Infrared luminosity functions for the young stellar population associated with the L1641 molecular cloud

Abstract

Results are reported of a deep near-IR imaging survey which samples 0.77 sq deg of the L1641 star-forming complex and reaches 5 sigma limits at J (1.25 micron,), H (1.65 micron), and K (2.2 microns) of 16.8, 15.8, and 14.7 mag, respectively. A population of about 1500 stars spread throughout the cloud, seven small aggregates comprised of 10-50 stars whose typical projected surface densities exceed that of the distributed population by factors of 4-10, and a heretofore unknown, partially embedded dense cluster comprised of about 150 stars are identified. Analysis of the distribution of (J-H), (H-K), and (R-I) colors for these groups suggest that, in all cases, the stellar populations are dominated by solar-type PMS stars which appear to contain a mix of objects analogous to weak-line T Tauri stars. The present observed luminosity functions are based on reddening-corrected J-band magnitude.