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We dendrogram the Leike et al. 3D dust map, leveraging its ∼1 pc spatial resolution to produce a uniform catalog of molecular clouds in the solar neighborhood. Using accurate distances, we measure the properties of 65 clouds in true 3D space, eliminating much of the uncertainty in mass, size, and density. Clouds in the catalog contain a total of 1.1 × 10⁵M_☉, span distances of 116−440 pc, and include a dozen well-studied clouds in the literature. In addition to deriving cloud properties in 3D volume density space, we create 2D dust extinction maps from the 3D data by projecting the 3D clouds onto a 2D “Sky” view. We measure the properties of the 2D clouds separately from the 3D clouds. We compare the scaling relation between the masses and sizes of clouds following Larson. We find that our 2D projected mass–size relation,M∝r^2.1, agrees with Larson's Third Relation, but our 3D derived properties lead to a scaling relation of about one order larger:M∝r^2.9. Validating predictions from theory and numerical simulations, our results indicate that the mass–size relation is sensitive to whether column or volume density is used to define clouds, since mass scales with area in 2D (M∝r²) and with volume in 3D (M∝r³). Our results imply a roughly constant column and volume density in 2D and 3D, respectively, for molecular clouds, as would be expected for clouds where the lower density, larger volume-filling gas dominates the cloud mass budget.

 

Barnard’s Loop is a famous arc of Hαemission located in the Orion star-forming region. Here, we provide evidence of a possible formation mechanism for Barnard’s Loop and compare our results with recent work suggesting a major feedback event occurred in the region around 6 Myr ago. We present a 3D model of the large-scale Orion region, indicating coherent, radial, 3D expansion of the OBP-Near/Briceño-1 (OBP-B1) cluster in the middle of a large dust cavity. The large-scale gas in the region also appears to be expanding from a central point, originally proposed to be Orion X. OBP-B1 appears to serve as another possible center, and we evaluate whether Orion X or OBP-B1 is more likely to have caused the expansion. We find that neither cluster served as the single expansion center, but rather a combination of feedback from both likely propelled the expansion. Recent 3D dust maps are used to characterize the 3D topology of the entire region, which shows Barnard’s Loop’s correspondence with a large dust cavity around the OPB-B1 cluster. The molecular clouds Orion A, Orion B, and Orionλreside on the shell of this cavity. Simple estimates of gravitational effects from both stars and gas indicate that the expansion of this asymmetric cavity likely induced anisotropy in the kinematics of OBP-B1. We conclude that feedback from OBP-B1 has affected the structure of the Orion A, Orion B, and Orionλmolecular clouds and may have played a major role in the formation of Barnard’s Loop.

 

We study the physical drivers of slow molecular cloud mergers within a simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy in the moving-mesh code arepo, and determine the influence of these mergers on the mass distribution and star formation efficiency of the galactic cloud population. We find that 83 per cent of these mergers occur at a relative velocity below 5 km s−1, and are associated with large-scale atomic gas flows, driven primarily by expanding bubbles of hot, ionized gas caused by supernova explosions and galactic rotation. The major effect of these mergers is to aggregate molecular mass into higher-mass clouds: mergers account for over 50 per cent of the molecular mass contained in clouds of mass M > 2 × 106 M⊙. These high-mass clouds have higher densities, internal velocity dispersions and instantaneous star formation efficiencies than their unmerged, lower mass precursors. As such, the mean instantaneous star formation efficiency in our simulated galaxy, with its merger rate of just 1 per cent of clouds per Myr, is 25 per cent higher than in a similar population of clouds containing no mergers.

 

We present an analysis of the kinematics of the Radcliffe Wave, a 2.7 kpc long sinusoidal band of molecular clouds in the solar neighborhood recently detected via 3D dust mapping. With Gaia DR2 astrometry and spectroscopy, we analyze the 3D space velocities of ∼1500 young stars along the Radcliffe Wave in action-angle space, using the motion of the wave’s newly born stars as a proxy for its gas motion. We find that the vertical angle of young stars—corresponding to their orbital phase perpendicular to the Galactic plane—varies significantly as a function of position along the structure, in a pattern potentially consistent with a wavelike oscillation. This kind of oscillation is not seen in a control sample of older stars from Gaia occupying the same volume, disfavoring formation channels caused by long-lived physical processes. We use a “wavy midplane” model to try to account for the trend in vertical angles seen in young stars, and find that while the best-fit parameters for the wave’s spatial period and amplitude are qualitatively consistent with the existing morphology defined by 3D dust, there is no evidence for additional velocity structure. These results support more recent and/or transitory processes in the formation of the Radcliffe Wave, which would primarily affect the motion of the wave’s gaseous material. Comparisons of our results with new and upcoming simulations, in conjunction with new stellar radial velocity measurements in Gaia DR3, should allow us to further discriminate between various competing hypotheses.

