SlideShare una empresa de Scribd logo
1 de 6
Descargar para leer sin conexión
1




                                        AN EXCEPTIONAL X-RAY VIEW OF THE YOUNG OPEN CLUSTER NGC 6231: WHAT XMM-NEWTON
                                                                        HAS TAUGHT US
arXiv:astro-ph/0511700v1 24 Nov 2005




                                                                             H. Sana∗ E. Gosset† G. Rauw† , and J.-M. Vreux
                                                                                    ,          ,
                                            Institut d’Astrophysique et de G´ ophysique, Li` ge University, All´ e du 6 Aoˆ t 17, Bat. B5c, B-4000 Li` ge, Belgium
                                                                            e              e                   e          u                          e




                                       ABSTRACT                                                           These shocks, believed to result from the growth of insta-
                                                                                                          bilities of the line driving mechanism, heat the wind ma-
                                                                                                          terial to temperatures of the order of ten million Kelvin,
                                       Considered as the core of the Sco OB1 association, the             thus producing a substantial amount of soft X-ray emis-
                                       young open cluster NGC 6231 harbours a rich O-type                 sion. From the observational point of view, it was soon
                                       star population. In 2001, the XMM-Newton satellite tar-            realized (e.g. Harnden et al. 1979; Long & White 1980;
                                       geted the cluster for a nominal duration of about 180 ks.          Pallavicini et al. 1981) that the X-ray luminosities of
                                       Thanks to the detector sensitivity, the EPIC cameras pro-          hot stars were related to their bolometric luminosities
                                       vided an unprecedented X-ray view of NGC 6231, re-                 through the so-called canonical LX − Lbol relation. In
                                       vealing about 600 point-like sources. In this contribu-            its generic form, this relation can be written as follows:
                                       tion, we review the main results that have been obtained
                                       thanks to this unprecedented data set. Concerning the O-                               LX ≈ 10−7 Lbol .                    (1)
                                       type stars, we present the latest developments related to          The X-ray luminosities of O-type stars seem however
                                       the so-called canonical LX − Lbol relation. The disper-            to present a large scatter around this relation (e.g.
                                       sion around this relation might actually be much smaller           Bergh¨ fer et al. 1997), typically of about a factor 2 to 3.
                                                                                                               o
                                       than previously thought. In our data set, the sole mecha-
                                       nism that yields a significant deviation from this scheme           Beside the intrinsic emission of single stars, massive bi-
                                       is wind interaction. It is also the sole mechanism that            naries are often more X-ray luminous compared to equiv-
                                       induces a significant variation of the early-type star X-           alent single stars (Pollock 1987; Chlebowski & Garmany
                                       ray flux. In a second part of this contribution, we probe           1991). This additional X-ray emission is usually inter-
                                       the properties of the optically faint X-ray sources. Most          preted as the signature of a wind interaction resulting ei-
                                       of them are believed to be low mass pre-main sequence              ther from the collision of the winds of the two stars of
                                       stars. Their analysis provides direct insight into the star        the system or, if the wind from one component is much
                                       formation history of the cluster.                                  stronger than the other, from the interaction of the over-
                                                                                                          whelming wind with the secondary photosphere. This X-
                                       Key words: Stars: fundamental parameters – Stars:                  ray emission might further undergo phase-locked mod-
                                       early-type – X-rays: individuals: NGC 6231 – X-rays:               ulations, resulting from the variation of the absorption
                                       stars – Open clusters and associations: individuals: NGC           along the line of sight. In eccentric binaries, such phase-
                                       6231.                                                              locked modulations might also result from the change of
                                                                                                          the shock strength due to the varying distance between
                                                                                                          the two stars.

                                       1.     INTRODUCTION                                                Considered as the core of the Sco OB1 association, the
                                                                                                          young open cluster NGC 6231 hosts a rich early-type star
                                                                                                          population of different sub-spectral types and luminosity
                                       Hot stars are known to be strong but soft X-ray emit-              classes. Located at a distance of only about 1.6 kpc, it
                                       ters since the launch of the EINSTEIN satellite in Decem-          constitutes an ideal target to study the X-ray properties
                                       ber 1978 (Harnden et al. 1979; Seward et al. 1979). Al-            of an homogeneous (in terms of age, reddening, chemi-
                                       though historically several hypotheses have been put for-          cal composition, ...) sample of OB-type stars. NGC 6231
                                       ward to explain the origin of this X-ray emission, it is           was thus chosen as the target of a 180 ks monitoring cam-
                                       now commonly accepted that the latter is produced by               paign performed in the framework of the Li` ge project for
                                                                                                                                                      e
                                       shocks occurring within the denser layers of the wind.             the Optical Monitor consortium guaranteed time. Car-
                                                                                                          ried out within a 5-day period in September 2001, the
                                            ∗ FNRS   Research Fellow                                      campaign actually consisted of six separate pointings of
                                            † FNRS   Research Associate                                   30 ks each. Nonetheless it forms one of the deepest X-ray
2

                                                              (α2000 = 16h 54m 10.06, δ2000 = −41◦ 49′ 30 ′′ 1), in the
                                                                                    s
                                                                                                               .
                                                              core of the cluster. Position angles (PAs) were very simi-
                                                              lar through the six exposures. All three EPIC instruments
                                                              were operated in the Full Frame mode together with the
                                                              Thick Filter to reject UV/optical light. Due to the bright-
                                                              ness of the cluster objects in the fov, the Optical Monitor
                                                              was switched off throughout the campaign.

                                                              The EPIC Observation Data Files (ODFs) were pro-
                                                              cessed using the XMM-Science Analysis System (SAS)
                                                              v 5.4.1 implemented on our computers in Li` ge. We ap-
                                                                                                           e
                                                              plied the emproc and epproc pipeline chains respectively
                                                              to the MOS and pn raw data to generate proper event list
                                                              files. No indication of pile-up was found in the data. We
                                                              then only considered events with patterns 0-12 (resp. 0-
                                                              4) for MOS (resp. pn) instruments and we applied the
                                                              filtering criterion XMMEA EM (resp. FLAG = 0) as rec-
                                                              ommended by the Science Operation Centre (SOC) tech-
                                                              nical note XMM-PS-TN-43 v3.0. For each pointing, we
Figure 1. Combined EPIC-MOS three-color X-ray im-             rejected periods affected by soft proton flares. For this
age of the young open cluster NGC 6231, showing the           purpose, we built light curves at energies above 10 keV1
central part of the fov. It approximately corresponds to      and discarded high background observing periods on the
MOS CCD#1; the presented field is thus about 5′ × 5′ .         basis of an empirically derived threshold (adopted as 0.2
The different false colors correspond to different energy     and 1.0 cnt s−1 for the MOS and pn instruments respec-
ranges: red: 0.5-1.0 keV; green: 1.0-2.5 keV; blue: 2.5-      tively). The so-defined GTIs (Good Time Intervals) were
10.0 keV. The color image is also available from the          used to produce adequate X-ray event lists for each point-
XMM-Newton Image Gallery: http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/           ing from which we extracted images using x- and y-image
external/xmm science/gallery/public/index.php                 bin sizes of 50 virtual pixels 2 .

                                                              We finally combined the event lists obtained for all six
views ever acquired of a young open cluster, but the par-     pointings to improve the statistics of faint sources. For
ticular schedule of the campaign further allows to study      this purpose, we used the SAS task merge. For each
the variability of the X-ray properties of the objects on     EPIC instrument, we included the event lists resulting
different time scales. The analysis of this remarkable data   from different pointings one by one. We also built merged
set is presented in a series of papers (Sana et al. 2005b,    event lists that combine the twelve MOS or the eighteen
2006a,b) to which we refer for further details.               EPIC event lists. The Attitude Files generated by the
                                                              pipeline were merged using the same approach and we
Beside the XMM-Newton observations, we have also              adopted, for handling the merged event lists, the Calibra-
monitored all the O-type stars and some of the bright-        tion Index File (CIF) and the ODF corresponding to the
est B-type stars in the EPIC field of view (fov) by means      first pointing.
of high resolution optical spectroscopy (mainly acquired
using the ESO spectrograph FEROS). This data set has          The total effective exposure times towards the cluster
allowed us to provide further constraints on the physi-       are, respectively for the MOS1, MOS2 and pn instru-
cal properties of the early-type stars in NGC 6231 (Sana      ments, of 176.5, 175.0 and 147.5 ks. Together with the
2005). In particular, we revised their multiplicity and re-   high sensitivity of the XMM-Newton observatory, the
derived their spectral classification. Thanks to the qual-     combination of the six pointings and of the three in-
ity of the FEROS data, we have detected the secondary         struments provides one of the deepest X-ray views of a
signature for eight out of the nine O-type binaries in the    young open cluster. Fig. 1 shows a three-colour image
EPIC fov. Together with the existing photometry of the        of NGC 6231 and reveals a densely populated field with
cluster (e.g. Sung et al. 1998), the tight constraints on     hundreds of point-like X-ray sources. We estimate our
the properties of the early-type stars provide a firm ba-      detection flux limit to lie between about 3 × 10−15 and
sis for the X-ray analysis. The complementarity between       1.5 × 10−14 erg cm−2 s−1 depending on the position on
the X-ray and optical data further constitutes one of the     the detectors and on the source spectrum.
strengths of the present work.
                                                              For each source, we finally adopted a circular extraction
                                                              region with a radius corresponding to half the distance
                                                                  1 Expressed in Pulse Invariant (PI) channel numbers and consider-
2.   OBSERVATIONS AND DATA REDUCTION
                                                              ing that 1 PI channel approximately corresponds to 1 eV, the adopted
                                                              criterion is actually PI > 10 000.
                                                                  2 Though the physical pixels of the EPIC MOS and pn detectors
XMM-Newton performed the six successive exposures of                                                     ′′       ′′
                                                              have an extent on the sky of respectively 1. 1 and 4. 1, the virtual pixels
our campaign during satellite revolutions 319 to 321. The                                                           ′′
                                                              of the three instruments correspond to an extent 0. 05. The obtained
fov was centered on the colliding wind binary HD 152248                                          ′′
                                                              images have thus a pixel size of 2. 5.
3

                                                              sulted in 108 objects among which 92 B-stars, 15 O-stars
                                                              and one WR system (WR 79).

