Identification of OB associations using the LAMOST-Gaia OB star sample

TL;DR

This study identifies OB associations in the Milky Way using a large sample of OB stars with 6D phase space data, revealing their distribution, kinematics, and relation to Galactic structure.

Contribution

The paper presents a new method combining LAMOST and Gaia data to identify OB associations, including many newly discovered, and analyzes their properties and Galactic distribution.

Findings

Identified 67 OB associations and 112 candidates, with 49 and 107 being new.

Derived a relatively flat Galactic rotation curve between 7 and 13 kpc.

Found that velocity dispersions decrease and sizes increase with Galactocentric distance.

Abstract

OB associations, as an intermediate stage between Galactic clusters and field stars, play an important role in understanding the star formation process, early stellar evolution, and Galactic evolution. In this work, we construct a large sample of OB stars with 6D phase space parameters ($l, b, d, V_{\rm los}, pmra ,pmdec$) by combining the distances from Bailer-Jones et al. (2021), radial velocities derived from low-resolution spectra of the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), and proper motions from the \textit{Gaia} Data Release 3 (DR3). This sample includes 19,933 OB stars, most of which are located within 6\,kpc of the Sun. Using 6D phase space parameters and friends-of-friends clustering algorithm, we identify 67 OB associations and 112 OB association candidates, among them, 49 OB associations and 107 OB association candidates are newly identified. The Galactic rotation curve derived using 67 OB association members is relatively flat in the range of Galactocentric distances 7$<$$R$$<$13\,kpc. The angular rotation velocity at solar Galactocentric distance of $R_\odot$ =8.34\,kpc is $\Omega_0$ = 29.05$\pm$0.55\,km\,s$^{-1}$\,kpc$^{-1}$. The spatial distribution of the 67 OB associations indicates that they are mainly located at low Galactic latitudes and near spiral arms of the Milky Way. Additionally, we estimate the velocity dispersions and sizes of these 67 OB associations. Our results show that the velocity dispersions decrease as Galactocentric distances increase, while their sizes increase as Galactocentric distances increase.