Spitzer interstellar bubbles

Significant over density of molecular gas is found to be close to the bubble rims. 60 percent of the studied bubbles were found to have associated molecular clumps. By comparing the clump-associated and the clump-unassociated MWP interstellar bubbles, we reveal that the bubbles in associations tend to be larger and thicker in physical sizes. From the different properties shown by the bubble-associated and bubble-unassociated clumps, we speculate that some of the bubble-associated clumps result from the expansion of bubbles.

The fraction of the molecular clumps associated with the MWP bubbles is estimated to be about 20 percent after considering the projection effect. For the bubble-clump complexes, we found that the bubbles in the complexes with associated massive young stellar object(s) (MYSO(s)) have larger physical sizes, hence the complexes tend to be older. We propose that an evolutionary sequence might exist between the relatively younger MYSO-unassociated bubble-clump complexes and the MYSO-associated complexes.