The structures of embedded clusters

TL;DR

This paper reviews the diverse morphologies of embedded star clusters, exploring how their structures relate to molecular cloud properties and what this reveals about star formation and cluster evolution.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of embedded cluster structures and their connection to molecular cloud characteristics, offering insights into star formation processes.

Findings

Embedded clusters exhibit diverse morphologies including hierarchical and centrally condensed forms.

Cluster structures are linked to the complex morphology of parental molecular clouds.

The structure of clusters provides clues about their formation mechanisms and evolution.

Abstract

Stars are usually formed in clusters in the dense cores of molecular clouds. These embedded clusters show a wide variety of morphologies from hierarchical clusters with substructure to centrally condensed ones. Often they are elongated and surrounded by a low-density stellar halo. The structure of an embedded cluster, i.e. the spatial distribution of its members, seems to be linked to the complex structure of the parental molecular cloud and holds important clues about the formation mechanism and the initial conditions, as well as about the subsequent evolution of the cluster.