We present Spitzer/IRAC and MIPS 24mu archival observations for 28 brown dwarfs in the Upper Scorpius (UppSco) region. We find a disk fraction of 10.7%^(+8.7%)_(-3.3%). One object shows a small excess at 24mu but none at shorter wavelengths, and may be a candidate transition disk. Three objects show emission in the 10mu silicate feature and we present compositional fits for these sources. Flat structures are observed for all disk sources in UppSco. Also presented are the MIPS/70mu observations for the TW Hydrae Association brown dwarf 2MASS J1139511-315921. We discuss the structure and chemistry of brown dwarf disks at ages of ~5-10 Myr, and consider the possible effects of the brown dwarf densities in these clusters on the disk lifetimes.
We have derived ages for 13 young (<30 Myr) star-forming regions and find they are up to a factor two older than the ages typically adopted in the literature. This result has wide-ranging implications, including that circumstellar discs survive longer (~10-12 Myr) and that the average Class I lifetime is greater (~1 Myr) than currently believed. For each star-forming region we derived two ages from colour-magnitude diagrams. First we fitted models of the evolution between the zero-age main-sequence and terminal-age main-sequence to derive a homogeneous set of main-sequence ages, distances and …
Main sequence turnoff ages in young open clusters are complicated by turnoffs that are sparse, have high binarity fractions, can be affected by differential reddening, and typically include a number of peculiar stars. Furthermore, stellar rotation can have a significant effect on a star's photometry and evolutionary timescale. In this paper we analyze in 12 nearby open clusters, ranging from ages of 50 Myr to 350 Myr, how broadband UBV color-color relations can be used to identify turnoff stars that are Be stars, blue stragglers, certain types of binaries, or those affected by differential red…
We report on the discovery of the young, nearby, brown dwarf 2MASS J0041353$-$562112. The object has a spectral type of M7.5, it shows Li absorption and signatures of accretion, which implies that it still has a disk and suggests an age below 10 Myr. The space motion vector and position on the sky indicate that the brown dwarf is probably a member of the $\sim$20 Myr old Tuc-Hor association, or that it may be an ejected member of the $\sim$12 Myr old $β$ Pic association, both would imply that 2MASS J0041353$-$562112 may in fact be older than 10 Myr. No accreting star or brown dwarf was previou…
Determining the sequence of events in the formation of stars and planetary systems and their time-scales is essential for understanding those processes, yet establishing ages is fundamentally difficult because we lack direct indicators. In this review we discuss the age challenge for young stars, specifically those less than ~100 Myr old. Most age determination methods that we discuss are primarily applicable to groups of stars but can be used to estimate the age of individual objects. A reliable age scale is established above 20 Myr from measurement of the Lithium Depletion Boundary (LDB) in …
We present a new, BVIc photometric survey of the young open cluster IC4665, which improves on previous studies of this young cluster by incorporating a rigorous standardization procedure, thus providing high-fidelity colors and magnitudes for cluster members. We use this new photometric dataset to reevaluate the properties (age and distance) of IC4665. Namely, using a statistical approach incorporating Tau^2 CMD modeling, we measure a pre-main-sequence isochrone age and distance of 36+-9 Myr and 360+-12 pc, as well as a upper-main-sequence turn-off age and distance of 42+-12 Myr and 357+-12 pc…
The wide luminosity dispersion seen for stars at a given effective temperature in the H-R diagrams of young clusters and star forming regions is often interpreted as due to significant (~10 Myr) spreads in stellar contraction age. In the scenario where most stars are born with circumstellar discs, and that disc signatures decay monotonically (on average) over timescales of only a few Myr, then any such age spread should lead to clear differences in the age distributions of stars with and without discs. We have investigated large samples of stars in the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) using three me…
