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 L55Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Geology
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
DOI
10.3847/2041-8213/acb335