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The Binary Fraction of the Young Star Cluster NGC 1818 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2006

Yi Hu ,
Qiang Liu ,
Licai Deng  and
Richard de Grijs
Yi Hu
Affiliation:
National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China email: huyi@bao.ac.cn
Qiang Liu
Affiliation:
National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China email: huyi@bao.ac.cn
Licai Deng
Affiliation:
National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China email: huyi@bao.ac.cn
Richard de Grijs
Affiliation:
National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China email: huyi@bao.ac.cn Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Sheffield, UK
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Abstract

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The stellar binary fraction in star clusters is a key factor in understanding the effects of binary stars on the properties and dynamical evolution of the host cluster. Using a very accurate stellar catalogue based on deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of the young rich Large Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC 1818, we assess its binary content. Based on artificial star tests we have established a method to very efficiently determine the probability of chance blends and superpositions. Combining the measured photometric errors and the superposition statistics, we construct synthetic colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) as a function of input binary fraction. The binary fraction of the cluster is then calculated by means of a Kolmogorov-Smirnoff (K–S) test between the synthetic and the observed CMDs. The likely binary fraction for this cluster is 50–70.

Keywords

binaries: generalgalaxies: star clusters: individual (NGC 1818)
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 2 , Symposium S241: Stellar Populations as Building Blocks of Galaxies , December 2006 , pp. 347 - 348
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

References

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