THE MILKY WAY PROJECT: A STATISTICAL STUDY OF MASSIVE STAR FORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH INFRARED BUBBLES
- Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Koenigstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany)
- Department of Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom)
- School of Physics, University of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 4QL (United Kingdom)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)
- Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208121, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States)
- Astronomy Department, Adler Planetarium, 1300 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605 (United States)
The Milky Way Project citizen science initiative recently increased the number of known infrared bubbles in the inner Galactic plane by an order of magnitude compared to previous studies. We present a detailed statistical analysis of this data set with the Red MSX Source (RMS) catalog of massive young stellar sources to investigate the association of these bubbles with massive star formation. We particularly address the question of massive triggered star formation near infrared bubbles. We find a strong positional correlation of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) and H II regions with Milky Way Project bubbles at separations of <2 bubble radii. As bubble sizes increase, a statistically significant overdensity of massive young sources emerges in the region of the bubble rims, possibly indicating the occurrence of triggered star formation. Based on numbers of bubble-associated RMS sources, we find that 67% {+-} 3% of MYSOs and (ultra-)compact H II regions appear to be associated with a bubble. We estimate that approximately 22% {+-} 2% of massive young stars may have formed as a result of feedback from expanding H II regions. Using MYSO-bubble correlations, we serendipitously recovered the location of the recently discovered massive cluster Mercer 81, suggesting the potential of such analyses for discovery of heavily extincted distant clusters.
- OSTI ID:
- 22039112
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 755, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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