In:
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, American Astronomical Society, Vol. 944, No. 2 ( 2023-02-01), p. L55-
Abstract:
We present the results of a James Webb Space Telescope NIRCam investigation into the young massive star cluster (YMC) population in the luminous infrared galaxy VV 114. We identify 374 compact YMC candidates with signal-to-noise ratios ≥ 3, 5, and 5 at F150W, F200W, and F356W, respectively. A direct comparison with our HST cluster catalog reveals that ∼20% of these sources are undetected at optical wavelengths. Based on yggdrasil stellar population models, we identify 17 YMC candidates in our JWST imaging alone with F150W – F200W and F200W – F356W colors suggesting they are all very young, dusty ( A V = 5–15), and massive (10 5.8 〈 M ⊙ 〈 10 6.1 ). The discovery of these “hidden” sources, many of which are found in the “overlap” region between the two nuclei, quadruples the number of t 〈 3 Myr clusters and nearly doubles the number of t 〈 6 Myr clusters detected in VV 114. Now extending the cluster age distribution ( dN / d τ ∝ τ γ ) to the youngest ages, we find a slope of γ = −1.30 ± 0.39 for 10 6 〈 τ (yr) 〈 10 7 , which is consistent with the previously determined value from 10 7 〈 τ (yr) 〈 10 8.5 , and confirms that VV 114 has a steep age distribution slope for all massive star clusters across the entire range of cluster ages observed. Finally, the consistency between our JWST- and HST-derived age distribution slopes indicates that the balance between cluster formation and destruction has not been significantly altered in VV 114 over the last 0.5 Gyr.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2041-8205
,
2041-8213
DOI:
10.3847/2041-8213/acb335
Language:
Unknown
Publisher:
American Astronomical Society
Publication Date:
2023
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2207648-7
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2006858-X
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