Phase space analysis of the young stellar component of the Radcliffe Wave

TL;DR

This study investigates the young stellar population linked to the Radcliffe Wave, analyzing their structure, kinematics, and potential origin, revealing linked open clusters and their motion consistent with harmonic vertical oscillations.

Contribution

First characterization of the young stars and clusters associated with the Radcliffe Wave, including their structure, kinematics, and preliminary orbital analysis.

Findings

Identified 13 open clusters linked to the Radcliffe Wave

OB field stars do not show the same elongated structure

Vertical motions are consistent with harmonic oscillation models

Abstract

The Radcliffe Wave is a galactic-scale structure recently proposed by J. Alves et al. (2019). The authors propose that various molecular complexes in the solar environment follow a specific alignment and displacement that make them worthy of a common origin and evolution. In this work, we first collected and analyzed the population of very young stars and open clusters around this structure. The criteria for cross-matching these star-forming tracers with the identified Radcliffe Wave cloud complexes have been defined and applied, all based on the quality of the available astrometric and photometric data. We performed a first characterization of the structure and kinematic properties of the young stellar population linked to this wave. Our conclusions, although verypreliminary, are: 1) we have identified 13 open clusters, each of them physically linked to a Cloud Complex, which are probable members of the Radcliffe Wave; 2) The OB field stars do not present the elongated structure that departs from an straight line at the Sun position observed in the Cloud Complexes; 3) the vertical motion of 11 CC-OCs members associated with the Wave is not contradictory with the behaviour expected from a simple model of harmonic motion in the vertical direction, and 4) the orbits back on time neither suggest an origin associated to a point nor to a straight line in the XZ plane.