                                                              All the O-type stars were detected by XMM-Newton as
                                                              soft but strong sources, which allowed us to study the
                                                              complete population rather than a subsample of it. On
                                                              the other hand, only about 20% of the B-type stars could
                                                              be associated with an X-ray source. Using the XSPEC
                                                              software, we adjusted the X-ray spectra of the differ-
                                                              ent sources associated with early-type objects. In doing
                                                              so, we used up to three-component thin thermal plasma
                                                              models (mekal models) allowing for a distinct local ab-
                                                              sorption column (wabs model) for each component and
                                                              accounting for additional absorption by the interstellar
                                                              medium (ISM). The latter column was held fixed to a
                                                              value computed from the reddening of the different ob-
                                                              jects, using the typical colours of Schmidt-Kaler (1982)
                                                              and the gas to dust ratio of Bohlin et al. (1978). Using
                                                              the best-fit models, we finally computed the X-ray lumi-
                                                              nosities, corrected for the ISM absorption column only.
Figure 2. ISM-absorption corrected X-ray luminosities in      We also recomputed the bolometric luminosities, adopt-
the 0.5-10.0 keV band plotted vs. bolometric luminosities.    ing our revised spectral classification and the bolometric
The different symbols indicate the different properties of    correction scale of Schmidt-Kaler (1982). Fig. 2 presents
the sources. Spectral type: O (filled symbols), B (open        the location of the different objects in the LX − Lbol di-
symbols). Luminosity class: supergiant (black), giant         agram. Note that Fig. 2 is restricted to objects fitted with
(red), main sequence (blue). Multiplicity: binary (trian-     at least 2-temperature mekal components. Reasons for
gles), presumably single RV-variable star (squares), pre-     this are given in Sana et al. (2006a).
sumably single RV-constant star (circles). Best-fit linear
relations in the log − log plane for O (Eq. 2) and B (Eq.
3) stars are indicated by the dashed and the dotted lines     3.1. The O-type stars
respectively. The two vertical bars in the upper part of
the graph give the expected 1-σ deviation for B (σB ) and
O (σO ) type stars.                                           Focusing in a first step on the O-type stars, we note a
                                                              clear linear relation in the log − log plane. However sev-
                                                              eral points deviate significantly from this canonical rela-
to the nearest neighbouring X-ray source. Due to the          tion. HD 152248 (O7.5III(f) + O7III(f), Sana et al. 2001)
crowded nature of the cluster core in the X-rays and to the   presents clear evidence for a wind-wind interaction that
limited spatial resolution of the EPIC detectors, the back-   we traced both from the optical and X-ray domains. 2-D
ground could not be evaluated in the immediate vicinity       hydrodynamical simulations of the collision further rea-
of the stars, but had to be taken from the very few source    sonably reproduce the observed modulations of the X-
free regions. The details are given in Sana et al. (2006a).   ray flux of the system, lending further support to this in-
We then used the appropriate redistribution matrix files       terpretation (Sana et al. 2004). CPD−41◦ 7742 (O9V +
(rmf ) provided by the Science Operations Centre (SOC),       B1.5V, Sana et al. 2003) X-ray light curve also displays
according to the position of the considered source on the     clear though apparently complex modulations of its X-ray
detectors. We built the corresponding ancillary response      flux, that we have however related to a wind interaction
files (arf ) using the ARFGEN command of the SAS soft-         of a peculiar kind. In this O+B system, the dominant pri-
ware. The spectra were finally binned to have at least 10      mary wind most probably crashes into the secondary sur-
counts per bin.                                               face. A simple phenomenological model of such a wind-
                                                              photosphere interaction indeed reproduces pretty well the
                                                              main features of the X-ray light curve (Sana et al. 2005a).
3.     THE OB STAR POPULATION                                 It is thus clear that the two latter systems are not repre-
                                                              sentative of the intrinsic X-ray emission of single O-type
                                                              stars. Excluding these two points, a least-square linear fit
Prior to our scientific analysis, we first went through a       yields:
deep overview of the existing literature and databases on
NGC 6231 and we made a census of the early-type star                   log LX − log Lbol = −6.912(±0.153)            (2)
population in the observed fov. Our census mainly relies      where the X-ray luminosity is given in the 0.5-10.0 keV
on selected published works (see references in Sana et al.    band. It is interesting to note that we also adjusted a
2005b), on the Catalog of Galactic OB Stars (Reed 2003)       power-law relation (thus in the form log LX = Γ ×
and on the WEBDA3 and SIMBAD4 databases. This re-             log Lbol + K). However, as indicated by a Fχ -test (see
     3 http://obswww.unige.ch/webda/                          e.g. Bevington 1969), this additional parameter does not
     4 http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/Simbad/                     improve significantly the quality of the fit compared to
4




Figure 3. Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of the EPIC               Figure 4. Distribution of the ages of X-ray selected PMS
sources with optical counterparts in the Sung et al.            objects as interpolated from the isochrones derived from
(1998) catalogue. Evolutionary tracks from Siess et al.         the Siess et al. (2000) evolutionary tracks. PMS candi-
(2000) for masses of 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0,    dates with ∆(R − Hα) ≥ 0.12 are indicated by the solid
2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0 M⊙ are overplotted. Filled      line, while those with ∆(R − Hα) < 0.12 are indicated
dots, filled diamonds and open triangles indicate respec-        by the dashed line. The total numbers of objects with
tively Hα emitting stars, Hα candidates and stars with          ∆(R − Hα) ≥ 0.12 and ∆(R − Hα) < 0.12 are respec-
no evidence for emission. The thick solid line shows the        tively 93 and 303.
ZAMS, while the dashed lines correspond to isochrones
for ages of 0.5, 1.5, 4.0, 10.0 and 20.0 Myr.
                                                                dence level of 0.99 in favour of the presence of a correla-
                                                                tion between log LX and log Lbol . A linear least-square
the scaling law of Eq. 2. In the following, we thus de-         fit yields:
cide to adopt the simplest form of the canonical rela-
tion, as quoted in Eq. 2. One of the most outstanding re-            log LX = 0.22(±0.06) log Lbol + 22.8(±2.4)            (3)
sults lies however in the limited dispersion (of only about
40%) of the X-ray luminosities around the best fit rela-         However, we emphasize that the undetected B-type stars
tion. Compared to the scatter (a factor of 2 to 3) observed     were not taken into account in the derivation of the
by Bergh¨ fer et al. (1997), this suggests that the intrinsic
           o                                                    present relation. The fact that about 80% of them lie
X-ray emission of O-type stars might be much more con-          below our detection threshold suggests that either X-ray
strained by the physical properties of the star than pre-       emission from B-type stars is not an intrinsic property of
viously assumed. It is also remarkable that, within our         such stars or, at least, that it is not fully governed by their
sample, only the binaries present a significant modula-          bolometric luminosities. In the latter case, we could only
tion of their X-ray flux, suggesting thus a wind interac-        be detecting the upper envelope of a largely scattered dis-
tion origin. Excluding the case of HD 326329, proba-            tribution in such a way that, by coincidence, the detected
bly contaminated by a neighbouring flaring source, extra         sources suggest the presence of a linear relation. Beside
emission produced in a wind interaction region is also the      these considerations, one may further note that about one
only mechanism that yields a significant deviation from          third of the detected B sources present flaring-like activi-
the canonical LX − Lbol relation. All in all, our analysis      ties during the time-span of our XMM-Newton campaign.
suggests thus that the intrinsic X-ray emission from sin-       Their X-ray spectral properties are further reminiscent of
gle O-type stars might be rather stable, both in terms of       those of PMS stars. It is therefore difficult to definitely
time-variability and of scattering compared to the mean         conclude whether the detected X-ray emission is directly
LX − Lbol relation.                                             associated with the B-type stars or if it is rather produced
                                                                by PMS stars either as the secondary component in a bi-
                                                                nary system or being located by chance along the same
                                                                line of sight.
3.2. The B-type stars

Turning to B-type stars, their distribution in the log LX −     4.   THE OPTICALLY FAINT X-RAY SOURCES
log Lbol plane also suggests the presence of a linear rela-
tion, although as quoted above, only about 20% of these
objects are seen in the X-rays. Indeed the linear corre-        Beside the early-type stars, the EPIC images reveal sev-
lation coefficient is r ∼ 0.75, corresponding to a confi-         eral hundreds of additional point-like sources that clus-
5

                                                                Fig. 3 presents the location of these optically faint X-
                                                                ray sources in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Most of
                                                                them are indeed located above the ZAMS as expected for
                                                                PMS objects. Comparing with PMS evolutionary tracks
                                                                of Siess et al. (2000), it appears that most of them are
                                                                low-mass stars (M < 2 M⊙ ) that started their forma-
                                                                tion about 2 to 4 Myr ago. The distribution of the ages
                                                                of these X-ray selected PMS stars is presented in Fig. 4
                                                                and suggests that star formation in NGC 6231 might have
                                                                started at least 10 Myr ago at a relatively slow rate. The
                                                                latter then slowly increased to culminate in a starburst-
                                                                like event about 2 to 4 Myr ago, a period that also corre-
                                                                sponds to the formation of the cluster massive stars (see
                                                                Fig. 5). It is further interesting to note that, neither in
                                                                Figs. 3 nor 4, a clear difference appears between the Hα
                                                                emitting X-ray sources (probably classical T Tauri stars)
                                                                and those that do not present evidence of such emission
                                                                (probably weak-line T Tauri stars). No difference could
                                                                also be found in their respective spatial distribution in the
Figure 5. Locations of the NGC 6231 O-type stars in             studied fov.
the H-R diagram. Symbol shapes and colours provide
different indications on the object nature: black, super-
giant; red, giant; blue, main sequence; triangle, be-
longing to a binary system (filled triangles indicate the        5.   CONCLUSIONS
heaviest star of the system while open triangles stand for
the less massive companion); square, presumably single,
RV-variable star; circle, presumably single, constant-RV        We briefly presented some of the main achievements
star. The evolutionary tracks from Schaller et al. (1992)       of an XMM-Newton monitoring campaign of the young
have been plotted (plain lines) together with isochrones        open cluster NGC 6231 in the Sco OB1 association. Of
(dotted lines) computed for ages ranging from 2 to 10           a nominal duration of 180 ks, it was actually split into 6
Myr with a step of 2 Myr. The figure appears in colour in        separate pointings spread over 5 days. Clearly it consti-
the electronic version of this work.                            tutes one of the deepest X-ray observations of a young
                                                                open cluster and its particular scheduling allowed us to
                                                                probe the variability of the detected sources on different
                                                                time scales. The EPIC cameras revealed a crowded fov
ter towards the core of NGC 6231, suggesting a phys-            with more than 600 X-ray sources. The large majority
ical link with the cluster. These are typically fainter but     of these could be identified with an optical/IR counter-
harder than the O-type stars (Sana et al. 2005b). As a first     part and their location in the H-R diagram suggests that
step, we compared the X-ray source list with different          most of them are actually low-mass (M < 2 M⊙ ) PMS
existing optical/IR catalogues, adopting a limited cross-       stars. Their study seems to indicate that the star formation
correlation radius of 3′′ . As a result, almost 80% of the X-   in NGC 6231 was probably not an instantaneous event
ray sources in the XMM-Newton fov could be associated           but might have started at least 10 Myr ago at a relatively
with at least one optical/IR counterpart. In particular, we     slow rate. The bulk of the cluster stellar population has
made use of an extended version of the UBV(RI)C Hα              however started its formation during a starburst-like event
photometric catalogue of Sung et al. (1998). Roughly,           about 2 to 4 Myr ago, an epoch during which the most
the latter work covered a square field of 20′ × 20′ that is      massive stars of the cluster were also formed.
inscribed within the 15′ radius fov of the EPIC cameras.
NGC 6231 being a quite young open cluster (age∼3-               XMM-Newton also detected the complete O-type star
5 Myr, Baume et al. 1999), we expect that the lower mass        population in the EPIC fov. Being strong but soft emit-
stars have not reached the ZAMS yet. Being probably             ters, these objects clearly dominate the EPIC images.
still embedded in their natal clouds, they might suffer a       Restraining our analysis to the 0.5-10.0 keV band, we de-
heavy circumstellar absorption. X-ray emission is how-          rived a new value for the LX − Lbol canonical relation,
ever one of the best selection criteria for these objects       expressed in the form of a scaling law. One of the most
(Sung & Bessell 2004) and the present XMM-Newton                outstanding results is the limited dispersion of the O-type
image of NGC 6231 might form one of the best censuses           star X-ray luminosities around this new canonical rela-
of the cluster PMS population so far. Hα emission is a          tion compared to the one observed by previous studies. It
further well known property of the classical T Tauri stars.     is clear that the fact that we have been able, among oth-
Among the 536 X-ray sources located within the field             ers, to identify and reject the colliding wind binary sys-
covered by the Sung et al. (1998) catalogue, we indeed          tems from the fit has helped to reduce the scattering. The
identified 93 candidates displaying a significant excess in       particular homogeneity of our sample, notably in terms
the R−Hα colour index (adopted as ∆(R−Hα) ≥ 0.12,               of age, metallicity and reddening, might have played a
see Sana et al. 2006b, for details).                            crucial role in this regard.
6

