A near-infrared study of the star forming region RCW 34
  We report the results of a near-infrared imaging study of a $7.8 \times 7.8$
arcmin$^2$ region centered on the 6.7 GHz methanol maser associated with the
RCW 34 star forming region using the 1.4m IRSF telescope at Sutherland. A total
of 1283 objects were detected simultaneously in J, H, and K for an exposure
time of 10800 seconds. The J-H, H-K two-colour diagram revealed a strong
concentration of more than 700 objects with colours similar to what is expected
of reddened classical T Tauri stars. The distribution of the objects on the K
{\it vs} J-K colour-magnitude diagram is also suggestive that a significant
fraction of the 1283 objects is lower mass pre-main sequence stars. We also
present the luminosity function for the subset of about 700 pre-main sequence
stars and show that it suggests ongoing star formation activity for about
$10^7$ years. An examination of the spatial distribution of the pre-main
sequence stars shows that the fainter (older) part of the population is more
dispersed over the observed region and the brighter (younger) subset is more
concentrated around the position of the O8.5V star. This suggests that the
physical effects of the O8.5V star and the two early B-type stars on the
remainder of the cloud out of which they formed, could have played a role in
the onset of the more recent episode of star formation in RCW 34.
