MYStIX First Results: Spatial Structures of Massive Young Stellar Clusters
Abstract
Observations of the spatial distributions of young stars in star-forming regions can be linked to the theory of clustered star formation using spatial statistical methods. The MYStIX project provides rich samples of young stars from the nearest high-mass star-forming regions. Maps of stellar surface density reveal diverse structure and subclustering. Young stellar clusters and subclusters are fit with isothermal spheres and ellipsoids using the Bayesian Information Criterion to estimate the number of subclusters. Clustering is also investigated using Cartwright and Whitworth's Q statistic and the inhomogeneous two-point correlation function. Mass segregation is detected in several cases, in both centrally concentrated and fractally structured star clusters, but a few clusters are not mass segregated.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1208.3492,
title = {MYStIX First Results: Spatial Structures of Massive Young Stellar Clusters},
author = {Michael A. Kuhn and Adrian Baddeley and Eric D. Feigelson and Konstantin V. Getman and Patrick S. Broos and Leisa K. Townsley and Matthew S. Povich and Tim Naylor and Robert R. King and Heather A. Busk and Kevin L. Luhman},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1208.3492},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
4 pages, 1 figure; to appear in The Labyrinth of Star Formation, (eds.) D. Stamatellos, S. Goodwin, and D. Ward-Thompson, Springer, in press