arXiv subjects

Masao Saito

Publications and source records attributed to Masao Saito.

108 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

New Panoramic View of $^{12}$CO and 1.1 mm Continuum Emission in the Orion A Molecular Cloud. I. Survey Overview and Possible External Triggers of Star Formation

We present new, wide and deep images in the 1.1 mm continuum and the $^{12}$CO ($J$=1-0) emission toward the northern part of the Orion A Giant Molecular Cloud (Orion-A GMC). The 1.1 mm data were taken with the AzTEC camera mounted on the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE) 10 m telescope in Chile, and the $^{12}$CO ($J$=1-0) data were with the 25 beam receiver (BEARS) on the NRO 45 m telescope in the On-The-Fly (OTF) mode. The present AzTEC observations are the widest $(\timeform{1.D7}$ $\times$ $\timeform{2.D3}$, corresponding to 12 pc $\times$ 17 pc) and the highest-sensitivity ($\sim$9 mJy beam$^{-1}$) 1.1 mm dust-continuum imaging of the Orion-A GMC with an effective spatial resolution of $\sim$ 40$\arcsec$. The $^{12}$CO ($J$=1-0) image was taken over the northern $\timeform{1D.2} \times\timeform{1D.2}$ (corresponding 9 pc $\times$ 9 pc) area with a sensitivity of 0.93 K in $T_{\rm MB}$, a velocity resolution of 1.0 km s$^{-1}$, and an effective spatial resolution of 21$\arcsec$. With these data, together with the MSX 8 $μ$m, Spitzer 24 $μ$m and the 2MASS data, we have investigated the detailed structure and kinematics of molecular gas associated with the Orion-A GMC and have found evidence for interactions between molecular clouds and the external forces that may trigger star formation. Two types of possible triggers were revealed; 1) Collision of the diffuse gas on the cloud surface, particularly at the eastern side of the OMC-2/3 region, and 2) Irradiation of UV on the pre-existing filaments and dense molecular cloud cores. Our wide-field and high-sensitivity imaging have provided the first comprehensive view of the potential sites of triggered star formation in the Orion-A GMC.

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arXiv2010

Short Lifetime of Protoplanetary Disks in Low-metallicity Environments

We studied near-infrared disk fractions of six young clusters in the low-metallicity environments with [O/H$] \sim -0.7$ using deep $JHK$ images with Subaru 8.2\,m telescope. We found that disk fraction of the low-metallicity clusters declines rapidly in $<$1\,Myr, which is much faster than the $\sim$5--7\,Myr observed for the solar-metallicity clusters, suggesting that disk lifetime shortens with decreasing metallicity possibly with an $\sim$$10^Z$ dependence. Since the shorter disk lifetime reduces the time available for planet formation, this could be one of the major reasons for the strong planet--metallicity correlation. Although more quantitative observational and theoretical assessments are necessary, our results present the first direct observational evidence that can contribute to explaining the planet--metallicity correlation.

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arXiv2010

Molecular outflows within the filamentary infrared dark cloud G34.43+0.24

We present molecular line observations, made with angular resolutions of ~20", toward the filamentary infrared dark cloud G34.43+0.24 using the APEX [CO(3-2), 13CO(3-2), C18O(3-2) and CS(7-6) transitions], Nobeyama 45 m [CS(2-1), SiO(2-1), C34S(2-1), HCO+(1-0), H13CO+(1-0) and CH3OH(2-1) transitions], and SEST [CS(2-1) and C18O(2-1) transitions] telescopes. We find that the spatial distribution of the molecular emission is similar to that of the dust continuum emission observed with 11" resolution showing a filamentary structure and four cores. The cores have local thermodynamic equilibrium masses ranging from 3.3x10^2 - 1.5x10^3 solar masses and virial masses from 1.1x10^3 - 1.5x10^3 solar masses, molecular hydrogen densities between 1.8x10^4 and 3.9x10^5 cm^{-3}, and column densities >2.0x10^{22} cm^{-2}; values characteristics of massive star forming cores. The 13CO(3-2) profile observed toward the most massive core reveals a blue profile indicating that the core is undergoing large-scale inward motion with an average infall velocity of 1.3 km/s and a mass infall rate of 1.8x10^{-3} solar masses per year. We report the discovery of a molecular outflow toward the northernmost core thought to be in a very early stage of evolution. We also detect the presence of high velocity gas toward each of the other three cores, giving support to the hypothesis that the excess 4.5 $μ$ emission ("green fuzzies") detected toward these cores is due to shocked gas. The molecular outflows are massive and energetic, with masses ranging from 25 -- 80 solar masses, momentum 2.3 - 6.9x10^2 \Msun km/s, and kinetic energies 1.1 - 3.6x10^3 \Msun km^2 s^{-2}; indicating that they are driven by luminous, high-mass young stellar objects.

