EDP Sciences Journals List
Advanced Search
Subscriber Authentication Point
Home All issues Volume 395/3 Article
Free access article

Issue A&A
Volume 395, Number 3, December I 2002
Page(s) 813 - 821
Section Stellar clusters and associations
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20021262



A&A 395, 813-821 (2002)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20021262

A substellar mass function for Alpha Persei

D. Barrado y Navascués1, J. Bouvier2, J. R. Stauffer3, N. Lodieu4 and M. J. McCaughrean4

1  Laboratorio de Astrofísica Espacial y Física Fundamental, INTA, PO Box 50727, 28080 Madrid, Spain
2  Laboratoire d'Astrophysique, Observatoire de Grenoble, Université Joseph Fourier, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
    e-mail: jerome.bouvier@obs.ujf-grenoble.fr
3  IPAC, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
    e-mail: stauffer@ipac.caltech.edu
4  Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
    e-mail: nlodieu@aip.de,mjm@aip.de

(Received 18 March 2002 / Accepted 28 August 2002 )

Abstract
We present a deep, wide-field optical survey of the young stellar cluster Alpha Per, in which we have discovered a large population of candidate brown dwarfs. Subsequent infrared photometric follow-up shows that the majority of them are probable or possible members of the cluster, reaching to a minimum mass of 0.035  $M_\odot$. We have used this list of members to derive the luminosity and mass functions of the substellar population of the cluster ( $\alpha=0.59\pm0.05$, when expressed in the mass spectrum form $\phi \propto M^{-\alpha}$) and compared its slope to the value measure for the Pleiades. This comparison indicates that the two cluster mass functions are, indeed, very similar.


Key words: open clusters and associations: individual: Alpha Per -- stars: low-mass, brown dwarfs -- stars: luminosity, mass functions

Offprint request: D. Barrado y Navascués, barrado@laeff.esa.es

SIMBAD Objects



© ESO 2002


What is OpenURL?

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.
  • If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
  • You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
  • You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.