Fast-rotating A- and F-type Stars with Hα Emissions in NGC 3532: Candidate UV-dim Stars?

Abstract

Extended main-sequence stars that are dim in the ultraviolet passbands of the Hubble Space Telescope (UV-dim stars) are found in several young and intermediate-age star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs). The obscuring of the dust in the disks of stars expelled as a result of fast rotation has been suggested to be responsible for the appearance of UV-dim stars and to play an important role in the formation of extended main sequences. In this paper, we report a population of A- and F-type stars that show H α emission features in their spectra in the young (~340 Myr old) neighboring Galactic star cluster NGC 3532. By fitting the observed absorption profiles, we found that most H α emitters are fast-rotating stars, indicating that they form decretion disks by fast rotation like Be stars. As A- and F-type stars dominate the extended main-sequence turnoff regions of intermediate-age clusters, their appearance provides observational evidence to support the dust extinction scenario for these clusters, and they might be the counterparts of UV-dim stars that are detected in remote MC star clusters such as NGC 1783.

Keywords

• Early-type stars
• Stellar rotation
• Open star clusters