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arXiv 0706.0495astro-ph
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M33中的分层恒星形成:恒星形成区的基本性质

Hierarchical Star-Formation in M33: Fundamental properties of the star-forming regions

N. Bastian, B. Ercolano, M. Gieles, E. Rosolowsky, R. A. Scheepmaker, R. Gutermuth, Yu. Efremov

摘要:

星系内的恒星形成出现在多个尺度上,从螺旋结构,到OB协会,到单个星团,以及这些星团内的子结构。如此多的尺度要求客观的方法来发现和分类恒星形成区域,而不管空间大小。为此,我们提出了一种新的实现的最小生成树(MST)方法的基础上,在本地组螺旋星系M33的恒星形成集团的分析。不同于以往的研究,局限于一个单一的空间尺度,我们研究恒星形成的结构,从有效的分辨率限制(~ 20 pc)到kpc尺度。我们发现了恒星形成群大小的连续性的证据,从pc到kpc尺度。与之前的研究不同,我们没有找到OB关联的特征尺度,我们认为这样的尺度的出现是由空间分辨率和选择效应引起的。的群体的光度函数被发现是很好地代表了一个指数,-2,类似于发现的集群和GMC的幂律。此外,这些基团遵循与GMC相似的质量-半径关系。的大小分布的组是最好的描述的对数正态分布,我们表明,在一个分层分布,如果选择一个规模来寻找结构,所得到的大小分布将有一个对数正态分布。我们发现在~4kpc的星系半径之外的星系群数量突然下降,这表明恒星形成ISM的结构发生了变化,这可能反映在超过这个半径的GMC的缺乏上。(节略)

英文摘要:

Star-formation within galaxies appears on multiple scales, from spiral structure, to OB associations, to individual star clusters, and often sub-structure within these clusters. This multitude of scales calls for objective methods to find and classify star-forming regions, regardless of spatial size. To this end, we present an analysis of star-forming groups in the local group spiral galaxy M33, based on a new implementation of the Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) method. Unlike previous studies which limited themselves to a single spatial scale, we study star-forming structures from the effective resolution limit (~20pc) to kpc scales. We find evidence for a continuum of star-forming group sizes, from pc to kpc scales. We do not find a characteristic scale for OB associations, unlike that found in previous studies, and we suggest that the appearance of such a scale was caused by spatial resolution and selection effects. The luminosity function of the groups is found to be well represented by a power-law with an index, -2, similar to that found for clusters and GMCs. Additionally, the groups follow a similar mass-radius relation as GMCs. The size distribution of the groups is best described by a log-normal distribution and we show that within a hierarchical distribution, if a scale is selected to find structure, the resulting size distribution will have a log-normal distribution. We find an abrupt drop of the number of groups outside a galactic radius of ~4kpc, suggesting a change in the structure of the star-forming ISM, possibly reflected in the lack of GMCs beyond this radius. (abridged)

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