The spatial evolution of star clusters in NGC 628 with JWST

Buckner, Anne S. M., Duarte-Cabral, Ana ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5259-4774, Adamo, Angela, Linden, Sean, Cignoni, Michele, Bajaj, Varun, Bik, Arjan, Bortolini, Giacomo, Calzetti, Daniela, Correnti, Matteo, Elmegreen, Bruce G, Elmegreen, Debra M, Vieira, Helena Faustino, Gallagher, John S, Grasha, Kathryn, Gregg, Benjamin, Gutermuth, Rob A, Johnson, Kelsey, Krumholz, Mark, Lapeer, Drew, Messa, Matteo M, Östlin, Göran, Pedrini, Alex, Ryon, Jenna E, Smith, Linda J and Tosi, Monica 2025. The spatial evolution of star clusters in NGC 628 with JWST. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , staf2025. 10.1093/mnras/staf2025

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Abstract

We examine the spatial distribution of star clusters in NGC628 using the statistical tool INDICATE to quantify clustering tendencies. Our sample, based on HST and JWST observations, is the most complete to date, spanning ages from 1 Myr to >100 Myr. We find cluster spatial behavior varies with galactic position, age, and mass. Most emerging young clusters are tightly spatially associated with each other, while fully emerged clusters are in ∼1.5 times looser spatial associations, irrespective of age. Young Massive Clusters (YMCs ≥104 M⊙) tend to associate with lower-mass clusters but not strongly with other YMCs, implying that intense star formation regions produce a few YMCs alongside many lower-mass clusters rather than multiple YMCs together. Young concentrated clusters show a wide radial distribution in the galactic disk, which narrows with age; with concentrated clusters > 100 Myr mostly residing between 2–6 kpc. This pattern may reflect either faster dispersal of isolated tight cluster spatial ‘structure’ in a lower gas density outer disk or gradual inside-out growth, with the formation of this structure shifting outward over time. We also detect distinct spatial behaviors for clusters within 2 kpc, linked to the inner Lindblad resonance (≤1 kpc), nuclear ring (∼0.5–1 kpc), and the start of spiral arms (∼1.25–2 kpc), suggesting these regions exhibit strong radial motions that could hinder clusters from forming and remaining in tight concentrations. Our results highlight how spatially-resolved studies of clusters can reveal the influence of galactic dynamics on star formation and cluster evolution.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Start Date: 2025-11-19
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	0035-8711
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2025 11:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/182935

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