YSOs in California Molecular Cloud

We show that {Sigma}_*_ is directly proportional to the ratio of the protostellar and cloud pdfs, i.e., PDF_*_(A_K_)/PDF_N_(A_K_). We use the cumulative distribution of protostars to infer the functional forms for both {Sigma}_*_ and PDF_*_. We find that {Sigma}_*_ is best described by two power-law functions.

At extinctions A_K_<=2.5mag, {Sigma}_*_{prop.to}A_K_^{beta}^ with {beta}=3.3 while at higher extinctions {beta}=2.5, both values steeper than those (~=2) found in other local giant molecular clouds (GMCs). We find that PDF_*_ is a declining function of extinction also best described by two power-laws whose behavior mirrors that of {Sigma}_*_. Our observations suggest that variations both in the slope of the Schmidt relation and in the sizes of the protostellar populations between GMCs are largely driven by variations in the slope, n, of PDF_N_(A_K_).

This confirms earlier studies suggesting that cloud structure plays a major role in setting the global star formation rates in GMCs