Finally, it is also worth to note that, within our sample,      Harnden, F. R., Branduardi, G., Gorenstein, P., et al.
variability of the X-ray flux is only observed for probable      1979, ApJ, 234, L51
colliding wind binaries. It is further the only mechanism
that seems to produce strong deviations from the canoni-        Long, K. S. & White, R. L. 1980, ApJ, 239, L65
cal relation. All in all, our analysis suggests thus that the
                                                                Pallavicini, R., Golub, L., Rosner, R., et al. 1981,
intrinsic X-ray emission from single O-type stars might
                                                                ApJ, 248, 279
be much more stable than previously thought, both in
terms of time-variability and of deviation from the mean        Pollock, A. M. T. 1987, ApJ, 320, 283
LX − Lbol relation.
                                                                Reed, B. C. 2003, AJ, 125, 2531
The comparison of the present results with others, derived
in an homogeneous way from the study of other young             Sana, H. 2005, PhD thesis, Li` ge University
                                                                                             e
open clusters, will therefore be of particular interest to
                                                                Sana, H., Rauw, G., & Gosset, E. 2001, A&A, 370,
probe the universality of the canonical relation. It could
                                                                121
further help to investigate the influence of other important
parameters, such as age and metallicity, which might cru-       Sana, H., Hensberge, H., Rauw, G., & Gosset, E.
cially affect the intrinsic X-ray emission of O-type stars.     2003, A&A, 405, 1063
Finally we note that, compared to XMM-Newton, future            Sana, H., Stevens, I. R., Gosset, E., Rauw, G., &
X-ray missions should definitely combine a high sensi-           Vreux, J.-M. 2004, MNRAS, 350, 809
tivity with an increased spatial resolution. The latter is
indeed crucial in very crowded fields such as the one stud-      Sana, H., Antokhina, E., Royer, P., et al. 2005a,
ied in this contribution. We also note that, while dealing      A&A, 441, 213
with such an extended data set, 12 months is a very short
time. One can thus wonder whether the proprietary pol-          Sana, H., Gosset, E., Rauw, G., Sung, H., & Vreux,
icy could not be extended to allow scientists to perform        J.-M. 2005b, A&A, in press
in-depth studies in good conditions.                            Sana, H., Rauw, G., Naz´ , Y., Gosset, E., & Vreux,
                                                                                       e
                                                                J.-M. 2006a, MNRAS, submitted

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS                                                 Sana, H., Rauw, G., Sung, H., Gosset, E., & Vreux,
                                                                J.-M. 2006b, MNRAS, in preparation

The present paper is based on data collected with XMM-          Schaller, G., Schaerer, D., Meynet, G., & Maeder, A.
Newton, an ESA Science Mission with instruments and             1992, A&AS, 96, 269
contributions directly funded by ESA Member States and          Schmidt-Kaler, T. 1982, Landolt-B¨ rnstein, Numeri-
                                                                                                    o
by the USA (NASA). The authors acknowledge sup-                 cal Data and Functional Relationships in Science and
port from the PRODEX XMM and Integral Projects, as              Technology, New Series, Group VI, Vol. 2b, Physical
well as contracts P4/05 and P5/36 ‘Pˆ le d’Attraction In-
                                        o                       Parameters of the Stars (Berlin: Springer-Verlag)
teruniversitaire’ (Belgium). They are also greatly in-
debted towards the ‘Fonds National de la Recherche Sci-         Seward, F. D., Forman, W. R., Giacconi, R., et al.
entifique’ (Belgium) for multiple supports. HS is grateful       1979, ApJ, 234, L55
to ESA, to the FNRS (Belgium) and to the ‘Patrimoine de
l’Universit´ de Li` ge’ for their contributions to the travel
           e       e                                            Siess, L., Dufour, E., & Forestini, M. 2000, A&A,
and accommodation expenses.                                     358, 593
                                                                Sung, H., Bessell, M. S., & Lee, S. 1998, AJ, 115,
                                                                734
REFERENCES
                                                                Sung, H. & Bessell, M. S. 2004, AJ, 127, 1014
    Baume, G., V´ zquez, R. A., & Feinstein, A. 1999,
                a
    A&AS, 137, 233
    Bergh¨ fer, T. W., Schmitt, J. H. M. M., Danner, R.,
         o
    & Cassinelli, J. P. 1997, A&A, 322, 167
    Bevington, P. 1969, Data Reduction and Error Anal-
    ysis for the Physical Sciences (USA: McGraw-Hill
    Book Company, Inc.)
    Bohlin, R. C., Savage, B. D., & Drake, J. F. 1978,
    ApJ, 224, 132
    Chlebowski, T. & Garmany, C. D. 1991, ApJ, 368,
    241

Más contenido relacionado

La actualidad más candente

Panoramic view of_ngc891
Panoramic view of_ngc891Panoramic view of_ngc891
Panoramic view of_ngc891Sérgio Sacani
 
Relativistic collapse and explosion of rotating supermassive stars with therm...
Relativistic collapse and explosion of rotating supermassive stars with therm...Relativistic collapse and explosion of rotating supermassive stars with therm...
Relativistic collapse and explosion of rotating supermassive stars with therm...Sérgio Sacani
 
The elusive active_nucleus_of_ngc_4945
The elusive active_nucleus_of_ngc_4945The elusive active_nucleus_of_ngc_4945
The elusive active_nucleus_of_ngc_4945Sérgio Sacani
 
A rapidly spinning_supermassive_black_hole_at_the_centre_of_ngc1365
A rapidly spinning_supermassive_black_hole_at_the_centre_of_ngc1365A rapidly spinning_supermassive_black_hole_at_the_centre_of_ngc1365
A rapidly spinning_supermassive_black_hole_at_the_centre_of_ngc1365Sérgio Sacani
 
Rings in the_haloes_of_planetary_nebulae
Rings in the_haloes_of_planetary_nebulaeRings in the_haloes_of_planetary_nebulae
Rings in the_haloes_of_planetary_nebulaeSérgio Sacani
 
The environment of_v633_cassiopeiae_and_v376_cassiopeiae
The environment of_v633_cassiopeiae_and_v376_cassiopeiaeThe environment of_v633_cassiopeiae_and_v376_cassiopeiae
The environment of_v633_cassiopeiae_and_v376_cassiopeiaeSérgio Sacani
 
Extended x ray emission in the h i cavity of ngc 4151- galaxy-scale active ga...
Extended x ray emission in the h i cavity of ngc 4151- galaxy-scale active ga...Extended x ray emission in the h i cavity of ngc 4151- galaxy-scale active ga...
Extended x ray emission in the h i cavity of ngc 4151- galaxy-scale active ga...Sérgio Sacani
 
Hard xray emission_in_the_star_formation_region_on2
Hard xray emission_in_the_star_formation_region_on2Hard xray emission_in_the_star_formation_region_on2
Hard xray emission_in_the_star_formation_region_on2Sérgio Sacani
 
Asymmetrical structure of_ionization_and_kinematics_in_the_seyfert_galaxy_ngc...
Asymmetrical structure of_ionization_and_kinematics_in_the_seyfert_galaxy_ngc...Asymmetrical structure of_ionization_and_kinematics_in_the_seyfert_galaxy_ngc...
Asymmetrical structure of_ionization_and_kinematics_in_the_seyfert_galaxy_ngc...Sérgio Sacani
 
A 300 parsec-long jet-inflated bubble around a powerful microquasar in the ga...
A 300 parsec-long jet-inflated bubble around a powerful microquasar in the ga...A 300 parsec-long jet-inflated bubble around a powerful microquasar in the ga...
A 300 parsec-long jet-inflated bubble around a powerful microquasar in the ga...Sérgio Sacani
 
The galactic supernova_remnant_w49_b_likely_originates_from_a_jet_driven
The galactic supernova_remnant_w49_b_likely_originates_from_a_jet_drivenThe galactic supernova_remnant_w49_b_likely_originates_from_a_jet_driven
The galactic supernova_remnant_w49_b_likely_originates_from_a_jet_drivenSérgio Sacani
 
Tracing evolution of_dust_in_eagle_nebula
Tracing evolution of_dust_in_eagle_nebulaTracing evolution of_dust_in_eagle_nebula
Tracing evolution of_dust_in_eagle_nebulaSérgio Sacani
 
Application of X-ray plasma diagnostics to nova winds
Application of X-ray plasma diagnostics to nova windsApplication of X-ray plasma diagnostics to nova winds
Application of X-ray plasma diagnostics to nova windsAstroAtom
 
The exceptional soft_x_ray_halo_of_the_galaxy_merger_ngc6240
The exceptional soft_x_ray_halo_of_the_galaxy_merger_ngc6240The exceptional soft_x_ray_halo_of_the_galaxy_merger_ngc6240
The exceptional soft_x_ray_halo_of_the_galaxy_merger_ngc6240Sérgio Sacani
 
Modulations in the_radio_light_curve_of_the_typeiib_supernova_2001ig
Modulations in the_radio_light_curve_of_the_typeiib_supernova_2001igModulations in the_radio_light_curve_of_the_typeiib_supernova_2001ig
Modulations in the_radio_light_curve_of_the_typeiib_supernova_2001igSérgio Sacani
 

La actualidad más candente (20)

Panoramic view of_ngc891
Panoramic view of_ngc891Panoramic view of_ngc891
Panoramic view of_ngc891
 
Relativistic collapse and explosion of rotating supermassive stars with therm...
Relativistic collapse and explosion of rotating supermassive stars with therm...Relativistic collapse and explosion of rotating supermassive stars with therm...
Relativistic collapse and explosion of rotating supermassive stars with therm...
 
