Bibcode
DOI
Davies, Ben; Figer, Don F.; Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter; MacKenty, John; Najarro, Francisco; Herrero, Artemio
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 671, Issue 1, pp. 781-801.
Advertised on:
12
2007
Journal
Citations
161
Refereed citations
134
Description
We report on the unprecedented red supergiant (RSG) population of a
massive young cluster, located at the base of the Scutum-Crux Galactic
arm. We identify candidate cluster RSGs based on 2MASS photometry and
medium-resolution spectroscopy. With follow-up high-resolution
spectroscopy, we use CO band-head equivalent width and high-precision
radial velocity measurements to identify a core grouping of 26
physically associated RSGs-the largest such cluster known to date. Using
the stars' velocity dispersion and their inferred luminosities in
conjunction with evolutionary models, we argue that the cluster has an
initial mass of ~40,000 Msolar and is therefore among the
most massive in the galaxy. Further, the cluster is only a few hundred
parsecs away from the cluster of 14 RSGs recently reported by Figer at
al.. These two RSG clusters represent 20% of all known RSGs in the
Galaxy, and now offer the unique opportunity to study the presupernova
evolution of massive stars, and the blue- to red-supergiant ratio at
uniform metallicity. We use GLIMPSE, MIPSGAL, and MAGPIS survey data to
identify several objects in the field of the larger cluster which seem
to be indicative of recent regionwide starburst activity at the point
where the Scutum-Crux arm intercepts the Galactic bulge. Future
abundance studies of these clusters will therefore permit the study of
the chemical evolution and metallicity gradient of the Galaxy in the
region where the disk meets the bulge.