Global Star Formation Properties Research Articles

A Metallicity Dependence on the Occurrence of Core-collapse Supernovae

Core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) are widely accepted to be caused by the explosive death of massive stars with initial masses ≳8 M ⊙. There is, however, a comparatively poor understanding of how properties of the progenitors—mass, metallicity, multiplicity, rotation, etc.—manifest in the resultant CCSN population. Here, we present a minimally biased sample of nearby CCSNe from the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae survey whose host galaxies were observed with integral-field spectroscopy using MUSE at the Very Large Telescope. This data set allows us to analyze the explosion sites of CCSNe within the context of global star formation properties across the host galaxies. We show that the CCSN explosion site oxygen abundance distribution is offset to lower values than the overall H ii region abundance distribution within the host galaxies. We further split the sample at dex and show that within the subsample of low-metallicity host galaxies, the CCSNe unbiasedly trace the star formation with respect to oxygen abundance, while for the subsample of higher-metallicity host galaxies, they preferentially occur in lower-abundance star-forming regions. We estimate the occurrence of CCSNe as a function of oxygen abundance per unit star formation and show that there is a strong decrease as abundance increases. Such a strong and quantified metallicity dependence on CCSN production has not been shown before. Finally, we discuss possible explanations for our result and show that each of these has strong implications not only for our understanding of CCSNe and massive star evolution but also for star formation and galaxy evolution.

The Galactic H ii Region Luminosity Function at Radio and Infrared Wavelengths

Abstract The Galactic H ii region luminosity function (LF) is an important metric for understanding global star formation properties of the Milky Way, but only a few studies have been done, and all use relatively small numbers of H ii regions. We use a sample of 797 first Galactic quadrant H ii regions compiled from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Catalog of Galactic H ii Regions to examine the form of the LF at multiple infrared and radio wavelengths. Our sample is statistically complete for all regions powered by single stars of type O9.5V and earlier. We fit the LF at each wavelength with single and double power laws. Averaging the results from all wavelengths, the mean of the best-fit single power-law index is 〈α〉 = −1.75 ± 0.01. The mean best-fit double power-law indices are 〈α 1〉 = −1.40 ± 0.03 and 〈α 2〉 = −2.33 ± 0.04. We conclude that neither a single nor a double power law is strongly favored over the other. The LFs show some variation when we separate the H ii region sample into subsets by heliocentric distance, physical size, Galactocentric radius, and location relative to the spiral arms, but blending individual H ii regions into larger complexes does not change the value of the power-law indices of the best-fit LF models. The consistency of the power-law indices across multiple wavelengths suggests that the LF is independent of wavelength. This implies that infrared and radio tracers can be employed in place of Hα.

The turbulence driving parameter of molecular clouds in disc galaxies

ABSTRACT Supersonic turbulence plays a pivotal role during the formation of molecular clouds and stars in galaxies. However, little is known about how the fraction of compressive and solenoidal modes in the velocity field evolves over time and how it depends on properties of the molecular cloud or the galactic environment. In this work, we carry out magnetohydrodynamical simulations of disc galaxies and study the time evolution of the turbulence driving parameter for an ensemble of clouds. We find that the time-averaged turbulence driving parameter is insensitive to the position of the cloud within the galaxy. The ensemble-averaged driving parameter is found to be rather compressive with b ∼ 0.5–0.7, indicating almost time-independent global star formation properties. However, each individual cloud shows a highly fluctuating driving parameter, which would strongly affect the cloud’s star formation rate. We find that the mode of turbulence driving can rapidly change within only a few Myr, both from solenoidal to compressive and vice versa. We attribute these changes to cloud collisions and to tidal interactions with clouds or overdensities in the environment. Last, we find no significant differences in the average driving parameter between hydrodynamic and initially strongly magnetized galaxies. However, the magnetic field tends to reduce the overall fluctuation of the driving parameter. The average driving and its uncertainty are seen to be in agreement with recent constraints on the turbulence driving mode for solar neighbourhood clouds.

Hydrogen Radio Recombination Line Emission from M51 and NGC 628

We report the discovery of hydrogen radio recombination line (RRL) emission from two galaxies with star formation rates (SFRs) similar to that of the Milky Way: M51 and NGC 628. We use the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to measure ∼15 Hnα recombination transitions simultaneously and average these data to improve our spectral signal-to-noise ratio. We show that our data can be used to estimate the total ionizing photon flux of these two sources, and we derive their SFRs within the GBT beam: ΨOB = 3.46 M⊙ yr−1 for M51 and ΨOB = 0.56 M⊙ yr−1 for NGC 628. Here, we demonstrate that it is possible to detect RRLs from normal galaxies that are not undergoing a starburst with current instrumentation and reasonable integration times (∼12 hr for each source). We also show that we can characterize the overall star-forming properties of M51 and NGC 628, although the GBT beam cannot resolve individual H ii region complexes. Our results suggest that future instruments, such as the Square Kilometre Array and the Next Generation Very Large Array, will be able to detect RRL emission from a multitude of Milky Way-like galaxies, making it possible to determine SFRs of normal galaxies unaffected by extinction and to measure global star formation properties in the local universe.

