We present extensive sets of stellar models for 0.8-9.0Msun in mass and -5 <= [Fe/H] <= -2 and Z = 0 in metallicity. The present work focuses on the evolutionary characteristics of hydrogen mixing into the He-flash convective zones during the core and shell He flashes which occurs for the models with [Fe/H] <~ -2.5. Evolution is followed from the zero age MS to the TPAGB phase including the hydrogen engulfment by the He-flash convection during the RGB or AGB phase. There exist various types of mixing episodes of how the H mixing sets in and how it affects the final abundances at the surface. In particular, we find H ingestion events without dredge-ups that enables repeated neutron-capture nucleosynthesis in the He flash convective zones with 13 C(a,n)16 O as neutron source. For Z = 0, the mixing and dredge-up processes vary with the initial mass, which results in different final abundances in the surface. We investigate the occurrence of these events for various initial mass and metallicity to find the metallicity dependence for the He-flash driven deep mixing (He-FDDM) and also for the third dredge-up (TDU) events. In our models, we find He-FDDM for M <= 3Msun for Z = 0 and for M <~ 2Msun for -5 <~ [Fe/H] <~ -3. On the other hand, the occurrence of the TDU is limited to the mass range of ~1.5Msun to ~5Msun for [Fe/H] = -3, which narrows with decreasing metallicity. The paper also discusses the implications of the results of model computations for observations. We compared the abundance pattern of CNO abundances with observed metal-poor stars. The origins of most iron-deficient stars are discussed by assuming that these stars are affected by binary mass transfer. We also point out the existence of a blue horizontal branch for -4 <~ [Fe/H] <~ -2.5.
Context. The chemical processes during the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) evolution of intermediate mass single stars predict most of the observations of the different populations in globular clusters although some important issues still need to be further clarified. In particular, to reproduce the observed anticorrelations of Na-O and Al-Mg, chemically enriched gas lost during the AGB phase of intermediate mass single stars must be mixed with matter with a pristine chemical composition. The source of this matter is still a matter of debate. Furthermore, observations reveal that a significant f…
The chemical processes during the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) evolution of intermediate mass single stars predict most of the observations of the different populations in Globular Clusters although some important issues still need to be further clarified. In particular, to reproduce the observed anticorrelations of Na-O and Al-Mg, chemically enriched gas lost during the AGB phase of intermediate mass single stars must be mixed with matter with a pristine chemical composition. The source of this matter is still a matter of debate. Furthermore, observations reveal that a significant fraction o…
We present oxygen abundance measurements for 74 blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxies in the redshift range in [0.2, 0.5] using the strong-line method. The spectra of these objects are taken using Hectospec on the Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT). More than half of these BCDs had dust attenuation corrected using the Balmer decrement method. For comparison, we also selected a sample of 2023 local BCDs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) database. Based on the local and intermediate-z BCD samples, we investigated the cosmic evo- lution of the metallicity, star-formation rate (SFR), and Dn (4000)…
We discuss a new scenario for the formation of intermediate mass black holes in dense star clusters. In this scenario, intermediate mass black holes are formed as a result of dynamical interactions of hard binaries containing a stellar mass black hole, with other stars and binaries. We discuss the necessary conditions to initiate the process of intermediate mass black hole formation and the influence of an intermediate mass black hole on the host global globular cluster properties. We discuss two scenarios for intermediate mass black hole formation. The SLOW and FAST scenarios. They occur late…
We have decomposed the broad H-alpha, H-beta and H-gamma lines of 90 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) into a superposition of a very broad and an intermediate Gaussian components (VBGC and IMGC) and discovered that the two Gaussian components evolve with FWHM of the whole emission lines. We suggest that the VBGC and the IMGC are produced in different emission regions, namely, Very Broad Line Region (VBLR) and Intermediate Line Region (IMLR). The details of the two components of H-alpha, H-beta and H-gamma lines indicate that the radius obtained from the emission line reverberation mapping normall…
We present Gemini South GMOS g,i photometry of 14 intermediate-age Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) star clusters, namely: NGC 2155, 2161, 2162, 2173, 2203, 2209, 2213, 2231, 2249, Hodge 6, SL 244, 505, 674, and 769, as part of a continuing project to investigate the extended Main Sequence Turnoff (EMSTO) phenomenon. Extensive artificial star tests were made over the observed field of view. These tests reveal the observed behaviour of photometric errors with magnitude and crowding. The cluster stellar density radial profiles were traced from star counts over the extent of the observed field. We ad…
The origin of the gas in between the Magellanic Clouds (MCs) -- known as the `Magellanic Bridge' (MB) -- is puzzling. Numerical simulations suggest that the MB formed from tidally stripped gas and stars in a recent interaction between the MCs. However, the apparent lack of stripped intermediate- or old-age stars associated with the MB is at odds with this picture. In this paper, we present the first results from the MAGellanic Inter-Cloud program (MAGIC) aimed at probing the stellar populations in the inter-cloud region. We present observations of the stellar populations in two large fields lo…
We present a multi-wavelength study of the region towards the GM 2-4 nebula and the nearby source IRAS 05373+2340. Our near-infrared H2 1-0 S(1) line observations reveal various shock-excited features which are part of several bipolar outflows. We identify candidates for the driving sources of the outflows from a comparison of the multi-waveband archival data-sets and SED modelling. The SED spectral slope (α(IRAC)) for all the protostars in the field was then compared with the visual extinction map. This comparison suggests that star formation is progressing from NE to SW across this region.
