On the spatial distributions of stars and gas in numerical simulations
  of molecular clouds
  We compare the spatial distribution of stars which form in hydrodynamical
simulations to the spatial distribution of the gas, using the
$\mathcal{Q}$-parameter. The $\mathcal{Q}$-parameter enables a self-consistent
comparison between the stars and gas because it uses a pixelated image of the
gas as a distribution of points, in the same way that the stars (sink particles
in the simulations) are a distribution of points. We find that, whereas the
stars have a substructured, or hierarchical spatial distribution ($\mathcal{Q}
\sim 0.4 - 0.7$), the gas is dominated by a smooth, concentrated component and
typically has $\mathcal{Q} \sim 0.9$. We also find no statistical difference
between the structure of the gas in simulations that form with feedback, and
those that form without, despite these two processes producing visually
different distributions. These results suggest that the link between the
spatial distributions of gas, and the stars which form from them, is
non-trivial.
