| Abstract: | Because of the intense brightness of the OB‐type multiple star system σ Ori, the low‐mass stellar and substellar populations close to the centre of the very young σ Orionis cluster is poorly know. I present an IJHKs survey in the cluster centre, able to detect from the massive early‐type stars down to cluster members below the deuterium burning mass limit. The near‐infrared and optical data have been complemented with X‐ray imaging. Ten objects have been found for the first time to display high‐energy emission. Previously known stars with clear spectroscopic youth indicators and/or X‐ray emission define a clear sequence in the I vs. I – Ks diagram. I have found six new candidate cluster members that follow this sequence. One of them, in the magnitude interval of the brown dwarfs in the cluster, displays X‐ray emission and a very red J – Ks colour, indicative of a disc. Other three low‐mass stars have excesses in the Ks band as well. The frequency of X‐ray emitters in the area is 80±20 %. The spatial density of stars is very high, of up to 1.6±0.1 arcmin–2. There is no indication of lower abundance of substellar objects in the cluster centre. Finally, I also report two cluster stars with X‐ray emission located at only 8000–11000 AU to σ Ori AB, two sources with peculiar colours and an object with X‐ray emission and near‐infrared magnitudes similar to those of previously‐known substellar objects in the cluster. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
