The Origins and Evolutionary Status of B Stars Found Far from the Galactic Plane. II. Kinematics and Full Sample Analysis
This paper continues the analysis of faint high-latitude B stars fromMartin. Here we analyze the kinematics of the stars and combine themwith the abundance information from the first paper to classify eachone. The sample contains 31 Population I runaways, 15 old evolved stars(including 5 blue horizontal-branch [BHB] stars, 3 post-HB stars, 1pulsating helium dwarf, and 6 stars of ambiguous classification), 1 Fdwarf, and 2 stars that do not easily fit in one of the othercategories. No star in the sample unambiguously shows thecharacteristics of a young massive star formed in situ in the halo. Thetwo unclassified stars are probably extreme Population I runaways. Thelow binary frequency and rotational velocity distribution of thePopulation I runaways imply that most were ejected from dense starclusters by the dynamic ejection scenario. However, we remain puzzled bythe lack of runaway Be stars. We also confirm that PB 166 and HIP 41979are both nearby solar-metallicity BHB stars.Based on observations made at the 2.1 m Otto Struve Telescope ofMcDonald Observatory, operated by the University of Texas at Austin.
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The Origins and Evolutionary Status of B Stars Found Far from the Galactic Plane. I. Composition and Spectral Features
The existence of faint blue stars far above the Galactic plane that havespectra that are similar to nearby Population I B stars presents severalinteresting questions. Among them are the following: Can a Population IB star travel from the disk to a position many kiloparsecs above theplane in a relatively short main-sequence lifetime? Is it possible thatsingle massive star formation is occurring far from the Galactic plane?Are these objects something else masquerading as main-sequence B stars?This paper (the first of two) analyzes the abundances of a sample ofthese stars and reveals several that are chemically similar to nearbyPopulation I B stars, whereas others clearly have abundance patternsmore like those expected in blue horizontal-branch (BHB) orpost-asymptotic giant branch stars. Several of those with old evolvedstar abundances also have interesting features of note in their spectra.We also consider why this sample does not have any classical Be starsand identify at least two nearby solar-metallicity BHB stars.Based on observations made at the 2.1 m Otto Struve Telescope ofMcDonald Observatory operated by the University of Texas at Austin.
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Young Stars far from the Galactic Plane: Runaways from Clusters
Quite recently, a significant number of OB stars far from the galacticplane have been found, situated at z-distances ranging from severalhundreds of pc to several kpc. The short lifetimes of these stars poseproblems for their interpretation in terms of the standard picture ofstar formation. Different mechanisms have been put forward to explainthe existence of these stars, either within the conventional view, orpostulating star formation in the galactic halo itself. These mechanismsrange from arguing that they are misidentified evolved or abnormalstars, to postulating powerful ejection mechanisms for young disk stars;in situ formation also admits several variants. We have collected fromthe literature a list of young stars far from the plane, for which theevidence of youth seems convincing. We discuss two possible formationmechanisms for these stars: ejection from the plane as the result ofdynamical evolution of small clusters (Poveda et al. 1967) and in situformation, via induced shocks created by spiral density waves (Martos etal. 1999). We compute galactic orbits for these stars, and identify thestars that could be explained by one or the other mechanism. We findthat about 90 percent of the stars can be accounted for by the clusterejection mechanism, that is, they can be regarded as runaway stars inthe galactic halo.
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Classification of Population II Stars in the Vilnius Photometric System. II. Results
The results of photometric classification of 848 true and suspectedPopulation II stars, some of which were found to belong to Population I,are presented. The stars were classified using a new calibrationdescribed in Paper I (Bartkevicius & Lazauskaite 1996). We combinethese results with our results from Paper I and discuss in greaterdetail the following groups of stars: UU Herculis-type stars and otherhigh-galactic-latitude supergiants, field red horizontal-branch stars,metal-deficient visual binaries, metal-deficient subgiants, stars fromthe Catalogue of Metal-deficient F--M Stars Classified Photometrically(MDPH; Bartkevicius 1993) and stars from one of the HIPPARCOS programs(Bartkevicius 1994a). It is confirmed that high galactic latitudesupergiants from the Bartaya (1979) catalog are giants or even dwarfs.Some stars, identified by Rose (1985) and Tautvaisiene (1996a) as fieldRHB stars, appear to be ordinary giants according to our classification.Some of the visual binaries studied can be considered as physical pairs.Quite a large fraction of stars from the MDPH catalog are found to havesolar metallicity. A number of new possible UU Herculis-type stars, RHBstars and metal-deficient subgiants are identified.