We present spectral observations of 130 young stellar objects (YSOs) in the Serpens Cloud Core and NGC 1333 embedded clusters. The observations consist of near-IR spectra in the H and K-bands, from SpeX on the IRTF and far-red spectra (6000 - 9000 A) from Hectospec on the MMT. These YSOs were identified in previous Spitzer and Chandra observations, and the evolutionary classes of the YSOs were determined from the Spitzer mid-IR photometry. With these spectra, we search for corroborating evidence for the pre-main sequence nature of the objects, study the properties of the detected emission line…
Aims. We present a new technique to estimate the relative ages of multiple stellar populations hosted by five globular clusters: NGC 104 (47 Tuc), NGC 6121 (M4), NGC 6352, NGC 6362 and NGC 6723. Methods. We used the catalogs of the database "HST UV Globular cluster Survey (HUGS)" to create color-magnitude and two-color diagrams of the Globular Clusters. We identified the multiple populations within each globular cluster, and we divided them into two main stellar populations: POPa or first generation (1G) and POPb, composed of all the successive generations of stars. The new technique allows us…
Older Ages for 23 Pre-Main Sequence Stars in Upper Scorpius Using Dynamical Mass-Constrained Stellar Evolutionary Models
University of Arizona（亚利桑那大学）；National Radio Astronomy Observatory（国家射电天文台）；California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）；National Taiwan Normal University（台湾师范大学）
Measurement of the substellar initial mass function (IMF) in very young clusters is hampered by the possibility of the age spread of cluster members. This is particularly serious for candidate planetary mass objects (PMOs), which have a very similar location to older and more massive brown dwarfs on the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (HRD). This degeneracy can be lifted by the measurement of gravity-sensitive spectral features. To this end we have obtained medium resolution (R~5000) Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrometer (NIFS) K band spectra of a sample of late M- / early L-type dwarfs. The s…
We present a self-consistent, absolute isochronal age scale for young (< 200 Myr), nearby (< 100 pc) moving groups in the solar neighbourhood based on homogeneous fitting of semi-empirical pre-main-sequence model isochrones using the tau^2 maximum-likelihood fitting statistic of Naylor & Jeffries in the M_V, V-J colour-magnitude diagram. The final adopted ages for the groups are: 149+51-19 Myr for the AB Dor moving group, 24+/-3 Myr for the β Pic moving group (BPMG), 45+11-7 Myr for the Carina association, 42+6-4 Myr for the Columba association, 11+/-3 Myr for the η Cha cluster, 45+/-4 Myr for…
Juvenile ultracool dwarfs are late spectral type objects (later than ~M6) with ages between 10 Myr and several 100 Myr. Their age-related properties lie intermediate between very low mass objects in nearby star-forming regions (ages 1-5 Myr) and field stars and brown dwarfs that are members of the disk population (ages 1-5 Gyr). Kinematic associations of nearby young stars with ages from ~10-100 Myr provide sources for juvenile ultracool dwarfs. The lowest mass confirmed members of these groups are late-M dwarfs. Several apparently young L dwarfs and a few T dwarfs are known, but they have not…
We present results from a Herschel PACS survey of 8 brown dwarfs in the IC 2391 cluster. Our aim was to determine the brown dwarf disk fraction at ages of ~40-50 Myr. None of the 8 brown dwarfs observed were detected in the PACS 70 or 160mu bands. We have determined the detection limits of our survey using the 1-sigma flux upper limits in the PACS far-infrared and the WISE mid-infrared bands. The sensitivity of our observations would only allow for the detection of debris disks with exceptionally large fractional luminosities (>1%). Considering that only the most extreme and rare debris disks …
We present a census of the disk population for UKIDSS selected brown dwarfs in the 5-10 Myr old Upper Scorpius OB association. For 116 objects originally identified in UKIDSS, the majority of them not studied in previous publications, we obtain photometry from the WISE database. The resulting colour-magnitude and colour-colour plots clearly show two separate populations of objects, interpreted as brown dwarfs with disks (class II) and without disks (class III). We identify 27 class II brown dwarfs, 14 of them not previously known. This disk fraction (27 out of 116 or 23%) among brown dwarfs wa…
We present the results of a long term orbit monitoring program, using sparse aperture masking observations taken with NIRC2 on the Keck-II telescope, of seven G to M-type members of the Upper Scorpius subgroup of the Sco-Cen OB association. We present astrometry and derived orbital elements of the binary systems we have monitored, and also determine the age, component masses, distance and reddening for each system using the orbital solutions and multi-band photometry, including Hubble Space Telescope photometry, and a Bayesian fitting procedure. We find that the models can be forced into agree…
By definition, brown dwarfs never reach the main-sequence, cooling and dimming over their entire lifetime, thus making substellar models challenging to test because of the strong dependence on age. Currently, most brown dwarfs with independently determined ages are companions to nearby stars, so stellar ages are at the heart of the effort to test substellar models. However, these models are only fully constrained if both the mass and age are known. We have used the Keck adaptive optics system to monitor the orbit of HD 130948BC, a brown dwarf binary that is a companion to the young solar analo…
Evidence of a supernova event, discussed in Wallner et al., was discovered in the deep-sea crusts with two signals dating back to 2-3 and 7-9 Myr ago. In this contribution, we place constraints on the birth-site of the supernova progenitors from the ejecta timeline, the initial mass function, and the ages of nearby stellar groups. We investigated the Scorpius-Centaurus OB Association, the nearest site of recent massive star formation, and the moving group Tucana-Horologium. Using the known stellar mass of the remaining massive stars within these subgroups and factoring in travel time for the e…
Upper Scorpius is a subgroup of the nearest OB association, Scorpius--Centaurus. Its young age makes it an important association to study star and planet formation. We present parallaxes to 52 low mass stars in Upper Scorpius, 28 of which have full kinematics. We measure ages of the individual stars by combining our measured parallaxes with pre-main sequence evolutionary tracks. We find there is a significant difference in the ages of stars with and without circumstellar disks. The stars without disks have a mean age of 4.9+/-0.8 Myr and those with disks have an older mean age of 8.2+/-0.9 Myr…
In this work we examine M dwarf rotation rates at a range of ages to establish benchmarks for Mdwarf gyrochronology. This work includes a sample of 713 spectroscopically-classified M0-M8 dwarfs with new rotation rates measured from K2 light curves. We analyzed data and recover rotation rates for 179 of these objects. We add these to rotation rates for members of clusters with known ages (5-700 Myr), as well as objects assumed to have field ages ($>$1 Gyr). We use Gaia DR2 parallax and (G-GRP) photometry to create color-magnitude diagrams to compare objects across samples. We use color-period p…
Planets around young stars trace the early evolution of planetary systems. We report the discovery and validation of two planetary systems with ages $\lesssim 300$ Myr from observations by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. TOI-251 is a 40-320 Myr old G star hosting a 2.74 +0.18/-0.18 REarth mini-Neptune with a 4.94 day period. TOI-942 is a 20-160 Myr old K star hosting a system of inflated Neptune-sized planets, with TOI-942b orbiting with a period of 4.32 days, with a radius of 4.81 +0.20/-0.20 REarth, and TOI-942c orbiting in a period of 10.16 days with a radius of 5.79 +0.19/-0.18 …
The pre-main-sequence evolution of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs is studied numerically starting from the formation of a protostellar/proto-brown dwarf seed and taking into account the mass accretion onto the central object during the initial several Myr of evolution. The stellar evolution was computed using the STELLAR evolution code developed by Yorke & Bodenheimer with recent modifications by Hosokawa et al. The mass accretion rates were taken from numerical hydrodynamics models of Vorobyov & Basu computing the circumstellar disk evolution starting from the gravitational collapse of pre-s…
We characterize the impact of several sources of systematic errors on the computation of the traceback age of the $β$ Pictoris Moving Group ($β$PMG). We find that uncorrected gravitational redshift and convective blueshift bias absolute radial velocity measurements by $\sim$ 0.6 kms${}^{-1}$, which leads to erroneously younger traceback ages by $\sim$ 2 Myr. Random errors on parallax, proper motion, and radial velocity measurements lead to an additional bias of $\sim$ 1.5 Myr on traceback ages. Contamination of astrometric and kinematic data by kinematic outliers and unresolved multiple system…
