4 research outputs found
An HI Threshold for Star Cluster Formation in Tidal Debris
Super star clusters are young, compact star clusters found in the central
regions of interacting galaxies. Recently, they have also been reported to
preferentially form in certain tidal tails, but not in others. In this paper,
we have used 21 cm HI maps and the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary
Camera 2 images of eight tidal tail regions of four merging galaxy pairs to
compare the kiloparsec scale HI distribution with the location of super star
clusters found from the optical images. For most of the tails, we find that
there is an increase in super star cluster density with increasing projected HI
column density, such that the star cluster density is highest when log N(HI) >=
20.6 cm^{-2}, but equal to the background count rate at lower HI column
density. However, for two tails (NGC 4038/39 Pos A and NGC 3921), there is no
significant star cluster population despite the presence of gas at high column
density. This implies that the N(HI) threshold is a necessary but not
sufficient condition for cluster formation. Gas volume density is likely to
provide a more direct criterion for cluster formation, and other factors such
as gas pressure or strength of encounter may also have an influence. Comparison
of HI thresholds needed for formation of different types of stellar structures
await higher resolution HI and optical observations of larger numbers of
interacting galaxies.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA