The role of binarity and stellar rotation in the split main sequence of NGC 2422

TL;DR

This study investigates the cause of split main sequences in the young open cluster NGC 2422, examining the roles of stellar rotation and binarity through photometric and spectroscopic data.

Contribution

It provides the first analysis of the split main sequence in a young Galactic open cluster, combining Gaia photometry with spectroscopic measurements of stellar rotation and binarity.

Findings

Weak correlation between v sin i and star position in the color-magnitude diagram.

Slowly rotating stars may have binary companions affecting their observed properties.

Binarity could be a significant factor in the split main sequence phenomenon.

Abstract

In addition to the extended main-sequence turnoffs widely found in young and intermediate-age (~ 600 Myr-2 Gyr-old) star clusters, some younger clusters even exhibit split main sequences (MSs). Different stellar rotation rates are proposed to account for the bifurcated MS pattern, with red and blue MSs (rMS and bMS) populated by fast and slowly rotating stars, respectively. Using photometry from Gaia Early Data Release 3, we report a Galactic open cluster with a bifurcated MS, NGC 2422 ( ~ 90 Myr). We exclude the possibilities that the bifurcated MS pattern is caused by photometric noise or differential reddening. We aim to examine if stellar rotation can account for the split MSs. We use spectra observed with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and the Southern African Large Telescope, and directly measured v sin i, the projected rotational velocities, for stars populating the bMS and rMS. We find that their v sin i values are weakly correlated with their loci in the color-magnitude diagram because of contamination caused by a large fraction of rMS stars with low projected rotational velocities. Based on the spectral energy distribution fitting method, we suggest that these slowly rotating stars at the rMS may hide a binary companion, which breaks the expected v sin i-color correlation. Future time-domain studies focusing on whether these slowly rotating stars are radial velocity variables are crucial to test the roles of stellar rotation and binarity in generating the split MSs.