Spitzer Infrared Spectrographic point source classification in the Small Magellanic Cloud

Abstract

The Magellanic clouds are uniquely placed to study the stellar contribution to dust emission. Individual stars can be resolved in these systems even in the mid-infrared, and they are close enough to allow detection of infrared excess caused by dust.We have searched the Spitzer Space Telescope data archive for all Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) staring-mode observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and found that 209 Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) point sources within the footprint of the Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SAGE-SMC) Spitzer Legacy programme were targeted, within a total of 311 staring mode observations. We classify these point sources using a decision tree method of object classification, based on infrared spectral features, continuum and spectral energy distribution shape, bolometric luminosity, cluster membership and variability information. We find 58 asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, 51 young stellar objects (YSOs), 4 post-AGB objects, 22 Red Supergiants (RSGs), 27 stars (of which 23 are dusty OB stars), 24 planetary nebulae (PNe), 10Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars, 3 Hii regions, 3 R Coronae Borealis (R CrB) stars, 1 Blue Supergiant and 6 other objects, including 2 foreground AGB stars. We use these classifications to evaluate the success of photometric classification methods reported in the literature.

During the preprint phase, Table 2 can be downloaded from https://www.dropbox.com/s/8bctzhzijy0zxfy/online_classification_table.csv?dl=0 This link will be de-activated as soon as Table 2 finds a more permanent home online

References in corpus (36)

• The Second-Generation Guide Star Catalog: Description and Properties
• The VLT-FLAMES survey of massive stars: constraints on stellar evolution from the chemical compositions of rapidly rotating Galactic and Magellanic Cloud B-type stars
• The VLT-FLAMES Survey of Massive Stars: Observations centered on the Magellanic Cloud clusters NGC 330, NGC 346, NGC 2004, and the N11 region
• The Effective Temperatures and Physical Properties of Magellanic Cloud Red Supergiants: The Effects of Metallicity
• Spitzer SAGE survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud II: Evolved Stars and Infrared Color Magnitude Diagrams
• The VLT-FLAMES survey of massive stars: atmospheric parameters and rotational velocity distributions for B-type stars in the Magellanic Clouds
• Spitzer SAGE-SMC Infrared Photometry of Massive Stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• AGB stars in the Magellanic Clouds. II. The rate of star formation across the LMC
• The Magellanic zoo: Mid-infrared Spitzer spectroscopy of evolved stars and circumstellar dust in the Magellanic Clouds
• Past and present star formation in the SMC: NGC 346 and its neighborhood
• The X-shooter Spectral Library (XSL): I. DR1. Near-ultraviolet through optical spectra from the first year of the survey
• Optically visible post-AGB/RGB stars and young stellar objects in the Small Magellanic Cloud: candidate selection, spectral energy distributions and spectroscopic examination
• Carbon-rich dust past the asymptotic giant branch: aliphatics, aromatics, and fullerenes in the Magellanic Clouds
• Molecules and dust production in the Magellanic Clouds
• Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph Observations of Magellanic Cloud Planetary Nebulae: the nature of dust in low metallicity circumstellar ejecta
• Giants in the globular cluster omega Centauri: dust production, mass loss and distance
• The Physical Properties and Effective Temperature Scale of O-type Stars as a Function of Metallicity. III. More Results from the Magellanic Clouds
• Late-Type Red Supergiants: Too Cool for the Magellanic Clouds?
• Chemical composition and mixing in giant HII regions: NGC3603, 30Doradus, and N66
• Spitzer spectroscopy of carbon stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• The Spitzer Survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud: Discovery of Embedded Protostars in the HII Region NGC 346
• Properties of WNh stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud: evidence for homogeneous evolution
• The Period-Luminosity Relation of Red Supergiant Stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• Age distribution of young clusters and field stars in the SMC
• NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. III. Recent Star Formation and Stellar Clustering Properties in the Bright HII Region N 66
• Dust, pulsation, chromospheres and their role in driving mass loss from red giants in Galactic globular clusters
• The HD5980 multiple system: Masses and evolutionary status
• A Post-AGB Star in the Small Magellanic Cloud Observed with the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph
• An X-ray Survey of Wolf-Rayet Stars in the Magellanic Clouds. I. The Chandra ACIS Dataset
• Neutral material around the B[e] supergiant star LHA 115-S 65: An outflowing disk or a detached Keplerian rotating disk?
• The Star-Forming Region NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud with Hubble Space Telescope ACS Observations I. Photometry
• The Role of Evolutionary Age and Metallicity in the Formation of Classical Be Circumstellar Disks II. Assessing the Evolutionary Nature of Candidate Disk Systems
• Carbon abundance in Small Magellanic Cloud planetary nebulae through Advanced Camera for Surveys prism spectroscopy: constraining stellar evolution at low metallicity
• FUSE observations of HD 5980: The wind structure of the eruptor
• Examining the Infrared Variable Star Population Discovered in the Small Magellanic Cloud Using the SAGE-SMC Survey
• Star-forming Regions in the Small Magellanic Cloud Multi-wavelength Properties of Stellar Complexes