The elusive active_nucleus_of_ngc_4945
The elusive active_nucleus_of_ngc_4945The elusive active_nucleus_of_ngc_4945
The elusive active_nucleus_of_ngc_4945
 
Karavasilev
KaravasilevKaravasilev
Karavasilev
 
A rapidly spinning_supermassive_black_hole_at_the_centre_of_ngc1365
A rapidly spinning_supermassive_black_hole_at_the_centre_of_ngc1365A rapidly spinning_supermassive_black_hole_at_the_centre_of_ngc1365
A rapidly spinning_supermassive_black_hole_at_the_centre_of_ngc1365
 
Rings in the_haloes_of_planetary_nebulae
Rings in the_haloes_of_planetary_nebulaeRings in the_haloes_of_planetary_nebulae
Rings in the_haloes_of_planetary_nebulae
 
The environment of_v633_cassiopeiae_and_v376_cassiopeiae
The environment of_v633_cassiopeiae_and_v376_cassiopeiaeThe environment of_v633_cassiopeiae_and_v376_cassiopeiae
The environment of_v633_cassiopeiae_and_v376_cassiopeiae
 
Ngc 4151 02
Ngc 4151 02Ngc 4151 02
Ngc 4151 02
 
Extended x ray emission in the h i cavity of ngc 4151- galaxy-scale active ga...
Extended x ray emission in the h i cavity of ngc 4151- galaxy-scale active ga...Extended x ray emission in the h i cavity of ngc 4151- galaxy-scale active ga...
Extended x ray emission in the h i cavity of ngc 4151- galaxy-scale active ga...
 
Hard xray emission_in_the_star_formation_region_on2
Hard xray emission_in_the_star_formation_region_on2Hard xray emission_in_the_star_formation_region_on2
Hard xray emission_in_the_star_formation_region_on2
 
Asymmetrical structure of_ionization_and_kinematics_in_the_seyfert_galaxy_ngc...
Asymmetrical structure of_ionization_and_kinematics_in_the_seyfert_galaxy_ngc...Asymmetrical structure of_ionization_and_kinematics_in_the_seyfert_galaxy_ngc...
Asymmetrical structure of_ionization_and_kinematics_in_the_seyfert_galaxy_ngc...
 
Ngc4151 01
Ngc4151 01Ngc4151 01
Ngc4151 01
 
A 300 parsec-long jet-inflated bubble around a powerful microquasar in the ga...
A 300 parsec-long jet-inflated bubble around a powerful microquasar in the ga...A 300 parsec-long jet-inflated bubble around a powerful microquasar in the ga...
A 300 parsec-long jet-inflated bubble around a powerful microquasar in the ga...
 
The galactic supernova_remnant_w49_b_likely_originates_from_a_jet_driven
The galactic supernova_remnant_w49_b_likely_originates_from_a_jet_drivenThe galactic supernova_remnant_w49_b_likely_originates_from_a_jet_driven
The galactic supernova_remnant_w49_b_likely_originates_from_a_jet_driven
 
Tracing evolution of_dust_in_eagle_nebula
Tracing evolution of_dust_in_eagle_nebulaTracing evolution of_dust_in_eagle_nebula
Tracing evolution of_dust_in_eagle_nebula
 
Application of X-ray plasma diagnostics to nova winds
Application of X-ray plasma diagnostics to nova windsApplication of X-ray plasma diagnostics to nova winds
Application of X-ray plasma diagnostics to nova winds
 
The exceptional soft_x_ray_halo_of_the_galaxy_merger_ngc6240
The exceptional soft_x_ray_halo_of_the_galaxy_merger_ngc6240The exceptional soft_x_ray_halo_of_the_galaxy_merger_ngc6240
The exceptional soft_x_ray_halo_of_the_galaxy_merger_ngc6240
 
Modulations in the_radio_light_curve_of_the_typeiib_supernova_2001ig
Modulations in the_radio_light_curve_of_the_typeiib_supernova_2001igModulations in the_radio_light_curve_of_the_typeiib_supernova_2001ig
Modulations in the_radio_light_curve_of_the_typeiib_supernova_2001ig
 
389265a0
389265a0389265a0
389265a0
 
Engel macko 1997
Engel macko 1997Engel macko 1997
Engel macko 1997
 

Destacado

Sales and marketing funnel 9 stages powerpoint presentation templates.
Sales and marketing funnel 9 stages powerpoint presentation templates.Sales and marketing funnel 9 stages powerpoint presentation templates.
Sales and marketing funnel 9 stages powerpoint presentation templates.SlideTeam.net
 
The intermediate age_open_cluster_ngc2158
The intermediate age_open_cluster_ngc2158The intermediate age_open_cluster_ngc2158
The intermediate age_open_cluster_ngc2158Sérgio Sacani
 
5º Ideias na Laje - Apresentação 5.0 // Caronetas
5º Ideias na Laje - Apresentação 5.0 // Caronetas5º Ideias na Laje - Apresentação 5.0 // Caronetas
5º Ideias na Laje - Apresentação 5.0 // CaronetasIdeias na Laje
 
Requirements and challenges in developing networks and infrastructure in rura...
Requirements and challenges in developing networks and infrastructure in rura...Requirements and challenges in developing networks and infrastructure in rura...
Requirements and challenges in developing networks and infrastructure in rura...Liberia Telecommunications Authority
 
Best practices to increase the performance of web-based applications
Best practices to increase the performance of web-based applicationsBest practices to increase the performance of web-based applications
Best practices to increase the performance of web-based applicationsMouhamad Kawas
 

Destacado (6)

Sales and marketing funnel 9 stages powerpoint presentation templates.
Sales and marketing funnel 9 stages powerpoint presentation templates.Sales and marketing funnel 9 stages powerpoint presentation templates.
Sales and marketing funnel 9 stages powerpoint presentation templates.
 
The intermediate age_open_cluster_ngc2158
The intermediate age_open_cluster_ngc2158The intermediate age_open_cluster_ngc2158
The intermediate age_open_cluster_ngc2158
 
5º Ideias na Laje - Apresentação 5.0 // Caronetas
5º Ideias na Laje - Apresentação 5.0 // Caronetas5º Ideias na Laje - Apresentação 5.0 // Caronetas
5º Ideias na Laje - Apresentação 5.0 // Caronetas
 
Requirements and challenges in developing networks and infrastructure in rura...
Requirements and challenges in developing networks and infrastructure in rura...Requirements and challenges in developing networks and infrastructure in rura...
Requirements and challenges in developing networks and infrastructure in rura...
 
Best practices to increase the performance of web-based applications
Best practices to increase the performance of web-based applicationsBest practices to increase the performance of web-based applications
Best practices to increase the performance of web-based applications
 
Aa17709 11
Aa17709 11Aa17709 11
Aa17709 11
 

Similar a An exceptional xray_view_of_the_young_open_cluster_ngc6231

Investigating the nuclear_activity_of_ngc1672
Investigating the nuclear_activity_of_ngc1672Investigating the nuclear_activity_of_ngc1672
Investigating the nuclear_activity_of_ngc1672Sérgio Sacani
 
Type iax supernovae_a_new_class_of_stellar_explosion
Type iax supernovae_a_new_class_of_stellar_explosionType iax supernovae_a_new_class_of_stellar_explosion
Type iax supernovae_a_new_class_of_stellar_explosionSérgio Sacani
 
Off nuclear star_formation_and_obscured_activity_in_the_luminous_infrared_gal...
Off nuclear star_formation_and_obscured_activity_in_the_luminous_infrared_gal...Off nuclear star_formation_and_obscured_activity_in_the_luminous_infrared_gal...
Off nuclear star_formation_and_obscured_activity_in_the_luminous_infrared_gal...Sérgio Sacani
 
Ngc3801 caught in_the_act_a_post_merger_starforming
Ngc3801 caught in_the_act_a_post_merger_starformingNgc3801 caught in_the_act_a_post_merger_starforming
Ngc3801 caught in_the_act_a_post_merger_starformingSérgio Sacani
 
Spatially resolved images_of_dust_belt_around_the_planet_hosting_subgiant_κ_cr_b
Spatially resolved images_of_dust_belt_around_the_planet_hosting_subgiant_κ_cr_bSpatially resolved images_of_dust_belt_around_the_planet_hosting_subgiant_κ_cr_b
Spatially resolved images_of_dust_belt_around_the_planet_hosting_subgiant_κ_cr_bSérgio Sacani
 
Catch me if_you_can_is_there_a_runaway_mass_black_hole_in_the_orion_nebula_cl...
Catch me if_you_can_is_there_a_runaway_mass_black_hole_in_the_orion_nebula_cl...Catch me if_you_can_is_there_a_runaway_mass_black_hole_in_the_orion_nebula_cl...
Catch me if_you_can_is_there_a_runaway_mass_black_hole_in_the_orion_nebula_cl...Sérgio Sacani
 
A LUMINOUS Be+WHITE DWARF SUPERSOFT SOURCE IN THE WING OF THE SMC: MAXI J0158...
A LUMINOUS Be+WHITE DWARF SUPERSOFT SOURCE IN THE WING OF THE SMC: MAXI J0158...A LUMINOUS Be+WHITE DWARF SUPERSOFT SOURCE IN THE WING OF THE SMC: MAXI J0158...
A LUMINOUS Be+WHITE DWARF SUPERSOFT SOURCE IN THE WING OF THE SMC: MAXI J0158...Carlos Bella
 
Obscuration rings in_hercules_a
Obscuration rings in_hercules_aObscuration rings in_hercules_a
Obscuration rings in_hercules_aSérgio Sacani
 
Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy n...
Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy n...Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy n...
Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy n...Sérgio Sacani
 
Pulsed accretion in_a_variable_protostar
Pulsed accretion in_a_variable_protostarPulsed accretion in_a_variable_protostar
Pulsed accretion in_a_variable_protostarSérgio Sacani
 
Nucleosynthetic layers in_the_shocked_ejecta_of_cassiopeia_a
Nucleosynthetic layers in_the_shocked_ejecta_of_cassiopeia_aNucleosynthetic layers in_the_shocked_ejecta_of_cassiopeia_a
Nucleosynthetic layers in_the_shocked_ejecta_of_cassiopeia_aSérgio Sacani
 
