TY - JOUR
T1 - PHANGS
T2 - constraining star formation time-scales using the spatial correlations of star clusters and giant molecular clouds
AU - Turner, Jordan A.
AU - Dale, Daniel A.
AU - Lilly, James
AU - Boquien, Mederic
AU - Deger, Sinan
AU - Lee, Janice C.
AU - Whitmore, Bradley C.
AU - Anand, Gagandeep S.
AU - Benincasa, Samantha M.
AU - Bigiel, Frank
AU - Blanc, Guillermo A.
AU - Chevance, Mélanie
AU - Emsellem, Eric
AU - Faesi, Christopher M.
AU - Glover, Simon C.O.
AU - Grasha, Kathryn
AU - Hughes, Annie
AU - Klessen, Ralf S.
AU - Kreckel, Kathryn
AU - Diederik Kruijssen, J. M.
AU - Leroy, Adam K.
AU - Pan, Hsi An
AU - Rosolowsky, Erik
AU - Schruba, Andreas
AU - Williams, Thomas G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.
PY - 2022/11/1
Y1 - 2022/11/1
N2 - In the hierarchical view of star formation, giant molecular clouds (GMCs) undergo fragmentation to form small-scale structures made up of stars and star clusters. Here we study the connection between young star clusters and cold gas across a range of extragalactic environments by combining the high resolution (1″) PHANGS-ALMA catalogue of GMCs with the star cluster catalogues from PHANGS-HST. The star clusters are spatially matched with the GMCs across a sample of 11 nearby star-forming galaxies with a range of galactic environments (centres, bars, spiral arms, etc.). We find that after 4 - 6 Myr the star clusters are no longer associated with any gas clouds. Additionally, we measure the autocorrelation of the star clusters and GMCs as well as their cross-correlation to quantify the fractal nature of hierarchical star formation. Young (≤10 Myr) star clusters are more strongly autocorrelated on kpc and smaller spatial scales than the >, 10 Myr stellar populations, indicating that the hierarchical structure dissolves over time.
AB - In the hierarchical view of star formation, giant molecular clouds (GMCs) undergo fragmentation to form small-scale structures made up of stars and star clusters. Here we study the connection between young star clusters and cold gas across a range of extragalactic environments by combining the high resolution (1″) PHANGS-ALMA catalogue of GMCs with the star cluster catalogues from PHANGS-HST. The star clusters are spatially matched with the GMCs across a sample of 11 nearby star-forming galaxies with a range of galactic environments (centres, bars, spiral arms, etc.). We find that after 4 - 6 Myr the star clusters are no longer associated with any gas clouds. Additionally, we measure the autocorrelation of the star clusters and GMCs as well as their cross-correlation to quantify the fractal nature of hierarchical star formation. Young (≤10 Myr) star clusters are more strongly autocorrelated on kpc and smaller spatial scales than the >, 10 Myr stellar populations, indicating that the hierarchical structure dissolves over time.
KW - galaxies: star clusters
KW - galaxies: star formation
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85143650181
U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stac2559
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stac2559
M3 - Article
SN - 0035-8711
VL - 516
SP - 4612
EP - 4626
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
IS - 3
ER -