NGC 7538 : Multiwavelength Study of Stellar Cluster Regions associated
  with IRS 1-3 and IRS 9 sources
  We present deep and high-resolution (FWHM ~ 0.4 arcsec) near-infrared (NIR)
imaging observations of the NGC 7538 IRS 1-3 region (in JHK bands), and IRS 9
region (in HK bands) using the 8.2m Subaru telescope. The NIR analysis is
complemented with GMRT low-frequency observations at 325, 610, and 1280 MHz,
molecular line observations of H13CO+ (J=1-0), and archival Chandra X-ray
observations. Using the 'J-H/H-K' diagram, 144 Class II and 24 Class I young
stellar object (YSO) candidates are identified in the IRS 1-3 region. Further
analysis using 'K/H-K' diagram yields 145 and 96 red sources in the IRS 1-3 and
IRS 9 regions, respectively. A total of 27 sources are found to have X-ray
counterparts. The YSO mass function (MF), constructed using a theoretical
mass-luminosity relation, shows peaks at substellar (~0.08-0.18 Msolar) and
intermediate (~1-1.78 Msolar) mass ranges for the IRS 1-3 region. The MF can be
fitted by a power law in the low mass regime with a slope of Gamma ~ 0.54-0.75,
which is much shallower than the Salpeter value of 1.35. An upper limit of 10.2
is obtained for the star to brown dwarf ratio in the IRS 1-3 region. GMRT maps
show a compact HII region associated with the IRS 1-3 sources, whose spectral
index of 0.87+-0.11 suggests optical thickness. This compact region is resolved
into three separate peaks in higher resolution 1280 MHz map, and the 'East'
sub-peak coincides with the IRS 2 source. H13CO+ (J=1-0) emission reveals peaks
in both IRS 1-3 and IRS 9 regions, none of which are coincident with visible
nebular emission, suggesting the presence of dense cloud nearby. The virial
masses are approximately of the order of 1000 Msolar and 500 Msolar for the
clumps in IRS 1-3 and IRS 9 regions, respectively.