Too much pasta_for_pulsars_to_spin_down
Too much pasta_for_pulsars_to_spin_downToo much pasta_for_pulsars_to_spin_down
Too much pasta_for_pulsars_to_spin_downSérgio Sacani
 
The outer rings_of_sn1987a
The outer rings_of_sn1987aThe outer rings_of_sn1987a
The outer rings_of_sn1987aSérgio Sacani
 
Cosmological implications of_a_massive_lensing_cluster
Cosmological implications of_a_massive_lensing_clusterCosmological implications of_a_massive_lensing_cluster
Cosmological implications of_a_massive_lensing_clusterSérgio Sacani
 
Creation of cosmic structure in the complex galaxy cluster merger abell 2744
Creation of cosmic structure in the complex galaxy cluster  merger abell 2744Creation of cosmic structure in the complex galaxy cluster  merger abell 2744
Creation of cosmic structure in the complex galaxy cluster merger abell 2744Sérgio Sacani
 

Similar a An exceptional xray_view_of_the_young_open_cluster_ngc6231 (20)

Investigating the nuclear_activity_of_ngc1672
Investigating the nuclear_activity_of_ngc1672Investigating the nuclear_activity_of_ngc1672
Investigating the nuclear_activity_of_ngc1672
 
Ngc 4151 03
Ngc 4151 03Ngc 4151 03
Ngc 4151 03
 
Newly born pulsars
Newly born pulsarsNewly born pulsars
Newly born pulsars
 
Type iax supernovae_a_new_class_of_stellar_explosion
Type iax supernovae_a_new_class_of_stellar_explosionType iax supernovae_a_new_class_of_stellar_explosion
Type iax supernovae_a_new_class_of_stellar_explosion
 
Off nuclear star_formation_and_obscured_activity_in_the_luminous_infrared_gal...
Off nuclear star_formation_and_obscured_activity_in_the_luminous_infrared_gal...Off nuclear star_formation_and_obscured_activity_in_the_luminous_infrared_gal...
Off nuclear star_formation_and_obscured_activity_in_the_luminous_infrared_gal...
 
9805153v1
9805153v19805153v1
9805153v1
 
Ngc3801 caught in_the_act_a_post_merger_starforming
Ngc3801 caught in_the_act_a_post_merger_starformingNgc3801 caught in_the_act_a_post_merger_starforming
Ngc3801 caught in_the_act_a_post_merger_starforming
 
Ngc760 02
Ngc760 02Ngc760 02
Ngc760 02
 
Spatially resolved images_of_dust_belt_around_the_planet_hosting_subgiant_κ_cr_b
Spatially resolved images_of_dust_belt_around_the_planet_hosting_subgiant_κ_cr_bSpatially resolved images_of_dust_belt_around_the_planet_hosting_subgiant_κ_cr_b
Spatially resolved images_of_dust_belt_around_the_planet_hosting_subgiant_κ_cr_b
 
Catch me if_you_can_is_there_a_runaway_mass_black_hole_in_the_orion_nebula_cl...
Catch me if_you_can_is_there_a_runaway_mass_black_hole_in_the_orion_nebula_cl...Catch me if_you_can_is_there_a_runaway_mass_black_hole_in_the_orion_nebula_cl...
Catch me if_you_can_is_there_a_runaway_mass_black_hole_in_the_orion_nebula_cl...
 
A LUMINOUS Be+WHITE DWARF SUPERSOFT SOURCE IN THE WING OF THE SMC: MAXI J0158...
A LUMINOUS Be+WHITE DWARF SUPERSOFT SOURCE IN THE WING OF THE SMC: MAXI J0158...A LUMINOUS Be+WHITE DWARF SUPERSOFT SOURCE IN THE WING OF THE SMC: MAXI J0158...
A LUMINOUS Be+WHITE DWARF SUPERSOFT SOURCE IN THE WING OF THE SMC: MAXI J0158...
 
Karavasilev
KaravasilevKaravasilev
Karavasilev
 
Obscuration rings in_hercules_a
Obscuration rings in_hercules_aObscuration rings in_hercules_a
Obscuration rings in_hercules_a
 
Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy n...
Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy n...Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy n...
Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy n...
 
Pulsed accretion in_a_variable_protostar
Pulsed accretion in_a_variable_protostarPulsed accretion in_a_variable_protostar
Pulsed accretion in_a_variable_protostar
 
Nucleosynthetic layers in_the_shocked_ejecta_of_cassiopeia_a
Nucleosynthetic layers in_the_shocked_ejecta_of_cassiopeia_aNucleosynthetic layers in_the_shocked_ejecta_of_cassiopeia_a
Nucleosynthetic layers in_the_shocked_ejecta_of_cassiopeia_a
 
Too much pasta_for_pulsars_to_spin_down
Too much pasta_for_pulsars_to_spin_downToo much pasta_for_pulsars_to_spin_down
Too much pasta_for_pulsars_to_spin_down
 
The outer rings_of_sn1987a
The outer rings_of_sn1987aThe outer rings_of_sn1987a
The outer rings_of_sn1987a
 
Cosmological implications of_a_massive_lensing_cluster
Cosmological implications of_a_massive_lensing_clusterCosmological implications of_a_massive_lensing_cluster
Cosmological implications of_a_massive_lensing_cluster
 
Creation of cosmic structure in the complex galaxy cluster merger abell 2744
Creation of cosmic structure in the complex galaxy cluster  merger abell 2744Creation of cosmic structure in the complex galaxy cluster  merger abell 2744
Creation of cosmic structure in the complex galaxy cluster merger abell 2744
 

Más de Sérgio Sacani

Thermonuclear explosions on neutron stars reveal the speed of their jets
Thermonuclear explosions on neutron stars reveal the speed of their jetsThermonuclear explosions on neutron stars reveal the speed of their jets
Thermonuclear explosions on neutron stars reveal the speed of their jetsSérgio Sacani
 
Identification of Superclusters and Their Properties in the Sloan Digital Sky...
Identification of Superclusters and Their Properties in the Sloan Digital Sky...Identification of Superclusters and Their Properties in the Sloan Digital Sky...
Identification of Superclusters and Their Properties in the Sloan Digital Sky...Sérgio Sacani
 
Digitized Continuous Magnetic Recordings for the August/September 1859 Storms...
Digitized Continuous Magnetic Recordings for the August/September 1859 Storms...Digitized Continuous Magnetic Recordings for the August/September 1859 Storms...
Digitized Continuous Magnetic Recordings for the August/September 1859 Storms...Sérgio Sacani
 
Shiva and Shakti: Presumed Proto-Galactic Fragments in the Inner Milky Way
Shiva and Shakti: Presumed Proto-Galactic Fragments in the Inner Milky WayShiva and Shakti: Presumed Proto-Galactic Fragments in the Inner Milky Way
Shiva and Shakti: Presumed Proto-Galactic Fragments in the Inner Milky WaySérgio Sacani
 
Legacy Analysis of Dark Matter Annihilation from the Milky Way Dwarf Spheroid...
Legacy Analysis of Dark Matter Annihilation from the Milky Way Dwarf Spheroid...Legacy Analysis of Dark Matter Annihilation from the Milky Way Dwarf Spheroid...
Legacy Analysis of Dark Matter Annihilation from the Milky Way Dwarf Spheroid...Sérgio Sacani
 
Introducing the Exoplanet Escape Factor and the Fishbowl Worlds (Two conceptu...
Introducing the Exoplanet Escape Factor and the Fishbowl Worlds (Two conceptu...Introducing the Exoplanet Escape Factor and the Fishbowl Worlds (Two conceptu...
Introducing the Exoplanet Escape Factor and the Fishbowl Worlds (Two conceptu...Sérgio Sacani
 
Revelando Marte - Livro Sobre a Exploração do Planeta Vermelho
Revelando Marte - Livro Sobre a Exploração do Planeta VermelhoRevelando Marte - Livro Sobre a Exploração do Planeta Vermelho
Revelando Marte - Livro Sobre a Exploração do Planeta VermelhoSérgio Sacani
 
Weak-lensing detection of intracluster filaments in the Coma cluster
Weak-lensing detection of intracluster filaments in the Coma clusterWeak-lensing detection of intracluster filaments in the Coma cluster
Weak-lensing detection of intracluster filaments in the Coma clusterSérgio Sacani
 
Quasar and Microquasar Series - Microquasars in our Galaxy
Quasar and Microquasar Series - Microquasars in our GalaxyQuasar and Microquasar Series - Microquasars in our Galaxy
Quasar and Microquasar Series - Microquasars in our GalaxySérgio Sacani
 
A galactic microquasar mimicking winged radio galaxies
A galactic microquasar mimicking winged radio galaxiesA galactic microquasar mimicking winged radio galaxies
A galactic microquasar mimicking winged radio galaxiesSérgio Sacani
 
Planeta 9 - A Pan-STARRS1 Search for Planet Nine
Planeta 9 - A Pan-STARRS1 Search for Planet NinePlaneta 9 - A Pan-STARRS1 Search for Planet Nine
Planeta 9 - A Pan-STARRS1 Search for Planet NineSérgio Sacani
 
IM-1 Press Kit - Kit de Imprensa do Lançmento da Missão IM-1
IM-1 Press Kit - Kit de Imprensa do Lançmento da Missão IM-1IM-1 Press Kit - Kit de Imprensa do Lançmento da Missão IM-1
IM-1 Press Kit - Kit de Imprensa do Lançmento da Missão IM-1Sérgio Sacani
 
A seven-Earth-radius helium-burning star inside a 20.5-min detached binary
A seven-Earth-radius helium-burning star inside a 20.5-min detached binaryA seven-Earth-radius helium-burning star inside a 20.5-min detached binary
A seven-Earth-radius helium-burning star inside a 20.5-min detached binarySérgio Sacani
 
A review of volcanic electrification of the atmosphere and volcanic lightning
A review of volcanic electrification of the atmosphere and volcanic lightningA review of volcanic electrification of the atmosphere and volcanic lightning
A review of volcanic electrification of the atmosphere and volcanic lightningSérgio Sacani
 
Geological evidence of extensive N-fixation by volcanic lightning during very...
Geological evidence of extensive N-fixation by volcanic lightning during very...Geological evidence of extensive N-fixation by volcanic lightning during very...
Geological evidence of extensive N-fixation by volcanic lightning during very...Sérgio Sacani
 
A recently formed ocean inside Saturn’s moon Mimas
A recently formed ocean inside Saturn’s moon MimasA recently formed ocean inside Saturn’s moon Mimas
A recently formed ocean inside Saturn’s moon MimasSérgio Sacani
 
