Hierarchical star formation in the Magellanic Clouds with the VMC survey

Amy E Miller; Maria-Rosa L Cioni; Richard de Grijs; Ning-Chen Sun; VMC Team

doi:10.1017/S1743921322005038

Hierarchical star formation in the Magellanic Clouds with the VMC survey

Proc Int Astron Union. 2021 Aug;17(Suppl 373):11-14. doi: 10.1017/S1743921322005038.

Authors

Amy E Miller^{1

2

3

4}, Maria-Rosa L Cioni³, Richard de Grijs^{1

2}, Ning-Chen Sun⁵; VMC Team

Affiliations

¹ School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Macquarie University, Balaclava Road, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
² Research Centre for Astronomy, Astrophysics and Astrophotonics, Macquarie University, Balaclava Road, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
³ Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, D-14482 Potsdam, Germany.
⁴ Institut für Physik und Astronomie, Universität Potsdam, Haus 28, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24/25, D-14476 Golm (Potsdam), Germany.
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Hicks Building, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield S3 7RH, UK.

Abstract

The VISTA Magellanic Clouds Survey (VMC) is a near-infrared survey of the Magellanic system. The VMC data has been exploited to detect and study statistically correlated young groups of stars - also known as "young stellar structures" - in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC). We showcase the ~ 3000 recently detected young stellar structures in the LMC and their similarity to the fractal interstellar medium. We discuss how their properties indicate their formation mechanisms and that there are no preferred scales of star formation in the LMC.

Keywords: galaxies: Magellanic Clouds; methods: statistical; stars: early-type; stars: formation.