The connection between galaxy environment and the luminosity function slopes of star-forming regions

We present the first study of GALEX far ultra-violet (FUV) luminosity functions of individual star-forming regions within a sample of 258 nearby galaxies spanning a large range in total stellar mass and star formation properties. We identify ~65,000 star-forming regions (i.e., FUV sources), measure each galaxy's luminosity function, and characterize the relationships between the luminosity function slope (alpha) and several global galaxy properties. A final sample of 82 galaxies with reliable luminosity functions are used to define these relationships and represent the largest sample of galaxies with the largest range of galaxy properties used to study the connection between luminosity function properties and galaxy environment. We find that alpha correlates with global star formation properties, where galaxies with higher star formation rates and star formation rate densities (Sigma_SFR) tend to have flatter luminosity function slopes. In addition, we find that neither stochastic sampling of the luminosity function in galaxies with low-number statistics nor the effects of blending due to distance can fully account for these trends. We hypothesize that the flatter slopes in high Sigma_SFR galaxies is due to higher gas densities and higher star formation efficiencies which result in proportionally greater numbers of bright star-forming regions. Finally, we create a composite luminosity function composed of star-forming regions from many galaxies and find a break in the luminosity function at brighter luminosities. However, we find that this break is an artifact of varying detection limits for galaxies at different distances.

STAR FORMATION IN W3—AFGL 333: YOUNG STELLAR CONTENT, PROPERTIES, AND ROLES OF EXTERNAL FEEDBACK

ABSTRACT One of the key questions in the field of star formation is the role of stellar feedback on the subsequent star formation process. The W3 giant molecular cloud complex at the western border of the W4 super bubble is thought to be influenced by the massive stars in W4. This paper presents a study of the star formation activity within AFGL 333, a ∼104 M ⊙ cloud within W3, using deep JHK s photometry obtained from the NOAO Extremely Wide Field Infrared Imager combined with Spitzer IRAC and MIPS photometry. Based on the infrared excess, we identify 812 candidate young stellar objects (YSOs) in the complex, of which 99 are Class I and 713 are Class II sources. The stellar density analysis of YSOs reveals three major stellar aggregates within AFGL 333, namely AFGL 333 Main, AFGL 333 NW1 and AFGL 333 NW2. The disk fraction within AFGL 333 is estimated to be ∼50%–60%. We use the extinction map made from the colors of the background stars and CO data to understand the cloud structure and to estimate the cloud mass. From the stellar and cloud mass associated with AFGL 333, we infer that the region is currently forming stars with an efficiency of ∼4.5% and at a rate of ∼2–3 M ⊙ Myr−1 pc−2. In general, the star formation activity within AFGL 333 is comparable to that of nearby low mass star-forming regions. We do not find any strong evidence to suggest that the stellar feedback from the massive stars of nearby W4 super bubble has affected the global star formation properties of the AFGL 333 region.

CLUSTERING PROPERTIES OF FAR-INFRARED SOURCES IN Hi-GAL SCIENCE DEMONSTRATION PHASE FIELDS

We use a Minimum Spanning Tree 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 HII regions, and highlight global properties of star formation in the Galaxy. We plan to exploit the entire 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 2x2 square degree fields centered at longitudes l=30 and l=59 obtained during the Science Demonstration Phase (SDP) of the Herschel mission. We find that over half of the clustered sources are associated with HII regions and infrared dark clouds. Our analysis also reveals a smooth chromatic evolution of the spatial distribution where sources detected at short-wavelengths, likely proto-stars surrounded by warm circumstellar material emitting in the far-infrared, tend to be clustered in dense and compact groups around HII regions while sources detected at long-wavelengths, presumably cold and dusty density enhancements of the ISM emitting in the sub-millimeter, are distributed in larger and looser groups.

ASTE observations of dense molecular gas in galaxies

AbstractAtacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE) is a joint project between Japan and Chile for installing and operating a 10 m high precision telescope in the Atacama Desert in order to explore the southern sky through the submillimeter wavelength. We have achieved an accuracy of 19 μm (rms) for the main reflector surface and a stable radio pointing accuracy of about 2 arcsec (rms). A 350 GHz cartridge type SIS mixer receiver achieves good performance with a typical system noise temperature of 150 ~ 250 K in DSB and a main beam efficiency of 0.6 ~ 0.7 during winter nights.A large scale CO(3-2) imaging survey of nearby galaxies using ASTE is now in progress. One of our goals is to compare our wide area CO(3-2) images with existing CO(1-0) data as well as distributions of massive star formation tracers (i.e., Hα and radio continuum emission) in order to understand the physical mechanism which controls the global star formation properties such as star formation efficiency. Initial CO(3-2) maps of some sample galaxies (M 83, NGC 604 in M 33, NGC 1672, & NGC 7130) are reported.

