Hierarchical clustering in the Local Group dwarf galaxy NGC 6822

Abstract

AbstractStar formation appears to be clumped into a hierarchy of structures, from giant molecular clouds down to individual cores and clusters, which are often hierarchical themselves, showing significant substructure. This has been demonstrated for our Galaxy through the application of sophisticated statistical methods, in particular the nearest-neighbour density and the minimum spanning tree (MST), to different star-forming regions. Here we present our analysis of clustered star formation as demonstrated through the detection of structures of young stellar populations in the dwarf star-forming galaxy NGC 6822.