Forbes et al. recently used the Hubble Space Telescope to localize hundreds of candidate star clusters in NGC 1023, an early-type galaxy at a distance of 11.1 Mpc. Old stars dominate the light of 92% of the clusters and intermediate-age stars dominate the light of the remaining 8%. Theory predicts that clusters with such ages can host intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) with masses M_BH \lesssim 10^5 M_sun. To investigate this prediction, we used 264 s of 5.5 GHz data from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to search for the radiative signatures of IMBH accretion from 337 candidate cl…
Protostars are mostly found in star-forming regions, where the natal molecular gas still remains. In about 5' west of the molecular bubble N4, N4W is identified as a star-forming clump hosting three Class II (IRS\,1\,--\,3), and one Class I (IRS\,4) young stellar objects (YSOs), as well as a submillimeter source SMM1. The near-IR polarization imaging data of N4W reveal two infrared reflection nebulae close to each other, which are in favor of the outflows of IRS\,1 and IRS\,2. The bipolar mid-IR emission centered on IRS\,4 and the arc-like molecular gas shell are lying on the same axis, indica…
Photoionized nebulae, comprising HII regions and planetary nebulae, are excellent laboratories to investigate the nucleosynthesis and chemical evolution of several elements in the Galaxy and other galaxies of the Local Group. Our purpose in this investigation is threefold: (i) compare the abundances of HII regions and planetary nebulae in each system in order to investigate the differences derived from the age and origin of these objects, (ii) compare the chemical evolution in different systems, such as the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, and other galaxies of the Local Group, and (iii) inve…
Dense environments have an impact on the star formation rate of galaxies. As stars form from molecular gas, looking at the cold molecular gas content of a galaxy gives useful insights on its efficiency in forming stars. However, most galaxies observed in CO (a proxy for the cold molecular gas content) at intermediate redshifts, are field galaxies. Only a handful of studies focused on cluster galaxies. I present new results on the environment of one medium mass cluster from the EDisCS survey at $z\sim0.5$. 27 star-forming galaxies were selected to evenly sample the range of densities encountere…
Hypervelocity stars (HVSs) represent a unique population of stars in the Galaxy reflecting properties of the whole Galactic potential. Determining their origin is of fundamental importance to constrain the shape and mass of the dark halo. The leading scenario for the ejection of HVSs is an encounter with the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Centre. However, new proper motions from the \textit{Gaia} mission indicate that only the fastest HVSs can be traced back to the Galactic centre and the remaining stars originate in the disc or halo. In this paper, we study HVSs generated by encounte…
We study the short-term effects of an intermediate mass black hole (IBH) on the orbit of star S2 (S02), the shortest-period star known to orbit the supermassive black hole (MBH) in the centre of the Milky Way. Near-infrared imaging and spectroscopic observations allow an accurate determination of the orbit of the star. Given S2's short orbital period and large eccentricity, general relativity (GR) needs to be taken into account, and its effects are potentially measurable with current technology. We show that perturbations due to an IBH in orbit around the MBH can produce a shift in the apoapsi…
A large fraction of stars forming in our galaxy are born within clusters embedded in giant molecular clouds. In these environments, the background UV radiation fields impinging upon circumstellar disks can often dominate over the radiation fields produced by each disk's central star. As a result, this background radiation can drive the evaporation of circumstellar disks and lead to the loss of planet forming potential within a cluster. This paper presents a detailed analysis of this process for clusters whose stellar membership falls within the range $100 \le N \le 1000$. For these intermediat…
We report astrophysical properties of 12 Milky Way open clusters located beyond the circle around the Sun where the number of catalogued open clusters is thought to be statistically complete. By using deep optical photometry, we estimated their ages and metallicities on the basis of a maximum likelihood approach, using cluster members identified from Gaia DR2 data and likelihood procedures. The studied clusters turned out to be of intermediate-age (0.8 - 4.0 Gyr), with metallicities spanning the range [Fe/H] ~ -0.5 - +0.1 dex, and distributed within the general observed trend of the Milky Way …
Numerous spherical ``shells" have been observed in young star-forming environments that host low- and intermediate-mass stars. These observations suggest that these shells may be produced by isotropic stellar wind feedback from young main-sequence stars. However, the driving mechanism for these shells remains uncertain because the momentum injected by winds is too low to explain their sizes and dynamics due to their low mass-loss rates. However, these studies neglect how the wind kinetic energy is transferred to the ISM and instead assume it is instantly lost via radiation, suggesting that the…
