No Arabic abstract
This work aims to the study of the Sh 2-307 HII region and related stellar population. Near-infrared imaging and spectroscopic observations in the direction of Sh 2-307 were performed using OSIRIS at SOAR Telescope. From J-, H- and K-band spectra of the brightest source in the cluster, we conclude that it has a near-infrared spectra compatible with that taken for O9v-O9.5v stars. Using the derived spectral type and the respective J, H and K-band photometry, we compute a heliocentric distance of 3.2(0.5) kpc, which for R0 = 8 kpc, puts this cluster at more than 10 kpc from the Galactic centre. From the Brg, H2, and continuum narrow-band images we were able to detect both the NIR counterpart of the associated HII region, as well as, the interface between the ionised and the cool molecular gas. Using the 5 Ghz continuum flux density taken from the PMN catalogue and the Brg narrow band image we estimate that the HII region has a mean diameter of 0.94(0.15) pc, mean electron density of 550 cm-3 and an estimated dynamical age of 1.6 Myears years. The large fraction of sources presenting excess emission at 2micron suggests that the stellar population is very young, with many sources still in the pre-main sequence accreting phase. By the use of theoretical pre-main sequence tracks we derived a cluster mean age of about 2.5 Myears, and from the analyses of the fraction of excess emission sources as a function of their spatial distribution we found evidence for an age spread for the embedded pre-main sequence stellar population. Finally, from the study of the spatial distribution of the low-mass sources relative to the main-cluster source and associated photo-dissociation zones, we conclude that the O-type star probably has been triggering the star formation process in the region.
We present new Spitzer Space Telescope observations of the region NGC 2467, and use these observations to determine how the environment of an HII region affects the process of star formation. Our observations comprise IRAC (3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 um) and MIPS (24 um) maps of the region, covering approximately 400 square arcminutes. The images show a region of ionized gas pushing out into the surrounding molecular cloud, powered by an O6V star and two clusters of massive stars in the region. We have identified as candidate Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) 45 sources in NGC 2467 with infrared excesses in at least two mid-infrared colors. We have constructed color-color diagrams of these sources and have quantified their spatial distribution within the region. We find that the YSOs are not randomly distributed in NGC 2467; rather, over 75% of the sources are distributed at the edge of the HII region, along ionization fronts driven by the nearby massive stars. The high fraction of YSOs in NGC 2467 that are found in proximity to gas that has been compressed by ionization fronts supports the hypothesis that a significant fraction of the star formation in NGC 2467 is triggered by the massive stars and the expansion of the HII region. At the current rate of star formation, we estimate at least 25-50% of the total population of YSOs formed by this process.
We present multi-epoch deep ($sim$20 mag) $I_{c}$~band photometric monitoring of the Sh 2-170 star-forming region to understand the variability properties of pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars. We report identification of 47 periodic and 24 non-periodic variable stars with periods and amplitudes ranging from $sim$4 hrs to 18 days and from $sim$0.1 to 2.0 mag, respectively. We have further classified 49 variables as PMS stars (17 Class,{sc ii} and 32 Class,{sc iii}) and 17 as main-sequence (MS)/field star variables. A larger fraction of MS/field variables (88%) show periodic variability as compared to the PMS variables (59%). The ages and masses of the PMS variable stars are found to be comparable with those of T-Tauri stars. Their variability amplitudes show an increasing trend with the near-IR/mid-IR excess. The period distribution of the PMS variables shows two peaks, one near $sim$1.5 days and the other near $sim$4.5 days. It is found that the younger stars with thicker discs and envelopes seem to rotate slower than their older counterparts. These properties of the PMS variables support the disc-locking mechanism. Both the period and amplitude of PMS stars show decrease with increasing mass probably due to the effective dispersal of circumstellar discs in massive stars. Our results favour the notion that cool spots on weak line T-Tauri stars are responsible for most of their variations, while hot spots on classical T-Tauri stars resulting from variable mass accretion from an inner disc contribute to their larger amplitudes and irregular behaviours.
