@article{57ccedb2b5ba496f9f76029e03f9b104,
title = "PHANGS-JWST First Results: Duration of the Early Phase of Massive Star Formation in NGC 628",
abstract = "The earliest stages of star formation, when young stars are still deeply embedded in their natal clouds, represent a critical phase in the matter cycle between gas clouds and young stellar regions. Until now, the high-resolution infrared observations required for characterizing this heavily obscured phase (during which massive stars have formed, but optical emission is not detected) could only be obtained for a handful of the most nearby galaxies. One of the main hurdles has been the limited angular resolution of the Spitzer Space Telescope. With the revolutionary capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), it is now possible to investigate the matter cycle during the earliest phases of star formation as a function of the galactic environment. In this Letter, we demonstrate this by measuring the duration of the embedded phase of star formation and the implied time over which molecular clouds remain inert in the galaxy NGC 628 at a distance of 9.8 Mpc, demonstrating that the cosmic volume where this measurement can be made has increased by a factor of >100 compared to Spitzer. We show that young massive stars remain embedded for 5.1 − 1.4 + 2.7 Myr ( 2.3 − 1.4 + 2.7 Myr of which being heavily obscured), representing ∼20\% of the total cloud lifetime. These values are in broad agreement with previous measurements in five nearby (D < 3.5 Mpc) galaxies and constitute a proof of concept for the systematic characterization of the early phase of star formation across the nearby galaxy population with the PHANGS-JWST survey.",
author = "Jaeyeon Kim and M{\'e}lanie Chevance and Kruijssen, \{J. M.Diederik\} and Barnes, \{Ashley T.\} and Frank Bigiel and Blanc, \{Guillermo A.\} and M{\'e}d{\'e}ric Boquien and Yixian Cao and Enrico Congiu and Dale, \{Daniel A.\} and Egorov, \{Oleg V.\} and Faesi, \{Christopher M.\} and Glover, \{Simon C.O.\} and Kathryn Grasha and Brent Groves and Hamid Hassani and Annie Hughes and Klessen, \{Ralf S.\} and Kathryn Kreckel and Larson, \{Kirsten L.\} and Lee, \{Janice C.\} and Leroy, \{Adam K.\} and Daizhong Liu and Longmore, \{Steven N.\} and Meidt, \{Sharon E.\} and Pan, \{Hsi An\} and J{\'e}r{\^o}me Pety and Miguel Querejeta and Erik Rosolowsky and Toshiki Saito and Karin Sandstrom and Eva Schinnerer and Smith, \{Rowan J.\} and Antonio Usero and Watkins, \{Elizabeth J.\} and Williams, \{Thomas G.\}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank an anonymous referee for helpful comments that improved the quality of the manuscript. J.K. gratefully acknowledges funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) through the DFG Sachbeihilfe (grant No. KR4801/2-1). M.C. gratefully acknowledges funding from the DFG through an Emmy Noether Research Group (grant No. CH2137/1-1). J.M.D.K. gratefully acknowledges funding from the DFG through an Emmy Noether Research Group (grant No. KR4801/1-1), as well as from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program via the ERC Starting Grant MUSTANG (grant agreement No. 714907). COOL Research DAO is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization supporting research in astrophysics aimed at uncovering our cosmic origins. F.B. would like to acknowledge funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 726384/Empire). M.B. acknowledges support from FONDECYT regular grant 1211000 and by the ANID BASAL project FB210003. E.C. acknowledges support from ANID Basal projects ACE210002 and FB210003. O.E. and K.K. gratefully acknowledge funding from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) in the form of an Emmy Noether Research Group (grant No. KR4598/2-1, PI Kreckel). K.G. is supported by the Australian Research Council through the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellowship DE220100766 funded by the Australian Government. K.G. is supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), through project No. CE170100013. H.H. acknowledges the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), funding reference No. RGPIN-2022-03499. A.K.L. gratefully acknowledges support by grants 1653300 and 2205628 from the National Science Foundation, by award JWST-GO-02107.009-A, and by a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. H.A.P. acknowledges support by the National Science and Technology Council of Taiwan under grant 110-2112-M-032-020-MY3. G.A.B. acknowledges the support from ANID Basal project FB210003. J.Pe. acknowledges support by the DAOISM grant ANR-21-CE31-0010 and by the Programme National “Physique et Chimie du Milieu Interstellaire” (PCMI) of CNRS/INSU with INC/INP, co-funded by CEA and CNES. M.Q. acknowledges support from the Spanish grant PID2019-106027GA-C44, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. E.S. and T.G.W. acknowledge funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 694343). R.J.S. acknowledges funding from an STFC ERF (grant ST/N00485X/1). E.J.W. acknowledges the funding provided by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)—Project-ID 138713538—SFB 881 (“The Milky Way System,” subproject P1). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.",
year = "2023",
month = feb,
day = "1",
doi = "10.3847/2041-8213/aca90a",
language = "English",
volume = "944",
journal = "Astrophysical Journal Letters",
issn = "2041-8205",
publisher = "IOP Publishing",
number = "2",
}