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The young star cluster population of M51 with LEGUS – I. A comprehensive study of cluster formation and evolution

Messa, M.; Adamo, A.; Östlin, G.; Calzetti, D.; Grasha, K.; Grebel, E.K.; Shabani, F.; Chandar, R.; Dale, D.A.; Dobbs, C.L.; Elmegreen, B.G.; Fumagalli, M.; Gouliermis, D.A.; Kim, H.; Smith, L.J.; Thilker, D.A.; Tosi, M.; Ubeda, L.; Walterbos, R.; Whitmore, B.C.; Fedorenko, K.; Mahadevan, S.; Andrews, J.E.; Bright, S.N.; Cook, D.O.; Kahre, L.; Nair, P.; Pellerin, A.; Ryon, J.E.; Ahmad, S.D.; Beale, L.P.; Brown, K.; Clarkson, D.A.; Guidarelli, G.C.; Parziale, R.; Turner, J.; Weber, M.

The young star cluster population of M51 with LEGUS – I. A comprehensive study of cluster formation and evolution Thumbnail


Authors

M. Messa

A. Adamo

G. Östlin

D. Calzetti

K. Grasha

E.K. Grebel

F. Shabani

R. Chandar

D.A. Dale

C.L. Dobbs

B.G. Elmegreen

D.A. Gouliermis

H. Kim

L.J. Smith

D.A. Thilker

M. Tosi

L. Ubeda

R. Walterbos

B.C. Whitmore

K. Fedorenko

S. Mahadevan

J.E. Andrews

S.N. Bright

D.O. Cook

L. Kahre

P. Nair

A. Pellerin

J.E. Ryon

S.D. Ahmad

L.P. Beale

K. Brown

D.A. Clarkson

G.C. Guidarelli

R. Parziale

J. Turner

M. Weber



Abstract

Recently acquired WFC3 UV (F275W and F336W) imaging mosaics under the Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey (LEGUS), combined with archival ACS data of M51, are used to study the young star cluster (YSC) population of this interacting system. Our newly extracted source catalogue contains 2834 cluster candidates, morphologically classified to be compact and uniform in colour, for which ages, masses and extinction are derived. In this first work we study the main properties of the YSC population of the whole galaxy, considering a mass-limited sample. Both luminosity and mass functions follow a power-law shape with slope −2, but at high luminosities and masses a dearth of sources is observed. The analysis of the mass function suggests that it is best fitted by a Schechter function with slope −2 and a truncation mass at 1.00 ± 0.12 × 105 M⊙. Through Monte Carlo simulations, we confirm this result and link the shape of the luminosity function to the presence of a truncation in the mass function. A mass limited age function analysis, between 10 and 200 Myr, suggests that the cluster population is undergoing only moderate disruption. We observe little variation in the shape of the mass function at masses above 1 × 104 M⊙ over this age range. The fraction of star formation happening in the form of bound clusters in M51 is ∼ 20 per cent in the age range 10–100 Myr and little variation is observed over the whole range from 1 to 200 Myr.

Citation

Messa, M., Adamo, A., Östlin, G., Calzetti, D., Grasha, K., Grebel, E., …Weber, M. (2018). The young star cluster population of M51 with LEGUS – I. A comprehensive study of cluster formation and evolution. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 473(1), 996-1018. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx2403

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 14, 2017
Online Publication Date Sep 18, 2017
Publication Date Jan 1, 2018
Deposit Date Nov 7, 2017
Publicly Available Date Nov 8, 2017
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 473
Issue 1
Pages 996-1018
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx2403
Related Public URLs https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.06101

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2017. The Authors.
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.





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