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arXiv2009

The Lifetime of Protoplanetary Disks in a Low-Metallicity Environment

The extreme outer Galaxy (EOG), the region with a Galactic radius of more than 18 kpc, is known to have very low metallicity, about one-tenth that of the solar neighborhood. We obtained deep near-infrared (NIR) images of two very young ($\sim$0.5 Myr) star-forming clusters that are one of the most distant embedded clusters in the EOG. We find that in both clusters the fraction of stars with NIR excess, which originates from the circumstellar dust disk at radii of $\leq$0.1 AU, is significantly lower than those in the solar neighborhood. Our results suggest that most stars forming in the low-metallicity environment experience disk dispersal at an earlier stage ($<$1 Myr) than those forming in the solar metallicity environment (as much as $\sim$5--6 Myr). Such rapid disk dispersal may make the formation of planets difficult, and the shorter disk lifetime with lower metallicity could contribute to the strong metallicity dependence of the well-known "planet-metallicity correlation", which states the probability of a star hosting a planet increases steeply with stellar metallicity. The reason for the rapid disk dispersal could be increase of the mass accretion rate and/or the effective far-ultraviolet photoevaporation due to the low extinction; however, another unknown mechanism for the EOG environment could be contributing significantly.

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arXiv2009

A Mapping Survey of Dense Clumps Associated with Embedded Clusters : Evolutionary Stages of Cluster-Forming Clumps

We have carried out a survey of the dense clumps associated with 14 embedded clusters in the C^18O (J=1-0) line emission with the Nobeyama 45m telescope in order to understand the formation and evolution of stellar clusters in dense clumps of molecular clouds. We have selected these clusters at distances from 0.3 to 2.1kpc and have mapped about 6' X 6' to 10' X 10'regions (corresponding to 3.8pc X 3.8pc at 2.1kpc) for all the clumps with 22" resolution (corresponding to Jeans length at 2.1kpc). We have obtained dense clumps with radii of 0.40-1.6pc, masses of 150-4600M_sun, and velocity widths in FWHM of 1.4-3.3kms^-1. Most of the clumps are found to be approximately in virial equilibrium, which implies that C^18O gas represents parental dense clumps for cluster formation. From the spatial relation between the distributions of clumps and clusters, we classified C^18O clumps into three types (Type A, B, and C). The C^18O clumps as classified into Type A have emission distributions with a single peak at the stellar clusters and higher brightness contrast than that of other target sources. Type B clumps have double or triple peaks which are associated with the cluster and moderately high brightness contrast structure. Type C clumps have also multiple peaks although they are not associated with the cluster and low brightness contrast structure. We suggest that our classification represents an evolutionary trend of cluster-forming dense clumps because dense gas in molecular clouds is expected to be converted into stellar constituents, or to be dispersed by stellar activities. Moreover, although there is a scatter, we found a tendency that the SFEs of the dense clumps increase from Type A to Type C, which also supports our scenario.

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arXiv2009

Evolutionary Status of Brightest and Youngest Source in the Orion Molecular Cloud-3 Region

The brightest continuum source in the Orion Molecular Cloud-3 region (OMC-3), MMS 6, was observed with the Very Large Array (VLA), the Nobeyama Millimeter Array (NMA), and the Submillimeter Array (SMA). Our data were supplemented by near- to mid-infrared archival data taken by Spitzer Space Telescope. The compact continuum source, MMS 6-main, was detected with an H_2 mass of 3.0 Msun with a size of 510 AU. Despite its compact and well condensed appearance, neither clear CO outflow, radio jet, nor infrared sources (at a wave-length shorter than 8 um) were detected at MMS 6-main even with the present high-spatial resolution and high-sensitivity observations. The derived H_2 column density, 2.6x10^25 cm^-2, corresponds to a visual extinction of A_v~15000 mag., and the derived number density is at least two orders of magnitude higher than for the other OMC-2/3 continuum sources. The volume density profile of the source was estimated to have a power-law index of 2 or steeper down to a radius of ~450 AU. The time scale to form a protostar at the center or the time scale elapsed after its formation is estimated to be 830 to 7600 yr. This is much shorter than the typical lifetime of the Class 0/I protostars, which is ~10^(4-5) yr, suggesting that MMS 6-main is probably in either the earliest stage of the proto-stellar core or in the latest stage of the pre-stellar phase.

