Top panel: initial gas volume density profiles (filled symbols) and their associated steeper stellar density profiles (open symbols). The latter are obtained from the numerical or analytical model one million years after star formation onset, i.e. t = 1   Myr, for three distinct p₀ density indices (see key). The spherical molecular clump has a mass M₀ ≃ 10⁴   M_⊙, a radius R ≃ 6   pc, and the star formation efficiency per free-fall time is ϵ_ff = 0.1. Middle panel: stellar density profiles from the numerical model (lines with open symbols) for the times t and density indices p₀ quoted in the key. Each symbol-free line is the corresponding analytical upper limit (Eq. (8)). Bottom panel: time evolution of the gas volume density profile for p₀ = 1.7. The star-formation-driven depletion of the gas in the central region of the molecular clump – where the free-fall time is the shortest – is clearly highlighted. The symbol-free dotted line over the range 0.2−1 pc has a slope of −1.3, i.e. shallower than the initial slope −1.7.