2025ApJ...993L..20P -
Astrophys. J., 993, L20 (2025/November-1)
Masses, Star Formation Efficiencies, and Dynamical Evolution of 18,000 H II Regions.
PATHAK D., LEROY A.K., BARNES A.T., THOMPSON T.A., LOPEZ L.A., SANDSTROM K.M., SUN J., GLOVER S.C.O., KLESSEN R.S., KOCH E.W., LARSON K.L., LEE J., MEIDT S., SANCHEZ-BLAZQUEZ P., SCHINNERER E., BAZZI Z., BELFIORE F., BOQUIEN M., CHOWN R., COLOMBO D., CONGIU E., EGOROV O.V., EIBENSTEINER C., KURAPATI S., QUEREJETA M., DALE D.A., KRAVTSOV T., PADAVE M., PISANO D.J., ROSOLOWSKY E., SARBADHICARY S.K., WILLIAMS T.G., INDEBETOUW R., PAN H.-A., UBEDA L., AMIRI A., BIGIEL F., BLANC G.A. and GRASHA K.
Abstract (from CDS):
We present measurements of the masses associated with ∼18,000 H II regions across 19 nearby star-forming galaxies by combining data from JWST, Hubble Space Telescope, MUSE, Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, Very Large Array, and MeerKAT from the multiwavelength PHANGS survey. We report 10 pc-scale measurements of the mass of young stars, ionized gas, and older disk stars coincident with each H II region, as well as the initial and current mass of molecular gas, atomic gas, and swept-up shell material, estimated from lower-resolution data. We find that the mass of older stars dominates over young stars at ≳10 pc scales, and ionized gas exceeds the stellar mass in most optically bright H II regions. Combining our mass measurements for a statistically large sample of H II regions, we derive 10 pc-scale star formation efficiencies of ≈6%-17% for individual H II regions. Comparing each region's self-gravity with the ambient interstellar medium (ISM) pressure and total pressure from presupernova stellar feedback, we show that most optically bright H II regions are overpressured relative to their own self-gravity and the ambient ISM pressure and that they are hence likely expanding into their surroundings. Larger H II regions in galaxy centers approach dynamical equilibrium. The self-gravity of regions is expected to dominate over presupernova stellar feedback pressure at ≳130 and 60 pc scales in galaxy disks and centers, respectively, but is always subdominant to the ambient ISM pressure on H II region scales. Our measurements have direct implications for the dynamical evolution of star-forming regions and the efficiency of stellar feedback in ionizing and clearing cold gas.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
Journal keyword(s):
Stellar feedback - H II regions - Interstellar medium - Extragalactic astronomy - Star formation - Star forming regions
Status at CDS
:
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Simbad objects:
21
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