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Paper: Identifying Circumstellar Disks in LMC/SMC Clusters
Volume: 343, Astronomical Polarimetry: Current Status and Future Directions
Page: 288
Authors: Wisniewski, J.P.; Bjorkman, K.S.; Magalhães, A.M.
Abstract: Classical Be stars are rapidly rotating near main-sequence B-type stars which have gaseous circumstellar disks. Our understanding of these stars is incomplete, especially as regards two fundamental questions: 1) Is the Be phenomenon an evolutionary effect? and 2) What role does metallicity play in the formation of Be circumstellar disks? 2-color diagram photometric techniques have been used to determine the frequency of candidate Be stars in clusters of various ages and metallicities; however, these techniques classify all B-type objects with excess Hff emission as classical Be stars, without accounting for the likelihood that other B-type stars, such as post main-sequence B[e] stars, young stellar objects, and B-supergiants, may also exhibit Hff emission. We discuss how imaging polarimetry can be used to aid in the identification of the true classical Be stars in these clusters.
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