No Arabic abstract
We investigate the triggering of star formation and the formation of stellar clusters in molecular clouds that form as the ISM passes through spiral shocks. The spiral shock compresses gas into $sim$100 pc long main star formation ridge, where clusters forming every 5-10 pc along the merger ridge. We use a gravitational potential based cluster finding algorithm, which extracts individual clusters, calculates their physical properties and traces cluster evolution over multiple time steps. Final cluster masses at the end of simulation range between 1000 and 30000 M$_{odot}$ with their characteristic half-mass radii between 0.1 pc and 2 pc. These clusters form by gathering material from 10-20 pc size scales. Clusters also show a mass - specific angular momentum relation, where more massive clusters have larger specific angular momentum due to the larger size scales, and hence angular momentum from which they gather their mass. The evolution shows that more massive clusters experiences hierarchical merging process, which increases stellar age spreads up to 2-3 Myr. Less massive clusters appear to grow by gathering nearby recently formed sinks, while more massive clusters with their large global gravitational potentials are increasing their mass growth from gas accretion.
We investigate thermal and non-thermal radio continuum associated with the early formation and evolution of Young Stellar Clusters (YSCs) selected by their MIR emission in M33. For the first time in an external galaxy it has been possible to identify radio counterparts to more than 300 star forming regions. We proof the nature of candidate YSCs fully embedded in molecular clouds, by recovering their associated faint radio continuum luminosities. Using the Halpha line to identify free-free radio emission at 5 GHz in the more evolved, partially exposed YSCs, we retrieve information on the relevance of magnetic fields and cosmic rays across the M33 disk at 25 pc spatial scales. A cross-correlation of MIR and radio continuum luminosities is established from bright to very faint YSCs, with MIR-to-radio emission ratio showing a gradual decline towards the outer disk, while the magnetic field is pervasive at all radii. We establish and discuss the tight relation between radio continuum and other star formation indicators, such as Halpha. This relation holds for individual YSCs over four orders of magnitude as well as for molecular clouds hosting YSCs. On average about half of radio emission at 5 GHz in YSCs is non-thermal. For exposed but compact YSCs the non-thermal radio fraction increases with source brightness, while for large HII regions the fraction is lower and shows no clear trend. This has been found for YSCs with and without identified SNRs and underlines the possible role of massive stars in triggering particle acceleration through winds and shocks: these particles diffuse throughout the native molecular cloud prior to cloud dispersal.
Most stars are born in rich young stellar clusters (YSCs) embedded in giant molecular clouds. The most massive stars live out their short lives there, profoundly influencing their natal environments by ionizing HII regions, inflating wind-blown bubbles, and soon exploding as supernovae. Thousands of lower-mass pre-main sequence stars accompany the massive stars, and the expanding HII regions paradoxically trigger new star formation as they destroy their natal clouds. While this schematic picture is established, our understanding of the complex astrophysical processes involved in clustered star formation have only just begun to be elucidated. The technologies are challenging, requiring both high spatial resolution and wide fields at wavelengths that penetrate obscuring molecular material and remove contaminating Galactic field stars. We outline several important projects for the coming decade: the IMFs and structures of YSCs; triggered star formation around YSC; the fate of OB winds; the stellar populations of Infrared Dark Clouds; the most massive star clusters in the Galaxy; tracing star formation throughout the Galactic Disk; the Galactic Center region and YSCs in the Magellanic Clouds. Programmatic recommendations include: developing a 30m-class adaptive optics infrared telescope; support for high-resolution and wide field X-ray telescopes; large-aperture sub-millimeter and far-infrared telescopes; multi-object infrared spectrographs; and both numerical and analytical theory.
Star formation in a filamentary infrared dark cloud (IRDC) is simulated over a dynamic range of 4.2 pc to 28 au for a period of $3.5times 10^5$ yr, including magnetic fields and both radiative and outflow feedback from the protostars. At the end of the simulation, the star formation efficiency is 4.3 per cent and the star formation rate per free fall time is $epsilon_{rm ff}simeq 0.04$, within the range of observed values (Krumholz et al. 2012a). The total stellar mass increases as $sim,t^2$, whereas the number of protostars increases as $sim,t^{1.5}$. We find that the density profile around most of the simulated protostars is $sim,rhopropto r^{-1.5}$, as predicted by Murray & Chang (2015). At the end of the simulation, the protostellar mass function approaches the Chabrier (2005) stellar initial mass function. We infer that the time to form a star of median mass $0.2,M_odot$ is about $1.4times 10^5$~yr from the median mass accretion rate. We find good agreement among the protostellar luminosities observed in the large sample of Dunham et al. (2013), our simulation, and a theoretical estimate, and conclude that the classical protostellar luminosity problem Kenyon et al. (1990) is resolved. The multiplicity of the stellar systems in the simulation agrees to within a factor 2 of observations of Class I young stellar objects; most of the simulated multiple systems are unbound. Bipolar protostellar outflows are launched using a sub-grid model, and extend up to 1 pc from their host star. The mass-velocity relation of the simulated outflows is consistent with both observation and theory.
We present a large suite of MHD simulations of turbulent, star-forming giant molecular clouds(GMCs) with stellar feedback, extending previous work by simulating 10 different random realizations for each point in the parameter space of cloud mass and size. It is found that oncethe clouds disperse due to stellar feedback, both self-gravitating star clusters and unbound stars generally remain, which arise from the same underlying continuum of substructured stellar density, ie. the hierarchical cluster formation scenario. The fraction of stars that are born within gravitationally-bound star clusters is related to the overall cloud star formation efficiency set by stellar feedback, but has significant scatter due to stochastic variations in the small-scale details of the star-forming gas flow. We use our numerical results to calibrate a model for mapping the bulk properties (mass, size, and metallicity) of self-gravitating GMCs onto the star cluster populations they form, expressed statistically in terms of cloud-level distributions. Synthesizing cluster catalogues from an observed GMC catalogue in M83, we find that this model predicts initial star cluster masses and sizes that are in good agreement with observations, using only standard IMF and stellar evolution models as inputs for feedback. Within our model, the ratio of the strength of gravity to stellar feedback is the key parameter setting the masses of star clusters, and of the various feedback channels direct stellar radiation(photon momentum and photoionization) is the most important on GMC scales.
A high number of embedded clusters is found in the Galaxy. Depending on the formation scenario, most of them can evolve to unbounded groups that are dissolved within a few tens of Myr. A systematic study of young stellar clusters showing distinct characteristics provide interesting information on the evolutionary phases during the pre-main sequence. In order to identify and to understand these phases we performed a comparative study of 21 young stellar clusters. Near-infrared data from 2MASS were used to determine the structural and fundamental parameters based on surface stellar density maps, radial density profile, and colour-magnitude diagrams. We obtained age and mass distributions by comparing pre-main sequence models with the position of cluster members in the colour-magnitude diagram. The mean age of our sample is ~ 5 Myr, where 57% of the objects is found in the 4 - 10 Myr range of age, while 43% is < 4 Myr old. Their low E(B-V) indicate that the members are not suffering high extinction Av < 1 mag), which means they are more likely young stellar groups than embedded clusters. Relations between structural and fundamental parameters were used to verify differences and similarities that could be found among the clusters. The parameters of most of the objects have the same trends or correlations. Comparisons with other young clusters show similar relations among mass, radius and density. Our sample tends to have larger radius and lower volumetric density, when compared to embedded clusters. These differences are compatible with the mean age of our sample, which we consider intermediary between the embedded and the exposed phases of the stellar clusters evolution.