| 1. |
- Elmegreen, Bruce G., et al.
(författare)
-
Spatial Segregation of Massive Clusters in Dwarf Galaxies
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - : American Astronomical Society. - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 888:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The relative average minimum projected separations of star clusters in the Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) and in tidal dwarfs around the interacting galaxy NGC 5291 are determined as a function of cluster mass to look for cluster-cluster mass segregation. Class 2 and 3 LEGUS clusters, which have a more irregular internal structure than the compact and symmetric class 1 clusters, are found to be mass-segregated in low-mass galaxies, which means that the more massive clusters are systematically bunched together compared to the lower-mass clusters. This mass segregation is not present in high-mass galaxies or class 1 clusters. We consider possible causes for this segregation, including differences in cluster formation and scattering in the shallow gravitational potentials of low-mass galaxies.
|
|
| 2. |
- Elmegreen, Debra Meloy, et al.
(författare)
-
HIERARCHICAL STAR FORMATION IN NEARBY LEGUS GALAXIES
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - 2041-8205. ; 787:1, s. L15-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Hierarchical structure in ultraviolet images of 12 late-type LEGUS galaxies is studied by determining the numbers and fluxes of nested regions as a function of size from similar to 1 to similar to 200 pc, and the number as a function of flux. Two starburst dwarfs, NGC 1705 and NGC 5253, have steeper number-size and flux-size distributions than the others, indicating high fractions of the projected areas filled with star formation. Nine subregions in seven galaxies have similarly steep number-size slopes, even when the whole galaxies have shallower slopes. The results suggest that hierarchically structured star-forming regions several hundred parsecs or larger represent common unit structures. Small galaxies dominated by only a few of these units tend to be starbursts. The self-similarity of young stellar structures down to parsec scales suggests that star clusters form in the densest parts of a turbulent medium that also forms loose stellar groupings on larger scales. The presence of super star clusters in two of our starburst dwarfs would follow from the observed structure if cloud and stellar subregions more readily coalesce when self-gravity in the unit cell contributes more to the total gravitational potential.
|
|
| 3. |
- Elmegreen, Debra Meloy, et al.
(författare)
-
Spitzer Space Telescope IRAC and MIPS Observations of the Interacting Galaxies IC 2163 and NGC 2207: Clumpy Emission
- 2006
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 642:I, s. 158-170
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- IC 2163 and NGC 2207 are interacting galaxies that have been well studied at optical and radio wavelengths and simulated in numerical models to reproduce the observed kinematics and morphological features. Spitzer IRAC and MIPS observations reported here show over 200 bright clumps from young star complexes. The brightest IR clump is a morphologically peculiar region of star formation in the western arm of NGC 2207. This clump, which dominates the H alpha and radio continuum emission from both galaxies, accounts for similar to 12% of the total 24 mu m flux. Nearly half of the clumps are regularly spaced along some filamentary structure, whether in the starburst oval of IC 2163 or in the thin spiral arms of NGC 2207. This regularity appears to influence the clump luminosity function, making it peaked at a value nearly a factor of 10 above the completeness limit, particularly in the starburst oval. This is unlike the optical clusters inside the clumps, which have a luminosity function consistent with the usual power-law form. The giant IR clumps presumably formed by gravitational instabilities in the compressed gas of the oval and the spiral arms, whereas the individual clusters formed by more chaotic processes, such as turbulence compression, inside these larger scale structures.
|
|
| 4. |
- Fensch, Jeremy, et al.
(författare)
-
Massive star cluster formation and evolution in tidal dwarf galaxies
- 2019
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The formation of globular clusters remains an open debate. Dwarf starburst galaxies are efficient at forming young massiveclusters with similar masses as globular clusters and may hold the key to understanding their formation.Aims.We study star cluster formation in a tidal debris - including the vicinity of three tidal dwarf galaxies - in a massive gas dominatedcollisional ring around NGC 5291. These dwarfs have physical parameters which differ significantly from local starbursting dwarfs.They are gas-rich, highly turbulent, have a gas metallicity already enriched up to half-solar, and are expected to be free of dark matter.The aim is to study massive star cluster formation in this as yet unexplored type of environment.Methods.We use imaging from theHubble Space Telescopeusing broadband filters covering the wavelength range from the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared. We determine the masses and ages of the cluster candidates by using the spectral energy distribution-fitting code CIGALE, carefully considering age-extinction degeneracy effects on the estimation of the physical parameters.Results.We find that the tidal dwarf galaxies in the ring of NGC 5291 are forming star clusters with an average efficiency of∼40%,comparable to blue compact dwarf galaxies. We also find massive star clusters for which the photometry suggests that they wereformed at the very birth of the tidal dwarf galaxies and have survived for several hundred million years. Therefore our study showsthat extended tidal dwarf galaxies and compact clusters may be formed simultaneously. In the specific case observed here, the youngstar clusters are not massive enough to survive for a Hubble time. However one may speculate that similar objects at higher redshift,with higher star formation rate, might form some of the long lived globular clusters.Key words.galaxies: dwarf, galaxies: star clusters: general, galaxies: irregular, galaxies: star formation, galaxies: stellar content,galaxies: interactions
|
|
| 5. |
- Fensch, Jeremy, et al.
