Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Mar 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996a%26a...307..775m&link_type=abstract
Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.307, p.775-790
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
56
Stars: Formation, Stars: Pre-Main Sequence, Ism: Clouds, Ism: Hii Regions, Open Clusters And Associations: W3, Infrared: Stars
Scientific paper
We present J, H, and K-band mosaics of a ~1.5'x1.5' field in the W3 Main molecular core, a massive molecular core in the process of forming an OB association. Our mosaics include the HII regions W3 A and W3 B and a massive molecular clump surrounding W3 IRS 5. These data show a large, embedded population of intermediate to low mass stars co-existing with recently formed OB stars. The highest density of embedded stars is found in a compact cluster surrounding IRS 5; to a limiting absolute magnitude of M_K_=5.1, we estimate a stellar density of 1300-4300pc^-3^. A comparison of the m_K_ vs. H-K diagrams for the W3 population and for nearby YSOs shows that most of the stars have colors and magnitudes consistent with reddened T Tauri stars, i.e. low mass pre-main sequence stars. On the basis of their dereddened K-band magnitudes, we find that 60% of the stars detected in H and K have an upper mass limit of 2Msun_, supporting our claim that most of the embedded stars are low mass stars. The K-band luminosity function is consistent with the KLF of a 0.3Myr cluster with a Miller-Scalo initial mass function (IMF); however, an older cluster with an IMF flatter than the Miller-Scalo IMF is not excluded. Comparing the results of radio surveys of the IRS 5 clump with our infrared data, we find evidence that the >10Msun_ stars traced by the radio observations are more numerous than predicted by a Miller-Scalo IMF. We estimate a star formation efficiency in the molecular clump surrounding IRS 5 of 6-18%, suggesting that most of the molecular mass has not been converted into stars. We also report the detection of candidate exciting stars for the W3 B, W3 E and W3 F ultracompact HII regions.
Beichman Ch.
Gautier Nick
Herter Terry
Hester Jeff J.
Megeath Thomas S.
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