NIR view on young stellar clusters in nearby spirals

TL;DR

This study uses near-infrared observations to analyze young stellar clusters in spiral galaxies, revealing dust effects, rapid dust expulsion around 7 Myr, and the spatial distribution of clusters relative to spiral arms.

Contribution

It provides new deep NIR maps of 10 spiral galaxies and insights into dust attenuation, cluster luminosity functions, and spatial distribution of clusters relative to spiral arms.

Findings

Most young clusters are heavily obscured by dust with up to 7 mag extinction.

A rapid reduction in dust extinction occurs around 7 Myr, likely due to supernovae.

Cluster luminosity function follows a power law with exponent ~2.

Abstract

Observations in the near-infrared (NIR) allow a detailed study of young stellar clusters in grand-design spiral galaxies which in visual bands often are highly obscured by dust lanes along the arms. Deep JHK-maps of 10 spirals were obtained with HAWK-I/VLT. Data for NGC 2997 are presented here to illustrate the general results for the sample. The (H-K)-(J-H) diagrams suggest that most stellar clusters younger than 7 Myr are significantly attenuated by dust with visual extinctions reaching 7 mag. A gap between younger and older cluster complexes in the (J-K)-Mk diagram indicates a rapid reduction of extinction around 7 Myr possibly due to expulsion of dust and gas after supernovae explosions. The cluster luminosity function is consistent with a power law with an exponent alpha ~ 2. Cluster luminosities of Mk = -15 mag are reached, corresponding to masses close to 10^6 Mo, with no indication of a cut-off. Their azimuthal angles relative to the main spiral arms show that the most massive clusters are formed in the arm regions while fainter ones also are seen between the arms. Older clusters are more uniformly distribution with a weaker modulation relative to the arms.