<i>WISE</i> Infrared Search for Young Stellar Objects Associated with Starless Cores

Abstract

This study presents the results of an infrared search of young stellar objects (YSOs) associated with cores with high optical extinction and no associated infrared IRAS source. Four hundred YSO candidates were identified in the WISE photometric catalog based on the infrared excess attributed to the circumstellar materials and proto-planetary disks. One-hundred and forty-nine cores do not have YSO candidates. Whereas, 32 cores harbor only Class I candidates and 107 cores have Class II candidates. Ninety-one cores that were previously identified as starless cores, were found to contain YSOs. The ratio of the number of starless cores to the number of star-forming cores suggests that the typical timescale from molecular cloud core formation to the birth of a star is in the range of 0.5 -1.4 Myr.