BSEC Method for Unveiling Open Clusters and its Application to Gaia DR3:83 New Clusters

Open clusters(OCs) are common in the Milky Way, but most of them remain undiscovered. There are numerous techniques, including some machine-learning algorithms, available for the exploration of OCs. However, each method has its limitations and therefore, different approaches to discovering OCs hold significant values. We develop a comprehensive approach method to automatically explore the data space and identify potential OC candidates with relatively reliable membership determination. This approach combines the techniques of Hierarchical Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise, Gaussian mixture model, and a novel cluster member identification technique, color excess constraint. The new method exhibits efficiency in detecting OCs while ensuring precise determination of cluster memberships. Because the main feature of this technique is to add an extra constraint(EC) for the members of cluster candidates using the homogeneity of color excess,compared to typical blind search codes, it is called Blind Search-Extra Constraint(BSEC) method. It is successfully applied to the Gaia Data Release 3, and 83 new OCs are found, whose color–magnitude diagrams(CMDs) are fitted well to the isochrones. In addition, this study reports 621 new OC candidates with discernible main sequence or red giant branch. It is shown that BSEC technique can discard some false negatives of previous works, which takes about three percentage of known clusters. It shows that as an EC, the color excess(or twocolor) constraint is useful for removing fake cluster member stars from the clusters that are identified from the positions and proper motions of stars, and getting more precise CMDs, when differential reddening of member stars of a cluster is not large(e.g., ΔE(G_(BP)-G_(RP)) < 0.5 mag). It makes the CMDs of 15% clusters clearer(in particular for the region near turnoff) and therefore is helpful for CMD and stellar population studies. Our result suggests that the color excess constraint is more appropriate for clusters with small differential reddening, such as globular clusters or older OCs, and clusters that the distances of member stars cannot be determined accurately.

A Study of Binary Stellar Population Synthesis of Elliptical Galaxies

We determined the relative stellar ages and metallicities of about 80 elliptical galaxies in both low and high density environments using the latest binary stellar population （BSP） synthesis model and tested the predictions of a recent hierarchical formation model that adopted the new ACDM cosmology. The stellar ages and metallicities were estimated from two high-quality published spectra line indices, the Hβ and [MgFe] indices. The results show that the stellar populations of elliptical galaxies are older than 3.9 Gyr and more metal rich than 0.02. Most of our results are in agreement with the model predictions; （1） elliptical galaxies in denser environment are redder and have older populations than field galaxies; （2） elliptical galaxies with more massive stellar components are redder and have older and more metal rich populations than less massive ones; （3） the most massive galaxies have the oldest and most metal rich stars. However, some of our results differ from the model predictions on the metallicity distributions of low- and high-density elliptical galaxies and the dependence on the distance to the cluster center.

Fitting formulae for the effects of binary interactions on lick indices and colors of stellar populations

More than about 50% of stars are in binaries, but most stellar population studies take single star stellar population （ssSSP） models, which do not take binary interactions into account. In fact, the integrated peculiarities of ssSSPs are different from those of stellar populations with binary interactions （bsSSPs）. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the effects of binary interactions on the Lick indices and colors of populations in detail. We show some formulae for calculating the difference between the Lick indices and colors of bsSSPs, and those of ssSSPs. Twenty-five Lick indices and 12 colors are studied in this work. The results can be conveniently used for calculating the effects of binary interactions on stellar population studies and for adding the effects of binary interactions into present ssSSP models. The electronic data and fortran procedures in the paper can be obtained on request from the authors.

The cooling time of white dwarfs produced from type Iasupernovae

Type Ia supernovae （SNe Ia） play a key role in measuring cosmological parameters, in which the Phillips relation is adopted. However, the origin of the relation is still unclear. Several parameters are suggested, e.g. the relative content of carbon to oxygen （C/O） and the central density of the white dwarf （WD） at ignition. These parameters are mainly determined by the WD＇s initial mass and its cooling time, respectively. Using the progenitor model developed by Meng ＆ Yang, we present the distributions of the initial WD mass and the cooling time. We do not find any correlation between these parameters. However, we notice that as the range of the WD＇s mass decreases, its average value increases with the cooling time. These results could provide a constraint when simulating the SN Ia explosion, i.e. the WDs with a high C/O ratio usually have a lower central density at ignition, while those having the highest central density at ignition generally have a lower C/O ratio. The cooling time is mainly determined by the evolutionary age of secondaries, and the scatter of the cooling time decreases with the evolutionary age. Our results may indicate that WDs with a long cooling time have more uniform properties than those with a short cooling time, which may be helpful to explain why SNe Ia in elliptical galaxies have a more uniform maximum luminosity than those in spiral galaxies.

Study of 26 Galactic Open Clusters with Extended Main-sequence Turnoffs

Recent studies indicate that some Galactic open clusters(OCs)exhibit extended main-sequence turnoff(eMSTO)in their color–magnitude diagrams(CMDs).However,the number of Galactic OCs with eMSTO structures detected so far is limited,and the reasons for their formation are still unclear.This work identifies 26 Galactic OCs with undiscovered eMSTOs and investigates the causes of these features.Stellar population types and fundamental parameters of cluster samples are acquired using CMD fitting methods.Among them,the results of 11 OCs are reliable as the observed CMDs are well-reproduced.We propose the crucial role of stellar binarity and confirm the importance of stellar rotation in reproducing eMSTO morphologies.The results also show that the impact of age spread is important,as it can adequately explain the structure of young OCs and fit the observed CMDs of intermediate-age OCs better.

