University of Heidelberg

Talk Details

Monday, November 11, 2013 - 11:00am

Angela Adamo (MPIA):

"On the fraction of stars forming in clusters as function of galactic environment"

Abstract. Recent observations, as well as theoretical studies, have suggested that stellar cluster formation may depend on local and global environmental properties. In particular, the fraction of stars that form within long-lived bound clusters (Γ) may depend on environment, with indications that it may be higher in the more extreme environments of high star formation rate density galaxies. How Γ varies has important implications on the use of clusters to determine the star formation histories of galaxies as well as our understanding of the star formation process itself. In my contribution I will focus on the role of the galactic environment in determining the fraction of stars forming in bound clusters. If cluster formation would only be dominated by size-of-sample effect, one would expect Γ to be constant (the number of clusters increase as function of increasing star formation rate, SFR, but overall the fraction of star formation happening in star clusters is the same). I will present the results achieved with the study of the cluster populations in the face-on spiral galaxy M83. Γ has been derived for the whole system as well as in different regions of the same galaxy. Overall we find that Γ decreases strongly as a function of galactocentric radius, by a factor of ~5 over the inner ~8 kpc, in agreement with recent theoretical predictions and decreasing trends observed in the gas surface density of the galaxy.

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