NICMOS2 hubble space telescope observations of the embedded cluster associated with Mon R2: Constraining the substellar initial mass function

Abstract

We have analyzed Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS2 F110W-, F160W-, F165M-, and F207M-band images covering the central 1' × 1' region of the cluster associated with Mon R2 in order to constrain the initial mass function (IMF) down to 20M_J. The flux ratio between the F165M and F160W bands was used to measure the strength of the water-band absorption feature and select a sample of 12 out of the total sample of 181 objects that have effective temperatures between 2700 and 3300 K. These objects are placed in the H-R diagram together with sources observed by Carpenter et al. to estimate an age of ~1 Myr for the low-mass cluster population. By constructing extinction-limited samples, we are able to constrain the IMF and the fraction of stars with a circumstellar disk in a sample that is 90% complete for both high- and low-mass objects. For stars with estimated masses between 0.1 and 1.0 M_☉ for a 1 Myr population with A_V ≤ 19 mag, we find that 27% ± 9% have a near-infrared excess indicative of a circumstellar disk. The derived fraction is similar to or slightly lower than the fraction found in other star-forming regions of comparable age. We constrain the number of stars in the mass interval 0.08-1.0 M_☉ to the number of objects in the mass interval 0.02-0.08 M_☉ by forming the ratio R^(**) = N(0.08-1 M_☉)/N(0.02-0.08 M_☉) for objects in an extinction-limited sample complete for A_V ≤ 7 mag. The ratio is found to be R^(**) = 2.2 ± 1.3, assuming an age of 1 Myr, consistent with the similar ratio predicted by the system IMF proposed by Chabrier. The ratio is similar to the ratios observed toward the Orion Nebula Cluster and IC 348, as well as the ratio derived in the 28 deg^2 survey of Taurus by Guieu et al.

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