Talk abstract

A fundamental questions is "How does environment affect star formation and the properties of nascent stars?". We approach this question through a study of over 600 Spitzer-identified protostars from the nearby (within 1 kpc) star forming clouds Orion A & B, Cep OB3, Serpens, Perseus, Ophiuchus, Taurus, Lupus, Chamaeleon, and Mon R2, which encompass a range of cloud environments. We use Spitzer 3 to 24 micron photometry combined with 2MASS J, H, and K photometry and calculate bolometric luminosities. We find bolometric luminosities using an empirically derived mid-IR/bolometric luminosity relationship. Luminosity functions are then created for each cloud, and are corrected for multiple sources of contamination. In each cloud, the luminosity function peaks near 1 Lsun, and in the more massive clouds that form higher mass stars, the luminosity functions show a tail extending up towards 1000 Lsun. A comparison of the luminosity functions shows that clouds which form high mass stars, such as Orion or Cep OB3, have distinctly different luminosity functions from clouds which do not form high mass stars, such as Taurus or Ophiuchus. In Orion and Serpens, we find that the luminosity functions of protostars in dense environments are statistically different than those in more isolated environments, with the luminosity function in dense environments extending to higher luminosities. We discuss possible reasons for this difference.