We searched for binary companions to 20 young brown dwarfs in the Upper Scorpius association (145 pc, 5 Myr, nearest OB association) with the the Laser Guide Star adaptive optics system and the facility infrared camera NIRC2 on the 10 m Keck II telescope. We discovered a 0.14" companion (20.9+-0.4 AU) to the <0.1 MSun object SCH J16091837-20073523. From spectral deconvolution of integrated-light near-IR spectroscopy of SCH1609 using the SpeX spectrograph (Rayner et al. 2003), we estimate primary and secondary spectral types of M6+-0.5 and M7+-1.0, corresponding to masses of 79+-17 MJup and 55+…
We discuss accretion and outflow properties of three very low-mass young stellar objects based on broad-band mid-resolution X-Shooter/VLT spectra. Our targets (FU TauA, 2M 1207-39, and Par-Lup3-4) have spectral types between M5 and M8, ages between 1 Myr and ~10 Myr, and are known to be accreting from previous studies. The final objective of our project is the determination of mass outflow to accretion rate for objects near or within the substellar regime as a probe for the T Tauri phase of brown dwarfs and the investigation of variability in the accretion and outflow processes.
Globular clusters are the oldest conglomerates of stars in our Galaxy and can be useful laboratories to test theories from stellar evolution to cosmology. In this paper, we present a new method to estimate the absolute age of a globular cluster from observations of its brown dwarfs. The transition region between the end of the main sequence and the brown dwarf regime is characterized by a dearth of objects as function of magnitude. The brightest of the cooling brown dwarfs is easily identified by an increase in density in the color-magnitude diagram as you go fainter in magnitudes, and these b…
We report the discovery of the Oceanus moving group, a $\approx$ 500 Myr-old group with 50 members and candidate members at distances 2-50 pc from the Sun using an unsupervised clustering analysis of nearby stars with Gaia DR3 data. This new moving group includes the nearest brown dwarf WISE J104915.57-531906.1 AB (Luhman 16 AB) at a distance of 2 pc, which was previously suspected to be young (600-800 Myr) based on a comparison of its dynamical mass measurements with brown dwarf evolutionary models. We use empirical color-magnitude sequences, stellar activity and gyrochronology to determine t…
We have analyzed a sample of 74 magnetically active stars toward the Taurus-Auriga star-forming region. Based on accurate data on their basic physical parameters obtained from original photometric observations and published data on their proper motions, X-ray luminosities, and equivalent widths of the $\rm Hα$ and Li lines, we have refined the evolutionary status of these objects. We show that 50 objects are young stars with ages of 1-40 Myr and belong to the Taurus-Auriga star-forming region. Other 20 objects have a controversial evolutionary status and can belong to both Taurus-Auriga star-f…
We present evolutionary models for young low mass stars and brown dwarfs taking into account episodic phases of accretion at early stages of the evolution, a scenario supported by recent large surveys of embedded protostars. An evolution including short episodes of vigorous accretion ($\mdot \ge 10^{-4} \msolyr$) followed by longer quiescent phases ($\mdot < 10^{-6} \msolyr$) can explain the observed luminosity spread in HR diagrams of star forming regions at ages of a few Myr, for objects ranging from a few Jupiter masses to a few tenths of a solar mass. The gravitational contraction of these…
We test state-of-the-art model atmospheres for young very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the infrared, by comparing the predicted synthetic photometry over 1.2-24 μm to the observed photometry of M-type spectral templates in star-forming regions. We find that (1) in both early and late young M types, the model atmospheres imply effective temperatures (Teff) several hundred Kelvin lower than predicted by the standard Pre-Main Sequence spectral type-Teff conversion scale (based on theoretical evolutionary models). It is only in the mid-M types that the two temperature estimates agree. (2) Th…
When determining absolute ages of identifiably young stellar populations, results strongly depend on which stars are studied. Cooler (K, M) stars typically yield ages that are systematically younger than warmer (A, F, G) stars by a factor of two. I explore the possibility that these age discrepancies are the result of magnetic inhibition of convection in cool young stars by using magnetic stellar evolution isochrones to determine the age of the Upper Scorpius subgroup of the Scorpius-Centaurus OB Association. A median age of 10 Myr consistent across spectral types A through M is found, except …
