Dynamics and evolution of Young Stellar Clusters (DYSC)

Abstract

For more than a century astronomer used the Gould's Belt model, an expanding ring composed of gas, dust and young stars, to explain the distribution of the most prominent star-forming regions in the Solar neighborhood. The recent discovery of a wave-shaped gaseous structure (i.e., the Radcliffe Wave) that extends by more than 2 kpc and encompasses most of the molecular clouds complexes in the Gould's Belt calls for a revision of the local structure and history of star formation of the Galaxy. Young stellar clusters are the primary laboratories to investigate star and planet formation, thus ideal tracers of galaxy formation and evolution. In this context, the Dynamics and Evolution of Young Stellar Clusters (DYSC) project aims to conduct a systematic survey of young clusters in the Galaxy with the ultimate goal of constructing the most complete 7D picture (3D positions, 3D spatial velocities and age) of the Solar neighborhood. The DYSC project will: (1) deliver a definitive census of the stellar (and substellar) population of young stars that form the Radcliffe Wave and the Local Arm, and potentially discover new stellar groups, (2) investigate the structure, dynamics, evolution and history of star formation of individual young clusters, and (3) connect their properties (spatial distribution, velocity field and age) at a galactic scale. This proposal aims to create a new research group in the host institution that will use the state-of-the-art astrometry delivered by the Gaia satellite and VLBI observations combined with machine-learning methods to deliver novel solutions for unanswered questions in the fields of star formation, Galactic structure and dynamics. (AU)