1998/10/01 by L. Origlia, Livia Origlia, Jeffrey D. Goldader +5 · 70 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Galaxy #Hertzsprung–Russell diagram #Infrared #Large Magellanic Cloud #Physics #Red supergiant #Stars #Stellar classification #Stellar evolution #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Supergiant #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/306937
published in The Astrophysical Journal 514(1), 96-108 (IOP Publishing) · Accepted by ApJ. LaTeX using aas2pp4, psfigs macros. 18 pages including 11 figures. Also available at http://www.obs-mip.fr/omp/astro/people/schaerer/
arxiv created 1998/10/01 · openalex publication_date 1999/03/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present evolutionary synthesis models applied to near-infrared spectral features observed in the spectra of young Magellanic Cloud clusters and starburst galaxies. The temporal evolution of the first and second overtones of CO at 2.29 μm (2-0 band head) and 1.62 μm (6-3 band head) and of the U - B , B - V , and J - K colors are investigated. We find that the current evolutionary tracks of massive stars with subsolar chemical composition in the red supergiant phase are not reliable for any synthesis of the temporal evolution of infrared stellar features. The high sensitivity of the selected infrared features to the atmospheric parameters of cool stars allows us to place constraints on the temperature and the fraction of time spent in the red part of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram by massive stars during their core helium burning phase. We derive a set of empirically calibrated spectrophotometric models by adjusting the red supergiant parameters so that the properties of the observed templates are reproduced.