Triggered star formation in the LMC4/Constellation III region of the Large Magellanic Cloud

Abstract

The origin of a regular, 600-pc-long arc of young stars and clusters in the Constellation III region of the Large Magellanic Cloud is considered. The circular form of this arc suggests that the pre-stellar gas was uniformly swept up by a central source of pressure. In the centre of the arc are six ∼30-Myr-old A-type supergiant stars and a Cepheid variable of similar age, which may be related to the source of this pressure. We calculate the expansion of a bubble around a cluster of this age, and show that it could have triggered the formation of the arc at the right time and place. Surrounding the central old stars and extending well outside the young arc is the LMC4 superbubble and giant H I shell. We show how this superbubble and shell could have formed by the continued expansion of the 15-Myr-old cavity, following star formation in the arc and the associated new pressures. The age sequence proposed here was not evident in the recent observations by Olsen et al. and Braun et al. because the first generation stars in the centre of the LMC superbubble are relatively faint and scarce compared to the more substantial population of stars less than 15 Myr old that formed throughout the region in a second generation. These considerations lead to an examination of the origin of the LMC4/Constellation III region and other large rings in the LMC and other galaxies. Their size and circularity could be the result of low galactic shear and a thick disc, with several generations of star formation in their interiors now too faint to be seen.