(Proposal ID) S17B-108

(PI) Jose, Jessy

(Proposal Title)
[EAO Time] Steady march of feedback-driven star formation: An HSC survey of Tr37
(Abstract)
The expansion of HII regions into the surrounding molecular cloud triggers the 
next wave of star formation. This proposal seeks to quantify the triggered star
formation in the globules on the periphery of the  giant HII region IC 1396 
produced by the young cluster Trumpler 37. Given its relatively simple 
structure and radiation environment, the sample of globules in IC 1396 is 
an ideal test bed to probe the role of feedback from massive stars on the 
surrounding gas and embedded star-forming activity. The proposed deep optical 
multi-band imaging with HSC will be combined with the existing  infrared and 
shallow Pan-STARRS surveys to obtain an unbiased, complete census of member 
stars down to the brown dwarf limit. A spatial-temporal gradient of young 
stellar objects from the cometary globules towards the primary ionizing 
sources will be used to quantify the triggered population and to test whether 
or not the feedback from massive stars influences the outcome of star formation
process such as the low-mass end of IMF. The answer will not only offer new 
insight into the physics of star formation, but also have profound 
consequences in large scales such as the evolution of galaxies as well and 
the contribution of sub-stellar mass objects to the baryonic dark matter 
content of the Universe.