Open Cluster Characterization via Cross-Correlation with Spectral Library

TL;DR

This paper introduces a spectral cross-correlation method to determine physical parameters of stars in a cluster, revealing that the studied cluster ESO442-SC04 is not a bound system.

Contribution

The study presents a novel application of spectral cross-correlation with a spectral library to characterize stellar clusters and assess their physical association.

Findings

Stars in ESO442-SC04 are not gravitationally bound.

Spectral parameters such as temperature, gravity, and metallicity were successfully derived.

The cluster does not constitute a physical stellar system.

Abstract

We present a characterization method based on spectral cross-correlation to obtain the physical parameters of the controversial stellar aggregate ESO442-SC04. The data used was obtained with GMOS at Gemini-South telescope including 17 stars in the central region of the ob ject and 6 standard-stars. FXCOR was used in an iterative process to obtain self-consistent radial velocities for the standard-stars and averaged radial velocities for the science spectra. Spectral types, effective temperature, suface gravity and metallicities parameters were determined using FXCOR to correlate cluster spectra with ELODIE spectral library and selecting the best correlation matches using the Tonry and Davis Ratio (TDR). Analysis of the results suggests that the stars in ESO442-SC04 are not bound and therefore they do not constitute a physical system.