 

Strong spatial skills are foundational in predicting students' performance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. Decades of research have considered the relationship between thinking spatially and how scientists reason and solve problems. However, few studies have examined the factors that influence improvement in students' spatial thinking during their school science curricula. The present study investigates theThinkSpacecurricula—two middle school astronomy units designed to support students' ability to apply the spatial skill of perspective‐taking (PT) while learning to explain lunar phases (3 days) and the seasons (8 days). U.S. students in 6th and 8th grades (N = 877) across four districts participated in the study, completing assessments before and after theThinkSpacecurricula, along with an additional group of students in 6th and 7th grades (N = 172) who participated as a spatial control group. Data collection included multiple‐choice content assessments, PT skill assessments, and interviews (from a sub‐sample of 96 students), before and after instruction. After participating inThinkSpacecurricula, students demonstrated improved spatial thinking within the domain of astronomy, as measured by improved written content assessments, increased application of PT during conceptual interviews, and a general measurement of PT skill. Higher initial PT skill and higher gain in PT skill predicted greater improvement in students' astronomy understanding, even when accounting for their initial content knowledge. AlthoughThinkSpacestudents in all demographic groups improved PT skill post‐instruction, 8th graders (who were in districts with lower SES), and females were predicted to have smaller gains in their PT skill than the 6th graders (who were in districts with higher SES) and male students. These findings suggest that middle school students' spatial thinking in science can be improved during their middle school science curricula, but questions remain concerning how to reduce spatial‐learning gaps that are associated with gender and possibly SES.

 

We reconstructed the star formation history of the Sco-Cen OB association using a novel high-resolution age map of the region. We developed an approach to produce robust ages for Sco-Cen’s recently identified 37 stellar clusters using theSigMAalgorithm. The Sco-Cen star formation timeline reveals four periods of enhanced star formation activity, or bursts, remarkably separated by about 5 Myr. Of these, the second burst, which occurred about 15 million years ago, is by far the dominant one, and most of Sco-Cen’s stars and clusters were in place by the end of this burst. The formation of stars and clusters in Sco-Cen is correlated but not linearly, implying that more stars were formed per cluster during the peak of the star formation rate. Most of the clusters that are large enough to have supernova precursors were formed during the second burst around 15 Myr ago. Star and cluster formation activity has been continuously declining since then. We have clear evidence that Sco-Cen formed from the inside out and that it contains 100-pc long chains of contiguous clusters exhibiting well-defined age gradients, from massive older clusters to smaller young clusters. These observables suggest an important role for feedback in forming about half of Sco-Cen stars, although follow-up work is needed to quantify this statement. Finally, we confirm that the Upper-Sco age controversy discussed in the literature during the last decades is solved: the nine clusters previously lumped together as Upper-Sco, a benchmark region for planet formation studies, exhibit a wide range of ages from 3 to 19 Myr.

 

ABSTRACT We study the formation, evolution, and collapse of dense cores by tracking structures in a magnetohydrodynamic simulation of a star-forming cloud. We identify cores using the dendrogram algorithm and utilize machine learning techniques, including Neural Gas prototype learning and Fuzzy c-means clustering to analyse the density and velocity dispersion profiles of cores together with six bulk properties. We produce a 2-d visualization using a Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP), which facilitates the connection between physical properties and three partially-overlapping phases: i) unbound turbulent structures (Phase I), ii) coherent cores that have low turbulence (Phase II), and iii) bound cores, many of which become protostellar (Phase III). Within Phase II, we identify a population of long-lived coherent cores that reach a quasi-equilibrium state. Most prestellar cores form in Phase II and become protostellar after evolving into Phase III. Due to the turbulent cloud environment, the initial core properties do not uniquely predict the eventual evolution, i.e. core evolution is stochastic, and cores follow no one evolutionary path. The phase lifetimes are 1.0 ± 0.1 × 105 yr, 1.3 ± 0.2 × 105 yr, and 1.8 ± 0.3 × 105 yr for Phase I, II, and III, respectively. We compare our results to NH3 observations of dense cores. Known coherent cores predominantly map into Phase II, while most turbulent pressure-confined cores map to Phase I or III. We predict that a significant fraction of observed starless cores have unresolved coherent regions and that ≳20 per cent of observed starless cores will not form stars. Measurements of core radial profiles in addition to the usual bulk properties will enable more accurate predictions of core evolution. 

The Radcliffe wave is a ∼3 kpc long coherent gas structure containing most of the star-forming complexes near the Sun. In this Letter we aim to find a Galactic context for the Radcliffe wave by looking into a possible relationship between the gas structure and the Orion (local) arm. We use catalogs of massive stars and young open clusters based on Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) astrometry, in conjunction with kiloparsec-scale 3D dust maps, to investigate the Galactic XY spatial distributions of gas and young stars. We find a quasi-parallel offset between the luminous blue stars and the Radcliffe wave, in that massive stars and clusters are found essentially inside and downstream from the Radcliffe wave. We examine this offset in the context of color gradients observed in the spiral arms of external galaxies, where the interplay between density wave theory, spiral shocks, and triggered star formation has been used to interpret this particular arrangement of gas and dust as well as OB stars, and outline other potential explanations as well. We hypothesize that the Radcliffe wave constitutes the gas reservoir of the Orion (local) arm, and that it presents itself as a prime laboratory to study the interface between Galactic structure, the formation of molecular clouds in the Milky Way, and star formation. 

Poster representing NSF award 1908419 for the NSF CSSI PI meeting to be held July 25/26, 2022