Stellar rotation bifurcation caused by tidal locking in the open cluster NGC 2287?

Abstract

We present a detailed analysis of the projected stellar rotational velocities of the well-separated double main sequence (MS) in the young, $\sim 200$Myr-old Milky Way open cluster NGC 2287 and suggest that stellar rotation may drive the split MSs in NGC 2287. We find that the observed distribution of projected stellar rotation velocities could result from a dichotomous distribution of stellar rotation rates. We discuss whether our observations may reflect the effects of tidal locking affecting a fraction of the cluster's member stars in stellar binary systems. The slow rotators are likely stars that initially rotated rapidly but subsequently slowed down through tidal locking induced by low-mass-ratio binary systems. However, the cluster may have a much larger population of short-period binaries than is usually seen in the literature, with relatively low secondary masses.

arXiv comment4 pages, 1 figure. To appear in the Proceedings of the 351 IAU Symposium "Star Clusters: From the Milky Way to the Early Universe"

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