with an adverse vascular profile but only in the presence of insulin resistance in individuals with type 1 diabetes: An observational study.

Aims/HypothesisWe hypothesised that the detrimental effect of high glucose variability (GV) in people with type 1 diabetes is mainly evident in those with concomitant insulin resistance.MethodsWe conducted secondary analyses on continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) using baseline observational data from three randomised controlled trials and assessed the relationship with established vascular markers. We used standard CGM summary statistics and principal component analysis to generate individual glucose variability signatures for each participant. Cluster analysis was then employed to establish three GV clusters (low, intermediate, or high GV, respectively). The relationship with thrombotic biomarkers was then investigated according to insulin resistance, assessed as estimated glucose disposal rate (eGDR).ResultsOf 107 patients, 45%, 37%, and 18% of patients were assigned into low, intermediate, and high GV clusters, respectively. Thrombosis biomarkers (including fibrinogen, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, tissue factor activity, and tumour necrosis factor-alpha) increased in a stepwise fashion across all three GV clusters; this increase in thrombosis markers was evident in the presence of low but not high eGDR and at a threshold of eGDR <5.1 mg/kg/min.ConclusionHigher GV is associated with increased thrombotic biomarkers in type 1 diabetes but only in those with concomitant insulin resistance.

Structural Isomerization in Cu(I) Clusters: Tracing the Cu Thermal Migration Paths and Unveiling the Structure-Dependent Photoluminescence

Structural Isomerization in Cu(I) Clusters: Tracing the Cu Thermal Migration Paths and Unveiling the Structure-Dependent Photoluminescence

Counterintuitive Lanthanide Hydrolysis-Induced Assembly Mechanism.

The understanding of the hydrolysis mechanism of lanthanide ions is limited by their elusive coordination configuration and undeveloped technology. A potential solution by high-resolution mass spectroscopy studies is hindered by the lack of a stable model under electrospray ionization (ESI) conditions and the complexity of the spectra. Herein, it is demonstrated that diketonate ligands can efficiently stabilize the hydrolyzed intermediate cluster of Ln3+ under ESI conditions, and an effective mass difference fingerprint of isomorphism (MDFI) method is proposed, which can allow the determination of the nuclearity-number of the species without depth resolution. Thus, the hydrolysis of Ln3+ into an atomically precise hydroxide cluster is observed at the level of precise formulae. The species evolution upon hydrolysis is along the dominant path of {Eu3}-{Eu4}-{Eu9}-{Eu10}-{Eu11}-{Eu15}-{Eu16} and a nondominant path of {Eu3}-{Eu4}-{Eu8-1}-{Eu8-2} under the investigated conditions. The crystal of the {Eu16} species was obtained via low-temperature crystallization, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies show that its structure contains three octahedral {o-Ln6} units. The contradiction between multiple {o-Ln6} units in the structure and the absence in the formation process indicates that the repetitive subunit observed in the structure does not necessarily correspond to the construction units of high-nuclearity clusters. Photophysical measurements indicate that Eu16 cluster has a high total emission quantum efficacy of 12.8% in the solid state. This study provides fundamental insights into the formation, evolution, and assembly of small lanthanide hydroxide units upon hydrolysis, which is vital for the goal of directional synthesis of lanthanide hydroxide clusters.

High-Throughput Nanoindentation Mapping of Additively Manufactured T91 Steel

This work aims to adapt nanoindentation mapping combined with a k-means algorithm as a high-throughput technique to study the nano-scale spatial changes in mechanical properties for a heterogeneous material. This technique can also classify the individual data points based on their properties. Hundreds to thousands of indents were performed on additively manufactured T91 at room temperature, 300°C, 400°C, and 500°C across a square area with a side length of 120 μm to 400 μm. From this data, the hardness and reduced modulus at each point could be calculated and mapped. Using k-means clustering, we were able to arrange the data into three or four clusters corresponding roughly to the ferritic and martensitic phases as well as one or two intermediate clusters sampling both the phases. The hardness of these two phases appears to be quite stable as a function of temperature. Nanoindentation mapping and the k-means algorithm can therefore be used to rapidly assess the feasibility of heterogeneous materials under extreme conditions, such as nuclear reactor steels.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: Target selection of open cluster stars

Context. The Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) is a public, high-resolution spectroscopic survey, conducted with the multi-object spectrograph Fibre Large Array Multi Element Spectrograph (FLAMES) on the Very Large Telescope (European Southern Observatory, ESO, Cerro Paranal, Chile) from December 2011 to January 2018. Gaia-ESO has targeted all the main stellar components of the Milky Way, including thin and thick disc, bulge, and halo. In particular, a large sample of open clusters has been observed, from very young ones, just out of the embedded phase, to very old ones. Aims. The different kinds of clusters and stars targeted in them are useful to reach the main science goals of the open cluster part of GES, which are the study of the open cluster structure and dynamics, the use of open clusters to constrain and improve stellar evolution models, and the definition of Galactic disc properties (e.g., metallicity distribution). Methods. The Gaia-ESO Survey is organised in 19 working groups (WGs), each one being responsible for a task. We describe here the work of three of them, one in charge of the selection of the targets within each cluster or association (WG4), one responsible for defining the most probable candidate member stars (WG1), and another one in charge of the preparation of the observations (WG6). As the entire GES has been conducted before the second Gaia data release, we could not make use of the Gaia astrometry to define cluster member candidates. We made use of public and private photometry to select the stars to be observed with FLAMES, once brought on a common astrometric system (the one defined by 2MASS). Candidate target selection was based on ground-based proper motions, radial velocities, and X-ray properties when appropriate, for example, and it was mostly used to define the position of the clusters’ evolutionary sequences in the colour-magnitude diagrams. Targets for GIRAFFE were then selected near the sequences in an unbiased way. We used known information on membership, when available, only for the few stars to be observed with UVES. Results. We collected spectra for 62 confirmed clusters in the main observing campaign (and a few more clusters were taken from the ESO archive). Among them are very young clusters, where the main targets are pre-main sequence stars, clusters with very hot and massive stars currently on the main sequence, intermediate-age and old clusters where evolved stars are the main targets. Our strategy of making the selection of targets as inclusive and unbiased as possible and of observing a significant and representative fraction of all possible targets permitted us to collect the largest, most accurate, and most homogeneous spectroscopic data set on open star clusters ever achieved.

Evaluating Helium Variations By Modeling Red Giant Branch Bump of Large Magellanic Cluster NGC 1978

Many evidences show that the Multiple Population (MP) features exist not only in old clusters but also in intermediate-age clusters in the Megallanic Clouds (MCs), which are characterized by star-to-star abundance scatter of several elements, including helium (He). The red giant branch bump (RGBB)'s photometric properties are proved to be related to the variation in helium abundances of the member stars in star clusters. We use the “Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics” (MESA) stellar evolution code to calculate the evolution sequences of stars along the red giant branch (RGB) with changing helium content. Following the RGB sequences, we then generate a luminosity function of the RGB stars within the grid of input helium abundances, which are compared with the observational data of an intermediate-age MC cluster NGC 1978.

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

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.