Speaker
Description
The interplay between massive stars and the interstellar medium (ISM) during the embedded phase of star formation is a key driver of the physical, chemical, and morphological evolution of galaxies. As young star clusters emerge from dense, dusty gas clouds due to feedback from their massive stars, they inject large amounts of energy and momentum into their surroundings, shaping the local ISM and setting the local star formation efficiency.
The timescales over which star clusters emerge are essential for determining the star formation efficiency in molecular clouds, and constraining models of escaping radiation and chemical enrichment in the galactic medium, as well as theories of planet formation across extreme environments. I will present a census of thousands of young star clusters (younger than 10 Myr) identified with HST and JWST at 4–8 parsec resolution in four nearby galaxies (M51, M83, NGC628, and NGC4449) as part of the FEAST (Feedback in Emerging extrAgalactic Star clusTers) survey. Narrow and medium NIRCam filters allow us to detect clusters that exhibit prominent emission from HII regions and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in photo-dissociation regions, probing diverse phases of emergence: from the moment massive stars begin ionizing their surroundings gas to the explosion of supernovae that disperse their birth clouds. A statistical analysis of the emergence timescales reveals a trend with star cluster mass: massive clusters emerge more rapidly than their lower mass counterparts. At lower metallicities, we observe faster clearing of PAHs, offering new insights into PAH grain composition and evolution in different environments. A complementary study of the ISM around star clusters highlights the complex morphology of PAH features, whose appearance is regulated by the properties of the clusters that power their emission. Our findings represent one of the first comprehensive views of the full emerging phase of star formation at the scales necessary to resolve star cluster feedback.