G15.684-0.29: One of the Largest Galactic Infrared Bubbles Showing Strong Evidence of Triggered Star Formation

Abstract

Abstract The bubble G15.684-0.29 has a radius of 15.7 pc. Its large size indicates that it may have enough time to trigger star formation. We identify 39 dense cold clumps around the bubble from the Hi-GAL survey. All of them satisfy the criteria for forming massive stars, and most of them lie in the bubble shell. We identify 19 molecular clumps around the bubble from the 12CO(3–2) survey, all of which are gravitationally bound. We found 9 Class I YSOs, 28 Class II YSOs, and 12 transition disks (TDs) around the bubble. For those young stellar objects (YSOs) located within the bubble boundary, 6 of 7 Class I YSOs lie in the shell, 15 of 22 Class II YSOs lie inside the bubble, and 3 of 5 TDs lie inside the bubble. The dynamical age of G15.684-0.29 in a turbulent medium is ∼4 Myr, which is much greater than the shell fragmentation time, ∼0.82–1.74 Myr. We suggest that triggered star formation may be ongoing in the shell of the bubble, and the collect and collapse model may work here. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that the radiation-driven implosion model may work on the formation of some YSOs. As we expected, the larger bubble has a much longer dynamical age, but we failed to find a clear age gradient for YSOs around the bubble.