A binary study of color-magnitude diagrams of 12 globular clusters

Binary stars are common in star clusters and galaxies, but the detailed ef- fects of binary evolution are not taken into account in some color-magnitude diagram （CMD） studies. This paper studies the CMDs of twelve globular clusters via binary- star stellar populations. The observational CMDs of the star clusters are compared to those of binary-star populations, and then the stellar metallicities, ages, distances and reddenings of these star clusters are obtained. The paper also tests the different effects of binary and single stars on CMD studies. It is shown that binaries can better fit the observational CMDs of the sample globular clusters compared to single stars. This suggests that the effects of binary evolution should be considered when modeling the CMDs and stellar populations of star clusters and galaxies.

Powerful CMD:a tool for color-magnitude diagram studies

We present a new tool for color-magnitude diagram（CMD） studies, Powerful CMD. This tool is built based on the advanced stellar population synthesis（ASPS） model, in which single stars, binary stars, rotating stars and star formation history have been taken into account. Via Powerful CMD, the distance modulus, color excess, metallicity, age, binary fraction, rotating star fraction and star formation history of star clusters can be determined simultaneously from observed CMDs. The new tool is tested via both simulated and real star clusters. Five parameters of clusters NGC 6362, NGC 6652, NGC 6838 and M67 are determined and compared to other works. It is shown that this tool is useful for CMD studies, in particular for those utilizing data from the Hubble Space Telescope（HST）. Moreover, we find that inclusion of binaries in theoretical stellar population models may lead to smaller color excess compared to the case of single-star population models.

Fractions of Compact Object Binaries in Star Clusters:Theoretical Predictions

The binary population in field stars and star clusters contributes to the formation of gravitational wave(GW)sources.However,the fraction of compact-object binaries(CBs),which is an important feature parameter of binary populations,is still difficult to measure and very uncertain.This paper predicts the fractions of important CBs and semi-compact object binaries(SCBs) making use of an advanced stellar population synthesis technique.A comparison with the result of N-body simulation is also presented.It is found that most CBs are formed within about 500 Myr after the starburst.The fractions of CBs and SCBs are demonstrated to correlate with stellar metallicity.The higher the metallicity becomes,the smaller the fraction of black hole binaries(BHBs),neutron star binaries(NSBs) and SCBs.This suggests that the GW sources of BHBs and NSBs are more likely to form in metal-poor environments.However,the fraction of black hole-neutron star binaries is shown to be larger for metalrich populations on average.

Effects of Binaries on Open Cluster Age Determination in Bayesian Inference

We investigate the effects of binaries on the cluster age determination for 561 open clusters in the Galactic disk via the Bayesian statistical framework.Stellar properties of these star clusters,including age,metallicity,distance modulus,color excess,binary fraction,and rotating star fraction,are derived from color–magnitude-diagrams(CMDs)via isochrone fitting to high-precision Gaia EDR3 data.Across the simple stellar population of binary and single-star,age differences can be found with the same star cluster.A Bayesian applied regression modeling software,Stan,is employed to explore how much binaries affect the age determination of open clusters.Our results present less statistically significant difference between the binary-star simple populations(bs SSPs)and the singlestar simple populations(ss SSPs)for cluster age determination.For all clusters in our sample,the ages estimated using the bs SSPs models are younger than those estimated using the ss SSPs,with a mean value of~70 Myr.However,it is found that for 52.5%clusters in our sample,ages are relatively sensitive to the presence of binaries,at least~25%younger.This suggests that in studies of open cluster age determinations,the effects of binary interactions on the whole sample are not prominent,but its effects on some clusters should still be included as an essential ingredient.

A database of spectral energy distributions of progenitors of core-collapse supernovae

This paper presents a database of the spectroscopic-and photometric-spectral energy distributions(spec-SEDs and phot-SEDs respectively)of the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae(CCSNe).Both binary-and single-star progenitors are included in the database.The database covers the initial metallicity(Z)range of 0.0001-0.03,mass range of 8-25 M⊙,binary mass ratio range of 0-1,and orbital period range of 0.1-10000 d.The low-resolution spec-SEDs and phot-SEDs of single-and binary-star CCSN progenitors are included in the database.These data can be used for studying the basic parameters,e.g.,metallicity,age,and initial and final masses of CCSN progenitors.It can also be used for studying the effects of different factors on the determination of parameters of CCSN progenitors.When the database is utilized for fitting the SEDs of binary-star CCSN progenitors,it is strongly suggested to determine the metallicity and orbital period in advance,but this is not necessary for single-star progenitors.

Model-Synthesized Rate of Type Ia Supernovae and its Influence on the Chemical Enrichment of the ISM

Using Hurley＇s rapid binary stellar evolution code, we have studied the model-synthesized rate of Type Ia Supernovae （SNe Ia） and its influence on the chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium ejected by stellar populations. We adopt two popular scenarios, i.e., single degenerate scenario （SD） and double degenerate scenario （DD）, for the progenitors of SNe Ia to calculate the rates of SNe Ia. Rates calculated in this work agree with that of Hachisu et al. and Han ＆ Podsiadlowski, but are different from that usually adopted in chemical evolution models of galaxies. We apply the rates of SNe Ia to the chemical enrichment （especially Fe enrichment）, then compare the results with previous studies. As known SNe Ia slightly affect the enrichment of C, N, O and Mg elements, while significantly affect the enrichment of Fe. We find that the occurrence and the value of the Fe enrichment in our models are earlier and smaller than that commonly adopted in chemical evolution models. We also study the evolution of [Mg/Fe] ratios, which are almost reciprocals of the Fe enrichment. The study may provide constraints on the free parameters of chemical evolution models of galaxies and evolutionary population synthesis.