We report on a study of the high-mass star formation in the the HII region W28A2 by investigating the molecular clouds extended over ~5-10 pc from the exciting stars using the 12CO and 13CO (J=1-0) and 12CO (J=2-1) data taken by the NANTEN2 and Mopra observations. These molecular clouds consist of three velocity components with the CO intensity peaks at V_LSR ~ -4 km s$^{-1}$, 9 km s$^{-1}$ and 16 km s$^{-1}$. The highest CO intensity is detected at V_LSR ~ 9 km s$^{-1}$, where the high-mass stars with the spectral types of O6.5-B0.5 are embedded. We found bridging features connecting these clouds toward the directions of the exciting sources. Comparisons of the gas distributions with the radio continuum emission and 8 um infrared emission show spatial coincidence/anti-coincidence, suggesting physical associations between the gas and the exciting sources. The 12CO J=2-1 to 1-0 intensity ratio shows a high value (> 0.8) toward the exciting sources for the -4 km s$^{-1}$ and +9 km s$^{-1}$ clouds, possibly due to heating by the high-mass stars, whereas the intensity ratio at the CO intensity peak (V_LSR ~ 9 km s$^{-1}$) lowers down to ~0.6, suggesting self absorption by the dense gas in the near side of the +9 km s$^{-1}$ cloud. We found partly complementary gas distributions between the -4 km s$^{-1}$ and +9 km s$^{-1}$ clouds, and the -4 km s$^{-1}$ and +16 km s$^{-1}$ clouds. The exciting sources are located toward the overlapping region in the -4 km s$^{-1}$ and +9 km s$^{-1}$ clouds. Similar gas properties are found in the Galactic massive star clusters, RCW 38 and NGC 6334, where an early stage of cloud collision to trigger the star formation is suggested. Based on these results, we discuss a possibility of the formation of high-mass stars in the W28A2 region triggered by the cloud-cloud collision.
We have compiled the most complete compact and ultracompact HII region catalogue to date via multi-wavelength inspection of survey data. We utilise data from the recently available SASSy 850$mu$m survey to identify massive star forming clumps in the outer Galaxy ($R_{rm{GC}}>8.5$ kpc) and cross-match with infrared and radio data of known UC HII regions from the RMS database. For the inner Galaxy sample ($R_{rm{GC}}<8.5$ kpc), we adopt the compact HII regions from previous works that used similar methods to cross match ATLASGAL with either CORNISH or RMS, depending on the location within the Galactic plane. We present a new UC HII region catalogue that more than doubles the original sample size of previous work, totaling 536 embedded HII regions and 445 host clumps. We examine the distance independent values of N$_{rm{Ly}}/$M and L$_{rm{bol}}/$M as proxies for massive star formation efficiency and overall star formation efficiency, respectively. We find a significant trend showing that L$_{rm{bol}}/$M decreases with increasing $R_{rm{GC}}$, suggesting that the overall star formation per unit mass is less in the outer Galaxy.
The expansion of HII regions can trigger the formation of stars. An overdensity of young stellar objects (YSOs) is observed at the edges of HII regions but the mechanisms that give rise to this phenomenon are not clearly identified. Moreover, it is difficult to establish a causal link between HII-region expansion and the star formation observed at the edges of these regions. A clear age gradient observed in the spatial distribution of young sources in the surrounding might be a strong argument in favor of triggering. We have observed the Galactic HII region RCW120 with herschel PACS and SPIRE photometers at 70, 100, 160, 250, 350 and 500$mu$m. We produced temperature and H$_2$ column density maps and use the getsources algorithm to detect compact sources and measure their fluxes at herschel wavelengths. We have complemented these fluxes with existing infrared data. Fitting their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with a modified blackbody model, we derived their envelope dust temperature and envelope mass. We computed their bolometric luminosities and discuss their evolutionary stages. The herschel data, with their unique sampling of the far infrared domain, have allowed us to characterize the properties of compact sources observed towards RCW120 for the first time. We have also been able to determine the envelope temperature, envelope mass and evolutionary stage of these sources. Using these properties we have shown that the density of the condensations that host star formation is a key parameter of the star-formation history, irrespective of their projected distance to the ionizing stars.