Milky Way demographics with the VVV survey I. The 84-million star colour-magnitude diagram of the Galactic bulge

Context. The Milky Way (MW) bulge is a fundamental Galactic component for understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies, in particular our own. The ESO Public Survey VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea is a deep near-IR survey mapping the Galactic bulge and southern plane. Particularly for the bulge area, VVV is covering similar to 315 deg(2). Data taken during 2010 and 2011 covered the entire bulge area in the JHKs bands. Aims. We used VVV data for the whole bulge area as a single and homogeneous data set to build for the first time a single colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) for the entire Galactic bulge. Methods. Photometric data in the JHK(s) bands were combined to produce a single and huge data set containing 173 150 467 sources in the three bands, for the similar to 315 deg(2) covered by VVV in the bulge. Selecting only the data points flagged as stellar, the total number of sources is 84 095 284. Results. We built the largest colour-magnitude diagrams published up to date, containing 173.1+ million sources for all data points, and more than 84.0 million sources accounting for the stellar sources only. The CMD has a complex shape, mostly owing to the complexity of the stellar population and the effects of extinction and reddening towards the Galactic centre. The red clump (RC) giants are seen double in magnitude at b similar to -8 degrees-10 degrees, while in the inner part (b similar to -3 degrees) they appear to be spreading in colour, or even splitting into a secondary peak. Stellar population models show the predominance of main-sequence and giant stars. The analysis of the outermost bulge area reveals a well-defined sequence of late K and M dwarfs, seen at (J - K-s) similar to 0.7-0.9 mag and K-s greater than or similar to 14 mag. Conclusions. The interpretation of the CMD yields important information about the MW bulge, showing the fingerprint of its structure and content. We report a well-defined red dwarf sequence in the outermost bulge, which is important for the planetary transit searches of VVV. The double RC in magnitude seen in the outer bulge is the signature of the X-shaped MW bulge, while the spreading of the RC in colour, and even its splitting into a secondary peak, are caused by reddening effects. The region around the Galactic centre is harder to interpret because it is strongly affected by reddening and extinction.

The infrared fundamental intensities of some cyanopolyynes

Some cyanopolyynes, HCnN (n = 1, 3, ... , 17), are investigated by means of calculations at the MP2/cc-pVTZ and CCSD/cc-pVDZ levels. Although the MP2/cc-pVTZ results for geometries and molecular dipole moments are encouraging, the CCSD/cc-pVDZ level was superior for the study of infrared fundamental intensities. The main bands are also analyzed with a charge-charge flux-dipole flux (CCFDF) partition model based on quantities given by the Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM). The intensity of vibrations corresponding to the stretching of CH bonds (3471-3473 cm(-1)) increases in line with the number of carbon atoms (from 61 to 146 km mol(-1) between HCN and HC13N). This increase is due to the charge flux contribution while the other contributions remain roughly unaltered except for HCN. Moreover, the hydrogen atom loses an almost constant amount of electronic charge during the CH bond enlargement and a small fraction of this charge spreads to atoms farther and farther away from hydrogen as the molecule size increases. The band associated with the doubly degenerate CH bending vibrations (643-732 cm(-1)) presents approximately the same intensity in all the studied cyanopolyynes (from 67 to 76 km mol(-1)). The CCFDF/QTAIM contributions are also nearly the same for these bending modes in HC5N and larger systems. The intensity of the mode mostly identified as CN stretching (around 2378-2399 cm(-1) except for HCN) increases from HCN up to HC7N (from 0.3 to 83 km mol(-1)) and nearly stabilizes around 80-90 km mol(-1) for larger systems. The CCFDF/QTAIM contributions for this mode also change significantly up to HC7N and remain almost constant in larger systems. We also observed the appearing of a very relevant band between 2283 and 2342 cm(-1). This mode is mainly associated with the symmetric stretching of CC triple bonds near the molecule center and exhibits large charge fluxes while the other contributions are almost negligible in the largest cyanopolyynes. The two vibrational bands associated with the smallest frequencies are also studied and extrapolation equations are suggested to predict their positions in larger cyanopolyynes. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.