We present the results of a search for new circumstellar disks around low-mass stars and brown dwarfs with spectral types >K5 that are confirmed or candidate members of nearby young moving groups. Our search input sample was drawn from the BANYAN surveys of Malo et al. and Gagné et al. Two-Micron All-Sky Survey and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer data were used to detect near- to mid-infrared excesses that would reveal the presence of circumstellar disks. A total of 13 targets with convincing excesses were identified: four are new and nine were already known in the literature. The new cand…
The Galex Nearby Young Star Survey (GALNYSS) has yielded a sample of $\sim$2000 UV-selected objects that are candidate nearby ($D \stackrel{<}{\sim}$150 pc), young (age $\sim$10--100 Myr), late-type stars. Here, we evaluate the distances and ages of the subsample of (19) GALNYSS stars with Gaia Data Release 1 (DR1) parallax distances $D \le 120$ pc. The overall youth of these 19 mid-K to early-M stars is readily apparent from their positions relative to the loci of main sequence stars and giants in Gaia-based color-magnitude and color-color diagrams constructed for all Galex- and WISE-detected…
In near-infrared NaCo observations of the young brown dwarf 2MASS J0041353-562112, we discovered a companion a little less than a magnitude fainter than the primary. The binary candidate has a separation of 143 mas, the spectral types are M6.5 and M9.0 for the two components. Colors and flux ratios are consistent with the components being located at the same distance minimizing the probability of the secondary being a background object. The brown dwarf is known to show Li absorption constraining the age to less than ~200 Myr, and it was suspected to show ongoing accretion, indicating an age as…
Studying the accretion process in very low-mass objects has important implications for understanding their formation mechanism. Many nearby late-M dwarfs that have previously been identified in the field are in fact young brown dwarf members of nearby young associations. Some of them are still accreting. They are therefore excellent targets for further studies of the accretion process in the very low-mass regime at different stages. We aim to search for accreting young brown dwarf candidates in a sample of 85 nearby late-M dwarfs. Using photometric data from DENIS, 2MASS, and WISE, we construc…
We present the results of investigation of five stars, originally classified as dwarfs, belonging to Cyg OB2 association, their stellar and wind properties. Using both TLUSTY and CMFGEN codes we derived effective temperatures, surface gravities, chemical abundances, mass-loss rates and projected rotation velocities. Due to the fact that distance to the stars is well known, we were able to estimate their luminosities. Using evolutionary models we estimated the ages of these sample stars and find that lower mass ones - MT282 and MT343 - belong to older population of the association. Their ages a…
A luminosity spread at a given effective temperature is ubiquitously seen in the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagrams of young star forming regions and often interpreted in terms of a prolonged period (>=10 Myr) of star formation. I review the evidence that the observed luminosity spreads are genuine and not caused by astrophysical sources of scatter. I then address whether the luminosity spreads necessarily imply large age spreads, by comparing HR diagram ages with ages from independent clocks such as stellar rotation rate, the presence of circumstellar material and lithium depletion. I argue th…
In the past years, some extremely red brown dwarfs were found. They were believed to have low surface gravity, but many of their spectral characteristics were similar to those of high surface gravity brown dwarfs, showing that youth (or low surface gravity) spectral characteristics are poorly understood. We aim to test surface gravity indicators in late-M and early-L brown dwarf spectra using data obtained with the X-shooter spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope. We selected a benchmark sample of brown dwarfs members of Chamaeleon\,I ($\sim$2 Myr), Upper Scorpius (5$-$10~Myr), Pleiades (132…
