GOALS-JWST: Revealing the Buried Star Clusters in the Luminous Infrared Galaxy VV 114
Journal article, 2023

We present the results of a James Webb Space Telescope NIRCam investigation into the young massive star cluster (YMC) population in the luminous infrared galaxy VV 114. We identify 374 compact YMC candidates with signal-to-noise ratios ≥ 3, 5, and 5 at F150W, F200W, and F356W, respectively. A direct comparison with our HST cluster catalog reveals that ∼20% of these sources are undetected at optical wavelengths. Based on yggdrasil stellar population models, we identify 17 YMC candidates in our JWST imaging alone with F150W - F200W and F200W - F356W colors suggesting they are all very young, dusty (A V = 5-15), and massive (105.8 < M ⊙ < 106.1). The discovery of these “hidden” sources, many of which are found in the “overlap” region between the two nuclei, quadruples the number of t < 3 Myr clusters and nearly doubles the number of t < 6 Myr clusters detected in VV 114. Now extending the cluster age distribution ( dN / d τ ∝ τ γ ) to the youngest ages, we find a slope of γ = −1.30 ± 0.39 for 106 < τ(yr) < 107, which is consistent with the previously determined value from 107 < τ(yr) < 108.5, and confirms that VV 114 has a steep age distribution slope for all massive star clusters across the entire range of cluster ages observed. Finally, the consistency between our JWST- and HST-derived age distribution slopes indicates that the balance between cluster formation and destruction has not been significantly altered in VV 114 over the last 0.5 Gyr.

Author

S. T. Linden

University of Massachusetts

Aaron S. Evans

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

University of Virginia

Lee Armus

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Jeffrey A. Rich

Carnegie Observatories

K. Larson

Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Thomas Lai

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

G. Privon

University of Florida

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

U. Vivian

University of California at Irvine (UCI)

H. Inami

Hiroshima University

Thomas Bohn

Hiroshima University

Y. Song

University of Virginia

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Loreto Barcos-Munoz

University of Virginia

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

V. Charmandaris

Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH)

University of Crete

European University Cyprus

Anne M. Medling

University of Toledo

ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics

S. Stierwalt

Occidental College

T. Diaz-Santos

European University Cyprus

Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH)

T. Boker

European Space Agency (ESA)

Paul P. van der Werf

Leiden University

Susanne Aalto

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics

P. Appleton

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Michael J.I. Brown

Monash University

Christopher C. Hayward

Flatiron Institute

Justin Howell

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

K. Iwasawa

University of Barcelona

Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies

F. Kemper

Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)

Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies

Institute of Space Sciences (ICE) - CSIC

D. Frayer

Green Bank Observatory

David R. Law

Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

M. A. Malkan

University of California at Los Angeles

Jason Marshall

Glendale Community College

J. Mazzarella

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Eric J. Murphy

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

David Sanders

University of Hawaii

J. A. Surace

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Astrophysical Journal Letters

2041-8205 (ISSN) 2041-8213 (eISSN)

Vol. 944 2 L55

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Geology

Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

DOI

10.3847/2041-8213/acb335

More information

Latest update

12/1/2023