Calibration of radii and masses of open clusters with a simulation

Abstract

Context. Piskunov and collaborators developed a method to make a simple mass estimate for tidally limited star clusters based on the identification of the tidal radius in a King profile with the dynamical Jacobi radius. The application of this method to an unbiased open cluster catalog yielded significantly higher cluster masses than the classical methods. Aims. We quantify the bias in the mass determination as a function of projection direction and cluster age by analyzing a simulated star cluster. Methods. We use direct N-body simulations of a star cluster in an analytic Milky Way potential that account for stellar evolution and apply a best fit to the projected number density of cluster stars. Results. We obtain significantly overestimated star cluster masses that depend strongly on the viewing direction. The overestimation is typically in the range of 10-50 percent and reaches a factor of 3.5 for young clusters. Mass segregation reduces the derived limiting radii systematically. © 2010 ESO.