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Analysis of Neckel and Chini standard stars in the UBVRI photometric system
This paper studies the list of 60 faint standard stars of Neckel andChini (1980) in the UBVRI Johnson photometric system. We have re-reducedthe standard stars using our own method of reduction from a large numberof selected observations made at the Observatorio Astronomico Nacionaland at the Centro Astronomico Hispano-Aleman, both at Calar Alto, Spain,and at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma Island,Spain. The reduction method used is explained and the results are givenfor the four colors used: (B-V), (U-B), (V-R), and (V-I), together withthe V magnitude, that is, we have corrected many standard stars for eachcolor and magnitude. These results are supported with graphs whereresidual color is plotted against corresponding color (or magnitude).Finally, our (V-R) and (V-I) results are compared to those of Taylor etal. (1989), with a good correspondence.
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The runaway nature of distant early-type stars in the galactic halo
The kinematics of a sample of 32 distant halo B-stars with masses in therange 3-21 solar masses are investigated using the current 'runawaystar' hypotheses to establish if they belong to this group of stars.Whether postmass transfer secondaries in evolved massive close binariescan be normal low mass B-stars is discussed, but support for this ideais not found. Thus it appears that the lower mass stars could not havebeen ejected out of the disk as a result of supernova explosions inmassive close binaries, while the higher mass objects do not in generalreveal a binary nature as expected from this theory. The results ofrecent N-body simulations of the purely dynamical ejection of runawaystars from young galactic star clusters are in excellent agreement withthe observations. Thus it appears that these halo stars are the mostdistant subgroup of OB runaways produced by cluster ejection yetobserved.
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The properties of the Neckel-Chini VRI system
Cousins (1980) data for 54 of the standard stars of Neckel and Chini(1980) and published measurements are used to investigate the propertiesof the Neckel-Chini VRI system. For red stars, this system diverges fromthe Johnson (1962) system, despite frequent claims of identity betweenthe two. The Neckel-Chini and Cousins systems, however, are closelycomparable. Both of these conclusions were previously reached in a paperby Bessell (1983); fair to good quantitative agreement with his resultsare obtained. Reddening ratios, the scatter in the Neckel-Chinistandard-star data, and the effect of this scatter on publishedmeasurements for program stars, are discussed. Transformations from theNeckel-Chini system to the Cousins system are given.
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Photometry of stars in the uvgr system
Photoelectric photometry is presented for over 400 stars using the uvgrsystem of Thuan and Gunn. Stars were selected to cover a wide range ofspectral type, luminosity class, and metallicity. A mean main sequenceis derived along with reddening curves and approximate transformationsto the UBVR system. The calibration of the standard-star sequence issignificantly improved.
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The galactic reddening law - The evidence from uvby-beta photometry of B stars
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1985A&A...142..189T&db_key=AST
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On the nature of early-type stars in the galactic halo
Effective temperatures and surface gravities of 46 intermediate and highgalactic latitude OB stars have been estimated from Stromgren /C1/ andH-beta photometry. In addition, helium, calcium and magnesium abundancesrelative to hydrogen have been derived for eleven stars. The typicalOB-type stellar parameters indicate that they are normal Population Istars, several of which require ejection velocities of more than 100km/s from the plane in order to reach their present z-distances duringtheir lifetimes. The observed correlation between peculiar velocity andmass for stars with /z/ not less than 400 pc is compatible with theBlaauw runaway hypothesis as the acceleration mechanism. A plot of logN(Na I) versus E(B-V) implies that the gas-to-dust ratio in the halo isprobably similar to that found for material in the galactic disc. Thisimplies that the sputtering of calcium from grain surfaces is probablyresponsible for the observed velocity dependence of the N(Na I)/N(Ca II)ratio.
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Sixty faint UBVRI standards
A list of 60 faint UBVRI standards is presented. Their UBV magnitudesare in the system introduced by Johnson (1955) and their V-R and V-Icolors are in the system of the Arizona Tonantzintla catalogue byIriarte et al. (1965). These stars are spread over an equatorial belt atan angle less than 30 deg, so that they can be observed as well fromnorthern as from southern sites.
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Photometry of faint blue stars - III. Hbeta photometry of some southern stars.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1977MNRAS.178..369K
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Photometry of faint blue stars. II - A second list of southern stars
Photometry in the uvby system is given for 61 faint blue stars. Thestars are classified by means of the Stroemgren indices, usingpreviously described criteria.
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The Nature of Faint Blue Stars in the Halo. II
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1974ApJS...28..157G&db_key=AST
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Horizontal-Branch Stars and Interstellar Lines at High Latitude
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1968ApJ...152..431G&db_key=AST
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Mean absolute magnitude of the blue stars at high galactic latitude.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1962AJ.....67..740K&db_key=AST
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A search for blue stars in high galactic latitudes.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1958AJ.....63..484C&db_key=AST
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INHABITED SKY
