H$\alpha$ Morphologies of Star Clusters: A LEGUS study of HII region
  evolution timescales and stochasticity in low mass clusters
  The morphology of HII regions around young star clusters provides insight
into the timescales and physical processes that clear a cluster's natal gas. We
study ~700 young clusters (<10Myr) in three nearby spiral galaxies (NGC 7793,
NGC 4395, and NGC 1313) using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging from LEGUS
(Legacy ExtraGalactic Ultraviolet Survey). Clusters are classified by their
H$\alpha$ morphology (concentrated, partially exposed, no-emission) and whether
they have neighboring clusters (which could affect the clearing timescales).
Through visual inspection of the HST images, and analysis of ages, reddenings,
and stellar masses from spectral energy distributions fitting, together with
the (U-B), (V-I) colors, we find: 1) the median ages indicate a progression
from concentrated (~3 Myr), to partially exposed (~4 Myr), to no H$\alpha$
emission (>5Myr), consistent with the expected temporal evolution of HII
regions and previous results. However, 2) similarities in the age distributions
for clusters with concentrated and partially exposed H$\alpha$ morphologies
imply a short timescale for gas clearing (<1Myr). 3) our cluster sample's
median mass is ~1000 M, and a significant fraction (~20%) contain one or more
bright red sources (presumably supergiants), which can mimic reddening effects.
Finally, 4) the median E(B-V) values for clusters with concentrated H$\alpha$
and those without H$\alpha$ emission appear to be more similar than expected
(~0.18 vs. ~0.14, respectively), but when accounting for stochastic effects,
clusters without H$\alpha$ emission are less reddened. To mitigate stochastic
effects, we experiment with synthesizing more massive clusters by stacking
fluxes of clusters within each H$\alpha$ morphological class. Composite
isolated clusters also reveal a color and age progression for H$\alpha$
morphological classes, consistent with analysis of the individual clusters.
