Empirical SED Templates for Star Clusters Observed with HST and JWST: No Strong PAH or IR Dust Emission after Five Myr

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Whitmore, Bradley C., Chandar, Rupali, Lee, Janice C., Henny, Kiana F., Rodriguez, M. Jimena, Baron, Dalya, Bigiel, F., Boquien, Mederic, Chevance, Melanie, Chown, Ryan, Dale, Daniel A., Floyd, Matthew, Grasha, Kathryn, Glover, Simon C. O., Gnedin, Oleg, Hassani, Hamid, Indebetouw, Remy, Kapoor, Anand Utsav, Larson, Kirsten L., Leroy, Adam K., Maschmann, Daniel, Scheuermann, Fabian, Sutter, Jessica, Schinnerer, Eva, Sarbadhicary, Sumit K., Thilker, David A., Williams, Thomas G., Wofford, Aida
Format:	Preprint
Published:	2025
Subjects:	Astrophysics of Galaxies
Online Access:	Acceder al recurso
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_version_	1866916663370186752
author	Whitmore, Bradley C. Chandar, Rupali Lee, Janice C. Henny, Kiana F. Rodriguez, M. Jimena Baron, Dalya Bigiel, F. Boquien, Mederic Chevance, Melanie Chown, Ryan Dale, Daniel A. Floyd, Matthew Grasha, Kathryn Glover, Simon C. O. Gnedin, Oleg Hassani, Hamid Indebetouw, Remy Kapoor, Anand Utsav Larson, Kirsten L. Leroy, Adam K. Maschmann, Daniel Scheuermann, Fabian Sutter, Jessica Schinnerer, Eva Sarbadhicary, Sumit K. Thilker, David A. Williams, Thomas G. Wofford, Aida
author_facet	Whitmore, Bradley C. Chandar, Rupali Lee, Janice C. Henny, Kiana F. Rodriguez, M. Jimena Baron, Dalya Bigiel, F. Boquien, Mederic Chevance, Melanie Chown, Ryan Dale, Daniel A. Floyd, Matthew Grasha, Kathryn Glover, Simon C. O. Gnedin, Oleg Hassani, Hamid Indebetouw, Remy Kapoor, Anand Utsav Larson, Kirsten L. Leroy, Adam K. Maschmann, Daniel Scheuermann, Fabian Sutter, Jessica Schinnerer, Eva Sarbadhicary, Sumit K. Thilker, David A. Williams, Thomas G. Wofford, Aida
contents	JWST observations, when combined with HST data, promise to improve age estimates of star clusters in nearby spiral galaxies. However, feedback from young cluster stars pushes out the natal gas and dust, making cluster formation and evolution a challenge to model. Here, we use JWST + HST observations of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 628 to produce spectral energy distribution (SED) templates of compact star clusters spanning 275 nm through 21 μm. These preliminary SEDs capture the cluster stars and associated gas and dust within radii of 0.12" to 0.67" (corresponding to 6 to 33 pc at the distance of NGC 628). One important finding is that the SEDs of 1, 2, 3, and 4 Myr clusters can be differentiated in the infrared. Another is that in 80-90% of the cases we study, the PAH and H_alpha emission track one another, with the dust responsible for the 3.3 μm PAH emission largely removed by 4 Myr, consistent with pre-supernova stellar feedback acting quickly on the surrounding gas and dust. Nearly-embedded cluster candidates have infrared SEDs which are quite similar to optically visible 1 to 3 Myr clusters. In nearly all cases we find there is a young star cluster within a few tenths of an arcsec (10 - 30 pc) of the nearly embedded cluster, suggesting the formation of the cluster was triggered by its presence. The resulting age estimates from the empirical templates are compatible both with dynamical estimates based on CO superbubble expansion velocities, and the TODDLERS models which track spherical evolution of homogeneous gas clouds around young stellar clusters.
format	Preprint
id	arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_17921
institution	arXiv
publishDate	2025
record_format	arxiv
spellingShingle	Empirical SED Templates for Star Clusters Observed with HST and JWST: No Strong PAH or IR Dust Emission after Five Myr Whitmore, Bradley C. Chandar, Rupali Lee, Janice C. Henny, Kiana F. Rodriguez, M. Jimena Baron, Dalya Bigiel, F. Boquien, Mederic Chevance, Melanie Chown, Ryan Dale, Daniel A. Floyd, Matthew Grasha, Kathryn Glover, Simon C. O. Gnedin, Oleg Hassani, Hamid Indebetouw, Remy Kapoor, Anand Utsav Larson, Kirsten L. Leroy, Adam K. Maschmann, Daniel Scheuermann, Fabian Sutter, Jessica Schinnerer, Eva Sarbadhicary, Sumit K. Thilker, David A. Williams, Thomas G. Wofford, Aida Astrophysics of Galaxies JWST observations, when combined with HST data, promise to improve age estimates of star clusters in nearby spiral galaxies. However, feedback from young cluster stars pushes out the natal gas and dust, making cluster formation and evolution a challenge to model. Here, we use JWST + HST observations of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 628 to produce spectral energy distribution (SED) templates of compact star clusters spanning 275 nm through 21 μm. These preliminary SEDs capture the cluster stars and associated gas and dust within radii of 0.12" to 0.67" (corresponding to 6 to 33 pc at the distance of NGC 628). One important finding is that the SEDs of 1, 2, 3, and 4 Myr clusters can be differentiated in the infrared. Another is that in 80-90% of the cases we study, the PAH and H_alpha emission track one another, with the dust responsible for the 3.3 μm PAH emission largely removed by 4 Myr, consistent with pre-supernova stellar feedback acting quickly on the surrounding gas and dust. Nearly-embedded cluster candidates have infrared SEDs which are quite similar to optically visible 1 to 3 Myr clusters. In nearly all cases we find there is a young star cluster within a few tenths of an arcsec (10 - 30 pc) of the nearly embedded cluster, suggesting the formation of the cluster was triggered by its presence. The resulting age estimates from the empirical templates are compatible both with dynamical estimates based on CO superbubble expansion velocities, and the TODDLERS models which track spherical evolution of homogeneous gas clouds around young stellar clusters.
title	Empirical SED Templates for Star Clusters Observed with HST and JWST: No Strong PAH or IR Dust Emission after Five Myr
topic	Astrophysics of Galaxies
url	https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.17921