Star formation near the Sun is driven by expansion of the Local Bubble

Catherine Zucker^{1 2}, Alyssa A Goodman³, João Alves⁴, Shmuel Bialy^{3 5}, Michael Foley³, Joshua S Speagle^{6 7 8}, Josefa Groβschedl⁴, Douglas P Finkbeiner^{3 9}, Andreas Burkert^{10 11}, Diana Khimey³, Cameren Swiggum^{4 12}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA. catherine.zucker@cfa.harvard.edu.
² Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA. catherine.zucker@cfa.harvard.edu.
³ Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁴ Department of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Wien, Austria.
⁵ Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
⁶ Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁷ David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁸ Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁹ Harvard University Department of Physics, Cambridge, MA, USA.
¹⁰ University Observatory Munich, Munich, Germany.
¹¹ Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Garching, Germany.
¹² Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.

PMID:35022612
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04286-5

Star formation near the Sun is driven by expansion of the Local Bubble

Catherine Zucker et al. Nature.2022 Jan.

.2022 Jan;601(7893):334-337.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04286-5. Epub 2022 Jan 12.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA. catherine.zucker@cfa.harvard.edu.
² Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA. catherine.zucker@cfa.harvard.edu.
³ Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁴ Department of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Wien, Austria.
⁵ Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
⁶ Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁷ David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁸ Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁹ Harvard University Department of Physics, Cambridge, MA, USA.
¹⁰ University Observatory Munich, Munich, Germany.
¹¹ Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Garching, Germany.
¹² Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.

PMID:35022612
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04286-5

Abstract

For decades we have known that the Sun lies within the Local Bubble, a cavity of low-density, high-temperature plasma surrounded by a shell of cold, neutral gas and dust^1-3. However, the precise shape and extent of this shell^4,5, the impetus and timescale for its formation^6,7, and its relationship to nearby star formation⁸ have remained uncertain, largely due to low-resolution models of the local interstellar medium. Here we report an analysis of the three-dimensional positions, shapes and motions of dense gas and young stars within 200 pc of the Sun, using new spatial^9-11 and dynamical constraints¹². We find that nearly all of the star-forming complexes in the solar vicinity lie on the surface of the Local Bubble and that their young stars show outward expansion mainly perpendicular to the bubble's surface. Tracebacks of these young stars' motions support a picture in which the origin of the Local Bubble was a burst of stellar birth and then death (supernovae) taking place near the bubble's centre beginning approximately 14 Myr ago. The expansion of the Local Bubble created by the supernovae swept up the ambient interstellar medium into an extended shell that has now fragmented and collapsed into the most prominent nearby molecular clouds, in turn providing robust observational support for the theory of supernova-driven star formation.

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References

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1. Sanders, W. T., Kraushaar, W. L., Nousek, J. A. & Fried, P. M. Soft diffuse X-rays in the southern galactic hemisphere. Astrophys. J. Lett. 217, L87–L91 (1977). - DOI
1. Lallement, R., Welsh, B. Y., Vergely, J. L., Crifo, F. & Sfeir, D. 3D mapping of the dense interstellar gas around the Local Bubble. Astron. Astrophys. 411, 447–464 (2003). - DOI
1. Welsh, B. Y., Lallement, R., Vergely, J.-L. & Raimond, S. New 3D gas density maps of NaI and CaII interstellar absorption within 300 pc. Astron. Astrophys. 510, A54 (2010). - DOI

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Star formation near the Sun is driven by expansion of the Local Bubble

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Star formation near the Sun is driven by expansion of the Local Bubble

Authors

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Abstract

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