• DOI:10.1086/319965
• Corpus ID: 17994583

The Mass and Structure of the Pleiades Star Cluster from 2MASS

@article{Adams2001TheMA,
  title={The Mass and Structure of the Pleiades Star Cluster from 2MASS},
  author={J. D. Adams and John R. Stauffer and David G. Monet and Michael F. Skrutskie and Charles A. Beichman},
  journal={The Astronomical Journal},
  year={2001},
  volume={121},
  pages={2053 - 2064}
}

• J. Adams, J. Stauffer, +2 authors C. Beichman
• Published 9 January 2001
• Physics
• The Astronomical Journal

We present the results of a large-scale search for new members of the Pleiades star cluster using 2MASS near-infrared photometry and proper motions derived from POSS plates digitized by the USNO PMM program. The search extends to a 10° radius around the cluster, well beyond the presumed tidal radius, to a limiting magnitude of R ∼ 20, corresponding to ∼0.07 M⊙ at the distance and age of the Pleiades. Multiobject spectroscopy for 528 candidates verifies that the search was extremely effective at detecting cluster stars in the 1–0.1 M⊙ mass range using the distribution of Hα emission strengths as an estimate of sample contamination by field stars. When combined with previously identified, higher mass stars, this search provides a sensitive measurement of the stellar mass function and dynamical structure of the Pleiades. The degree of tidal elongation of the halo agrees well with current N-body simulation results. Tidal truncation affects masses below ∼1 M⊙. The cluster contains a total mass ∼800 M⊙. Evidence for a flatter mass function in the core than in the halo indicates the depletion of stars in the core with mass less than ∼0.5 M⊙, relative to stars with mass ∼1-0.5 M⊙, and implies a preference for very low-mass objects to populate the halo or escape. The overall mass function is best fitted with a lognormal form that becomes flat at ∼0.1 M⊙. Whether sufficient dynamical evaporation has occurred to detectably flatten the initial mass function, via preferential escape of very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, is undetermined, pending better membership information for stars at large radial distances.