arXivDaily arXiv每日学术速递 周一至周五更新
arXiv 1303.3014astro-ph.GA
收藏

麦哲伦星云间计划(MAGIC)I:麦哲伦星云间中等年龄恒星星族的证据

The MAGellanic Inter-Cloud project (MAGIC) I: Evidence for intermediate-age stellar populations in between the Magellanic Clouds

Noelia E. D. Noel, Blair C. Conn, Ricardo Carrera, Justin I. Read, Hans-Walter Rix, Andrew Dolphin

摘要:

麦哲伦星云(MC)之间的气体-被称为“麦哲伦桥”(MB)-的起源令人费解。数值模拟表明,MB形成的潮汐剥离气体和恒星之间的MC最近的相互作用。然而,与MB相关的明显缺乏剥离的中间或老年恒星与这张照片不一致。在本文中,我们提出的第一个结果,从麦哲伦云间计划(MAGIC),旨在探测恒星星族在云间区域。我们目前的观测恒星星族在两个大领域之间的大小麦哲伦云(LMC/SMC),安全使用WFI相机上的2.2米望远镜在拉西拉。使用合成色星等图(CMD)技术,我们提出了第一个定量的证据,在云间区域的存在中老年恒星。中等年龄的恒星-占该地区所有恒星的28%-在远离LMC的方向上与SMC距离相似的区域中不存在。这提供了潜在的证据,表明这些中等年龄的恒星可能已经从SMC潮汐剥离。然而,光谱研究将需要确认或排除云间气体和恒星的潮汐起源。

英文摘要:

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 located in between the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC/SMC), secured using the WFI camera on the 2.2 m telescope in La Silla. Using a synthetic color-magnitude diagram (CMD) technique, we present the first quantitative evidence for the presence of intermediate-age and old stars in the inter-Cloud region. The intermediate-age stars -- that make up ~28% of all stars in the region -- are not present in fields at a similar distance from the SMC in a direction pointing away from the LMC. This provides potential evidence that these intermediate-age stars could have been tidally stripped from the SMC. However, spectroscopic studies will be needed to confirm or rule out the tidal origin for the inter-Cloud gas and stars.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

↑