Preliminary results from an ongoing project to compute a grid of post-AGB models is presented. Our preliminary results show that stellar evolution computations that include an updated treatment of the microphysics predict post-AGB timescales that are several times shorter that predicted by older models. Also the mass-luminosity relation of post-AGB models deviates from that of older grids. In addition, our results suggest only a slight metallicity dependence of the post-AGB timescales. We expect these results to have significant consequences for models of the formation of planetary nebulae and…
Double or extended main-sequence turn-offs (DMSTOs) and dual red clump (RC) were observed in intermediate-age clusters, such as in NGC 1846 and 419. the DMSTOs are interpreted as that the cluster has two distinct stellar popula- tions with differences in age of about 200-300 Myr but with the same metallicity. The dual RC is interpreted as a result of a prolonged star formation. Using a stellar population-synthesis method, we calculated the evolutions of binary-star stellar population (BSP). We found that binary interactions and merging can reproduce the dual RC in the color-magnitude diagrams …
<Context.> Nuclear star clusters (NSCs) at the dynamical center of galaxies appear to have a complex star formation history. This suggests repeated star formation even in the influence of the strong tidal field from supermassive black holes. <Aim.> In our previous study, we have detected 31 so far unknown early-type star candidates throughout the Galactic NSC (at 0.5 - 3 pc from Sgr A*; Nishiyama and Schoedel 2013). The aim of this study is a confirmation of the spectral type for the candidates. <Method.> We have carried out NIR spectroscopic observations of the candidates using Subaru/IRCS/AO…
We present structural parameters for the seven intermediate-age and old star clusters NGC121, Lindsay 1, Kron 3, NGC339, NGC416, Lindsay 38, and NGC419 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. We fit King profiles and Elson, Fall, and Freeman profiles to both surface-brightness and star count data taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. Clusters older than 1 Gyr show a spread in cluster core radii that increases with age, while the youngest clusters have relatively compact cores. No evidence for post core collapse clusters was found. We find no correlation between c…
We report the discovery of a small aggregate of young stars seen in high-resolution, deep near-infrared ($JHK_S$) images towards IRAS 06345-3023 in the outer Galaxy and well below the mid-plane of the Galactic disc. The group of young stars is likely to be composed of low-mass stars, mostly Class I young stellar objects. The stars are seen towards a molecular cloud whose CO map peaks at the location of the IRAS source. The near-infrared images reveal, additionally, the presence of nebular emission with rich morphological features, including arcs in the vicinity of embedded stars, wisps and bri…
We study the formation of massive black holes in the first star clusters. We first locate star-forming gas clouds in proto-galactic haloes of $\gtrsim \!10^7\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$ in cosmological hydrodynamics simulations and use them to generate the initial conditions for star clusters with masses of $\sim \!10^5\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$. We then perform a series of direct-tree hybrid $N$-body simulations to follow runaway stellar collisions in the dense star clusters. In all the cluster models except one, runaway collisions occur within a few million years, and the mass of the central, most massive sta…
We present abundance measurements from 26 emission-line selected galaxies at z~0.6-0.7. By reaching stellar masses as low as 10^8 M_{\sun}, these observations provide the first measurement of the intermediate redshift mass-metallicity (MZ) relation below 10^9 M_{\sun} For the portion of our sample above M > 10^9 M_{\sun} (8/26 galaxies), we find good agreement with previous measurements of the intermediate redshift MZ relation. Compared to the local relation, we measure an evolution that corresponds to a 0.12 dex decrease in oxygen abundances at intermediate redshifts. This result confirms the…
Using data drawn from the DEEP2 and DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Surveys, we investigate the relationship between the environment and the structure of galaxies residing on the red sequence at intermediate redshift. Within the massive (10 < log(M*/Msun) < 11) early-type population at 0.4 < z <1.2, we find a significant correlation between local galaxy overdensity (or environment) and galaxy size, such that early-type systems in higher-density regions tend to have larger effective radii (by ~0.5 kpc or 25% larger) than their counterparts of equal stellar mass and Sersic index in lower-density environme…
We propose a new formation channel for intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) binaries via globular cluster collisions in the Galactic disc. Using numerical simulations, we show that the IMBHs form a tight binary that enters the gravitational waves (GWs) emission dominated regime driven by stellar interactions, and ultimately merge in $\lesssim 0.5$ Gyr. These events are clearly audible to LISA and can be associated with electromagnetic emission during the last evolutionary stages. During their orbital evolution, the IMBHs produce runaway stars comparable with GAIA and LAMOST observations.