The BINGO Project IX. Search for fast radio bursts – A forecast for the BINGO...
The BINGO Project IX. Search for fast radio bursts – A forecast for the BINGO...The BINGO Project IX. Search for fast radio bursts – A forecast for the BINGO...
The BINGO Project IX. Search for fast radio bursts – A forecast for the BINGO...Sérgio Sacani
 
Life, the Universe, andSETI in a Nutshell
Life, the Universe, andSETI in a NutshellLife, the Universe, andSETI in a Nutshell
Life, the Universe, andSETI in a NutshellSérgio Sacani
 
"Space Shuttle: '. . .When data flows, crew and craft are knit into action. ....
"Space Shuttle: '. . .When data flows, crew and craft are knit into action. ...."Space Shuttle: '. . .When data flows, crew and craft are knit into action. ....
"Space Shuttle: '. . .When data flows, crew and craft are knit into action. ....Sérgio Sacani
 
The Transcension Hypothesis: Sufficiently Advanced Civilizations Invariably L...
The Transcension Hypothesis: Sufficiently Advanced Civilizations Invariably L...The Transcension Hypothesis: Sufficiently Advanced Civilizations Invariably L...
The Transcension Hypothesis: Sufficiently Advanced Civilizations Invariably L...Sérgio Sacani
 

Más de Sérgio Sacani (20)

Thermonuclear explosions on neutron stars reveal the speed of their jets
Thermonuclear explosions on neutron stars reveal the speed of their jetsThermonuclear explosions on neutron stars reveal the speed of their jets
Thermonuclear explosions on neutron stars reveal the speed of their jets
 
Identification of Superclusters and Their Properties in the Sloan Digital Sky...
Identification of Superclusters and Their Properties in the Sloan Digital Sky...Identification of Superclusters and Their Properties in the Sloan Digital Sky...
Identification of Superclusters and Their Properties in the Sloan Digital Sky...
 
Digitized Continuous Magnetic Recordings for the August/September 1859 Storms...
Digitized Continuous Magnetic Recordings for the August/September 1859 Storms...Digitized Continuous Magnetic Recordings for the August/September 1859 Storms...
Digitized Continuous Magnetic Recordings for the August/September 1859 Storms...
 
Shiva and Shakti: Presumed Proto-Galactic Fragments in the Inner Milky Way
Shiva and Shakti: Presumed Proto-Galactic Fragments in the Inner Milky WayShiva and Shakti: Presumed Proto-Galactic Fragments in the Inner Milky Way
Shiva and Shakti: Presumed Proto-Galactic Fragments in the Inner Milky Way
 
Legacy Analysis of Dark Matter Annihilation from the Milky Way Dwarf Spheroid...
Legacy Analysis of Dark Matter Annihilation from the Milky Way Dwarf Spheroid...Legacy Analysis of Dark Matter Annihilation from the Milky Way Dwarf Spheroid...
Legacy Analysis of Dark Matter Annihilation from the Milky Way Dwarf Spheroid...
 
Introducing the Exoplanet Escape Factor and the Fishbowl Worlds (Two conceptu...
Introducing the Exoplanet Escape Factor and the Fishbowl Worlds (Two conceptu...Introducing the Exoplanet Escape Factor and the Fishbowl Worlds (Two conceptu...
Introducing the Exoplanet Escape Factor and the Fishbowl Worlds (Two conceptu...
 
Revelando Marte - Livro Sobre a Exploração do Planeta Vermelho
Revelando Marte - Livro Sobre a Exploração do Planeta VermelhoRevelando Marte - Livro Sobre a Exploração do Planeta Vermelho
Revelando Marte - Livro Sobre a Exploração do Planeta Vermelho
 
Weak-lensing detection of intracluster filaments in the Coma cluster
Weak-lensing detection of intracluster filaments in the Coma clusterWeak-lensing detection of intracluster filaments in the Coma cluster
Weak-lensing detection of intracluster filaments in the Coma cluster
 
Quasar and Microquasar Series - Microquasars in our Galaxy
Quasar and Microquasar Series - Microquasars in our GalaxyQuasar and Microquasar Series - Microquasars in our Galaxy
Quasar and Microquasar Series - Microquasars in our Galaxy
 
A galactic microquasar mimicking winged radio galaxies
A galactic microquasar mimicking winged radio galaxiesA galactic microquasar mimicking winged radio galaxies
A galactic microquasar mimicking winged radio galaxies
 
Planeta 9 - A Pan-STARRS1 Search for Planet Nine
Planeta 9 - A Pan-STARRS1 Search for Planet NinePlaneta 9 - A Pan-STARRS1 Search for Planet Nine
Planeta 9 - A Pan-STARRS1 Search for Planet Nine
 
IM-1 Press Kit - Kit de Imprensa do Lançmento da Missão IM-1
IM-1 Press Kit - Kit de Imprensa do Lançmento da Missão IM-1IM-1 Press Kit - Kit de Imprensa do Lançmento da Missão IM-1
IM-1 Press Kit - Kit de Imprensa do Lançmento da Missão IM-1
 
A seven-Earth-radius helium-burning star inside a 20.5-min detached binary
A seven-Earth-radius helium-burning star inside a 20.5-min detached binaryA seven-Earth-radius helium-burning star inside a 20.5-min detached binary
A seven-Earth-radius helium-burning star inside a 20.5-min detached binary
 
A review of volcanic electrification of the atmosphere and volcanic lightning
A review of volcanic electrification of the atmosphere and volcanic lightningA review of volcanic electrification of the atmosphere and volcanic lightning
A review of volcanic electrification of the atmosphere and volcanic lightning
 
Geological evidence of extensive N-fixation by volcanic lightning during very...
Geological evidence of extensive N-fixation by volcanic lightning during very...Geological evidence of extensive N-fixation by volcanic lightning during very...
Geological evidence of extensive N-fixation by volcanic lightning during very...
 
A recently formed ocean inside Saturn’s moon Mimas
A recently formed ocean inside Saturn’s moon MimasA recently formed ocean inside Saturn’s moon Mimas
A recently formed ocean inside Saturn’s moon Mimas
 
The BINGO Project IX. Search for fast radio bursts – A forecast for the BINGO...
The BINGO Project IX. Search for fast radio bursts – A forecast for the BINGO...The BINGO Project IX. Search for fast radio bursts – A forecast for the BINGO...
The BINGO Project IX. Search for fast radio bursts – A forecast for the BINGO...
 
Life, the Universe, andSETI in a Nutshell
Life, the Universe, andSETI in a NutshellLife, the Universe, andSETI in a Nutshell
Life, the Universe, andSETI in a Nutshell
 
"Space Shuttle: '. . .When data flows, crew and craft are knit into action. ....
"Space Shuttle: '. . .When data flows, crew and craft are knit into action. ...."Space Shuttle: '. . .When data flows, crew and craft are knit into action. ....
"Space Shuttle: '. . .When data flows, crew and craft are knit into action. ....
 
The Transcension Hypothesis: Sufficiently Advanced Civilizations Invariably L...
The Transcension Hypothesis: Sufficiently Advanced Civilizations Invariably L...The Transcension Hypothesis: Sufficiently Advanced Civilizations Invariably L...
The Transcension Hypothesis: Sufficiently Advanced Civilizations Invariably L...
 