We have investigated the brown dwarf (BD) and stellar disc fractions in the Upper Scorpius OB Association (USco) and compared them with several other young regions. We have compiled the most complete sample of of all spectroscopically confirmed BDs in USco, and have made use of the WISE catalog to identify the disc candidates. We report on the discovery of 12 new BD discs in USco, with spectral type (SpT) between M6 and M8.5. The WISE colors for the new discs are similar to the primordial (transition) discs earlier detected in USco. Combining with previous surveys, we find the lowest inner dis…
We estimate physical parameters for the late-type massive stars observed as part of the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS) in the 30 Doradus region of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The observational sample comprises 20 candidate red supergiants (RSGs) which are the reddest (($B-V$) $>$ 1 mag) and brightest ($V$ $<$ 16 mag) objects in the VFTS. We use optical and near-IR photometry to estimate their temperatures and luminosities, and introduce the luminosity-age diagram to estimate their ages. We derive physical parameters for our targets, including temperatures from a new calibration of $(…
Substellar members of young ($\lesssim$150 Myr) moving groups are valuable benchmarks to empirically define brown dwarf evolution with age and to study the low-mass end of the initial mass function. We have combined Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) proper motions with optical$-$IR photometry from PS1, 2MASS and $\textit{WISE}$ to search for substellar members of the AB Dor Moving Group within $\approx$50 pc and with spectral types of late-M to early-L, corresponding to masses down to $\approx$30 M$_{Jup}$ at the age of the group ($\approx$125 Myr). Including both photometry and proper motions allows us to be…
In the present work we analyzed seven globular clusters selected from their location in the Galactic bulge and with metallicity values in the range $-1.30\lesssim\rm{[Fe/H]}\lesssim-0.50$. The aim of this work is first to derive cluster ages assuming single stellar populations, and secondly, to identify the stars from first (1G) and second generations (2G) from the main sequence, subgiant and red giant branches, and to derive their age differences. Based on a combination of UV and optical filters used in this project, we apply the Gaussian mixture models to distinguish the multiple stellar pop…
We present the results of an optical photometry and high-resolution spectroscopy campaign for a modest sample of X-ray selected stars in the Chamaeleon and Rho Ophiuchus star forming regions. With R~50000 optical spectra, we establish kinematic membership of the parent association and confirm stellar youth for each star in our sample. With the acquisition of new standardized BVIc photometry, in concert with near-infrared data from the literature, we derive age and mass from stellar positions in model-dependent Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams. We compare isochronal ages derived using colour-depend…
We present new analysis of 11 intermediate-age (1-2 Gyr) star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud based on Hubble Space Telescope imaging data. Seven of the clusters feature main sequence turnoff (MSTO) regions that are wider than can be accounted for by a simple stellar population, whereas their red giant branches indicate a single value of [Fe/H]. The star clusters cover a range in present-day mass from about 1E4 to 2E5 solar masses. We compare radial distributions of stars in the upper and lower parts of the MSTO region, and calculate cluster masses and escape velocities from the present…
Photometric detections of dust circumstellar disks around pre-main sequence (PMS) stars, coupled with estimates of stellar ages, provide constraints on the time available for planet formation. Most previous studies on disk longevity, starting with Haisch, Lada & Lada (2001), use star samples from PMS clusters but do not consider datasets with homogeneous photometric sensitivities and/or ages placed on a uniform timescale. Here we conduct the largest study to date of the longevity of inner dust disks using X-ray and 1--8 micrometre infrared photometry from the MYStIX and SFiNCs projects for 69 …