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arXiv2009

Millimeter- and Submillimeter-Wave Observations of the OMC-2/3 region. IV Interaction between the Outflow and the Dense Gas in the Cluster Forming Region of OMC-2 FIR 6

We have conducted millimeter interferometric observations of the Orion Molecular Cloud-2 (OMC-2) FIR 6 region at an angular resolution of $\sim$ 4$\arcsec$ - 7$\arcsec$ with the Nobeyama Millimeter Array (NMA). In the 3.3 mm continuum emission we detected dusty core counterparts of the previously identified FIR sources (FIR 6a, 6b, 6c, and 6d), and moreover, resolved FIR 6a into three dusty cores. The size and mass of these cores are estimated to be 1100-5900 AU and 0.19-5.5 M$_{\odot}$, respectively. We found that in the $^{12}$CO ($J$=1--0) emission FIR 6b, 6c, and 6d eject the molecular outflow and that the FIR 6c outflow also exhibits at least two collimated jet-like components in the SiO ($J$=2--1) emission. At the tip of one of the SiO components there appears abrupt increase of the SiO line width ($\sim$ 15 km s$^{-1}$), where the three resolved cores in FIR 6a seem to delineate the tip. These results imply the presence of the interaction and the bowshock front between the FIR 6c molecular outflow and FIR 6a.

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arXiv2008

Millimeter- and Submillimeter-Wave Observations of the OMC-2/3 Region. III. An Extensive Survey for Molecular Outflows

Using the ASTE 10 m submillimeter telescope and the 1.4 m Infrared Survey Facility (IRSF), we performed an extensive outflow survey in the Orion Molecular Cloud -2 and -3 region. Our survey, which includes 41 potential star-forming sites, has been newly compiled using multi-wavelength data based on millimeter- and submillimeter-continuum observations as well as radio continuum observations. From the CO (3-2) observations performed with the ASTE 10 m telescope, we detected 14 CO molecular outflows, seven of which were newly identified. This higher detection rate, as compared to previous CO (1-0) results in the same region, suggests that CO (3-2) may be a better outflow tracer. Physical properties of these outflows and their possible driving sources were derived. Derived parameters were compared with those of CO outflows in low- and high-mass starforming regions. We show that the CO outflow momentum correlates with the bolometric luminosity of the driving source and with the envelope mass, regardless of the mass of the driving sources. In addition to these CO outflows, seven sources having NIR features suggestive of outflows were also identified.

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arXiv2008

High-Resolution Studies of the Multiple-Core Systems toward Cluster-Forming Regions Including Massive Stars

We present the results of C18O observations by the Nobeyama Millimeter Array toward dense clumps with radii of ~ 0.3 pc in six cluster-forming regions including massive (proto)stars. We identified 171 cores, whose radius, line width, and molecular mass range from 0.01 to 0.09 pc, 0.43 to 3.33 km/s, and 0.5 to 54.1 Mo, respectively. Many cores with various line widths exist in one clump, and the index of the line width-radius relationship of the cores and the parental clump differs from core to core in the clump. This indicates that the degree of dissipation of the turbulent motion varies for each core in one clump. Although the mass of the cores increases with the line width, most cores are gravitationally bound by the external pressure. In addition, the line width and the external pressure of the cores tend to decrease with the distance from the center of the clump, and these dependencies may be caused by the inner H2 density structure of the clump that affects the physical properties of the cores. Moreover, the number density of the cores and the number density of young (proto)stars have a similar relationship to the average H2 density of the clumps. Thus, our findings suggest that the cluster is formed in the clump through the formation of such multiple cores, whose physical properties would have been strongly related to the H2 density structure and the turbulent motion of the clump.

