2011/03/11 by C. Bonatto, Charles Bonatto, E. Bica +1 · 10 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing #Amplitude #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Cluster (spacecraft) #Context (archaeology) #Deconvolution #Galaxy #Gaussian #Optics #Physics #Radial velocity #Star cluster #Star formation #Stars #Stellar mass #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Velocity dispersion #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18699.x
published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 415(1), 313-322 (Oxford University Press) · Accepted by MNRAS
arxiv created 2011/03/11 · openalex publication_date 2011/05/06 · arxiv updated 2015/05/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We investigate the effect that the usually large errors associated with ground-based proper motion (PM) components have on the determination of a star cluster’s velocity dispersion (σv). Rather than histograms, we work with PM distribution functions (PMDFs), taking the 1σ uncertainties formally into account. In this context, a cluster’s intrinsic PMDF is broadened by the error distribution function (eDF) that, given the average error amplitude, has a width usually comparable to the cluster PMDF. Thus, we apply a Richardson–Lucy (RL) deconvolution to the PMDFs of a set of relatively nearby and populous open clusters (OCs), using the eDFs as point spread functions. The OCs are NGC 1039 (M 34), NGC 2477, NGC 2516, NGC 2682 (M 67) and NGC 7762. The deconvolved PMDFs are approximately Gaussian in shape, with dispersions lower than the observed ones by a factor of 4–10. NGC 1039 and 2516, the nearest OCs of the sample, have deconvolved σv compatible with those of bound OCs of mass ∼103 M⊙. NGC 2477 and 2682 have deconvolved PMDFs with a secondary bump, shifted towards higher average velocities, which may be an artefact of the RL deconvolution when applied to asymmetric profiles. Alternatively, it may originate from cluster merger, large-scale mass segregation or, least probably, binaries.