The young star cluster population of M51 with LEGUS - II. Testing environmental dependencies

Messa, M.; Adamo, A.; Calzetti, D.; Reina-Campos, M.; Colombo, D.; Schinnerer, E.; Chandar, R.; Dale, D.A.; Gouliermis, D.A.; Grasha, K.; Grebel, E.K.; Elmegreen, B.G.; Fumagalli, M.; Johnson, K.E.; Kruijssen, J.M.D.; Östlin, G.; Shabani, F.; Smith, L.J.; Whitmore, B.C.

doi:10.1093/mnras/sty577

The young star cluster population of M51 with LEGUS - II. Testing environmental dependencies

Messa, M.; Adamo, A.; Calzetti, D.; Reina-Campos, M.; Colombo, D.; Schinnerer, E.; Chandar, R.; Dale, D.A.; Gouliermis, D.A.; Grasha, K.; Grebel, E.K.; Elmegreen, B.G.; Fumagalli, M.; Johnson, K.E.; Kruijssen, J.M.D.; Östlin, G.; Shabani, F.; Smith, L.J.; Whitmore, B.C.

Authors

M. Messa

A. Adamo

D. Calzetti

M. Reina-Campos

D. Colombo

E. Schinnerer

R. Chandar

D.A. Dale

D.A. Gouliermis

K. Grasha

E.K. Grebel

B.G. Elmegreen

Professor Michele Fumagalli michele.fumagalli@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor

K.E. Johnson

J.M.D. Kruijssen

G. Östlin

F. Shabani

L.J. Smith

B.C. Whitmore

Abstract

It has recently been established that the properties of young star clusters (YSCs) can vary as a function of the galactic environment in which they are found. We use the cluster catalogue produced by the Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) collaboration to investigate cluster properties in the spiral galaxy M51. We analyse the cluster population as a function of galactocentric distance and in arm and inter-arm regions. The cluster mass function exhibits a similar shape at all radial bins, described by a power law with a slope close to −2 and an exponential truncation around 105 M⊙. While the mass functions of the YSCs in the spiral arm and inter-arm regions have similar truncation masses, the inter-arm region mass function has a significantly steeper slope than the one in the arm region; a trend that is also observed in the giant molecular cloud mass function and predicted by simulations. The age distribution of clusters is dependent on the region considered, and is consistent with rapid disruption only in dense regions, while little disruption is observed at large galactocentric distances and in the inter-arm region. The fraction of stars forming in clusters does not show radial variations, despite the drop in the H2 surface density measured as function of galactocentric distance. We suggest that the higher disruption rate observed in the inner part of the galaxy is likely at the origin of the observed flat cluster formation efficiency radial profile.

Citation

Messa, M., Adamo, A., Calzetti, D., Reina-Campos, M., Colombo, D., Schinnerer, E., …Whitmore, B. (2018). The young star cluster population of M51 with LEGUS - II. Testing environmental dependencies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 477(2), 1683-1707. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty577

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 28, 2018
Online Publication Date	Mar 23, 2018
Publication Date	Jun 1, 2018
Deposit Date	Apr 5, 2018
Publicly Available Date	Apr 6, 2018
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN	0035-8711
Electronic ISSN	1365-2966
Publisher	Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	477
Issue	2
Pages	1683-1707
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty577

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2018 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.