Highly efficient star formation in NGC 5253 possibly from stream-fed accretion
Abstract
A local dwarf galaxy, NGC 5253, has a young super star cluster that may provide an example of highly efficient star formation. Here we report the detection and imaging, with the Submillimeter Array, of the J= 3-2 rotational transition of CO at the location of the massive cluster associated with the supernebula. The gas cloud is hot, dense, quiescent, and extremely dusty. Its gas-to-dust ratio is lower than the Galactic value, which we attribute to dust enrichment by Wolf-Rayet stars within the embedded star cluster. Its star formation efficiency exceeds 50%, ten times higher than clouds in the Milky Way: this cloud is a factory of stars and soot. We suggest that high efficiency results from the force-feeding of star formation by a streamer of gas falling into the galaxy.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1503.05254,
title = {Highly efficient star formation in NGC 5253 possibly from stream-fed accretion},
author = {J. L. Turner and S. C. Beck and D. J. Benford and S. M. Consiglio and P. T. P. Ho and A. Kovács and D. S. Meier and J. -H. Zhao},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.05254},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Accepted to Nature. 15 pages, 5 figures. Abstract modified from Nature summary paragraph