Special Session SS11
Young stellar structures in the Milky Way
Aims and scope
Young stellar populations are key to understanding star formation and early stellar evolution, and they serve as powerful tracers of galactic structure and evolution. Our Milky Way, in particular, can be analysed in exquisite detail: the distribution and properties of young stars, young stellar clusters, and OB associations, have witnessed a significant improvement over the last decade, mostly prompted by the successive data releases of ESA's Gaia space mission and the unprecedented accuracy of its astrometry. However, numerous challenges remain, such as a detailed understanding of the formation of such groups, the interconnections between these young stellar populations and their environment, the estimation of their ages (e.g., isochronal or kinematic), and the nature and role of their feedback in shaping the evolution of galaxies.
Our session stands on the precipice of a number of groundbreaking new datasets that will be released within the next year, and which will enable more precise analyses of the 3D positions and motions of young stars, clusters, and OB associations. For instance, Gaia DR4 will be published at the end of this year, while WEAVE and 4MOST are expected to represent a major step forward relative to previous large spectroscopic surveys (e.g. SDSS, LAMOST, GALAH and Gaia-ESO), delivering several tens of millions of spectra.
In this session we aim to bring together different observational strategies (photometry, astrometry, spectroscopy) with techniques such as clustering algorithms, and theoretical studies (simulations) of young stellar populations and their groupings (open clusters, OB associations, or more diffuse stellar structures), in order to gain new insights into the formation, evolution, and dispersion of these systems, together with their interaction with the surrounding interstellar medium. In turn, this will improve our understanding of the spatial distribution and kinematics of spiral arms and spurs in the Milky Way, particularly in the Solar Neighborhood.
Programme
We will tackle the following topics and questions:
- What can we learn from the distribution and kinematics of the young star clusters and OB associations, also in context of large-scale structures, such as the Radcliffe Wave, Families of Clusters, or the dynamical nature of spiral arms?
- What can we learn from models and simulations of young stellar populations (open clusters, OB associations) about the structure of the Milky Way?
- How does feedback from massive stars influence/shape subsequent star formation (e.g. in OB association environments, triggered/sequential star formation)?
- What are the properties (morphology, dynamics) of the young stellar populations of the Milky Way?
- How accurately can we determine the ages (e.g., isochronal, kinematic) of young star clusters and OB associations to use them as reliable tracers of Galactic structure and formation histories? What are the differences between age determination methods?
- What new breakthroughs will be enabled with Gaia DR4 and the new spectroscopic datasets?
Invited speakers
- Eleonora Zari (Uni Florence, IT)
- TBA
- Václav Pavlík (ASU Prague, CZ)
Scientific organisers
- Alexis Quintana (Chair; Paris Obs, FR)
- Emily Hunt (Chair; Uni Vienna, AT)
- Josefa Großschedl (Co-Chair; ASU Prague, CZ)
- Ahmad Ali (Uni Cologne, DE)
- Eloisa Poggio (INAF Torino, IT)
- Nick Wright (Uni Keele, UK)
- Alfred Castro-Ginard (Uni Barcelona, ES)
- Ignacio Negueruela (Uni Alicante, ES)
- Cameren Swiggum (CfA, US)
Contact
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