The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2023)
PHANGS–JWST First Results: Dust-embedded Star Clusters in NGC 7496 Selected via 3.3 μm PAH Emission
- M. Jimena Rodríguez,
- Janice C. Lee,
- B. C. Whitmore,
- David A. Thilker,
- Daniel Maschmann,
- Rupali Chandar,
- Sinan Deger,
- Médéric Boquien,
- Daniel A. Dale,
- Kirsten L. Larson,
- Thomas G. Williams,
- Hwihyun Kim,
- Eva Schinnerer,
- Erik Rosolowsky,
- Adam K. Leroy,
- Eric Emsellem,
- Karin M. Sandstrom,
- J. M. Diederik Kruijssen,
- Kathryn Grasha,
- Elizabeth J. Watkins,
- Ashley. T. Barnes,
- Mattia C. Sormani,
- Jaeyeon Kim,
- Gagandeep S. Anand,
- Mélanie Chevance,
- F. Bigiel,
- Ralf S. Klessen,
- Hamid Hassani,
- Daizhong Liu,
- Christopher M. Faesi,
- Yixian Cao,
- Francesco Belfiore,
- Ismael Pessa,
- Kathryn Kreckel,
- Brent Groves,
- Jérôme Pety,
- Rémy Indebetouw,
- Oleg V. Egorov,
- Guillermo A. Blanc,
- Toshiki Saito,
- Annie Hughes
Affiliations
- M. Jimena Rodríguez
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]; Instituto de Astrofísica de La Plata , CONICET–UNLP, Paseo del Bosque S/N, B1900FWA La Plata, Argentina
- Janice C. Lee
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]; Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab , 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ, USA
- B. C. Whitmore
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- David A. Thilker
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218 USA
- Daniel Maschmann
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]; Sorbonne Université , LERMA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL university, CNRS, F-75014, Paris, France
- Rupali Chandar
- ORCiD
- Ritter Astrophysical Research Center, University of Toledo , Toledo, OH 43606, USA
- Sinan Deger
- ORCiD
- The Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, Department of Physics, Stockholm University , AlbaNova, Stockholm, SE-106 91, Sweden
- Médéric Boquien
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astronomía (CITEVA), Universidad de Antofagasta , Avenida Angamos 601, Antofagasta, Chile
- Daniel A. Dale
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming , Laramie, WY 82071, USA
- Kirsten L. Larson
- ORCiD
- AURA for the European Space Agency (ESA), Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Thomas G. Williams
- ORCiD
- Sub-department of Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK; Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
- Hwihyun Kim
- ORCiD
- Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab , 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Eva Schinnerer
- ORCiD
- Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
- Erik Rosolowsky
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Alberta , Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E1, Canada
- Adam K. Leroy
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University , 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA; Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics , 191 West Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Eric Emsellem
- ORCiD
- European Southern Observatory , Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Univ Lyon , Univ Lyon1, ENS de Lyon, CNRS, Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon UMR5574, F-69230 Saint-Genis-Laval, France
- Karin M. Sandstrom
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences, University of California , San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, San Diego, CA 92093, USA
- J. M. Diederik Kruijssen
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Origins Of Life (COOL) Research DAO ,40
- Kathryn Grasha
- ORCiD
- Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University , Canberra, ACT 2611, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Elizabeth J. Watkins
- ORCiD
- Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg , Mönchhofstraße 12-14, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Ashley. T. Barnes
- ORCiD
- Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn , Auf dem Hügel 71, D-53121, Bonn, Germany
- Mattia C. Sormani
- ORCiD
- Universität Heidelberg , Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Ueberle-Straße 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Jaeyeon Kim
- ORCiD
- Universität Heidelberg , Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Ueberle-Straße 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Gagandeep S. Anand
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Mélanie Chevance
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Origins Of Life (COOL) Research DAO ,40; Universität Heidelberg , Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Ueberle-Straße 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- F. Bigiel
- ORCiD
- Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn , Auf dem Hügel 71, D-53121, Bonn, Germany
- Ralf S. Klessen
- ORCiD
- Universität Heidelberg , Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Ueberle-Straße 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Universität Heidelberg , Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Wissenschaftliches Rechnen, Im Neuenheimer Feld 205, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Hamid Hassani
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Alberta , Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E1, Canada
- Daizhong Liu
- ORCiD
- Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) , Giessenbachstr. 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany
- Christopher M. Faesi
- ORCiD
- University of Connecticut , Department of Physics, 196A Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Yixian Cao
- ORCiD
- Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) , Giessenbachstr. 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany
- Francesco Belfiore
- ORCiD
- INAF–Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory , Largo E. Fermi 5, I-50125, Florence, Italy
- Ismael Pessa
- ORCiD
- Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany; Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP) , An der Sternwarte 16, D-14482 Potsdam, Germany
- Kathryn Kreckel
- ORCiD
- Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg , Mönchhofstraße 12-14, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Brent Groves
- ORCiD
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, University of Western Australia , 7 Fairway, Crawley, 6009 WA, Australia
- Jérôme Pety
- ORCiD
- IRAM , 300 rue de la Piscine, F-38400 Saint Martin d’Hères, France; LERMA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University , CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, F-75014 Paris, France
- Rémy Indebetouw
- ORCiD
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory , 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA; University of Virginia , 530 McCormick Road, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
- Oleg V. Egorov
- ORCiD
- Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg , Mönchhofstraße 12-14, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Guillermo A. Blanc
- ORCiD
- The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science , 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA, USA; Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile , Camino del Observatorio 1515, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
- Toshiki Saito
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588, Japan
- Annie Hughes
- ORCiD
- IRAP, Université de Toulouse , CNRS, CNES, UPS, (Toulouse), France
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aca653
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 944,
no. 2
p. L26
Abstract
The earliest stages of star formation occur enshrouded in dust and are not observable in the optical. Here we leverage the extraordinary new high-resolution infrared imaging from JWST to begin the study of dust-embedded star clusters in nearby galaxies throughout the Local Volume. We present a technique for identifying dust-embedded clusters in NGC 7496 (18.7 Mpc), the first galaxy to be observed by the PHANGS–JWST Cycle 1 Treasury Survey. We select sources that have strong 3.3 μ m PAH emission based on a F300M − F335M color excess and identify 67 candidate embedded clusters. Only eight of these are found in the PHANGS-HST optically selected cluster catalog, and all are young (six have SED fit ages of ∼1 Myr). We find that this sample of embedded cluster candidates may significantly increase the census of young clusters in NGC 7496 from the PHANGS-HST catalog; the number of clusters younger than ∼2 Myr could be increased by a factor of 2. Candidates are preferentially located in dust lanes and are coincident with the peaks in the PHANGS-ALMA CO (2–1) maps. We take a first look at concentration indices, luminosity functions, SEDs spanning from 2700 Å to 21 μ m, and stellar masses (estimated to be between ∼10 ^4 and 10 ^5 M _⊙ ). The methods tested here provide a basis for future work to derive accurate constraints on the physical properties of embedded clusters, characterize the completeness of cluster samples, and expand analysis to all 19 galaxies in the PHANGS–JWST sample, which will enable basic unsolved problems in star formation and cluster evolution to be addressed.
Keywords
