Related papers: Embedded Clusters in Molecular Clouds
The majority of stars form in clusters. Therefore a comprehensive view of star formation requires understanding the initial conditions for cluster formation. The goal of our study is to shed light on the physical properties of infrared dark…
Until recently it was thought that high Galactic latitude clouds were a non-star-forming ensemble. However, in a previous study we reported the discovery of two embedded clusters (ECs) far away from the Galactic plane ($\sim5$ kpc). In our…
Very massive stars (VMSs) formed via a sequence of stellar collisions in dense star clusters have been proposed as the progenitors of massive black hole seeds. VMSs could indeed collapse to form intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), which…
N-body simulations are used to model the early evolution of globular clusters. These simulations include residual gas which was not turned into stars which is expelled from the globular cluster by the actions of massive stars. The results…
In this contribution we review our recent numerical work discussing the essential role of the local cluster environment in assembling massive stars. First we show that massive stars are formed from low mass pre-stellar cores and become…
We investigate star formation at very early evolutionary phases in five massive clouds in the inner 500 pc of the Galaxy, the Central Molecular Zone. Using interferometer observations of H$_2$O masers and ultra-compact H II regions, we find…
The mass of unresolved young star clusters derived from spectro-photometric data may well be off by a factor of 2 or more once the migration of massive stars driven by mass segregation is accounted for. We quantify this effect for a large…
We probe the evolution of globular clusters that could form in giant molecular clouds within high-redshift galaxies. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the large and dense enough gas clouds assemble naturally in current hierarchical…
We present near-infrared $J$, $H$, and $K$ images of four embedded stellar clusters in the Galaxy. We find a significant fraction of pre-main-sequence stars present in at least one of the clusters. For the clusters dominated by…
Recent observations show that small, young, stellar groupings of ~10 to 40 members tend of have a centrally-located most massive member, reminiscent of mass segregation seen in large clustered systems. Here, we analyze hydrodynamic…
Newborn stars form within the localized, high density regions of molecular clouds. The sequence and rate at which stars form in dense clumps and the dependence on local and global environments are key factors in developing descriptions of…
Young, massive star clusters are the most notable and significant end products of violent star-forming episodes triggered by galaxy collisions, mergers, and close encounters. The question remains, however, whether or not at least a fraction…
Central cluster galaxies are the largest and most massive galaxies in the Universe. Although they host very old stellar populations, several studies found the existence of blue cores in some BCGs indicating ongoing star formation. We…
We categorized clumps, embedded clusters, and open clusters and conducted a comparative analysis of their physical properties. Overall, the radii of open clusters are significantly larger than those of embedded clusters and clumps. The…
The structure of cloud complexes appears to be well described by a "tree structure" representation when the image is partitioned into "clouds". In this representation, the parent-child relationships are assigned according to containment.…
We summarize the main results of a mid-IR photometric survey with ISO for a few nearby embedded clusters. The sensitivity and spatial resolution of ISOCAM provided a wonderful tool for studies of the youngest stellar clusters, which are…
The discovery of a population of young galaxies at an epoch when the universe was about one tenth of its current age has shed new light on the question of when and how galaxies formed. Within the context of popular models this is the…
Star formation occurs within dusty molecular clouds that are then disrupted by stellar feedback. However, the timing and physical mechanisms that govern the transition from deeply embedded to exposed stars remain uncertain. Using the…
We perform a suite of hydrodynamic simulations to investigate how initial density profiles of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) affect their subsequent evolution. We find that the star formation duration and integrated star formation efficiency…
The solar system was most likely born in a star cluster containing at least 1000 stars. It is highly probable that this cluster environment influenced various properties of the solar system like its chemical composition, size and the…