Mass segregation in young clusters: observational biases

J. Ascenso, J. Alves, M. T. V. T. Lago

Resumo
We investigate the validity of the mass-segregation indicators most commonly used in the analysis of young stellar clusters. We construct and analyze synthetic massive clusters with a standard, fully sampled stellar initial mass function and a King density distribution function. We find that the commonly used indicators are highly sensitive to the effects of incompleteness in observational data, and that completeness determinations do not provide satisfactory corrections, leading to results that may be severely biased toward mass segregation.

Palavras chave
Young massive clusters - Mass segregation

Astrophysics and Space Science
Volume 324, Página 113
novembro 2009

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