Star-forming Regions in the Small Magellanic Cloud Multi-wavelength Properties of Stellar Complexes

Abstract

We trace the star formation regions in the SMC and study their properties. The size and spatial distribution of these regions is found to support the hierarchical scenario of star formation, whereas, the evaluation of their intensity, contributes to the understanding of the various stages of star formation. Their connection to the LMC-SMC close encounter, about $(0.9-2)\times 10^8$ years ago, is investigated as well. The SMC, being almost edge-on, does not easily reveal these areas, as is the case with the LMC. However, a study through multi-wavelength images such as optical, IR and radio has been proved very useful. A selection of areas, with enhanced 60 and 100-$\mu$m infrared flux and emission in all IRAS bands, identifies the star forming regions. All of the identified regions are dominated by early-type stars and considering their overall size (increasing order) a total of 24 aggregates, 23 complexes, and 3 super-complexes were found. We present their coordinates, dimensions, and IR fluxes. Moreover, we correlate their positions with known associations, SNRs, and \hii regions and discuss their activity.

References in corpus (3)

• N-body Simulations of the Small Magellanic Cloud and the Magellanic Stream
• Hierarchical Star Formation from the Time-Space Distribution of Star Clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Star-burst regions in the LMC

Cited by in corpus (6)

• New Optical Reddening Maps of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds
• Spitzer Infrared Spectrographic point source classification in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• Spitzer Analysis of HII Region Complexes in the Magellanic Clouds: Determining a Suitable Monochromatic Obscured Star Formation Indicator
• Star Formation History in two fields of the Small Magellanic Cloud Bar
• Hierarchical structures in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds
• Star complexes and stellar populations in NGC 6822 - Comparison with the Magellanic Clouds