2025-05-30 –, Main Conference Room
Two mechanisms compete for each parcel of gas in a starforming molecular cloud. Young stars try to accrete gas with gravitational attraction, while at the same time generating powerful outflows that can drive the gas away. If gravity wins, the cloud can collapse to a massive bound cluster; if the outflows dominate the stars will be unbound and the cluster disperse. The dwarf starburst galaxy He2-10 is a nearby laboratory for cluster formation. He2-10 holds two starforming clouds, each ~10 times the mass of W49 and each actively forming clusters of 10^(5-6) Mo. Infrared and millimeter observations of the ionized and molecular gas show that the clouds are in very different stages of evolution. In one, the clusters are actively accreting molecular gas; in the other, clusters are driving away molecular and ionized gas. Our observations and computer simulations show how each cloud may develop and how this activity may relate to ionized shells and bubbles seen in He2-10 on large scales.
