Hierarchical star formation in nearby galaxies

Rodríguez, María Margarita; Baume, G.; Feinstein, C.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202038970

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…We assert that using the Larson relation leads to more accurate velocity dispersion estimates for young stellar (Sun et al 2017b) 1.5 ± 0.1 1 ; 1.5 ± 0.1 2 ; 1.75 ± 0.01 3 −− −1 ± 0.1 lognormal LMC: This work 1.50 ± 0.10 1 ;1.61 ± 0.20 2 1.44 ± 0.20 −0.97 ± 0.18 lognormal SMC: (Sun et al 2018) 1.48 ± 0.03 1 ;1.4 ± 0.1 2 1.44 ± 0.20 −1 ± 0.1 lognormal LMC: (Bastian et al 2009 (Patrick et al 2016). Rodríguez et al (2016Rodríguez et al ( , 2018Rodríguez et al ( , 2019Rodríguez et al ( , 2020 studied four galaxies in the Local Group. The parameters of their studies are listed in Table 4.…”

Section: Comparisons With Past Work On Other Galaxiesmentioning

confidence: 77%

The VMC survey – XLVII. Turbulence-controlled hierarchical star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Miller

Cioni

Grijs

et al. 2022

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We perform a statistical clustering analysis of upper main-sequence stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using data from the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy survey of the Magellanic Clouds. We map over 2500 young stellar structures at 15 significance levels across ∼120 square degrees centred on the LMC. The structures have sizes ranging from a few parsecs to over 1 kpc. We find that the young structures follow power-law size and mass distributions. From the perimeter–area relation, we derive a perimeter–area dimension of 1.44 ± 0.20. From the mass–size relation and the size distribution, we derive two-dimensional fractal dimensions of 1.50 ± 0.10 and 1.61 ± 0.20, respectively. We find that the surface density distribution is well-represented by a lognormal distribution. We apply the Larson relation to estimate the velocity dispersions and crossing times of these structures. Our results indicate that the fractal nature of the young stellar structures has been inherited from the gas clouds from which they form and that this architecture is generated by supersonic turbulence. Our results also suggest that star formation in the LMC is scale-free from 10 pc to 700 pc.

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Section: Comparisons With Past Work On Other Galaxiesmentioning

confidence: 77%

The VMC survey – XLVII. Turbulence-controlled hierarchical star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Miller

Cioni

Grijs

et al. 2022

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…(Sun et al 2017b) 1.5 ± 0.1 1 ; 1.5 ± 0.1 2 ; 1.75 ± 0.01 3 −− −1 ± 0.1 lognormal LMC: This work 1.50 ± 0.10 1 ;1.61 ± 0.20 2 1.44 ± 0.20 −0.97 ± 0.18 lognormal SMC: (Sun et al 2018) 1.48 ± 0.03 1 ;1.4 ± 0.1 2 1.44 ± 0.20 −1 ± 0.1 lognormal LMC: (Bastian et al 2009 (Patrick et al 2016). Rodríguez et al (2016Rodríguez et al ( , 2018Rodríguez et al ( , 2019Rodríguez et al ( , 2020 studied four galaxies in the Local Group. The parameters of their studies are listed in Table 4.…”

Section: Comparisons With Past Work On Other Galaxiesmentioning

confidence: 77%

The VMC survey -- XLVII. Turbulence-Controlled Hierarchical Star Formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Miller,

Cioni,

de Grijs

et al. 2022

Preprint

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We perform a statistical clustering analysis of upper main-sequence stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using data from the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy survey of the Magellanic Clouds. We map over 2500 young stellar structures at 15 significance levels across ∼120 square degrees centred on the LMC. The structures have sizes ranging from a few parsecs to over 1 kpc. We find that the young structures follow power-law size and mass distributions. From the perimeterarea relation, we derive a perimeter-area dimension of 1.44±0.20. From the mass-size relation and the size distribution, we derive two-dimensional fractal dimensions of 1.50±0.10 and 1.61±0.20, respectively. We find that the surface density distribution is well-represented by a lognormal distribution. We apply the Larson relation to estimate the velocity dispersions and crossing times of these structures. Our results indicate that the fractal nature of the young stellar structures has been inherited from the gas clouds from which they form and that this architecture is generated by supersonic turbulence. Our results also suggest that star formation in the LMC is scale-free from 10 pc to 700 pc.