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arXiv2008

Millimeter- and Submillimeter-Wave Observations of the OMC-2/3 Region. II. Observational Evidence for Outflow-Triggered Star Formation in the OMC-2 FIR 3/4 Region

We have carried out the observations of the OMC-2 FIR 3/4 region with the NMA and ASTE in the H$^{13}$CO$^{+}$ (1--0), $^{12}$CO (3--2, 1--0), SiO ($v$=0, $J$=2--1), CS (2--1), and CH$_3$OH ($J_K$=7$_K$--6$_K$) lines and in the 3.3 mm continuum emission. Our NMA observations in the H$^{13}$CO$^{+}$ emission have revealed 0.07 pc-scale dense gas associated with FIR 4. The $^{12}$CO (3--2,1--0) emission shows high-velocity blue and red shifted components at the both north-east and south-west of FIR 3, suggesting a molecular outflow nearly along the plane of the sky driven by FIR 3. The SiO and the CH$_{3}$OH emission are detected around the interface between the outflow and the dense gas. Furthermore, the $^{12}$CO (1--0) emission shows an L-shaped structure in the P-V diagram. These results imply presence of the shock due to the interaction between the molecular outflow driven by FIR 3 and the dense gas associated with FIR 4. Moreover, our high angular-resolution observations of FIR 4 in the 3.3 mm continuum emission have first found that FIR 4 consists of eleven dusty cores. The separation among these cores is on the same order of the Jeans length, suggesting that the fragmentation into these cores has been caused by the gravitational instability. The time scale of the fragmentation is similar to the time scale of the interaction between the molecular outflow and the dense gas. We suggest that the interaction between the molecular outflow from FIR 3 and the dense gas associated with FIR 4 triggered the fragmentation into these dusty cores, and hence the next generation the cluster formation.

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arXiv2008

Star Formation in the Most Distant Molecular Cloud in the Extreme Outer Galaxy: A Laboratory of Star Formation in an Early Epoch of the Galaxy's Formation

We report the discovery of active star formation in Digel's Cloud 2, which is one of the most distant giant molecular clouds known in the extreme outer Galaxy (EOG). At the probable Galactic radius of ~20 kpc, Cloud 2 has a quite different environment from that in the solar neighborhood, including lower metallicity, much lower gas density, and small or no perturbation from spiral arms. With new wide-field near-infrared (NIR) imaging that covers the entire Cloud 2, we discovered two young embedded star clusters located in the two dense cores of the cloud. Using our NIR and 12CO data as well as HI, radio continuum, and IRAS data in the archives, we discuss the detailed star formation processes in this unique environment. We show clear evidences of a sequential star formation triggered by the nearby huge supernova remnant, GSH 138-01-94. The two embedded clusters show a distinct morphology difference: the one in the northern molecular cloud core is a loose association with isolated-mode star formation, while the other in the southern molecular cloud core is a dense cluster with cluster-mode star formation. We propose that high compression by the combination of the SNR shell and an adjacent shell caused the dense cluster formation in the southern core. Along with the low metallicity range of the EOG, we suggest that EOG could be an excellent laboratory for the study of star formation processes, such as those triggered by supernovae, that occured during an early epoch of the Galaxy's formation. In particular, the study of the EOG may shed light on the origin and role of the thick disk, whose metallicity range matches with that of the EOG well.

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arXiv2007

Star Formation in the Extreme Outer Galaxy: the IMF in a low metallicity environment

We are conducting a deep near-infrared (NIR) imaging survey of young embedded clusters in the extreme outer Galaxy (hereafter EOG), at the Galactic radius (R_g) of more than 18 kpc. The EOG is an excellent laboratory to study the nature of the IMF in a low-metallicity environment with a great advantage of the proximity compared to nearby dwarf galaxies, such as LMC & SMC. As a first step, we obtained deep NIR images of Digel Cloud 2 clusters at R_g ~19 kpc using the Subaru 8.2-m telescope. The observed K-band luminosity function shows that IMF in the low metallicity environment down to ~ 0.1 M_{sun} is not significantly different from the typical IMFs in the field and in the nearby star clusters as was suggested in our earlier work.

