Massive Star Formation in the Tarantula Nebula
The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 944, pp. 26
Abstract
Abstract In this work, we present 299 candidate young stellar objects (YSOs) in 30 Doradus discovered using Spitzer and Herschel point-source catalogs, 276 of which are new. We study the parental giant molecular clouds in which these YSO candidates form using recently published Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Cycle 7 observations of 12CO and 13CO. The threshold for star formation in 30 Doradus inferred by the LTE-based mass surface density is 178 M ⊙ pc−2, 40% higher than the threshold for star formation in the Milky Way. This increase in star formation threshold in comparison to the Milky Way and increase in line width seen in clumps 11 pc away in comparison to clumps 45 pc away from the R136 super star cluster could be due to injected turbulent energy, increase in interstellar medium pressure, and/or local magnetic field strength. Of the 299 YSO candidates in this work, 62% are not associated with 12CO molecular gas. This large fraction can be explained by the fact that 75%–97% of the H2 gas is not traced by CO. We fit a Kroupa initial mass function to the YSO candidates and find that the total integrated stellar mass is 18,000 M ⊙ and that the region has a star formation rate (SFR) of 0.18 M ⊙ yr−1. The initial mass function determined here applies to the four 150″ × 150″ (37.5 pc × 37.5 pc) subfields and one 150″ × 75″ (37.5 pc × 18.8 pc) subfield observed with ALMA. The SFR in 30 Doradus has increased in the past few million years.
Authors 20
-
Omnarayani Nayak corresponding
Space Telescope Science Institute
Affiliation as printed
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; inayak@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
-
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Affiliation as printed
Astronomy Department, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
-
Space Telescope Science Institute
Affiliation as printed
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; inayak@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
-
National Radio Astronomy Observatory · University of Virginia
Affiliation as printed
Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 3818, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
-
Affiliation as printed
SOFIA-USRA, NASA Ames Research Center, MS 232-12, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
-
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Affiliation as printed
Astronomy Department, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
-
Affiliation as printed
Cosmic Origins Of Life (COOL) Research DAO18
Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Ueberle-Str. 2, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
-
European Space Research and Technology Centre
Affiliation as printed
European Space Research and Technology Centre, Keplerlaan 1, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands
-
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives · Université Paris-Saclay · Astrophysique, Instrumentation et Modélisation · Sorbonne Paris Cité · Université Paris Diderot
Affiliation as printed
AIM, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
-
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Affiliation as printed
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, 776 Daedeokdae-ro, 34055 Daejeon, Republic of Korea
-
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Affiliation as printed
Astronomy Department, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
-
Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives · Astrophysique, Instrumentation et Modélisation · CEA Paris-Saclay
Affiliation as printed
Departement d’Astrophysique AIM/CEA Saclay, Orme des Merisiers, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Departement d'Astrophysique AIM/CEA Saclay, Orme des Merisiers, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
-
Space Telescope Science Institute
Affiliation as printed
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; inayak@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
-
Affiliation as printed
Department of Physics, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan
-
Affiliation as printed
Department of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Türkenschanzstrasse 17, A-1180 Vienna, Austria
-
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Affiliation as printed
CSIRO, Space and Astronomy, PO Box 1130, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
-
Affiliation as printed
Gemini Observatory, NSF NOIRLab, Casilla 603, La Serena, Chile
-
Leiden University · Leiden Observatory
Affiliation as printed
Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333CA Leiden, The Netherlands
-
Affiliation as printed
Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 36-D, Santiago, Chile
-
Space Telescope Science Institute
Affiliation as printed
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; inayak@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Cited by 13 stored of 13
13 results
No patents citing this paper on Lens.org (checked 2026-10-11).