An informal seminar series to highlight work from early career researchers from institutions around the world.
Title: Using JWST to Explore the Relationship Between Early Star Formation and CO in WLM
Abstract: WLM, an isolated dwarf irregular (dIrr) galaxy in the Local Group with a metallicity 13% of solar, provides a unique glimpse into the internal mechanisms governing low-metallicity star formation. The earliest stages of star formation in larger spirals like the Milky Way occur in embedded clusters within molecular clouds. However, dIrrs lack the dust, heavy metals, and organized structure of larger spirals believed necessary to cool, collapse, and compress the molecular clouds into stars, and the early stages of star formation in these dwarfs is not well understood. In this work we examine the relationship between early star formation and molecular clouds in WLM using ALMA-detected CO cores and JWST near-infrared (NIR) images. We find that NIR sources near CO exhibit a higher frequency of association with Spitzer 8 μm sources, hinting at potential embedded star clusters in earlier stages of star formation.
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Organized by: Leon Trapman, Dan Rybarczyk, Nickolas Pingel, & Melinda Soares-Furtado