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arXiv2007

Extreme Outer Galaxy: A Laboratory of Star Formation in an Early Epoch of Galaxy Formation

The extreme outer Galaxy (EOG) has a very different environment from that in the solar neighborhood, with low metallicity (less than -0.5 dex), much lower gas density, and small or no perturbation from spiral arms. The EOG is an excellent laboratory for the study of the star formation processes that happened during the formation period of the Galaxy. In particular, the study of the EOG may shed light on the origin and role of the thick disk, whose metallicity range matches well with that of the EOG. We show an example of a molecular cloud in the EOG (Digel's Cloud 2), which is located at R_g ~ 20 kpc beyond the Outer arm. Based on our NIR and 12CO data as well as HI, radio continuum, and IRAS data in the archives, we examined the detailed star formation processes in this unique environment, especially the supernova triggered star formation, which should have been the major star formation mode during the halo and thick disk formation.

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arXiv2007

Star Formation in the Extreme Outer Galaxy: Digel Cloud 2 Clusters

As a first step for studying star formation in the extreme outer Galaxy (EOG), we obtained deep near-infrared images of two embedded clusters at the northern and southern CO peaks of Cloud 2, which is one of the most distant star forming regions in the outer Galaxy (galactic radius R_g ~ 19 kpc). With high spatial resolution (FWHM ~ 0".35) and deep imaging (K ~ 21 mag) with the IRCS imager at the Subaru telescope, we detected cluster members with a mass detection limit of < 0.1 M_{sun}, which is well into the substellar regime. These high quality data enables a comparison of EOG to those in the solar neighborhood on the same basis for the first time. Before interpreting the photometric result, we have first constructed the NIR color-color diagram (dwarf star track, classical T Tauri star (CTTS) locus, reddening law) in the Mauna Kea Observatory filter system and also for the low metallicity environment since the metallicity in EOG is much lower than those in the solar neighborhood. The estimated stellar density suggests that an ``isolated type'' star formation is ongoing in Cloud 2-N, while a ``cluster type'' star formation is ongoing in Cloud 2-S. Despite the difference of the star formation mode, other characteristics of the two clusters are found to be almost identical: (1) K-band luminosity function (KLF) of the two clusters are quite similar, as is the estimated IMF and ages (~ 0.5--1 Myr) from the KLF fitting, (2) the estimated star formation efficiencies (SFEs) for both clusters are typical compared to those of embedded clusters in the solar neighborhood (~ 10 %). The similarity of two independent clusters with a large separation (~ 25 pc) strongly suggest that their star formation activities were triggered by the same mechanism, probably the supernova remnant (GSH 138-01-94).

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arXiv2006

ASTE Observations of Warm Gas in Low-mass Protostellar Envelopes: Different Kinematics between Submillimeter and Millimeter Lines

With the ASTE telescope, we have made observations of three low-mass protostellar envelopes around L483, B335, and L723 in the submillimeter CS ($J$=7--6) and HCN ($J$=4--3) lines. We detected both the CS and HCN lines toward all the targets, and the typical CS intensity ($\sim$ 1.0 K in T$_{B}$) is twice higher than that of the HCN line. Mapping observations of L483 in these lines have shown that the submillimeter emissions in the low-mass protostellar envelope are resolved, exhibit a western extension from the central protostar, and that the deconvolved size is $\sim$ 5500 AU $\times$ 3700 AU (P.A. = 78$^{\circ}$) in the HCN emission. The extent of the submillimeter emissions in L483 implies the presence of higher-temperature ($\gtrsim$ 40 K) gas at 4000 AU away from the central protostar, which suggests that we need to take 2-dimensional radiative transfer models with a flattened disklike envelope and bipolar cavity into account to explain the temperature structure inside the low-mass protostellar envelope. The position-velocity diagrams of these submillimeter lines in L483 and B335 exhibit different velocity gradients from those found in the previous millimeter observations. In particular, along the axis of the associated molecular outflow the sense of the velocity gradient traced by the submillimeter lines is opposite to that of the millimeter observations or the associated molecular outflow, both in L483 and B335. We suggest that expanding gas motions at the surface of the flattened disklike envelope around the protostar, which is irradiated from the central star directly, are the origin of the observed submillimeter velocity structure.