(författare)
-
Massive star cluster formation and evolution in tidal dwarf galaxies
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 628
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The formation of globular clusters remains an open debate. Dwarf starburst galaxies are efficient at forming young massive clusters with similar masses as globular clusters and may hold the key to understanding their formation. Aims. We study star cluster formation in a tidal debris, including the vicinity of three tidal dwarf galaxies, in a massive gas-dominated collisional ring around NGC 5291. These dwarfs have physical parameters that differ significantly from local starbursting dwarfs. They are gas rich, highly turbulent, their gas metallicity is already enriched up to half solar values, and they are expected to be free of dark matter. The aim is to study massive star cluster formation in this as yet unexplored type of environment. Methods. We used imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope using broadband filters that cover the wavelength range from the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared. We determined the masses and ages of the cluster candidates by using the spectral energy distribution-fitting code CIGALE. We considered age-extinction degeneracy effects on the estimation of the physical parameters. Results. We find that the tidal dwarf galaxies in the ring of NGC 5291 are forming star clusters with an average efficiency of ∼40%, which is similar to blue compact dwarf galaxies. We also find massive star clusters for which the photometry suggests that they were formed at the very birth of the tidal dwarf galaxies. These clusters have survived for several hundred million years. Therefore our study shows that extended tidal dwarf galaxies and compact clusters may be formed simultaneously. In the specific case observed here, the young star clusters are not massive enough to survive for a Hubble time. However, it may be speculated that similar objects at higher redshift, with a higher star formation rate, might form some of the long-lived globular clusters.
|
|
| 6. |
- Finn, Molly K., et al.
(författare)
-
ALMA-LEGUS. I. The Influence of Galaxy Morphology on Molecular Cloud Properties
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 964:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a comparative study of the molecular gas in two galaxies from the Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) sample: barred spiral NGC 1313 and flocculent spiral NGC 7793. These two galaxies have similar masses, metallicities, and star formation rates, but NGC 1313 is forming significantly more massive star clusters than NGC 7793, especially young massive clusters (<10 Myr, >104M⊙). Using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) CO(2–1) observations of the two galaxies with the same sensitivity and resolution (13 pc), we directly compare the molecular gas in these two similar galaxies to determine the physical conditions responsible for their large disparity in cluster formation. By fitting size–line width relations for the clouds in each galaxy, we find that NGC 1313 has a higher intercept than NGC 7793, implying that its clouds have higher kinetic energies at a given size scale. NGC 1313 also has more clouds near virial equilibrium than NGC 7793, which may be connected to its higher rate of massive cluster formation. However, these virially bound clouds do not show a stronger correlation with young clusters than with the general cloud population. We find surprisingly small differences between the distributions of molecular cloud populations in the two galaxies, though the largest of those differences is that NGC 1313 has higher surface densities and lower freefall times.
|
|
| 7. |
- Finn, Molly K., et al.
(författare)
-
ALMA-LEGUS. II. The Influence of Subgalactic Environments on Molecular Cloud Properties
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 964:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We compare the molecular cloud properties in subgalactic regions of two galaxies, barred spiral NGC 1313, which is forming many massive clusters, and flocculent spiral NGC 7793, which is forming significantly fewer massive clusters despite having a similar star formation rate to NGC 1313. We find that there are larger variations in cloud properties between different regions within each galaxy than there are between the galaxies on a global scale, especially for NGC 1313. There are higher masses, line widths, pressures, and virial parameters in the arms of NGC 1313 and the center of NGC 7793 than in the interarm and outer regions of the galaxies. The massive cluster formation of NGC 1313 may be driven by its greater variation in environment, allowing more clouds with the necessary conditions to emerge, although no one parameter seems primarily responsible for the difference in star formation. Meanwhile NGC 7793 has clouds that are as massive and have as much kinetic energy as the clouds in the arms of NGC 1313, but have densities and pressures more similar to those in the interarm regions and so are less inclined to collapse and form stars. The cloud properties in NGC 1313 and NGC 7793 suggest that spiral arms, bars, interarm regions, and flocculent spirals each represent distinct environments with regard to molecular cloud populations. We see surprisingly little difference in surface density between the regions, suggesting that the differences in surface densities frequently seen between arm and interarm regions in lower-resolution studies are indicative of the sparsity of molecular clouds, rather than differences in their true surface density.
|
|
| 8. |
- Gouliermis, Dimitrios A., et al.
