IRAS 09002-4732: A Laboratory for the Formation of Rich Stellar Clusters. (arXiv:1910.04873v1 [astro-ph.SR])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Getman_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">Kostantin V. Getman</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Feigelson_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">Eric D. Feigelson</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kuhn_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Michael A. Kuhn</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Broos_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Patrick S. Broos</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Garmire_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">Gordon P. Garmire</a>

IRAS 09002-4732 is a poorly studied embedded cluster of stars in the Vela
Molecular Ridge at a distance of 1.7kpc. Deep observations with the Chandra
X-ray Observatory, combined with existing optical and infrared surveys, produce
a catalog of 441 probable pre-main sequence members of the region. The stellar
spatial distribution has two components: most stars reside in a rich, compact,
elliptical cluster, but a minority reside within a molecular filament several
parsecs long that straddles the cluster. The filament has active distributed
star formation with dozens of unclustered protostars. The cluster pre-main
sequence population is $leq 0.8$ Myr old and deeply embedded; its most massive
member is extremely young producing an ultracompact H II region. The cluster
total population deduced from the X-ray luminosity function is surprisingly
rich, twice that of the Orion Nebula Cluster. The cluster core is remarkably
dense where strong N-body interactions should be occurring; its Initial Mass
Function may be deficient in massive stars. We infer that IRAS 09002-4732 is a
rare case where a rich cluster is forming today in a molecular filament,
consistent with astrophysical models of cluster formation in clouds that
involve the hierarchical formation and merging of groups in molecular
filaments.

IRAS 09002-4732 is a poorly studied embedded cluster of stars in the Vela
Molecular Ridge at a distance of 1.7kpc. Deep observations with the Chandra
X-ray Observatory, combined with existing optical and infrared surveys, produce
a catalog of 441 probable pre-main sequence members of the region. The stellar
spatial distribution has two components: most stars reside in a rich, compact,
elliptical cluster, but a minority reside within a molecular filament several
parsecs long that straddles the cluster. The filament has active distributed
star formation with dozens of unclustered protostars. The cluster pre-main
sequence population is $leq 0.8$ Myr old and deeply embedded; its most massive
member is extremely young producing an ultracompact H II region. The cluster
total population deduced from the X-ray luminosity function is surprisingly
rich, twice that of the Orion Nebula Cluster. The cluster core is remarkably
dense where strong N-body interactions should be occurring; its Initial Mass
Function may be deficient in massive stars. We infer that IRAS 09002-4732 is a
rare case where a rich cluster is forming today in a molecular filament,
consistent with astrophysical models of cluster formation in clouds that
involve the hierarchical formation and merging of groups in molecular
filaments.

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