No Arabic abstract
We discuss a theoretical model for the early evolution of massive star clusters and confront it with the ALMA, radio and infrared observations of the young stellar cluster highly obscured by the molecular cloud D1 in the nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxy NGC 5253. We show that a large turbulent pressure in the central zones of D1 cluster may cause individual wind-blown bubbles to reach pressure confinement before encountering their neighbors. In this case stellar winds are added to the hot shocked wind pockets of gas around individual massive stars that leads them to meet and produce a cluster wind in time-scales less than $10^5$ yrs. In order to inhibit the possibility of cloud dispersal, or the early negative star formation feedback, one should account for mass loading that may come, for example, from pre-main sequence (PMS) low-mass stars through photo-evaporation of their proto-stellar disks. Mass loading at a rate in excess of 8$times 10^{-9}$ M$_{odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ per each PMS star is required to extend the hidden star cluster phase in this particular cluster. In this regime, the parental cloud remains relatively unperturbed, while pockets of molecular, photoionized and hot gas coexist within the star forming region. Nevertheless, the most likely scenario for cloud D1 and its embedded cluster is that the hot shocked winds around individual massive stars should merge at an age of a few millions of years when the PMS star proto-stellar disks vanish and mass loading ceases that allows a cluster to form a global wind.
The nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC5253 hosts a number of young, massive star clusters, the two youngest of which are centrally concentrated and surrounded by thermal radio emission (the `radio nebula). To investigate the role of these clusters in the starburst energetics, we combine new and archival Hubble Space Telescope images of NGC5253 with wavelength coverage from 1500 Ang to 1.9 micron in 13 filters. These include H-alpha, P-beta, and P-alpha, and the imaging from the Hubble Treasury Program LEGUS (Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey). The extraordinarily well-sampled spectral energy distributions enable modeling with unprecedented accuracy the ages, masses, and extinctions of the 9 optically brightest clusters (M_V < -8.8) and the two young radio nebula clusters. The clusters have ages ~1-15 Myr and masses ~1x10^4 - 2.5x10^5 M_sun. The clusters spatial location and ages indicate that star formation has become more concentrated towards the radio nebula over the last ~15 Myr. The most massive cluster is in the radio nebula; with a mass 2.5x10^5 M_sun and an age ~1 Myr, it is 2-4 times less massive and younger than previously estimated. It is within a dust cloud with A_V~50 mag, and shows a clear nearIR excess, likely from hot dust. The second radio nebula cluster is also ~1 Myr old, confirming the extreme youth of the starburst region. These two clusters account for about half of the ionizing photon rate in the radio nebula, and will eventually supply about 2/3 of the mechanical energy in present-day shocks. Additional sources are required to supply the remaining ionizing radiation, and may include very massive stars.
We investigate the star formation history of both the bright star clusters and the diffuse `field star population in the dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 5253 using STIS longslit ultraviolet spectroscopy. Our slit covers a physical area of 370 x 1.6 pc and includes 8 apparent clusters and several inter-cluster regions of diffuse light which we take to be the field. The diffuse light spectrum lacks the strong O-star wind features which are clearly visible in spectra of the brightest clusters. This discrepancy provides compelling evidence that the diffuse light is not reflected light from nearby clusters, but originates in a UV-bright field star population, and it raises the issue of whether the star formation process may be operating differently in the field than in clusters. We compare our spectra to STARBURST99 evolutionary synthesis models which incorporate a new low metallicity atlas of O-star spectra. We favor a scenario which accounts for the paucity of O-stars in the field without requiring the field to have a different IMF than the clusters: stellar clusters form continuously and then dissolve on ~10 Myr timescales and disperse their remaining stars into the field. We consider the probable contribution of an O-star deficient field population to the spatially unresolved spectra of high redshift galaxies. (Abridged)
We study the evolution of embedded clusters. The equations of motion of the stars in the cluster are solved by direct N-body integration while taking the effects of stellar evolution and the hydrodynamics of the natal gas content into account. The gravity of the stars and the surrounding gas are coupled self consistently to allow the realistic dynamical evolution of the cluster. While the equations of motion are solved, a stellar evolution code keeps track of the changes in stellar mass, luminosity and radius. The gas liberated by the stellar winds and supernovae deposits mass and energy into the gas reservoir in which the cluster is embedded. We examine cluster models with 1000 stars, but we varied the star formation efficiency (between 0.05-0.5), cluster radius (0.1-1.0 parsec), the degree of virial support of the initial population of stars (0-100%) and the strength of the feedback. We find that an initial star fraction $M_star/M_{rm tot} > 0.05$ is necessary for cluster survival. Survival is more likely if gas is not blown out violently by a supernova and if the cluster has time to approach virial equilibrium during out-gassing. While the cluster is embedded, dynamical friction drives early and efficient mass segregation in the cluster. Stars of $m gtrsim 2,M_odot$ are preferentially retained, at the cost of the loss of less massive stars. We conclude that the degree of mass segregation in open clusters such as the Pleiades is not the result of secular evolution but a remnant of its embedded stage.
