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arXiv · 2606.19248

Ages of the resolved stellar populations inside the JWST/MIRI bubbles in NGC 628

Avinash Ck·Divakara Mayya·Alessandro Bressan·Jairo Andres Alzate Trujillo·Léo Girardi·Bolivia Cuevas-Otahola
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Abstract

JWST images in the MIRI filters are characterized by prominent interstellar bubbles, most of which are expected to be created by mechanical energy injected into the interstellar medium by dying massive stars. In this work, we use resolved stellar populations (RSPs) in JWST/NIRCam images of NGC 628 from the JWST-FEAST dataset to determine the demography of stellar populations within these bubbles by comparing them with PARSEC+COLIBRI isochrones using a Bayesian framework. Our analysis reveals the presence of multiple stellar populations younger than 100 Myr within the bubbles, suggesting secondary star formation following the first generation of stars that formed the bubble. We find a clear preference for the most recently formed stars to lie closer to the bubble shell. In contrast, relatively older stars are distributed throughout the bubble interior, consistent with a scenario in which stars formed in dense shells are left behind as the shell expands. We also examine PHANGS-HST cluster candidates within large bubbles and find no convincing progenitor clusters responsible for the initial trigger, indicating that low-mass clusters or OB associations may be sufficient to drive the initial expansion. However, the cluster may dissolve as it co-evolves with the bubble, producing the dispersed stellar distributions observed in larger bubbles. We establish a fundamental plane relation for stellar feedback-driven bubbles that involves the stellar population mass, age, bubble size, gas density, and feedback efficiency, highlighting the ability of JWST/NIRCam CMDs to characterize stellar populations driving interstellar bubble expansion in nearby galaxies

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Avinash Ck, Divakara Mayya, Alessandro Bressan, Jairo Andres Alzate Trujillo, Léo Girardi, Bolivia Cuevas-Otahola. 2026-06-17. Ages of the resolved stellar populations inside the JWST/MIRI bubbles in NGC 628. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.19248

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