An exceptional xray_view_of_the_young_open_cluster_ngc6231

  • 1. 1 AN EXCEPTIONAL X-RAY VIEW OF THE YOUNG OPEN CLUSTER NGC 6231: WHAT XMM-NEWTON HAS TAUGHT US arXiv:astro-ph/0511700v1 24 Nov 2005 H. Sana∗ E. Gosset† G. Rauw† , and J.-M. Vreux , , Institut d’Astrophysique et de G´ ophysique, Li` ge University, All´ e du 6 Aoˆ t 17, Bat. B5c, B-4000 Li` ge, Belgium e e e u e ABSTRACT These shocks, believed to result from the growth of insta- bilities of the line driving mechanism, heat the wind ma- terial to temperatures of the order of ten million Kelvin, Considered as the core of the Sco OB1 association, the thus producing a substantial amount of soft X-ray emis- young open cluster NGC 6231 harbours a rich O-type sion. From the observational point of view, it was soon star population. In 2001, the XMM-Newton satellite tar- realized (e.g. Harnden et al. 1979; Long & White 1980; geted the cluster for a nominal duration of about 180 ks. Pallavicini et al. 1981) that the X-ray luminosities of Thanks to the detector sensitivity, the EPIC cameras pro- hot stars were related to their bolometric luminosities vided an unprecedented X-ray view of NGC 6231, re- through the so-called canonical LX − Lbol relation. In vealing about 600 point-like sources. In this contribu- its generic form, this relation can be written as follows: tion, we review the main results that have been obtained thanks to this unprecedented data set. Concerning the O- LX ≈ 10−7 Lbol . (1) type stars, we present the latest developments related to The X-ray luminosities of O-type stars seem however the so-called canonical LX − Lbol relation. The disper- to present a large scatter around this relation (e.g. sion around this relation might actually be much smaller Bergh¨ fer et al. 1997), typically of about a factor 2 to 3. o than previously thought. In our data set, the sole mecha- nism that yields a significant deviation from this scheme Beside the intrinsic emission of single stars, massive bi- is wind interaction. It is also the sole mechanism that naries are often more X-ray luminous compared to equiv- induces a significant variation of the early-type star X- alent single stars (Pollock 1987; Chlebowski & Garmany ray flux. In a second part of this contribution, we probe 1991). This additional X-ray emission is usually inter- the properties of the optically faint X-ray sources. Most preted as the signature of a wind interaction resulting ei- of them are believed to be low mass pre-main sequence ther from the collision of the winds of the two stars of stars. Their analysis provides direct insight into the star the system or, if the wind from one component is much formation history of the cluster. stronger than the other, from the interaction of the over- whelming wind with the secondary photosphere. This X- Key words: Stars: fundamental parameters – Stars: ray emission might further undergo phase-locked mod- early-type – X-rays: individuals: NGC 6231 – X-rays: ulations, resulting from the variation of the absorption stars – Open clusters and associations: individuals: NGC along the line of sight. In eccentric binaries, such phase- 6231. locked modulations might also result from the change of the shock strength due to the varying distance between the two stars. 1. INTRODUCTION Considered as the core of the Sco OB1 association, the young open cluster NGC 6231 hosts a rich early-type star population of different sub-spectral types and luminosity Hot stars are known to be strong but soft X-ray emit- classes. Located at a distance of only about 1.6 kpc, it ters since the launch of the EINSTEIN satellite in Decem- constitutes an ideal target to study the X-ray properties ber 1978 (Harnden et al. 1979; Seward et al. 1979). Al- of an homogeneous (in terms of age, reddening, chemi- though historically several hypotheses have been put for- cal composition, ...) sample of OB-type stars. NGC 6231 ward to explain the origin of this X-ray emission, it is was thus chosen as the target of a 180 ks monitoring cam- now commonly accepted that the latter is produced by paign performed in the framework of the Li` ge project for e shocks occurring within the denser layers of the wind. the Optical Monitor consortium guaranteed time. Car- ried out within a 5-day period in September 2001, the ∗ FNRS Research Fellow campaign actually consisted of six separate pointings of † FNRS Research Associate 30 ks each. Nonetheless it forms one of the deepest X-ray
  • 2. 2 (α2000 = 16h 54m 10.06, δ2000 = −41◦ 49′ 30 ′′ 1), in the s . core of the cluster. Position angles (PAs) were very simi- lar through the six exposures. All three EPIC instruments were operated in the Full Frame mode together with the Thick Filter to reject UV/optical light. Due to the bright- ness of the cluster objects in the fov, the Optical Monitor was switched off throughout the campaign. The EPIC Observation Data Files (ODFs) were pro- cessed using the XMM-Science Analysis System (SAS) v 5.4.1 implemented on our computers in Li` ge. We ap- e plied the emproc and epproc pipeline chains respectively to the MOS and pn raw data to generate proper event list files. No indication of pile-up was found in the data. We then only considered events with patterns 0-12 (resp. 0- 4) for MOS (resp. pn) instruments and we applied the filtering criterion XMMEA EM (resp. FLAG = 0) as rec- ommended by the Science Operation Centre (SOC) tech- nical note XMM-PS-TN-43 v3.0. For each pointing, we Figure 1. Combined EPIC-MOS three-color X-ray im- rejected periods affected by soft proton flares. For this age of the young open cluster NGC 6231, showing the purpose, we built light curves at energies above 10 keV1 central part of the fov. It approximately corresponds to and discarded high background observing periods on the MOS CCD#1; the presented field is thus about 5′ × 5′ . basis of an empirically derived threshold (adopted as 0.2 The different false colors correspond to different energy and 1.0 cnt s−1 for the MOS and pn instruments respec- ranges: red: 0.5-1.0 keV; green: 1.0-2.5 keV; blue: 2.5- tively). The so-defined GTIs (Good Time Intervals) were 10.0 keV. The color image is also available from the used to produce adequate X-ray event lists for each point- XMM-Newton Image Gallery: http://xmm.vilspa.esa.es/ ing from which we extracted images using x- and y-image external/xmm science/gallery/public/index.php bin sizes of 50 virtual pixels 2 . We finally combined the event lists obtained for all six views ever acquired of a young open cluster, but the par- pointings to improve the statistics of faint sources. For ticular schedule of the campaign further allows to study this purpose, we used the SAS task merge. For each the variability of the X-ray properties of the objects on EPIC instrument, we included the event lists resulting different time scales. The analysis of this remarkable data from different pointings one by one. We also built merged set is presented in a series of papers (Sana et al. 2005b, event lists that combine the twelve MOS or the eighteen 2006a,b) to which we refer for further details. EPIC event lists. The Attitude Files generated by the pipeline were merged using the same approach and we Beside the XMM-Newton observations, we have also adopted, for handling the merged event lists, the Calibra- monitored all the O-type stars and some of the bright- tion Index File (CIF) and the ODF corresponding to the est B-type stars in the EPIC field of view (fov) by means first pointing. of high resolution optical spectroscopy (mainly acquired using the ESO spectrograph FEROS). This data set has The total effective exposure times towards the cluster allowed us to provide further constraints on the physi- are, respectively for the MOS1, MOS2 and pn instru- cal properties of the early-type stars in NGC 6231 (Sana ments, of 176.5, 175.0 and 147.5 ks. Together with the 2005). In particular, we revised their multiplicity and re- high sensitivity of the XMM-Newton observatory, the derived their spectral classification. Thanks to the qual- combination of the six pointings and of the three in- ity of the FEROS data, we have detected the secondary struments provides one of the deepest X-ray views of a signature for eight out of the nine O-type binaries in the young open cluster. Fig. 1 shows a three-colour image EPIC fov. Together with the existing photometry of the of NGC 6231 and reveals a densely populated field with cluster (e.g. Sung et al. 1998), the tight constraints on hundreds of point-like X-ray sources. We estimate our the properties of the early-type stars provide a firm ba- detection flux limit to lie between about 3 × 10−15 and sis for the X-ray analysis. The complementarity between 1.5 × 10−14 erg cm−2 s−1 depending on the position on the X-ray and optical data further constitutes one of the the detectors and on the source spectrum. strengths of the present work. For each source, we finally adopted a circular extraction region with a radius corresponding to half the distance 1 Expressed in Pulse Invariant (PI) channel numbers and consider- 2. OBSERVATIONS AND DATA REDUCTION ing that 1 PI channel approximately corresponds to 1 eV, the adopted criterion is actually PI > 10 000. 2 Though the physical pixels of the EPIC MOS and pn detectors XMM-Newton performed the six successive exposures of ′′ ′′ have an extent on the sky of respectively 1. 1 and 4. 1, the virtual pixels our campaign during satellite revolutions 319 to 321. The ′′ of the three instruments correspond to an extent 0. 05. The obtained fov was centered on the colliding wind binary HD 152248 ′′ images have thus a pixel size of 2. 5.
  • 3. 3 sulted in 108 objects among which 92 B-stars, 15 O-stars and one WR system (WR 79). All the O-type stars were detected by XMM-Newton as soft but strong sources, which allowed us to study the complete population rather than a subsample of it. On the other hand, only about 20% of the B-type stars could be associated with an X-ray source. Using the XSPEC software, we adjusted the X-ray spectra of the differ- ent sources associated with early-type objects. In doing so, we used up to three-component thin thermal plasma models (mekal models) allowing for a distinct local ab- sorption column (wabs model) for each component and accounting for additional absorption by the interstellar medium (ISM). The latter column was held fixed to a value computed from the reddening of the different ob- jects, using the typical colours of Schmidt-Kaler (1982) and the gas to dust ratio of Bohlin et al. (1978). Using the best-fit models, we finally computed the X-ray lumi- nosities, corrected for the ISM absorption column only. Figure 2. ISM-absorption corrected X-ray luminosities in We also recomputed the bolometric luminosities, adopt- the 0.5-10.0 keV band plotted vs. bolometric luminosities. ing our revised spectral classification and the bolometric The different symbols indicate the different properties of correction scale of Schmidt-Kaler (1982). Fig. 2 presents the sources. Spectral type: O (filled symbols), B (open the location of the different objects in the LX − Lbol di- symbols). Luminosity class: supergiant (black), giant agram. Note that Fig. 2 is restricted to objects fitted with (red), main sequence (blue). Multiplicity: binary (trian- at least 2-temperature mekal components. Reasons for gles), presumably single RV-variable star (squares), pre- this are given in Sana et al. (2006a). sumably single RV-constant star (circles). Best-fit linear relations in the log − log plane for O (Eq. 2) and B (Eq. 3) stars are indicated by the dashed and the dotted lines 3.1. The O-type stars respectively. The two vertical bars in the upper part of the graph give the expected 1-σ deviation for B (σB ) and O (σO ) type stars. Focusing in a first step on the O-type stars, we note a clear linear relation in the log − log plane. However sev- eral points deviate significantly from this canonical rela- to the nearest neighbouring X-ray source. Due to the tion. HD 152248 (O7.5III(f) + O7III(f), Sana et al. 2001) crowded nature of the cluster core in the X-rays and to the presents clear evidence for a wind-wind interaction that limited spatial resolution of the EPIC detectors, the back- we traced both from the optical and X-ray domains. 2-D ground could not be evaluated in the immediate vicinity hydrodynamical simulations of the collision further rea- of the stars, but had to be taken from the very few source sonably reproduce the observed modulations of the X- free regions. The details are given in Sana et al. (2006a). ray flux of the system, lending further support to this in- We then used the appropriate redistribution matrix files terpretation (Sana et al. 2004). CPD−41◦ 7742 (O9V + (rmf ) provided by the Science Operations Centre (SOC), B1.5V, Sana et al. 2003) X-ray light curve also displays according to the position of the considered source on the clear though apparently complex modulations of its X-ray detectors. We built the corresponding ancillary response flux, that we have however related to a wind interaction files (arf ) using the ARFGEN command of the SAS soft- of a peculiar kind. In this O+B system, the dominant pri- ware. The spectra were finally binned to have at least 10 mary wind most probably crashes into the secondary sur- counts per bin. face. A simple phenomenological model of such a wind- photosphere interaction indeed reproduces pretty well the main features of the X-ray light curve (Sana et al. 2005a). 3. THE OB STAR POPULATION It is thus clear that the two latter systems are not repre- sentative of the intrinsic X-ray emission of single O-type stars. Excluding these two points, a least-square linear fit Prior to our scientific analysis, we first went through a yields: deep overview of the existing literature and databases on NGC 6231 and we made a census of the early-type star log LX − log Lbol = −6.912(±0.153) (2) population in the observed fov. Our census mainly relies where the X-ray luminosity is given in the 0.5-10.0 keV on selected published works (see references in Sana et al. band. It is interesting to note that we also adjusted a 2005b), on the Catalog of Galactic OB Stars (Reed 2003) power-law relation (thus in the form log LX = Γ × and on the WEBDA3 and SIMBAD4 databases. This re- log Lbol + K). However, as indicated by a Fχ -test (see 3 http://obswww.unige.ch/webda/ e.g. Bevington 1969), this additional parameter does not 4 http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/Simbad/ improve significantly the quality of the fit compared to
