2011ApJ...735...28B -
Astrophys. J., 735, 28 (2011/July-1)
Clustering properties of far-infrared sources in Hi-GAL science demonstration phase fields.
BILLOT N., SCHISANO E., PESTALOZZI M., MOLINARI S., NORIEGA-CRESPO A., MOTTRAM J.C., ANDERSON L.D., ELIA D., STRINGFELLOW G., THOMPSON M.A., POLYCHRONI D. and TESTI L.
Abstract (from CDS):
We use a minimum spanning tree (MST) algorithm to characterize the spatial distribution of Galactic far-IR sources and derive their clustering properties. We aim to reveal the spatial imprint of different types of star-forming processes, e.g., isolated spontaneous fragmentation of dense molecular clouds, or events of triggered star formation around H II regions, and highlight global properties of star formation in the Galaxy. We plan to exploit the entire Herschel infrared GALactic (Hi-GAL) survey of the inner Galactic plane to gather significant statistics on the clustering properties of star-forming regions and to look for possible correlations with source properties such as mass, temperature, or evolutionary stage. In this paper, we present a pilot study based on the two 2°x2° fields centered at longitudes l = 30° and l = 59° obtained during the science demonstration phase of the Herschel mission. We find that over half of the clustered sources are associated with H II regions and infrared dark clouds. Our analysis also reveals a smooth chromatic evolution of the spatial distribution where sources detected at short wavelengths, likely protostars surrounded by warm circumstellar material emitting in the far-infrared, tend to be clustered in dense and compact groups around H II regions while sources detected at long wavelengths, presumably cold and dusty density enhancements of the ISM emitting in the submillimeter, are distributed in larger and looser groups.
Abstract Copyright:
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Journal keyword(s):
H II regions - stars: formation - stars: protostars - submillimeter: ISM - submillimeter: stars
Nomenclature:
Table 2: [BSP2011] NN (Nos 1-21).
Simbad objects:
29
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