Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2005-10-06
Astron.Astrophys.446:955-969,2006
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
A&A, in press. Full resolution version available at: http://www.eso.org/~mromanie/lmc_pms.ps.gz
Scientific paper
10.1051/0004-6361:20053638
As a part of an ongoing effort to characterise the young stellar populations in the Large Magellanic Cloud, we present HST-WFPC2 broad and narrow band imaging of two fields with recent star formation activity in the Tarantula region. A population of objects with Halpha and/or Balmer continuum excess was identified. On account of the intense Halpha emission (equivalent widths up to several tens of Angstroms), its correlation with the Balmer continuum excess and the stars' location on the HR diagram, we interpret them as low mass (~1-2 Mo) Pre-Main Sequence stars. In this framework, the data show that coeval high and low mass stars have significantly different spatial distributions, implying that star formation processes for different ranges of stellar masses are rather different and/or require different initial conditions. We find that the overall slope of the mass function of the young population is somewhat steeper than the classical Salpeter value and that the star formation density of this young component is 0.2-0.4 Mo/yr/kpc2, i.e. intermediate between the value for an active spiral disk and that of a starburst region. The uncertainties associated with the determination of the slope of the mass function and the star formation density are thoroughly discussed.
Blanco Carlo
Panagia Nino
Romaniello Martino
Salerno Rosa Maria
Scuderi Salvatore
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