Probing the relationship between early star formation and CO in the dwarf irregular galaxy WLM with JWST
The Astronomical Journal(2024)
摘要
Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte (WLM) is a Local Group dwarf irregular (dIrr) galaxy
with a metallicity 13
provides a unique opportunity to investigate the internal mechanisms of star
formation at low metallicities. The earliest stages of star formation in larger
spirals occur in embedded clusters within molecular clouds, but dIrrs lack the
dust, heavy metals, and organized structure of spirals believed necessary to
collapse the molecular clouds into stars. Despite actively forming stars, the
early stages of star formation in dIrrs is not well understood. We examine the
relationship between early star formation and molecular clouds at low
metallicities. We utilize ALMA-detected CO cores, JWST near-infrared
(NIR) images (F090W, F150W, F250M, and F430M), and GALEX
far-ultraviolet (FUV) images of WLM to trace molecular clouds, early star
formation, and longer star formation timescales respectively. We compare clumps
of NIR-bright sources (referred to as objects) categorized into three types
based on their proximity to FUV sources and CO cores. We find objects,
independent of their location, have similar colors and magnitudes and no
discernible difference in temperature. However, we find that objects near CO
have higher masses than objects away from CO, independent of proximity to FUV.
Additionally, objects near CO are coincident with Spitzer 8 μm sources at a
higher frequency than objects elsewhere in WLM. This suggests objects near CO
may be embedded star clusters at an earlier stage of star formation, but
accurate age estimates for all objects are required for confirmation.
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关键词
Local Group,Dwarf irregular galaxies,Star formation,Star forming regions,Molecular clouds
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