The emerging massive binary system associated with AFGL 961 signifies the latest generation of massive star and cluster formation in the Rosette Molecular Complex. We present the detection of a compact cluster of dusty cores toward the AFGL 961 region based on continuum imaging at 1.3 mm by the Submillimeter Array. The binary components of AFGL 961 are associated with the most intensive millime- ter emission cores or envelopes, confirming that they are indeed in an early stage of evolution. The other massive cores, however, are found to congregate in the close vicinity of the central high-mass protostellar binary. They have no apparent infrared counterparts and are, in particular, well aligned transverse to the bipolar molecular outflows originating from AFGL 961. This provides evidence for a likely triggered origin of the massive cores. All 40 individual cores with masses ranging between 0.6 and 15 Mo were detected above a 3 σ level of 3.6 mJy beam-1 （or 0.4 M⊙）, based on which we derive a total core mass of 107 M⊙ in the AFGL 961 region. As compared to the stellar initial mass function, a shallow slope of 1.8 is, however, derived from the best fit to the mass spectrum of the millimeter cores with a prestellar and/or protostel- lar origin. The flatter core mass distribution in the AFGL 961 region is attributed here to dynamic perturbations from the massive molecular outflows that originated from the massive protostellar binary, which may have altered the otherwise more quiescent conditions of core or star formation, enhanced the formation of more massive cores and, as a result, influenced the core mass distribution in its close vicinity.
Jin-Zeng LiClaudio Carlos MallamaciRicardo César PodestEloy Actis VicenteYa-Fang HuangAna Maria Pacheco
We present a comprehensive study of the H II region IC 1396 and its star forming activity, in which multi-wavelength data ranging from the optical to the near- and far-infrared were employed. The surface density distribution of all the 2MASS sources with a certain detection toward IC 1396 indicates the existence of a compact cluster spatially consistent with the position of the exciting source of the H II region, HD 206267. The spatial distribution of the sources with excessive infrared emission, selected based on archived 2MASS data, reveals the existence of four sub-clusters in this region. One is associated with the open cluster Trumpler 37. The other three are found to be spatially coincident with the bright rims of the H II region. All the sources with excessive emission in the near infrared are cross-identified with AKARI IRC data. An analysis of the spectral energy distributions （SEDs） of the resultant sample leads to the identification of eight CLASS I, 15 CLASS II and 15 CLASS IH sources in IC 1396. Optical identification of the sample sources with R magnitudes brighter than 17 mag corroborates the results from the SED analysis. Based on the spatial distribution of the infrared young stellar objects at different evolutionary stages, the surrounding sub-clusters located in the bright rims are believed to be younger than the central one. This is consistent with a scenario of sequential star formation in this region. Imaging data of a dark patch in IC 1396 by Herschel SPIRE, on the other hand, indicate the presence of two far-infrared cores in LDN 1111, which are likely to be a new generation of protostellar objects in formation. So we infer that the star formation process in this H II region was not continuous but rather episodic.
