Evaporation ages: A new dating method for young star clusters

Autor(en)
V. M. Pelkonen, N. Miret-Roig, P. Padoan
Abstrakt

Context. The ages of young star clusters are fundamental clocks to constrain the formation and evolution of pre-main-sequence stars and their protoplanetary disks and exoplanets. However, dating methods for very young clusters often disagree, casting doubts on the accuracy of the derived ages. Aims. We propose a new method to derive the kinematic age of star clusters based on the evaporation ages of their stars. Methods. The method was validated and calibrated using hundreds of clusters identified in a supernova-driven simulation of the interstellar medium forming stars for approximately 40 Myr within a 250 pc region. Results. We demonstrate that the clusters'evaporation-age uncertainty can be as small as about 10% for clusters with a large enough number of evaporated stars and small but with realistic observational errors. We have obtained evaporation ages for a pilot sample of ten clusters, finding a good agreement with their published isochronal ages. Conclusions. The evaporation ages will provide important constraints for modeling the pre-main-sequence evolution of low-mass stars, as well as allow for the star formation and gas-evaporation history of young clusters to be investigated. These ages can be more accurate than isochronal ages for very young clusters, for which observations and models are more uncertain.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Astrophysik
Externe Organisation(en)
Universitat de Barcelona, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Dartmouth College
Journal
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Band
683
Anzahl der Seiten
13
ISSN
0004-6361
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202348611
Publikationsdatum
03-2024
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
103003 Astronomie, 103004 Astrophysik
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/4f6a198e-c061-45c3-b867-9b6bc95e99f0