A growing disquiet has emerged in recent years that standard stellar models are at odds with observations of the colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) and lithium depletion patterns of pre main sequence (PMS) stars in clusters. In this work we select 1,246 high probability K/M-type constituent members of 5 young open clusters (5--125\,Myr) in the Gaia-ESO Survey to test a series of models that use standard input physics and others that incorporate surface magnetic fields or cool starspots. We find that: standard models provide systematically under-luminous isochrones for low-mass stars in the CMD a…
Past estimates for the age of the Upper Sco Association are typically 11-13 Myr for intermediate-mass stars and 4-5 Myr for low-mass stars. In this study, we simulate populations of young stars to investigate whether this apparent dependence of estimated age on spectral type may be explained by the star formation history of the association. Solar and intermediate mass stars begin their pre-main sequence evolution on the Hayashi track, with fully convective interiors and cool photospheres. Intermediate mass stars quickly heat up and transition onto the radiative Henyey track. As a consequence, …
We use Kepler/K2 lightcurves to measure rotation periods of brown dwarfs and very low mass stars in the Upper Scorpius star-forming region. Our sample comprises a total of 104 periods. Depending on the assumed age of Upper Scorpius, about a third of them are for brown dwarfs. The median period is 1.28 d for the full sample and 0.84 d for the probable brown dwarfs. With this period sample, we find compelling evidence for early rotational braking in brown dwarfs, caused by the interaction between the central object and the disk. The median period for objects with disks is at least 50% longer tha…
In this work, we present a systematic search for stellar groups in the Taurus field by applying DBSCAN algorithm to the data from Gaia DR2. We find 22 groups, consisting of 8 young groups (Groups 1-8) at ages of 2-4Myr and distances of ~130-170pc, 14 old groups (Groups 9-22) at ages of 8-49Myr and distances of ~110-210pc. We characterize the disk properties of group members and find 19 new disk-bearing stars, 8 of which are in the young groups and 11 others belong to the comparatively old groups at ages of 8-11 Myr. We characterize the accretion properties of the group members with H$α$ emissi…
The pace and pattern of star formation leading to rich young stellar clusters is quite uncertain. In this context, we analyze the spatial distribution of ages within 19 young (median t<3 Myr on the Siess et al. (2000) timescale), morphologically simple, isolated, and relatively rich stellar clusters. Our analysis is based on young stellar object samples from the MYStIX and SFiNCs surveys, and a new estimator of pre-main sequence (PMS) stellar ages, AgeJX, derived from X-ray and near-infrared photometric data. Median cluster ages are computed within four annular subregions of the clusters. We c…
We present the analysis of near infrared (NIR), adaptive optics (AO) Subaru and archived HST imaging data of a region near the northern middle lobe (NML) of the Centaurus A (Cen A) jet, at a distance of $\sim15$ kpc north-east (NE) from the center of NGC5128. Low-pass filtering of the NIR images reveals strong -- $>3σ$ above the background mean -- signal at the expected position of the brightest star in the equivalent HST field. Statistical analysis of the NIR background noise suggests that the probability to observe $>3σ$ signal at the same position, in three independent measurements due to s…
The analysis of star cluster ages in tandem with the morphology of their HII regions can provide insight into the processes that clear a cluster's natal gas, as well as the accuracy of cluster ages and dust reddening derived from Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) fitting. We classify 3757 star clusters in 16 nearby galaxies according to their H$α$ morphology (concentrated, partially exposed, no emission), using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging from the Legacy ExtraGalactic Ultraviolet Survey (LEGUS). We find: 1) The mean SED ages of clusters with concentrated (1-2 Myr) and partially expos…
We analyze very deep IRAC and MIPS photometry of $\sim$ 12,500 members of the 14 Myr old Double Cluster, h and $χ$ Persei, building upon on our earlier, shallower Spitzer studies (Currie et al. 2007a, 2008a). Numerous likely members show infrared (IR) excesses at 8 μm and 24 $μ$m indicative of circumstellar dust. The frequency of stars with 8 $μ$m excess is at least 2% for our entire sample, slightly lower (higher) for B/A stars (later type, lower-mass stars). Optical spectroscopy also identifies gas in about 2% of systems but with no clear trend between the presence of dust and gas. Spectral …
