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Register a new userThe spatial distribution of star and cluster formation in M51
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Aims. We study the connection between spatially resolved star formation and young star clusters across the disc of M51. Methods. We combine star cluster data based on B, V, and I-band Hubble Space Telescope ACS imaging, together with new WFPC2 U-band photometry to derive ages, masses, and extinctions of 1580 resolved star clusters using SSP models. This data is combined with data on the spatially resolved star formation rates and gas surface densities, as well as Halpha and 20cm radio-continuum (RC) emission, which allows us to study the spatial correlations between star formation and star clusters. Two-point autocorrelation functions are used to study the clustering of star clusters as a function of spatial scale and age. Results. We find that the clustering of star clusters among themselves decreases both with spatial scale and age, consistent with hierarchical star formation. The slope of the autocorrelation functions are consistent with projected fractal dimensions in the range of 1.2-1.6, which is similar to other galaxies, therefore suggesting that the fractal dimension of hierarchical star formation is universal. Both star and cluster formation peak at a galactocentric radius of 2.5 and 5 kpc, which we tentatively attribute to the presence of the 4:1 resonance and the co-rotation radius. The positions of the youngest (<10 Myr) star clusters show the strongest correlation with the spiral arms, Halpha, and the RC emission, and these correlations decrease with age. The azimuthal distribution of clusters in terms of kinematic age away from the spiral arms indicates that the majority of the clusters formed 5-20 Myr before their parental gas cloud reached the centre of the spiral arm.
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We report on a study of young star cluster complexes in the spiral galaxy M51. Recent studies have confirmed that star clusters do not form in isolation, but instead tend to form in larger groupings or complexes. We use {it HST} broad and narrow band images (from both {it WFPC2} and {it ACS}), along with {it BIMA}-CO observations to study the properties and investigate the origin of the e complexes. We find that the complexes are all young ($< 10$ Myr), have sizes between $sim$85 and $sim$240 pc, and have masses between 3-30 $times 10^{4} M_{odot}$. Unlike that found for isolated young star clusters, we find a strong correlation between the complex mass and radius, namely $Mpropto R^{2.33 pm 0.19}$. This is similar to that found for giant molecular clouds (GMCs). By comparing the mass-radius relation of GMCs in M51 to that of the complexes we can estimate the star formation efficiency within the complexes, although this value is heavily dependent on the assumed CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factor. The complexes studied here have the same surface density distribution as individual young star clusters and GMCs. If star formation within the complexes is proportional to the gas density at that point, then the shared mass-radius relation of GMCs and complexes is a natural consequence of their shared density profiles. We briefly discuss possibilities for the lack of a mass-radius relation for young star clusters. We note that many of the complexes show evidence of merging of star clusters in their centres, suggesting that larger star clusters can be produced through the build up of smaller clusters.
Recently acquired WFC3 UV (F275W and F336W) imaging mosaics under the Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) combined with archival ACS data of M51 are used to study the young star cluster (YSC) population of this interacting system. Our newly extracted source catalogue contains 2834 cluster candidates, morphologically classified to be compact and uniform in colour, for which ages, masses and extinction are derived. In this first work we study the main properties of the YSC population of the whole galaxy, considering a mass-limited sample. Both luminosity and mass functions follow a power law shape with slope -2, but at high luminosities and masses a dearth of sources is observed. The analysis of the mass function suggests that it is best fitted by a Schechter function with slope -2 and a truncation mass at $1.00pm0.12times10^5 M_odot$. Through Monte Carlo simulations we confirm this result and link the shape of the luminosity function to the presence of a truncation in the mass function. A mass limited age function analysis, between 10 and 200 Myr, suggests that the cluster population is undergoing only moderate disruption. We observe little variation in the shape of the mass function at masses above $1times10^4 M_odot$, over this age range. The fraction of star formation happening in the form of bound clusters in M51 is $sim20%$ in the age range 10 to 100 Myr and little variation is observed over the whole range from 1 to 200 Myr.