The Luminosity Functions and Size Distributions of HiiRegions in Irregular Galaxies

CCD Hα images were used to study the properties of H II regions in 29 normal Im galaxies and six blue compact dwarf/starburst irregulars. The Hα emission line fluxes were measured and used to construct luminosity functions for each galaxy. For most galaxies, the luminosity function is well represented by a power law. Only two of the 29 Im galaxies have supergiant H II regions, which is probably a result of the small size and small total numbers of H II regions in irregular galaxies. BCDs and starburst galaxies, on the other hand, do not always have supergiant H II regions but may have them even if only a few regions are present. Comparison of the cumulative composite H II luminosity function with that of spiral galaxies shows that the irregulars in our sample do not have an unusually large population of supergiant H II regions relative to the galactic luminosity. Thus, these galaxies will not suffer a disproportionate amount of disruption by the concentration of massive stars within such regions. However, in BCD/starburst galaxies there is an excess of H II regions with luminosities greater than 1038 ergs s-1 compared to Im and Sc galaxies relative to the luminosities of the host galaxies. Most of the H II region luminosity in normal Im galaxies comes from small regions and that in BCD/starburst galaxies from moderately large regions. Over 80% of the H II region luminosity in irregulars is found in complexes of H II regions typically with summed luminosities equivalent to ≤10 Orion nebulae. Two types of luminosity functions were observed: those that exhibit turnover and those that do not. Those that do exhibit turnover have an average slope of -1.5 ± 0.1, and those that do not exhibit turnover tend to be complete to fainter levels, have lower upper luminosity cutoffs, have fewer H II regions, and have shallower slopes of -1.0 ± 0.1. If the luminosity function is universal for a galaxy type, this difference suggests the possibility of a break in the luminosity function corresponding to H II regions ionized by single stars and H II regions ionized by clusters of stars. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that the two groups of galaxies are different in terms of their global star formation properties. Diameters of H II regions were also measured and diameter distributions were constructed for each of the galaxies. The diameter distribution was fitted with an exponential and the characteristic diameter D0 was measured for each galaxy, although this fit did not characterize the distribution very well in most galaxies. The weak correlation between D0 and the absolute blue magnitude of the galaxy suggested by others is confirmed to be very weak.

Global properties of star formation in Taurus

A careful analysis of the data available in the literature has been carried out to determine the global properties of star formation in Taurus. Three main trends arise in the data: (1)the magnetic field in Taurus is distorted in the direction of the proper motions of the T Tauri Stars (TIS) (see below).(2)the groups with different proper motions seem to have different stellar contents. An analysis of the stellar population based on the equivalent width of Hα, W(Hα), shows that groups I and III (Jones and Herbig, 1979) have approximately the same population (TTS show either large or small W(Hα)). However in group II (central part of the cloud) there are also a large number of stars with intermediate W(Hα) (Gomez de Castro and Pudritz, 1990).(3)the mass function of the NH3 cores (thought to be "protostellar cores") is dN/dM< M∝ with α=−1.5, in contrast with the IMF of the TTS given by Cohen and Kuhi (1979), α=−2.5. Only point (1) will be outlined in this contribution.

Global properties of star formation in Taurus

A careful analysis of the data available in the literature has been carried out to determine the global properties of star formation in Taurus. Three main trends arise in the data: (1)the magnetic field in Taurus is distorted in the direction of the proper motions of the T Tauri Stars (TIS) (see below).(2)the groups with different proper motions seem to have different stellar contents. An analysis of the stellar population based on the equivalent width of Hα, W(Hα), shows that groups I and III (Jones and Herbig, 1979) have approximately the same population (TTS show either large or small W(Hα)). However in group II (central part of the cloud) there are also a large number of stars with intermediate W(Hα) (Gomez de Castro and Pudritz, 1990).(3)the mass function of the NH3 cores (thought to be "protostellar cores") is dN/dM< M∝ with α=−1.5, in contrast with the IMF of the TTS given by Cohen and Kuhi (1979), α=−2.5. Only point (1) will be outlined in this contribution.

HII regions and star formation in the Magellanic Clouds

The H II regions in the Magellanic Clouds provide an opportunity to characterize the global star formation properties of a galaxy at close range. They also provide a unique laboratory for testing empirical tracers of the massive star formation rates and initial mass functions in more distant galaxies, and for studying the dynamical interactions between massive stars and the interstellar medium. This paper discusses several current studies in these areas.