Using $0.2^{prime prime}$ ($sim3$ pc) ALMA images of vibrationally excited HC$_3$N emission (HC$_3$N$^*$) we reveal the presence of $8$ unresolved Super Hot Cores (SHCs) in the inner $160$ pc of NGC,253. Our LTE and non-LTE modelling of the HC$_3$N$^*$ emission indicate that SHCs have dust temperatures of $200-375$ K, relatively high H$_2$ densities of $1-6times 10^{6}$ cm$^{-3}$ and high IR luminosities of $0.1-1times 10^8$ L$_odot$. As expected from their short lived phase ($sim 10^4$ yr), all SHCs are associated with young Super Star Clusters (SSCs). We use the ratio of luminosities form the SHCs (protostar phase) and from the free-free emission (ZAMS star phase), to establish the evolutionary stage of the SSCs. The youngest SSCs, with the larges ratios, have ages of a few $10^4$ yr (proto-SSCs) and the more evolved SSCs are likely between $10^5$ and $10^6$ yr (ZAMS-SSCs). The different evolutionary stages of the SSCs are also supported by the radiative feedback from the UV radiation as traced by the HNCO/CS ratio, with this ratio being systematically higher in the young proto-SSCs than in the older ZAMS-SSCs. We also estimate the SFR and the SFE of the SSCs. The trend found in the estimated SFE ($sim40%$ for proto-SSCs and $>85%$ for ZAMS-SSCs) and in the gas mass reservoir available for star formation, one order of magnitude higher for proto-SSCs, suggests that star formation is still going on in proto-SSCs. We also find that the most evolved SSCs are located, in projection, closer to the center of the galaxy than the younger proto-SSCs, indicating an inside-out SSC formation scenario.
The formation mechanism of super star clusters (SSCs), a present-day analog of the ancient globulars, still remains elusive. The major merger, the Antennae galaxies is forming SSCs and is one of the primary targets to test the cluster formation mechanism. We reanalyzed the archival ALMA CO data of the Antennae and found three typical observational signatures of a cloud-cloud collision toward SSC B1 and other SSCs in the overlap region; i. two velocity components with $sim$100 km s$^{-1}$ velocity separation, ii. the bridge features connecting the two components, and iii. the complementary spatial distribution between them, lending support for collisions of the two components as a cluster formation mechanism. We present a scenario that the two clouds with 100 km s$^{-1}$ velocity separation collided, and SSCs having $sim$10$^6$-10$^7$ $M_{rm odot}$ were formed rapidly during the time scale. {We compared the present results with the recent studies of star forming regions in the Milky Way and the LMC, where the SSCs having $sim$10$^4$-10$^5$ $M_{rm odot}$ are located. As a result, we found that there is a positive correlation between the compressed gas pressure generated by collisions and the total stellar mass of SSC, suggesting that the pressure may be a key parameter in the SSC formation.