The hierarchical formation of 30 Doradus as seen by JWST^★

European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, the Netherlands
e-mail: katja.fahrion@esa.int; gdemarchi@esa.int

Received: 28 September 2023
Accepted: 30 October 2023

Abstract

The 30 Doradus region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the most energetic star-forming region in the Local Group. It is powered by the feedback from the massive stars in R 136, the 1–2 Myr old central massive cluster. 30 Doradus has therefore long been regarded as a laboratory for studying star and star cluster formation under conditions reminiscent of the early Universe. We use JWST NIRCam observations to analyse how star formation proceeds in the region. Using selections based on theoretical isochrones on colour-magnitude diagrams, we identify populations of different ages. We select pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars and young stellar objects that show excess emission from warm dust or emission lines. Studying the spatial distribution of the different populations, we find that the youngest PMS stars with ages <0.5 Myr are located in an elongated structure that stretches towards the north-east from the central cluster. The same structure is found in the sources that show an infrared excess, appears to be overlapping with cold molecular gas, and covers previously investigated sites of ongoing star formation. Pre-main-sequence stars with ages between 1 and 4 Myr and upper main-sequence stars are concentrated in the centre of R 136, while older stars are more uniformly distributed across the field and likely belong to the LMC field population. Nonetheless, we find stars with excess emission from on dust or emission lines as far as 100 pc from the centre, indicating extended recent star formation. We interpret the elongated structure formed by the youngest PMS stars to be an indication of the still-ongoing hierarchical assembly of the R 136 cluster. Additionally, the lower density of old PMS stars with emission due to ongoing accretion in the central region suggests that feedback from the R 136 stars is effective in disrupting the disks of PMS stars.