Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Embedded Star Formation In S4g Galaxy Dust Lanes, Debra M. Elmegreen, Trisha Mizusawa

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications

Star-forming regions that are visible at 3.6 μm and Hα but not in the u, g, r, i, z bands of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are measured in five nearby spiral galaxies to find extinctions averaging ∼3.8 mag and stellar masses averaging ∼5 × 104 M ⊙. These regions are apparently young star complexes embedded in dark filamentary shock fronts connected with spiral arms. The associated cloud masses are ∼10 7 M ⊙. The conditions required to make such complexes are explored, including gravitational instabilities in spiral-shocked gas and compression of incident clouds. We find that instabilities are too …