Membership determination of open clusters based on a spectral clustering method

作者：Gao, Xin-Hua^*

来源：Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, 2018, 70(4): 68.

DOI：10.1093/pasj/psy059

• astrometry
• methods: data analysis
• open clusters and associations: general
• proper motions

We present a spectral clustering (SC) method aimed at segregating reliable members of open clusters in multi-dimensional space. The SC method is a non-parametric clustering technique that performs cluster division using eigenvectors of the similarity matrix; no prior knowledge of the clusters is required. This method is more flexible in dealing with multi-dimensional data compared to other methods of membership determination. We use this method to segregate the cluster members of five open clusters (Hyades, Coma Ber, Pleiades, Praesepe, and NGC 188) in five-dimensional space; fairly clean cluster members are obtained. We find that the SC method can capture a small number of cluster members (weak signal) from a large number of field stars (heavy noise). Based on these cluster members, we compute the mean proper motions and distances for the Hyades, Coma Ber, Pleiades, and Praesepe clusters, and our results are in general quite consistent with the results derived by other authors. The test results indicate that the SC method is highly suitable for segregating cluster members of open clusters based on high-precision multi-dimensional astrometric data such as Gaia data.

• 出版日期2018-8
• 单位常州大学