Massive Star Cluster Formation and Destruction in Luminous Infrared Galaxies in GOALS II: An ACS/WFC3 Survey of Nearby LIRGs

Abstract

We present the results of a Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 near-UV and ACS/WFC optical study into the star cluster populations of 10 luminous and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (U/LIRGs) in the Great Observatories All-Sky LIRG Survey (GOALS). Through integrated broadband photometry we have derived ages, masses, and extinctions for a total of 1027 star clusters in galaxies with $d_L<$ 110 Mpc in order to avoid issues related to cluster blending. The measured cluster age distribution slope of $dN/d\tau \propto {\tau }^{-0.5+/-0.2}$ is steeper than what has been observed in lower-luminosity star-forming galaxies. Further, differences in the slope of the observed cluster age distribution between inner- ($dN/d\tau \propto {\tau }^{-1.07+/-0.12}$) and outer-disk ($dN/d\tau \propto {\tau }^{-0.37+/-0.09}$) star clusters provides evidence of mass-dependent cluster destruction in the central regions of LIRGs driven primarily by the combined effect of strong tidal shocks and encounters with massive GMCs. Excluding the nuclear ring surrounding the Seyfert 1 nucleus in NGC 7469, the derived cluster mass function (CMF: $dN/dM\propto M^{\alpha }$) has marginal evidence for a truncation in the power-law (PL) at $M_t\sim 2$x$10^6{M}_{\odot }$ for our three most cluster-rich galaxies, which are all classified as early-stage mergers. Finally, we find evidence of a flattening of the CMF slope of $dN/dM\propto M^{-1.42\pm 0.1}$ for clusters in late-stage mergers relative to early-stage ($\alpha =-1.65\pm 0.02$), which we attribute to an increase in the formation of massive clusters over the course of the interaction.

70 pages, 21 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (25)

• A simple model to interpret the ultraviolet, optical and infrared emission from galaxies
• Massive molecular outflows and negative feedback in ULIRGs observed by Herschel-PACS
• Star cluster disruption by giant molecular clouds
• On the Star Formation Rate - Brightest Cluster Relation: Estimating the peak SFR in post-merger galaxies
• Clumpy Galaxies in GOODS and GEMS: Massive Analogs of Local Dwarf Irregulars
• Molecular gas in extreme star-forming environments: the starbursts Arp220 and NGC6240 as case studies
• Resolved spectroscopy of gravitationally lensed galaxies: global dynamics and star-forming clumps on ~100pc scales
• Star Cluster Demographics. I. A General Framework and Application to the Antennae Galaxies
• Star cluster formation in cosmological simulations. I. Properties of young clusters
• The Physics of Star Cluster Formation and Evolution
• The GRIFFIN project -- Formation of star clusters with individual massive stars in a simulated dwarf galaxy starburst
• Spatially resolved star formation and fuelling in galaxy interactions
• Radii of Young Star Clusters in Nearby Galaxies
• Star cluster formation in the most extreme environments: Insights from the HiPEEC survey
• Which feedback mechanisms dominate in the high-pressure environment of the Central Molecular Zone?
• Star Cluster Catalogs for the LEGUS Dwarf Galaxies
• The Luminosity Function of Star Clusters in 20 Star-Forming Galaxies Based on Hubble Legacy Archive Photometry
• ALMA Multi-line Observations of the IR-bright Merger VV 114
• Star-forming Clumps in Local Luminous Infrared Galaxies
• Star-formation histories of local luminous infrared galaxies
• Massive Star Cluster Formation and Destruction in Luminous Infrared Galaxies in GOALS
• The spatially resolved star formation history of mergers: A comparative study of the LIRGs IC1623, NGC6090, NGC2623, and Mice
• A tight relation between the age distributions of stellar clusters and the properties of the interstellar medium in the host galaxy
• Highly turbulent gas on GMC-scales in NGC 3256, the nearest luminous infrared galaxy
• The Connection Between Galaxy Environment and the Luminosity Function Slopes of Star-Forming Regions

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Formation and evolution of young massive clusters in galaxy mergers: the SMUGGLE view
• PHANGS-JWST First Results: Massive Young Star Clusters and New Insights from JWST Observations of NGC 1365
• Great Balls of FIRE II: The evolution and destruction of star clusters across cosmic time in a Milky Way-mass galaxy
• GOALS-JWST: Hidden Star Formation and Extended PAH Emission in the Luminous Infrared Galaxy VV 114
• GOALS-JWST: Revealing the Buried Star Clusters in the Luminous Infrared Galaxy VV 114
• Characterizing Compact 15-33 GHz Radio Continuum Sources in Local U/LIRGs
• High Resolution HST Imaging Survey of Local Star-Forming Galaxies I: Spatially-Resolved Obscured Star Formation with H$\alpha$ and Paschen-$\beta$ Recombination Lines
• The Role of AGN in Luminous Infrared Galaxies from the Multiwavelength Perspective
• HST viewing of spectacular star-forming trails behind ESO 137-001
• The Extended Local Supercluster
• The z = 9.625 Cosmic Gems Galaxy was a "Compact Blue Monster" Propelled by Massive Star Clusters
• Star Cluster Formation and Evolution in M101: An Investigation with the Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey
• Shockingly Effective: Cluster Winds as Engines of Feedback in Starburst Galaxy VV 114
• Massive star clusters and clumps in the collisional ring galaxy Arp 147
• Resolved properties of a luminous "hinge clump" in the compact group of galaxies NGC\,6845