Pre-main sequence stars in open clusters - I. The DAY-I catalogue

Context. We present the basic ideas and first results from the project we are carrying out at present, the search for and characterisation of pre-main sequence ( PMS) stars among the members of Galactic young clusters. The observations of 10 southern clusters, nine of them located in the Carina-Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way are presented. Aims. We aim at listing candidate PMS member stars in young clusters. The catalogued stars will serve as a basis for future spectroscopic studies of individual objects to determine the properties of stellar formation in the last phases before the main sequence stage. Properties such as the presence of residual envelopes or disks, age spread among PMS members, and the possible presence of several episodes of star formation in the clusters, are to be addressed. Methods. Multicolour photometry in the UBVRCIC system has been obtained for 10 southern young clusters in the fourth Galactic quadrant, located between Galactic longitudes l = 238 degrees and l = 310 degrees. For six clusters in the sample, the observations presented here provide the first published study based on CCD photometry. A quantitative comparison is performed with post-MS isochrones, and PMS isochrones from three different evolutionary models are used in the photometric membership analysis for possible PMS stars. Results. The observations produce photometric indices in the Johnson-Cousins photometric systems for a total of 26 962 stars. The matching of our pixel coordinates with corresponding fields in the 2MASS data base provides astrometric calibration for all cataloged stars and JHK 2MASS photometric indices for 60% of them. Post-MS cluster ages range from 4 to 60 Myr, whereas the photometric membership analysis assigns PMS membership to a total of 842 stars, covering an age range between 1 and 10 Myr. This information on the PMS candidate members has been collected into a catalogue, named DAY-I, which contains 16 entries for 842 stars in the field of 10 southern clusters.