Spatial Distribution and Kinematics of OB Stars

TL;DR

This study analyzes the spatial distribution and kinematics of a carefully selected sample of OB stars within 350 pc of the Sun, revealing structures like the Gould Belt and temporal variations in their motion.

Contribution

It provides a refined sample of OB stars with accurate ages and distances, and investigates their spatial and kinematic properties, highlighting the importance of age-specific analysis.

Findings

Identification of distinct spatial distributions for different age groups.

Detection of significant temporal variations in kinematic parameters.

Revelation of structures such as the Gould Belt and Local Bubble.

Abstract

The sample of 37 485 suspected OB stars selected by Gontcharov (2008) from the Tycho-2 catalogue has been cleaned of the stars that are not of spectral types OV--A0V. For this purpose, the apparent magnitude $V_T$ from Tycho-2, the absolute magnitude $M_{V_T}$ calibrated as a function of the dereddened color index $(B_T-V_T)_0$, the interstellar extinction $A_{V_T}$ calculated from the 3D analytical model by Gontcharov (2009) as a function of the Galactic coordinates, and the photometric distance $r_{ph}$ calculated as a function of $V_T$, $M_{V_T}$, and $A_{V_T}$ have been reconciled in an iterative process. The 20 514 stars that passed the iterations have $(B_T-V_T)_0<0$ and $M_{V_T}>-5$ and are considered as a sample of OV--A0V stars complete within 350 pc of the Sun. Based on the theoretical relation between the dereddened color and age of the stars, the derived sample has been divided into three subsamples: $(B_T-V_T)_0<-0.2^m$, $-0.2^m<(B_T-V_T)_0<-0.1^m$, and $-0.1^m<(B_T-V_T)_0<0^m$, younger than 100, $100-200$, and $200-400$ Myr, respectively. The spatial distribution of all 20 514 stars and the kinematics analyzed for more than 1500 stars with radial velocities from the PCRV and RAVE catalogues are different for the subsamples, showing smooth rotations, shears, and deformations of the layer of gas producing stars with the formation of the Gould Belt, the Great Tunnel, the Local Bubble, and other structures within the last 200 Myr. The detected temporal variations of the velocity dispersions, solar motion components, Ogorodnikov--Milne model parameters, and Oort constants are significant, agree with the results of other authors, and show that it is meaningless to calculate the kinematic parameters for samples of stars with uncertain ages or with a wide range of ages.