We present an analysis of stellar distributions for the young stellar clusters GGD 12-15, IRAS 20050+2720, and NGC 7129, which range in far-IR luminosity from 227 to 5.68 ×10 3 L ⊙ and are all still associated with their natal molecular clouds. The data used for this analysis includes near-IR data obtained with FLAMINGOS on the MMT Telescope and newly obtained wide-field 850 µm emission maps from SCUBA on the JCMT. Cluster size and azimuthal asymmetry are measured via azimuthal and radial averaging methods respectively. To quantify the deviation of the distribution of stars from circular symmetry, we define an azimuthal asymmetry parameter and we investigate the statistical properties of this parameter through Monte Carlo simulations. The distribution of young stars is compared to the morphology of the molecular gas using stellar surface density maps and the 850 µm maps. We find that two of the clusters are not azimuthally symmetric and show a high degree of structure. The GGD 12-15 cluster is elongated, and is aligned with newly detected filamentary structure at 850 µm. IRAS 20050+2720 is composed of a chain of three subclusters, in agreement with Chen et al. (1997), although our results show that two of the subclusters appear to overlap. Significant 850 µm emission is detected toward two of the subclusters, but is not detected toward the central subcluster, suggesting that the dense gas may already be cleared there. In contrast to these two highly embedded subclusters, we find an anti-correlation of the stars and dust in NGC 7129, indicating that much of the parental gas and dust has been dispersed. The NGC 7129 cluster exhibits a higher degree of azimuthal symmetry, a lower stellar surface density, and a larger size than the other two clusters, suggesting that the cluster may be dynamically expanding following the recent dispersal of natal molecular gas. These analyses are further evidence that embedded, forming clusters are often not spherically symmetric structures, but can be elongated and clumpy, and that these morphologies may reflect the initial structure of the dense molecular gas. Furthermore, this work suggests that gas expulsion by stellar feedback results in significant dynamical evolution within the first 3 Myr of cluster evolution. We estimate peak stellar volume densities and discuss the impact of these densities on the evolution of circumstellar disks and protostellar envelopes.

We present wide-field near-infrared (JHK) images of the young, τ = 2 Myr IC 348 cluster taken with FLAMINGOS. We use these new data to construct an infrared census of sources, which is sensitive enough to detect a 10 M Jup brown dwarf seen through an extinction of A V ∼ 7. We examine the cluster's structure and relationship to the molecular cloud and construct the cluster's K band luminosity function. Using our model luminosity function algorithm we derive the cluster's initial mass function throughout the stellar and substellar regimes and find that the IC 348 IMF is very similar to that found for the Trapezium Cluster with both cluster IMFs having a mode between 0.2 − 0.08 M ⊙ . In particular we find that, similar to our results for the Trapezium, brown dwarfs constitute only 1 in 4 of the sources in the IC 348 cluster. We show that a modest secondary peak forms in the substellar IC 348 KLF, corresponding to the same mass range responsible for a similar KLF peak found in the Trapezium. We interpret this KLF peak as either evidence for a corresponding secondary IMF peak at the deuterium burning limit, or as arising from a feature in the substellar mass-luminosity relation that is not predicted by current theoretical models. Lastly, we find that IC 348 displays radial variations of its sub-solar (0.5 − 0.08M ⊙ ) IMF on a parsec scale. Whatever mechanism that is breaking the universality of the IMF on small spatial scales in IC 348 does not appear to be acting upon the brown dwarf population, whose relative size does not vary with distance from the cluster center.