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arXiv2006

Millimeter- and Submillimeter-Wave Observations of the OMC-2/3 Region; I. Dispersing and Rotating Core around an Intermediate-mass Protostar MMS 7

We report the results of H13CO+(1-0), CO(1-0), and 3.3 mm dust continuum observations toward one of the strongest mm-wave sources in OMC-3, MMS 7, with the Nobeyama Millimeter Array (NMA) and the Nobeyama 45 m telescope. With the NMA, we detected centrally-condensed 3.3 mm dust-continuum emission which coincides with the MIR source and the free-free jet. Our combined H13CO+ observations have revealed a disk-like envelope. The size and the mass of the disk-like envelope are 0.15 times 0.11 pc and 5.1 - 9.1 M_sun, respectively. The combined map also shows that the outer portion of the disk-like envelope has a fan-shaped structure which delineates the rim of the CO(1-0) outflow observed with the NMA. The position-velocity (P-V) diagrams in the H13CO+ (1-0) emission show that the velocity field in the disk-like envelope is composed of a dispersing gas motion and a possible rigid-like rotation. The mass dispersing rate is estimated to be (3.4 - 6.0) times 10^-5 M_sun/yr, which implies that MMS 7 has an ability to disperse ~10 M_sun during the protostellar evolutional time of a few times 10^5 yr. The specific angular momentum of the possible rotation in the disk-like envelope is nearly two orders of magnitude larger than that in low-mass cores. The turn-over point of the power law of the angular momentum distribution in the disk-like envelope (< 0.007 pc), which is likely to be related to the outer radius of the central mass accretion, is similar to the size of the 3.3 mm dust condensation. The intermediate-mass protostar MMS 7 is in the last stage of the main accretion phase and that the substantial portion of the outer gas has already been dispersed, while the mass accretion may still be on-going at the innermost region traced by the dusty condensation.

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arXiv2006

Elevation angle dependence of the SMA antenna focus position

We report the measurement results and compensation of the antenna elevation angle dependences of the Sub-millimeter Array (SMA) antenna characteristics. Without optimizing the subreflector (focus) positions as a function of the antenna elevation angle, antenna beam patterns show lopsided sidelobes, and antenna efficiencies show degradations. The sidelobe level increases and the antenna efficiencies decrease about 1% and a few %, respectively, for every 10 degrees change in the elevation angle at the measured frequency of 237 GHz. We therefore obtained the optimized subreflector positions for X (azimuth), Y (elevation), and Z (radio optics) focus axes at various elevation angles for all the eight SMA antennas. The X axis position does not depend on the elevation angle. The Y and Z axes positions depend on the elevation angles, and are well fitted with a simple function for each axis with including a gravity term (cosine and sine of elevation, respectively). In the optimized subreflector positions, the antenna beam patterns show low level symmetric sidelobe of at most a few %, and the antenna efficiencies stay constant at any antenna elevation angles. Using one set of fitted functions for all antennas, the SMA is now operating with real-time focusing, and showing constant antenna characteristics at any given elevation angle.

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arXiv2006

Deep Near-Infrared Imaging af an Embedded Cluster in the Extreme Outer Galaxy: Census of Supernovae Triggered Star Formation

While conducting a near-infrared (NIR) survey of ``Digel Clouds'', which are thought to be located in the extreme outer Galaxy (EOG), Kobayashi & Tokunaga found star formation activity in ``Cloud 2'', a giant molecular cloud at the Galactic radius of ~ 20 kpc. Additional infrared imaging showed two embedded young clusters at the densest regions of the molecular cloud. Because the molecular cloud is located in the vicinity of a supernova remnant (SNR) HI shell, GSH 138-01-94, it was suggested that the star formation activity in Cloud 2 was triggered by this expanding HI shell. We obtained deep J (1.25 um), H (1.65 um) and K (2.2 um) images of one of the embedded clusters in Cloud 2 with high spatial resolution (FWHM ~0".3) and high sensitivity (K ~ 20 mag, 10 sigma). We identified 52 cluster members. The estimated stellar density (~ 10 pc^{-2}) suggests that the cluster is a T-association. This is the deepest NIR imaging of an embedded cluster in the EOG. The observed K-band luminosity function (KLF) suggests that the underlying initial mass function (IMF) of the cluster down to the detection limit of ~ 0.1 M_sun is not significantly different from the typical IMFs in the field and in the near-by star clusters. The overall characteristics of this cluster appears to be similar to those of other embedded clusters in the far outer Galaxy. The estimated age of the cluster from the KLF, which is less than 1 Myr, is consistent with the view that the star formation was triggered by the HI shell whose age was estimated at 4.3 Myr (Stil & Irwin). The 3-dimensional geometry of SNR shell, molecular cloud and the embedded cluster, which is inferred from our data, as well as the cluster age strongly suggest that the star formation in Cloud 2 was triggered by the SNR shell.

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