| |
 |
| Paper: |
Newly Discovered Be Stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud |
| Volume: |
506, Bright Emissaries: Be Stars as Messengers of Star-Disk Physics |
| Page: |
191 |
| Authors: |
Reid, W. A. |
| Abstract: |
The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is a excellent laboratory in which to analyse and compare the distinctive characteristics of massive and luminous emission-line stars. In particular, the known and almost co-equal distance to all objects greatly assists the study of comparative luminosities. The original UKST Hα survey covering the central 25deg2 of the LMC revealed 518 Be stars, 413 of which were new discoveries. By extending the survey to cover the entire LMC area of 64 deg2, an additional 415 emission-line stars were identified. Most of the additions have now been spectroscopically observed, with the majority being confirmed as Be stars. The flux, equivalent width, and width at half maximum of the main emission-lines for each of the ∼800 spectroscopically observed LMC Be stars were measured in order to understand their elemental composition and the interaction of the extended circumstellar disk. After subtracting foreground or ambient dust and gas emission, 130 or 22% of B stars were classified as type B[e], characterized by the presence of forbidden emission lines such as [SII], [NII], [OIII] and [OII]. With de-reddened data, the first V-band and Hα luminosity functions were constructed for these stars in the LMC. The magnitudes were then compared using U, B, V, I, R, near-IR J, H, K and mid-IR photometry from the Magellanic Cloud Emission-Line Survey, SuperCOSMOS, 2MASS, and WISE where available. Correlations of varying strength between the optical, IR and Hα magnitudes are shown and discussed. |
|
|
|
|
|