(författare)
-
Hierarchical star formation across the grand-design spiral NGC 1566
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 468:1, s. 509-530
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigate how star formation is spatially organized in the grand-design spiral NGC 1566 from deep Hubble Space Telescope photometry with the Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey. Our contour-based clustering analysis reveals 890 distinct stellar conglomerations at various levels of significance. These star- forming complexes are organized in a hierarchical fashion with the larger congregations consisting of smaller structures, which themselves fragment into even smaller and more compact stellar groupings. Their size distribution, covering a wide range in length-scales, shows a power law as expected from scale-free processes. We explain this shape with a simple 'fragmentation and enrichment' model. The hierarchical morphology of the complexes is confirmed by their mass-size relation that can be represented by a power law with a fractional exponent, analogous to that determined for fractal molecular clouds. The surface stellar density distribution of the complexes shows a lognormal shape similar to that for supersonic non-gravitating turbulent gas. Between 50 and 65 per cent of the recently formed stars, as well as about 90 per cent of the young star clusters, are found inside the stellar complexes, located along the spiral arms. We find an age difference between young stars inside the complexes and those in their direct vicinity in the arms of at least 10 Myr. This time-scale may relate to the minimum time for stellar evaporation, although we cannot exclude the in situ formation of stars. As expected, star formation preferentially occurs in spiral arms. Our findings reveal turbulent-driven hierarchical star formation along the arms of a grand-design galaxy.
|
|
| 9. |
- Gouliermis, Dimitrios A., et al.
(författare)
-
Hierarchical star formation across the ring galaxy NGC 6503
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 452:4, s. 3508-3528
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a detailed clustering analysis of the young stellar population across the star-forming ring galaxy NGC 6503, based on the deep Hubble Space Telescope photometry obtained with the Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey. We apply a contour-based map analysis technique and identify in the stellar surface density map 244 distinct star-forming structures at various levels of significance. These stellar complexes are found to be organized in a hierarchical fashion with 95 per cent being members of three dominant super-structures located along the star-forming ring. The size distribution of the identified structures and the correlation between their radii and numbers of stellar members show power-law behaviours, as expected from scale-free processes. The self-similar distribution of young stars is further quantified from their autocorrelation function, with a fractal dimension of similar to 1.7 for length-scales between similar to 20 pc and 2.5 kpc. The young stellar radial distribution sets the extent of the star-forming ring at radial distances between 1 and 2.5 kpc. About 60 per cent of the young stars belong to the detected stellar structures, while the remaining stars are distributed among the complexes, still inside the ring of the galaxy. The analysis of the time-dependent clustering of young populations shows a significant change from a more clustered to a more distributed behaviour in a time-scale of similar to 60 Myr. The observed hierarchy in stellar clustering is consistent with star formation being regulated by turbulence across the ring. The rotational velocity difference between the edges of the ring suggests shear as the driving mechanism for this process. Our findings reveal the interesting case of an inner ring forming stars in a hierarchical fashion.
|
|
| 10. |
- Heyer, Mark, et al.
(författare)
-
The Dense Gas Mass Fraction and the Relationship to Star Formation in M51
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 930:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Observations of 12CO J = 1 – 0 and HCN J = 1 – 0 emission from NGC 5194 (M51) made with the 50 m Large Millimeter Telescope and the SEQUOIA focal plane array are presented. Using the HCN-to-CO ratio, we examine the dense gas mass fraction over a range of environmental conditions within the galaxy. Within the disk, the dense gas mass fraction varies along the spiral arms but the average value over all spiral arms is comparable to the mean value of interarm regions. We suggest that the near-constant dense gas mass fraction throughout the disk arises from a population of density-stratified, self-gravitating molecular clouds and the required density threshold to detect each spectral line. The measured dense gas fraction significantly increases in the central bulge in response to the effective pressure, Pe, from the weight of the stellar and gas components. This pressure modifies the dynamical state of the molecular cloud population and, possibly, the HCN-emitting regions in the central bulge from self-gravitating to diffuse configurations in which Pe is greater than the gravitational energy density of individual clouds. Diffuse molecular clouds comprise a significant fraction of the molecular gas mass in the central bulge, which may account for the measured sublinear relationships between the surface densities of the star formation rate and molecular and dense gas.
|
|
