The location, clustering, and propagation of massive star formation in giant molecular clouds

摘要: Massive stars are key players in the evolution of galaxies, yet their formation pathway remains unclear. In this work, we use data from several galaxy-wide surveys to build an unbiased dataset ~700 massive young stellar objects (MYSOs), ~200 giant molecular clouds (GMCs), and ~100 (<10 Myr) optical clusters (SCs) Large Magellanic Cloud. We employ quantitatively study location clustering star its relation internal structure GMCs. reveal that do not typically form at highest column densities nor centers parent GMCs ~6 pc resolution our observations. over multiple generations on size scales much smaller than GMC. find is significantly boosted near SCs. Yet, whether a cloud associated with SC does depend either cloud's mass or global surface density. These results connection between different timescales up 10 Myr. compare work Galactic studies discuss findings terms GMC collapse, triggered formation, potential dichotomy low- high-mass formation.