Surveying the agents of galaxy evolution in the tidally stripped, low metallicity small Magellanic Cloud (SAGE-SMC). III. Young stellar objects

Journal Article · Wed Nov 20 04:00:00 EST 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/778/1/15· OSTI ID:22342277

Sewiło, M. ^[1]; Carlson, L. R. ^[2]; Seale, J. P.; Meixner, M.; Gordon, K.; others, and

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1. The Johns Hopkins University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 366 Bloomberg Center, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
2. Sterrewacht Leiden, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden (Netherlands)

The Spitzer Space Telescope Legacy Program SAGE-SMC allows global studies of resolved stellar populations in the SMC in a different environment than our Galaxy. Using the SAGE-SMC IRAC (3.6-8.0 μm) and MIPS (24 and 70 μm) catalogs and images combined with near-infrared (JHK {sub s}) and optical (UBVI) data, we identified a population of ∼1000 intermediate- to high-mass young stellar objects (YSOs) in the SMC (three times more than previously known). Our method of identifying YSO candidates builds on the method developed for the Large Magellanic Cloud by Whitney et al. with improvements based on what we learned from our subsequent studies and techniques described in the literature. We perform (1) color-magnitude cuts based on five color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs), (2) visual inspection of multi-wavelength images, and (3) spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting with YSO models. For each YSO candidate, we use its photometry to calculate a measure of our confidence that the source is not a non-YSO contaminant, but rather a true YSO, based on the source's location in the color-magnitude space with respect to non-YSOs. We use this CMD score and the SED fitting results to define two classes of sources: high-reliability YSO candidates and possible YSO candidates. We found that, due to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission, about half of our sources have [3.6]-[4.5] and [4.5]-[5.8] colors not predicted by previous YSO models. The YSO candidates are spatially correlated with gas tracers.

• OSTI ID: 22342277
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 778; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
CATALOGS
COLOR
DIAGRAMS
EMISSION
ENERGY SPECTRA
EVOLUTION
IMAGES
INSPECTION
MAGELLANIC CLOUDS
MASS
METALLICITY
NEAR INFRARED RADIATION
PHOTOMETRY
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
RELIABILITY
SPACE
STARS
TELESCOPES
VISIBLE RADIATION
WAVELENGTHS