The Stellar "Snake"-III: Co-evolution of Stars and Molecular Clouds Unveiled by Gaia, MWISP, and LAMOST

TL;DR

This study combines multi-band data from Gaia, MWISP, and LAMOST to analyze the co-evolution of stars and molecular clouds in a snake-like structure, revealing how cloud density and feedback influence star formation.

Contribution

It provides new observational evidence on how cloud density and early feedback jointly regulate star formation in filamentary structures.

Findings

Older clusters form in cavities near high-density regions.

Young stars form in current high-density environments.

Feedback compresses cloud edges, triggering new star formation.

Abstract

By combining multi-band data from Gaia DR3, MWISP CO, and LAMOST DR11 LSR/MSR, we investigate the co-evolution of stars and their parent molecular cloud in a snake-like stellar structure, named Snake III. Based on 5-D phase-space selection, we identified 5683 member stars (median age 7.6 Myr) across approximately $300 \times 500 \times 175$ pc$^3$ volume, along with 12 embedded open clusters. Then we use BEEP distances combined with $^{12}$CO velocities to clearly identify the molecular clouds associated with the stellar complex in spatial and kinematics. The molecular cloud density increases with Galactic longitude, with older open clusters forming in cavities near higher-density regions (except ASCC 125), while young field stars currently form preferentially in present-day high-density environments, indicating that cloud density regulates the star-formation sequence. $^{12}$CO excitation temperature, centroid velocity, velocity dispersion and H$\alpha$ emission reveal that early feedback first compresses cloud edges to trigger new stars, then sweeps and disperses the parent clouds. The extremely young cluster (ASCC 125, 4.4 Myr) lies near the densest region yet is surrounded by a shell with bidirectional density-velocity perturbations, consistent with a delayed-triggering scenario under the combined influence of UBC 178 stellar-wind feedback and a suspected supernova blast. Our results naturally demonstrate that snake-like stellar structures are filamentary relics of hierarchical star formation within giant molecular clouds. They provide direct observational evidence that cloud density and early feedback jointly modulate the progression of star formation, offering a clear and young laboratory for studying star-cloud co-evolution.