J/MNRAS/417/L6 Catalogue of stellar cluster properties in M83 (Bastian+, 2011)
Evidence for environmentally dependent cluster disruption in M83.
Bastian N., Adamo A., Gieles M., Lamers H.J.G.L.M., Larsen S.S.,
Silva-Villa E., Smith L.J., Kotulla R., Konstantopoulos I.S., Trancho G.,
Zackrisson E.
<Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 417, L6 (2011)>
=2011MNRAS.417L...6B 2011MNRAS.417L...6B
ADC_Keywords: Galaxies, nearby ; Clusters, open ; Photometry, UBVRI ;
Photometry, H-alpha
Keywords: galaxies: individual: M83 - galaxies: star clusters: general
Abstract:
We study the stellar cluster population in two adjacent fields in the
nearby, face-on spiral galaxy, M83, using multi-wavelength WFC3/HST
imaging. After automatic detection procedures, the clusters are
selected through visual inspection to be centrally concentrated,
symmetric, and resolved on the images, which allows us to
differentiate between clusters and likely unbound associations. We
compare our sample with previous studies and show that the differences
between the catalogues are largely due to the inclusion of large
numbers of diffuse associations within previous catalogues as well as
the inclusion of the central starburst region, where the completeness
limit is significantly worse than in the surrounding regions. We
derive the size distribution of the clusters, which is well described
by a log-normal distribution with a peak at ∼2.5pc, and find evidence
for an expansion in the half-light radius of clusters with age. The
luminosity function of the clusters is well approximated by a
power-law with index, -2, over most of the observed range, however a
steepening is seen at M_V=-9.3 and -8.8 in the inner and outer fields,
respectively. Additionally, we show that the cluster population is
inconsistent with a pure power-law mass distribution, but instead
exhibits a truncation at the high mass end. If described as a
Schechter function, the characteristic mass is 1.6 and
0.5x105M☉, for the inner and outer fields, respectively, in
agreement with previous estimates of other cluster populations in
spiral galaxies. Comparing the predictions of the mass independent
disruption (MID) and mass dependent disruption (MDD) scenarios with
the observed distributions, we find that both models can accurately
fit the data. However, for the MID case, the fraction of clusters
destroyed (or mass lost) per decade in age is dependent on the
environment, hence, the age/mass distributions of clusters are not
universal. In the MDD case, the disruption timescale scales with
galactocentric distance (being longer in the outer regions of the
galaxy) in agreement with analytic and numerical predictions. Finally,
we discuss the implications of our results on other extragalactic
surveys, focussing on the fraction of stars that form in clusters and
the need (or lack thereof) for infant mortality.
Description:
Photometric and derived properties of stellar clusters in M83 derived
from two pointings with HST/WFC3. For each cluster, its position, age,
mass, extinction, size, and photometry is given. All objects that
passed our visual selection criteria are included. However, in the
published work, only a subsample of this catalogue was used. For
details, see Bastian et al. (2011MNRAS.417L...6B 2011MNRAS.417L...6B) and Bastian et al.
(2011, in press, 1109.6015)
Objects:
----------------------------------------------------------
RA (2000) DE Designation(s)
----------------------------------------------------------
13 37 00.9 -29 51 57 M83 = NGC 5236
----------------------------------------------------------
File Summary:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ReadMe 80 . This file
catalog.dat 108 939 Cluster positions, photometry, properties
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See also:
J/AJ/122/3046 : HST photometry of star clusters in NGC 5236 (Harris+, 2001)
J/ApJ/591/L111 : Period of Cepheids in M 83 (Bonanos+, 2003)
J/A+A/410/53 : M83 X-ray sources (Soria+, 2003)
J/A+A/439/265 : Wolf-Rayet population in M83 (Hadfield+, 2005)
J/A+A/489/533 : M83 volume densities of giant molecular clouds (Heiner+, 2008)
J/AJ/136/479 : IRAC observations of M83 extended UV disk (Dong+, 2008)
J/ApJ/695/580 : Oxygen abundance in M83 (Bresolin+, 2009)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: catalog.dat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 I1 --- F [1/2] WFC3 Field: 1=Inner, 2=Outer (1)
3- 5 I3 --- ID Cluster ID within the field
7- 12 F6.1 pix Xpos x-position of cluster in WFC3 FOV
14- 19 F6.1 pix Ypos y-position of cluster in WFC3 FOV
21- 25 F5.2 [yr] logAge Logarithm of the cluster age
27- 30 F4.2 [Msun] logM Logarithm of the cluster mass
32- 35 F4.2 mag AV V-band extinction
37- 41 F5.2 pc R(B) ?=99.99 Effective radius in the B-band
43- 47 F5.2 pc R(V) ?=99.99 Effective radius in the V-band
49- 53 F5.2 pc R(I) ?=99.99 Effective radius in the I-band
55- 59 F5.2 mag Umag U-band (F336W) corrected magnitude (2)
61- 64 F4.2 mag e_Umag U-band error
66- 70 F5.2 mag Bmag B-band (F438W) corrected magnitude (2)
72- 75 F4.2 mag e_Bmag B-band error
77- 81 F5.2 mag Vmag V-band (F555W) corrected magnitude (2)
83- 86 F4.2 mag e_Vmag V-band error
88- 92 F5.2 mag Hamag ?=99.99 Hα-band (F657N) magnitude (2)
94- 97 F4.2 mag e_Hamag ?=9.99 Hα-band error
99-103 F5.2 mag Imag I-band (F814W) corrected magnitude (2)
105-108 F4.2 mag e_Imag I-band error
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note (1): All objects that passed our visual selection criteria are included.
However, in the published work, only a subsample of this catalogue was used.
For details, see Bastian et al. (2011MNRAS.417L...6B 2011MNRAS.417L...6B) and Bastian et al.
(2011, in press, 1109.6015).
Note (2): The magnitudes have been corrected for Galactic extinction.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acknowledgements:
Nate Bastian, bastian(at)usm.lmu.de
(End) Patricia Vannier [CDS] 03-Nov-2011