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“…Star formation in galaxies is spatially structured in a hierarchical, scale-free pattern such that, smaller and denser associations that extend all the way down to substellar scales, are surrounded by larger, less dense ones, that go out to kiloparsec scales (see, Elmegreen 2010, for a review). These scale-free structures are analogous to geometric fractals (Mandelbrot 1982), and have been shown to be present in the distribution of unbound stars (see, Gouliermis 2018, and references therein), embedded stars in clusters and starforming regions (Sánchez et al 2007;Fernandes, Gregorio-Hetem & Hetem 2012;Gregorio-Hetem et al 2015;Sun et al 2017), H II regions (Feitzinger & Galinski 1987;Sánchez & Alfaro 2008), OB associations (Bresolin et al 1998;Pietrzyński et al 2001;Kumar, Kamath & Davis 2004;Gutermuth et al 2008), star-forming regions Elmegreen et al 2006Elmegreen et al , 2014Bastian et al 2007;Rodríguez, Baume & Feinstein 2020;Mondal et al 2021), and young star clusters (Zhang, Fall & Whitmore 2001;Bastian et al 2005;Scheepmaker et al 2009;Grasha et al 2015Grasha et al , 2017a, and are expected to originate from the inherently hierarchically structured interstellar gas distribution (Elmegreen & Salzer 1999;Elmegreen et al 2003;Elmegreen & Scalo 2004;Elmegreen 2007;Bergin & Tafalla 2007;Dutta et al 2009;Federrath, Klessen & Schmidt 2009;Beattie et al 2019). This hierarchical nature of gas is consistent with that set by the scale-free physical mechanisms that act on it, i.e.…”

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confidence: 95%

The dependence of the hierarchical distribution of star clusters on galactic environment

Menon

Grasha

Elmegreen³

et al. 2021

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We use the angular Two Point Correlation Function (TPCF) to investigate the hierarchical distribution of young star clusters in 12 local (3–18 Mpc) star-forming galaxies using star cluster catalogues obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) as part of the Treasury Program LEGUS (Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey). The sample spans a range of different morphological types, allowing us to infer how the physical properties of the galaxy affect the spatial distribution of the clusters. We also prepare a range of physically motivated toy models to compare with and interpret the observed features in the TPCFs. We find that, conforming to earlier studies, young clusters (T ≲ 10 Myr) have power-law TPCFs that are characteristic of fractal distributions with a fractal dimension D2, and this scale-free nature extends out to a maximum scale lcorr beyond which the distribution becomes Poissonian. However, lcorr, and D2 vary significantly across the sample, and are correlated with a number of host galaxy physical properties, suggesting that there are physical differences in the underlying star cluster distributions. We also find that hierarchical structuring weakens with age, evidenced by flatter TPCFs for older clusters (T ≳ 10 Myr), that eventually converges to the residual correlation expected from a completely random large-scale radial distribution of clusters in the galaxy in ∼100 Myr. Our study demonstrates that the hierarchical distribution of star clusters evolves with age, and is strongly dependent on the properties of the host galaxy environment.

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Hierarchical star formation in nearby galaxies

Cited by 11 publications

References 44 publications

The VMC survey – XLVII. Turbulence-controlled hierarchical star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The VMC survey – XLVII. Turbulence-controlled hierarchical star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The VMC survey -- XLVII. Turbulence-Controlled Hierarchical Star Formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The dependence of the hierarchical distribution of star clusters on galactic environment

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