Open clusters (OC) of 1-3 Gyr age contain intermediate-to-low-mass stars in evolutionary phases of multiple relevance to understanding Li evolution. Stars leaving the main sequence (MS) from the hot side of the Lithium dip (LD) at a fixed age can include a range of mass, varying degrees of core degeneracy, and helium ignition under quiescent or flash conditions. An ongoing survey of a significant sample of stars from the giant branch to below the LD in key open clusters has revealed patterns that supply critical clues to the underlying source of Li variation among stars of differing mass and a…
Extended main sequence turn-offs (eMSTOs) are a common feature in color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of young and intermediate-age star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds. The nature of eMSTOs is still debated. The most popular scenarios are extended star formation and ranges of stellar rotation rates. Here we study implications of a kink feature in the main sequence (MS) of young star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). This kink shows up very clearly in new \emph{Hubble Space Telescope} observations of the 700-Myr-old cluster NGC 1831, and is located below the region in the CMD where m…
Optically thick winds of very massive stars suppress intermediate-mass black hole formation
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie（马克斯·普朗克天文学研究所）；Universität Heidelberg, Zentrum für Astronomie (ZAH), Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik（海德堡大学天体物理中心（ZAH）理论天体物理研究所）；Universität Heidelberg, Interdiszipliäres Zentrum für Wissenschaftliches Rechnen（海德堡大学跨学科科学计算中心）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia Galileo Galilei, Università di Padova（帕多瓦大学伽利略·伽利莱物理与天文学系）；INFN, Sezione di Padova（意大利国家核物理研究所帕多瓦分部）；Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI)（格兰萨索科学研究所）；INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso（意大利国家核物理研究所格兰萨索国家实验室）；Departament de Física Quàntica i Astrofísica, Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona（巴塞罗那大学量子物理与天体物理学系宇宙科学研究所）
Most stars form in dense stellar environments. It is speculated that some dense star clusters may host intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), which may have formed from runaway collisions between high-mass stars, or from the mergers of less massive black holes. Here, we numerically explore the evolution of populations of planets in star clusters with an IMBH. We study the dynamical evolution of single-planet systems and free-floating planets, over a period of 100~Myr, in star clusters without an IMBH, and in clusters with a central IMBH of mass $100~M_\odot$ or $200~M_\odot$. In the central re…
Previous theoretical studies suggest that the Population III (Pop3) stars tend to form in extremely metal poor gas clouds with approximately $10^5 M_\odot$ embedded in mini dark matter halos. Very massive stars can form via multiple collisions in Pop3 star clusters and eventually evolve to intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs). In this work, we conduct star-by-star $N$-body simulations for modelling the long-term evolution of Pop3 star clusters. We find that if the mini dark matter halos can survive today, these star clusters can avoid tidal disruption by the galactic environment and can effic…
There is a dense group of OB and Wolf-Rayet stars within a fraction of a parsec from the super-massive black hole (SMBH) at the Galactic Center. These stars appear to be coeval and relatively massive. A subgroup of these stars orbits on the same plane. If they emerged with low to modest eccentricity orbits from a common gaseous disk around the central super-massive black hole, their inferred lifespan would not be sufficiently long to account for the excitation of their high orbital eccentricity through dynamical relaxation. Here we analyze the secular perturbation on Galactic Center stars by a…
We study the stellar dynamics of the first star clusters after intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are formed via runaway stellar collisions. We use the outputs of cosmological simulations of Sakurai et al. (2017) to follow the star cluster evolution in a live dark matter (DM) halo. Mass segregation within a cluster promotes massive stars to be captured by the central IMBH occasionally, causing tidal disruption events (TDEs). We find that the TDE rate scales with the IMBH mass as $\dot{N}_{\rm TDE}\sim0.3\,{\rm Myr}^{-1}(M_{\rm IMBH}/1000\,{\rm M}_{\odot})^2$. The DM component affects the st…
Observations found that star clusters contain a large fraction of binaries. Tight binaries are an important heating source that influences the long-term dynamical evolution of star clusters. However, due to the limitation of $N$-body tool, previous theoretical modelling for globular clusters (GCs) by using direct $N$-body simulations have not investigated how a large fraction of primordial binaries affect their long-term evolution. In this work, by using the high-performance $N$-body code, PeTar, we carry out star-by-star models for intermediate massive GCs ($N=100000$) with the primordial bin…
