TíTULO: “Dynamical mass segregation in the star cluster NGC3603”

PALESTRANTE: Xiaoying Pang (convidada)

LOCAL: Anfiteatro do Prédio H – 21/08/2009 – 6a.f – 12h30

RESUMO:

NGC 3603 is one of the most massive, compact young star clusters of the Milky Way. The cluster has an age of only about 1 Myr and is embedded in a giant molecular cloud with ongoing star formation. We have analyzed deep imaging data obtained with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on board of the Hubble Space Telescope. We have two epochs separated by 10 years, from which we got proper motions and used them to do cluster membership determinations. After the removal of field stars, the resulting CMD shows a main sequence stars plus another clear sequence of pre-main sequence stars. The cluster shows pronounced mass segregation and appears to have a very short crossing time scale. Our photometric, astrometric, and kinematic data help us to evaluate the dissolution time scale of NGC 3603 and whether the mass segregation is likely to be primordial or evolutionary.     In this talk I will give an overview of the data reduction, and comparison between observation and theory in order to investigate the origin of mass segregation.