We compare the structure of molecular gas at $40$ pc resolution to the ability of gas to form stars across the disk of the spiral galaxy M51. We break the PAWS survey into $370$ pc and $1.1$ kpc resolution elements, and within each we estimate the molecular gas depletion time ($tau_{rm Dep}^{rm mol}$), the star formation efficiency per free fall time ($epsilon_{rm ff}$), and the mass-weighted cloud-scale (40 pc) properties of the molecular gas: surface density, $Sigma$, line width, $sigma$, and $bequivSigma/sigma^2proptoalpha_{rm vir}^{-1}$, a parameter that traces the boundedness of the gas. We show that the cloud-scale surface density appears to be a reasonable proxy for mean volume density. Applying this, we find a typical star formation efficiency per free-fall time, $epsilon_{ff} left( left< Sigma_{40pc} right> right) sim 0.3{-}0.36%$, lower than adopted in many models and found for local clouds. More, the efficiency per free fall time anti-correlates with both $Sigma$ and $sigma$, in some tension with turbulent star formation models. The best predictor of the rate of star formation per unit gas mass in our analysis is $b equiv Sigma / sigma^2$, tracing the strength of self gravity, with $tau_{rm Dep}^{rm mol} propto b^{-0.9}$. The sense of the correlation is that gas with stronger self-gravity (higher $b$) forms stars at a higher rate (low $tau_{rm Dep}^{rm mol}$). The different regions of the galaxy mostly overlap in $tau_{rm Dep}^{rm mol}$ as a function of $b$, so that low $b$ explains the surprisingly high $tau_{rm Dep}^{rm mol}$ found towards the inner spiral arms found by by Meidt et al. (2013).
We have mapped the inner 360 regions of M51 in the 158micron [CII] line at 55 spatial resolution using the Far-infrared Imaging Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FIFI) on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO). The emission is peaked at the nucleus, but is detectable over the entire region mapped, which covers much of the optical disk of the galaxy. There are also two strong secondary peaks at ~43% to 70% of the nuclear value located roughly 120 to the north-east, and south-west of the nucleus. These secondary peaks are at the same distance from the nucleus as the corotation radius of the density wave pattern. The density wave also terminates at this location, and the outlying spiral structure is attributed to material clumping due to the interaction between M51 and NGC5195. This orbit crowding results in cloud-cloud collisions, stimulating star formation, that we see as enhanced [CII] line emission. The [CII] emission at the peaks originates mainly from photodissociation regions (PDRs) formed on the surfaces of molecular clouds that are exposed to OB starlight, so that these [CII] peaks trace star formation peaks in M51. The total mass of [CII] emitting photodissociated gas is ~2.6x10^{8} M_{sun}, or about 2% of the molecular gas as estimated from its CO(1-0) line emission. At the peak [CII] positions, the PDR gas mass to total gas mass fraction is somewhat higher, 3-17%, and at the secondary peaks the mass fraction of the [CII] emitting photodissociated gas can be as high as 72% of the molecular mass.... (continued)
We present the first study of the spatial distribution of star formation in z~0.5 cluster galaxies. The analysis is based on data taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 as part of the Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS). We illustrate the methodology by focusing on two clusters (MACS0717.5+3745 and MACS1423.8+2404) with different morphologies (one relaxed and one merging) and use foreground and background galaxies as field control sample. The cluster+field sample consists of 42 galaxies with stellar masses in the range 10^8-10^11 M_sun, and star formation rates in the range 1-20 M_sun/yr. Both in clusters and in the field, H{alpha} is more extended than the rest-frame UV continuum in 60% of the cases, consistent with diffuse star formation and inside out growth. In ~20% of the cases, the H{alpha} emission appears more extended in cluster galaxies than in the field, pointing perhaps to ionized gas being stripped and/or star formation being enhanced at large radii. The peak of the H{alpha} emission and that of the continuum are offset by less than 1 kpc. We investigate trends with the hot gas density as traced by the X-ray emission, and with the surface mass density as inferred from gravitational lens models and find no conclusive results. The diversity of morphologies and sizes observed in H_alpha illustrates the complexity of the environmental process that regulate star formation. Upcoming analysis of the full GLASS dataset will increase our sample size by almost an order of magnitude, verifying and strengthening the inference from this initial dataset.
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