  • 4. 4 Figure 3. Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of the EPIC Figure 4. Distribution of the ages of X-ray selected PMS sources with optical counterparts in the Sung et al. objects as interpolated from the isochrones derived from (1998) catalogue. Evolutionary tracks from Siess et al. the Siess et al. (2000) evolutionary tracks. PMS candi- (2000) for masses of 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, dates with ∆(R − Hα) ≥ 0.12 are indicated by the solid 2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0 M⊙ are overplotted. Filled line, while those with ∆(R − Hα) < 0.12 are indicated dots, filled diamonds and open triangles indicate respec- by the dashed line. The total numbers of objects with tively Hα emitting stars, Hα candidates and stars with ∆(R − Hα) ≥ 0.12 and ∆(R − Hα) < 0.12 are respec- no evidence for emission. The thick solid line shows the tively 93 and 303. ZAMS, while the dashed lines correspond to isochrones for ages of 0.5, 1.5, 4.0, 10.0 and 20.0 Myr. dence level of 0.99 in favour of the presence of a correla- tion between log LX and log Lbol . A linear least-square the scaling law of Eq. 2. In the following, we thus de- fit yields: cide to adopt the simplest form of the canonical rela- tion, as quoted in Eq. 2. One of the most outstanding re- log LX = 0.22(±0.06) log Lbol + 22.8(±2.4) (3) sults lies however in the limited dispersion (of only about 40%) of the X-ray luminosities around the best fit rela- However, we emphasize that the undetected B-type stars tion. Compared to the scatter (a factor of 2 to 3) observed were not taken into account in the derivation of the by Bergh¨ fer et al. (1997), this suggests that the intrinsic o present relation. The fact that about 80% of them lie X-ray emission of O-type stars might be much more con- below our detection threshold suggests that either X-ray strained by the physical properties of the star than pre- emission from B-type stars is not an intrinsic property of viously assumed. It is also remarkable that, within our such stars or, at least, that it is not fully governed by their sample, only the binaries present a significant modula- bolometric luminosities. In the latter case, we could only tion of their X-ray flux, suggesting thus a wind interac- be detecting the upper envelope of a largely scattered dis- tion origin. Excluding the case of HD 326329, proba- tribution in such a way that, by coincidence, the detected bly contaminated by a neighbouring flaring source, extra sources suggest the presence of a linear relation. Beside emission produced in a wind interaction region is also the these considerations, one may further note that about one only mechanism that yields a significant deviation from third of the detected B sources present flaring-like activi- the canonical LX − Lbol relation. All in all, our analysis ties during the time-span of our XMM-Newton campaign. suggests thus that the intrinsic X-ray emission from sin- Their X-ray spectral properties are further reminiscent of gle O-type stars might be rather stable, both in terms of those of PMS stars. It is therefore difficult to definitely time-variability and of scattering compared to the mean conclude whether the detected X-ray emission is directly LX − Lbol relation. associated with the B-type stars or if it is rather produced by PMS stars either as the secondary component in a bi- nary system or being located by chance along the same line of sight. 3.2. The B-type stars Turning to B-type stars, their distribution in the log LX − 4. THE OPTICALLY FAINT X-RAY SOURCES log Lbol plane also suggests the presence of a linear rela- tion, although as quoted above, only about 20% of these objects are seen in the X-rays. Indeed the linear corre- Beside the early-type stars, the EPIC images reveal sev- lation coefficient is r ∼ 0.75, corresponding to a confi- eral hundreds of additional point-like sources that clus-
  • 5. 5 Fig. 3 presents the location of these optically faint X- ray sources in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Most of them are indeed located above the ZAMS as expected for PMS objects. Comparing with PMS evolutionary tracks of Siess et al. (2000), it appears that most of them are low-mass stars (M < 2 M⊙ ) that started their forma- tion about 2 to 4 Myr ago. The distribution of the ages of these X-ray selected PMS stars is presented in Fig. 4 and suggests that star formation in NGC 6231 might have started at least 10 Myr ago at a relatively slow rate. The latter then slowly increased to culminate in a starburst- like event about 2 to 4 Myr ago, a period that also corre- sponds to the formation of the cluster massive stars (see Fig. 5). It is further interesting to note that, neither in Figs. 3 nor 4, a clear difference appears between the Hα emitting X-ray sources (probably classical T Tauri stars) and those that do not present evidence of such emission (probably weak-line T Tauri stars). No difference could also be found in their respective spatial distribution in the Figure 5. Locations of the NGC 6231 O-type stars in studied fov. the H-R diagram. Symbol shapes and colours provide different indications on the object nature: black, super- giant; red, giant; blue, main sequence; triangle, be- longing to a binary system (filled triangles indicate the 5. CONCLUSIONS heaviest star of the system while open triangles stand for the less massive companion); square, presumably single, RV-variable star; circle, presumably single, constant-RV We briefly presented some of the main achievements star. The evolutionary tracks from Schaller et al. (1992) of an XMM-Newton monitoring campaign of the young have been plotted (plain lines) together with isochrones open cluster NGC 6231 in the Sco OB1 association. Of (dotted lines) computed for ages ranging from 2 to 10 a nominal duration of 180 ks, it was actually split into 6 Myr with a step of 2 Myr. The figure appears in colour in separate pointings spread over 5 days. Clearly it consti- the electronic version of this work. tutes one of the deepest X-ray observations of a young open cluster and its particular scheduling allowed us to probe the variability of the detected sources on different time scales. The EPIC cameras revealed a crowded fov ter towards the core of NGC 6231, suggesting a phys- with more than 600 X-ray sources. The large majority ical link with the cluster. These are typically fainter but of these could be identified with an optical/IR counter- harder than the O-type stars (Sana et al. 2005b). As a first part and their location in the H-R diagram suggests that step, we compared the X-ray source list with different most of them are actually low-mass (M < 2 M⊙ ) PMS existing optical/IR catalogues, adopting a limited cross- stars. Their study seems to indicate that the star formation correlation radius of 3′′ . As a result, almost 80% of the X- in NGC 6231 was probably not an instantaneous event ray sources in the XMM-Newton fov could be associated but might have started at least 10 Myr ago at a relatively with at least one optical/IR counterpart. In particular, we slow rate. The bulk of the cluster stellar population has made use of an extended version of the UBV(RI)C Hα however started its formation during a starburst-like event photometric catalogue of Sung et al. (1998). Roughly, about 2 to 4 Myr ago, an epoch during which the most the latter work covered a square field of 20′ × 20′ that is massive stars of the cluster were also formed. inscribed within the 15′ radius fov of the EPIC cameras. NGC 6231 being a quite young open cluster (age∼3- XMM-Newton also detected the complete O-type star 5 Myr, Baume et al. 1999), we expect that the lower mass population in the EPIC fov. Being strong but soft emit- stars have not reached the ZAMS yet. Being probably ters, these objects clearly dominate the EPIC images. still embedded in their natal clouds, they might suffer a Restraining our analysis to the 0.5-10.0 keV band, we de- heavy circumstellar absorption. X-ray emission is how- rived a new value for the LX − Lbol canonical relation, ever one of the best selection criteria for these objects expressed in the form of a scaling law. One of the most (Sung & Bessell 2004) and the present XMM-Newton outstanding results is the limited dispersion of the O-type image of NGC 6231 might form one of the best censuses star X-ray luminosities around this new canonical rela- of the cluster PMS population so far. Hα emission is a tion compared to the one observed by previous studies. It further well known property of the classical T Tauri stars. is clear that the fact that we have been able, among oth- Among the 536 X-ray sources located within the field ers, to identify and reject the colliding wind binary sys- covered by the Sung et al. (1998) catalogue, we indeed tems from the fit has helped to reduce the scattering. The identified 93 candidates displaying a significant excess in particular homogeneity of our sample, notably in terms the R−Hα colour index (adopted as ∆(R−Hα) ≥ 0.12, of age, metallicity and reddening, might have played a see Sana et al. 2006b, for details). crucial role in this regard.
  • 6. 6 Finally, it is also worth to note that, within our sample, Harnden, F. R., Branduardi, G., Gorenstein, P., et al. variability of the X-ray flux is only observed for probable 1979, ApJ, 234, L51 colliding wind binaries. It is further the only mechanism that seems to produce strong deviations from the canoni- Long, K. S. & White, R. L. 1980, ApJ, 239, L65 cal relation. All in all, our analysis suggests thus that the Pallavicini, R., Golub, L., Rosner, R., et al. 1981, intrinsic X-ray emission from single O-type stars might ApJ, 248, 279 be much more stable than previously thought, both in terms of time-variability and of deviation from the mean Pollock, A. M. T. 1987, ApJ, 320, 283 LX − Lbol relation. Reed, B. C. 2003, AJ, 125, 2531 The comparison of the present results with others, derived in an homogeneous way from the study of other young Sana, H. 2005, PhD thesis, Li` ge University e open clusters, will therefore be of particular interest to Sana, H., Rauw, G., & Gosset, E. 2001, A&A, 370, probe the universality of the canonical relation. It could 121 further help to investigate the influence of other important parameters, such as age and metallicity, which might cru- Sana, H., Hensberge, H., Rauw, G., & Gosset, E. cially affect the intrinsic X-ray emission of O-type stars. 2003, A&A, 405, 1063 Finally we note that, compared to XMM-Newton, future Sana, H., Stevens, I. R., Gosset, E., Rauw, G., & X-ray missions should definitely combine a high sensi- Vreux, J.-M. 2004, MNRAS, 350, 809 tivity with an increased spatial resolution. The latter is indeed crucial in very crowded fields such as the one stud- Sana, H., Antokhina, E., Royer, P., et al. 2005a, ied in this contribution. We also note that, while dealing A&A, 441, 213 with such an extended data set, 12 months is a very short time. One can thus wonder whether the proprietary pol- Sana, H., Gosset, E., Rauw, G., Sung, H., & Vreux, icy could not be extended to allow scientists to perform J.-M. 2005b, A&A, in press in-depth studies in good conditions. Sana, H., Rauw, G., Naz´ , Y., Gosset, E., & Vreux, e J.-M. 2006a, MNRAS, submitted ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Sana, H., Rauw, G., Sung, H., Gosset, E., & Vreux, J.-M. 2006b, MNRAS, in preparation The present paper is based on data collected with XMM- Schaller, G., Schaerer, D., Meynet, G., & Maeder, A. Newton, an ESA Science Mission with instruments and 1992, A&AS, 96, 269 contributions directly funded by ESA Member States and Schmidt-Kaler, T. 1982, Landolt-B¨ rnstein, Numeri- o by the USA (NASA). The authors acknowledge sup- cal Data and Functional Relationships in Science and port from the PRODEX XMM and Integral Projects, as Technology, New Series, Group VI, Vol. 2b, Physical well as contracts P4/05 and P5/36 ‘Pˆ le d’Attraction In- o Parameters of the Stars (Berlin: Springer-Verlag) teruniversitaire’ (Belgium). They are also greatly in- debted towards the ‘Fonds National de la Recherche Sci- Seward, F. D., Forman, W. R., Giacconi, R., et al. entifique’ (Belgium) for multiple supports. HS is grateful 1979, ApJ, 234, L55 to ESA, to the FNRS (Belgium) and to the ‘Patrimoine de l’Universit´ de Li` ge’ for their contributions to the travel e e Siess, L., Dufour, E., & Forestini, M. 2000, A&A, and accommodation expenses. 358, 593 Sung, H., Bessell, M. S., & Lee, S. 1998, AJ, 115, 734 REFERENCES Sung, H. & Bessell, M. S. 2004, AJ, 127, 1014 Baume, G., V´ zquez, R. A., & Feinstein, A. 1999, a A&AS, 137, 233 Bergh¨ fer, T. W., Schmitt, J. H. M. M., Danner, R., o & Cassinelli, J. P. 1997, A&A, 322, 167 Bevington, P. 1969, Data Reduction and Error Anal- ysis for the Physical Sciences (USA: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.) Bohlin, R. C., Savage, B. D., & Drake, J. F. 1978, ApJ, 224, 132 Chlebowski, T. & Garmany, C. D. 1991, ApJ, 368, 241