Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Gibbs Point Process Model For Young Star Clusters In M33, Dayi Li, Pauline Barmby

Physics and Astronomy Publications

We demonstrate the power of Gibbs point process models from the spatial statistics literature when applied to studies of resolved galaxies. We conduct a rigorous analysis of the spatial distributions of objects in the star formation complexes of M33, including giant molecular clouds (GMCs) and young stellar cluster candidates (YSCCs). We choose a hierarchical model structure from GMCs to YSCCs based on the natural formation hierarchy between them. This approach circumvents the limitations of the empirical two-point correlation function analysis by naturally accounting for the inhomogeneity present in the distribution of YSCCs. We also investigate the effects of GMCs' properties …