The discovery of a low mass, pre-main-sequence stellar association around γ-Velorum

We report the serendipitous discovery of a population of low mass, pre-main sequence stars (PMS) in the direction of the Wolf-Rayet/O-star binary system γ Vel and the Vela OB2 association. We argue that γ Vel and the low mass stars are truly associated, are approximately coeval and that both are at distances between 360490pc, disagreeing at the 2σ level with the recent Hipparcos parallax of γ Vel, but consistent with older distance estimates. Our results clearly have implications for the physical parameters of the γ Vel system, but also offer an exciting opportunity to investigate the influence of high mass stars on the mass function and circumstellar disc lifetimes of their lower mass PMS siblings.